Warning: spoilers ahead for Episode 6 of The Irrational, called "Point & Shoot."
The Irrational took Alec Mercer in some different directions in "Point & Shoot." He agreed to testify as an expert witness in a trial for Kylie's friend, whose husband had been murdered when cops seemingly executed a no-knock warrant on the wrong home, although there was more to the story. While there were some fun moments (including an NBC crossover), Alec and Kylie had a harrowing encounter when they were pulled over. Writer Kirk Moore and showrunner Arika Lisanne Mittman spoke with CinemaBlend about the episode!
The case of the week was tragic enough when it seemed like a man had been murdered due to a typo and some trigger-happy cops; it was even more tragic with the reveal that the victim was killed because he'd been working to uncover some secrets that would have gotten a judge in some serious trouble. Kylie and Alec were getting close enough to the truth that they were pulled over by some cops with a vendetta who were clearly looking for a reason to escalate the situation.
Alec had to watch as his terrified younger sister was forced by an officer to exit the car and attempt to obey some orders that would have been difficult even under the best of circumstances. The cop nearly pulled a gun on Kylie before Alec was able to talk some sense into the man's partner, and the siblings were shaken up by what happened... and what could have happened. When I spoke with "Point & Shoot" writer Kirk Moore about the scene, he shared his real-life experience that he brought to the episode:
We wanted to handle that scene with care. My father is a retired police officer, and so I've been around policing my entire life. He and I have had conversations about policing my entire life. We sometimes don't share the same perspective on policing, but I felt like that situation gave me and the writers in the room a good opportunity to show the human side of what happens when someone is pulled over. You know, what their mind is going through, how the officers don't know how them pulling out a gun or them being forceful can impact a person's mentality, and force them to do something that they don't want to do.
Kirk Moore's father was a police officer before retiring, which gave the writer a unique perspective in writing the scene of the Mercer siblings being pulled over. It certainly showed Alec closer to panicking about his little sister's safety than he has about his own, including a life-or-death sequence with an assassin taking shots at him earlier in the 2023 TV schedule. Kylie was doing her best to calmly obey the cop's orders, but she couldn't control all of her physical reactions. The writer continued:
We wanted to sort of use Alec's skillset to be able to point that out while at the same time trying to get the cops to understand how what they were doing was impacting Kylie and could also put her in danger. For me, it was a really delicate and important scene, and I wanted it to have the balance of tension, but also a brother's love because Alec ultimately, while [he is] a really smart man, is really just trying to make sure that his sister gets back in the car safely.
"Point & Shoot" was a powerful episode for the Mercer siblings as well as with the case of the week, with each taking their own approach to pursuing justice for a man whose husband was murdered in their home. I asked Kirk Moore if the scene with the cops could have worked if Alec had been with any character other than his sister, and he explained:
I would like to think that in a perfect world that Alec would be able to talk down a situation like that using his understanding of behavior and understanding of situations like this being a Black man himself. I would hope that he would be able to help anyone in that situation. I just think that seeing his sister in that situation only made it more important for him to make sure that he did not escalate the situation and was smart about getting his sister back into that car.
Alec hasn't hesitated to use his skills as a behavioral scientist even against extremely dangerous people; this time around, he had to do what he could to not escalate the situation for his sister's sake. When I spoke with showrunner Arika Lisanne Mittman, I asked for her thoughts on the sequence, and she shared:
It's a super uncomfortable scene to watch. I think it was an uncomfortable scene to film, but we felt like it was important to show that someone like Alec, who is a respected professor, that if this could happen to Alec, it could happen to anyone… I think it was handled so well by our writer Kirk Moore, who wrote the scene, and our fabulous director, Ernest Dickerson, who directed it. I think it was handled with just the right touch and hat's off to both of them.
The showrunner gave kudos to Kirk Moore as well as director Ernest Dickerson, and I think actors Jesse L. Martin (who has been described as "nothing even remotely" like other TV leads who brings a "rock star vibe" ) and Travina Springer were fantastic in the scene as well. As Mittman said, it's uncomfortable to watch, which it really had to be.
Afterwards, there was a lighter moment as Alec realized that he needed to debate his nemesis, Dr. Dustin Atwood (played by The Resident's Malcolm-Jamal Warner), on television to move the case forward. This resulted in a fun cameo from real-life NBC Universal newscaster Joy Reid, with Alec and Atwood appearing on The ReidOut with Joy Reid, which airs on MSNBC. Arika Lisanne Mittman explained how the show recruited Reid for The Irrational:
Oh my gosh, we just kind of hoped! [laughs] We were super lucky because we wrote this episode and then the strike hit, so there were no changes that could be made from a certain point. We had floated the idea of Joy Reid, and we were just very lucky that it worked out and that she was available. She wanted to do it. She was totally game, and we just think it added a really nice touch in a story that is about things that happen in the real world. To have a real and so well-liked newscaster like Joy Reid participating in it versus just having some actress playing a newscaster, it's just better all around.
The WGA writers strike could have caused some problems for this episode if Joy Reid wasn't available for the cameo as written. All in all, "Point & Shoot" was a pretty heavy hour of television, which fortunately came to about as happy an ending as was possible. See what's next for Alec and Kylie with new episodes of The Irrational on Mondays at 10 p.m. ET on NBC, following episodes of The Voice.
You can also revisit the full first season so far streaming with a Peacock Premium subscription. I may be wrong in my suspicions about one character and the church bomb, but I'm excited to fine out!
