When Rose gets a request to see what a friend’s partner is up to, she and Alec find themselves in the middle of a community theater murder in The Irrational season 2, episode 17. It’s time to look at the events of the episode, and who the murderer was.
Caution: This post contains SPOILERS for The Irrational season 2, episode 17.
Rose’s friend asks her for help to find out what his soon-to-be-husband is about, but it takes a turn when it looks like it’s just a community theater group. Of course, there are then questions about why Malcolm would change his name for the theater group, and what happened to the original lead for the production of Little Shop of Horrors.
Why hide a community theater hobby in The Irrational season 2, episode 17?
The big question for Rose and Alec is why Malcolm would not tell his partner about the community theater. Why would anyone want to hide that part of them from someone they’re marrying? It makes no sense, but it does bring up the topic of connection and feeling of acceptance.
The whole situation takes a turn when Rose overheads a conversation from a man called Edgar, who happens to be Malcolm. There is some sort of suspicion conversation happening, and then Rose finds the missing Desmond. He turns up dead in a hole, and so the murder investigation starts.
It’s much bigger than a normal murder investigation, though. When Alec goes through Desmond’s things, he finds diamonds, and this pulls Marisa into the case. Those diamonds were part of a heist, and there’s someone serving time in federal prison who can share who got away with the diamonds. After some negotiation, Marisa learns that Desmond wasn’t the guy. A man called Fabian Banks was.
Well, Fabian Banks is Edgar, who is also Malcolm. What is this man up to?
It’s definitely not what you think in The Irrational
We’re so used to hearing the line “it’s not what you think” that it loses its meaning. Well, in this case, it really isn’t what anyone would think.
It turns out that Malcolm is in witness protection. While it certainly didn’t make sense that he would put himself back into acting, Malcolm explains that he thought since six years had passed that it would be okay. Alec also pulls up the fact that it’s “identity theory,” and I can understand that. We connect with who we believe we are based on our jobs and our interests.
Ashok initially struggles with Malcolm’s big reveal, feeling like he has been lied to for the whole relationship. I can totally understand that, but at the same time, it’s witness protection. That new identity becomes your identity and your life. I have a feeling there’s hope for that.
The focus of The Irrational season 2, episode 17 has to be on figuring out who killed Desmond. It turned out that Des was going to sell the diamonds to help Malcolm save the theater and give Des a cut. Malcolm believed Des had ran with the diamonds, so who else knew or had some sort of hatred for Desmond? Well, it turned out that a lot of people hated him, which doesn’t help to find out who killed him.
Alec must perform the production on opening night
The show must go on, but the community theater needs to find a new lead. That lead is Alec! The poor guy doesn’t want to do it, but he needs to get to the bottom of the case, so he goes through with it. This puts Alec’s life on the line. Is it possible that someone killed Des to get the role? That’s the way it appears.
Alec gets the same idea and goes up to the lighting guy who wanted the role. Well, he didn’t kill Des, so it’s back to the drawing board on figuring out who did it and even when the murder happened. This isn’t good news for Alec as it means he need to do the play on opening night. I have enjoyed seeing Rose’s personality shine through more, as well as her ability to make up a persona on the spot as a spy. What’s even better is seeing how Rose and Alec connect while they work together.
There’s also a beautiful moment between Alec and Rose when Rose finds out that Alec is going through with the laser therapy for his scars. He opens up about how Marisa spent most of their relationship being a caregiver to Alec after his time in hospital, and he doesn’t want that for Rose. This is what partnership is, though. It’s the whole “for better or for worse” in marriage vows, and while Alec and Rose haven’t talked about that yet, it’s clear that they have each other’s backs.
Opening night brings the reveal of who was available on the dress rehearsal to kill Desmond. It was Mia, the theater owner, who opted to layer her costumes to “make it easier” for changes between scenes. This gave her time to kill Desmond, which would help her get rid of the community theater. It turned out that the theater wasn’t something she wanted, but her grandfather’s will made it clear that she couldn’t sell unless the theater wasn’t profitable. When Desmond told her that he had the money to save her theater, there was an argument and Mia pushed Desmond, causing him to hit his head.
Had it been left like that, it would have been an accident. Her dragging the body to the hole led to her having a part in it. Then her trying to kill Alec to make it look like the theater was cursed added a charge on top of that.
How to continue the show in The Irrational
With the arrest, it means Mia isn’t there to play Audrey. Well, the show has an Audrey to help! Remember that Rose shared that she played Audrey in a college production, and she doesn’t even need to be asked to jump into costume and do the performance.
So, I’m guessing Alec and Rose will remain part of the community theater now? What is great at the end is that Ashok turns up to watch Malcolm, and he’s there at the very end to make it clear that their wedding will still happen. They can deal with whatever is in Malcolm’s past together.
The Irrational season 2, episode 17 ends with Rose getting some bad news. She has a sort of new case and it involves someone from her past. Her husband!
I didn’t see that one coming, although I feel like I should have. Now bring me the next episode of The Irrational!
The Irrational season 2 airs on Tuesdays at 10/9c on NBC.
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