The Irrational - Another Man's Treasure
The case of the week involves someone with a good understanding of psychology and how to manipulate crowds involved in a series of art thefts under the guise of political activism which also gets played out in specific characters fighting for the return of stolen artifacts back to their home country some of who also get manipulated by the mastermind. There are some interesting layers to the case including the FBI dealing with someone using Alec's (Jesse L. Martin) kind of knowledge against them. Given how well the mystery perpetrator does at the job, I wish they hadn't wasted the premise on a one-off episode and perhaps teased the possibility of a more morally flexible version of the professor working for the other side popping up causing problems multiple times over the course of the season.
Falling firmly into the trope of shoehorning a backstory for a character never mentioned until this point in the series, the B-story fills time with Marisa (Maahra Hill) obsessing over the baby she gave over years ago which is now all she can think about. Given that I wanted less of Marisa and the FBI on the show this is pretty far in the wrong direction for my tastes, and that also doesn't leave time for Rose (Karen David) this week. One last note, the show opens with a lecture on the professor seemingly pointing out a specific student in the class (who I expected to be working for the thieves given the awkward spotlight). Since he wasn't part of the larger story, the scene feels even more out of place. Perhaps we'll see a follow up in the weeks to come.
- Title: The Irrational - Another Man's Treasure
- IMDb: link
