THE IRRATIONAL Post-Mortem: Arika Lisanne Mittman on the Bombing Mystery Resolution and Season 2

[Warning: This post contains spoilers for the Monday, February 19 season finale of THE IRRATIONAL.]

Alec (Jesse L. Martin) finally got answers (and a bit of closure) on the Monday, February 19 season finale of THE IRRATIONAL.

After struggling with the mystery behind the church bombing that injured Alec and killed others, the brutal murder of Jace (Brian King)—in Marisa’s (Maahra Hill) home—ended up being a big push forward in figuring out the intricacies behind the long mystery. 

Vitally, Alec and Marisa realized a few key facts: Jace let someone into Marisa’s house, so his killer was likely someone he knew. Additionally, whoever was known as Mathias (the mysterious figure who threatened Wes, the church bomber, and was likely working with Sanford to cover things up) knew real information; it was likely either someone with close ties to the FBI or an agent themselves.

The team put together that Sanford (James Tupper) saved Mathias’ life, and therefore the person was indebted to the politician…and a look at Sanford’s combat group photo led Marisa to realize their Mathias was actually Bob (Garry Chalk), the FBI head of intelligence—and Marisa’s mentor.

Alec and Marisa tried to confront Bob, but Sanford got ahead of things and shot his accomplice, claiming that Bob had engineered everything. 

Though it looked like Sanford was going to get away with everything, Alec had one more trick up his sleeve: He went to Sanford, who was about to announce his presidential run, and conceded; he would stop looking into the church bombing as long as the people he cared about could remain safe.

There is one problem though: Alec says there’s rumblings that a member of the politician’s team—who was killed in the bombing—had a close encounter with Sanford at a fundraiser two days before the bombing; Alec claimed he wanted to know how to spin that, if push came to shove. At first, Sanford claimed he saved her life, but then he acknowledged he had accidentally killed her. Alec then revealed the press conference had started—Sanford’s mic was already on and the reporters outside heard everything.

With Sanford finally accountable for his crimes, the team started to move on…until there was a jump to six weeks later, and Rose (Karen David) was abducted.

What comes next? THE IRRATIONAL creator Arika Lisanne Mittman shares a little bit of insight into what’s to come in season 2…

Season 1 had the throughline of the church bombing mystery. Now that it’s resolved, are you planning a new mystery for season 2? Or will it be more standalone/case of the week?
We’re still in the early process of breaking season 2, so I can’t fully answer that question for you yet. But I can say that it will definitely impact all the characters; having the answers will impact the characters and change how they approach things. I mean, this is something that’s been hanging over both Alec and Marisa’s head for a very long time. And going forward, knowing those answers, gives them a different perspective. And it will definitely change the way they approach things in the future.

Sanford was caught in a very, very public way. How is that impacting Alec’s career in season 2?
That’s a really interesting question. I would say wait and see, because we’re really in the early stages of building season 2. But Alec has always been a little bit of a public figure and will continue to be that. We won’t be making him so public that he can’t go undercover for cases.

Marisa lost a lot in the final episodes: Not only was Jace killed, but she lost the idea of who Bob was to her. (In addition to him literally dying.) What do these different losses do to her going forward? 
Well, it’s definitely something that’s going to impact Marisa going forward. It’s definitely going to impact the way she approaches any relationship in the future, for sure, because, yeah, she has just experienced an enormous break of trust, as well as a tragedy. I can’t say too much about what we’re doing in season 2…but I will say that obviously having those things happen will definitely be something that impacts her character.

Phoebe (Molly Kunz) decides to take a different job. What can you say about her involvement in season 2 and what that means for the show and the team going forward?
I will say, first of all, Molly is definitely coming back. There are definitely a lot more stories to tell and she will still be an integral part of the series in season 2.

There was a tease the team will need to find a new #2. Are we going to come back to a new person in season 2 due to the six-week time jump or will that search be a part of the upcoming episodes?
It’s not something we have missed in the six-week time jump. So we will get to see that happen in real-time.

Looking to that jump forward, from what you can share, will season 2 pick up in the aftermath of Rose’s abduction? Or is there another time jump in store? 
Without giving too much away, I will say we will be picking up pretty quickly after the finale. It’s part of the reason we built in that six-week time jump, so that we are not on the heels of Jace’s death. We are not right on the heels of those events of the finale. But we are right on the heels of the Rose event.

We’ve seen Alec really have to deal with people close to him being targeted, and he’s gone through immense trauma in his life, too. What can you preview about how he’ll handle someone he cares about in this kind of jeopardy?
Well, it’s definitely going to have a big impact. It’s definitely going to have a big impact on Alec. We are definitely going to have to see Alec deal with a case that’s very, very personal to him very quickly.

Kylie (Travina Springer) is now working with the FBI. How will that change her role on the show in season 2?
She’ll be doing both. She will still be in her capacity as Alec’s confidant, roommate, sister; all of that wonderful dynamic between them. We never want to lose that, ever. So that will stay alive. 

But, yeah, we love Travina and we love the character of Kylie, and we wanted to give her more to do—not have her chained to the apartment. And also to give her some stories with Marisa, because we think the two of them play really well together. We really liked the idea of them working cases together and really giving Kylie more to do. 

Also, from a character-based standpoint, having to grapple with the idea of working for law enforcement. That’s definitely not something that she ever imagined…she has a little bit of a contentious relationship with law enforcement; a complicated relationship, for sure. And so seeing her sort of be on the side of that, I thought it was going to be really interesting going forward.

To dig a bit deeper into Marisa and Kylie, that relationship has been one of the lovely surprises of season 1. What else are you looking to explore with them in season 2 that we haven’t seen yet?
I think they’re finding a new dynamic. They weren’t in the first few episodes together because of that estrangement that is caused by the divorce: You have these two characters who had a great relationship and that was impacted by something that really had nothing to do with their relationship—but it inevitably does, right? Because Alec and Marisa [were] getting divorced, Kylie’s put in the middle of that. Then we saw in episode 7 them realizing, hey, we don’t want to lose the relationship that we have just because of this divorce. And so I definitely want to see more of them redefining their relationship and finding a new way to be friends, even though they’re not sisters-in-law anymore.

THE IRRATIONAL, Mondays, 10/9c, NBC

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