‘The Irrational’ Recap: ‘Reciprocity’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

THE IRRATIONAL -- "Reciprocity" Episode 111 -- Pictured: (l-r) Karen David as Rose Dinshaw, Jesse L. Martin as Alec Mercer, Maahra Hill as Marisa -- (Photo by: Sergei Bachlakov/NBC)

Caution: This article contains spoilers for the Season One Finale of ‘The Irrational’. To revisit the previous episode, click here.
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One of the hardest truths we will ever have to face in our lives, is that not everyone in positions of power are honest and good people. Some can and will be corrupt, and they can and will serve their own desires and wants because they were all about the power and never the people that got them there. And what makes that so tough, is that we are taught that this shouldn’t happen, that there are safeguards to keeping monsters and narcissists away from the top. But no system is evil-proof and that leaves us stunned and leaves us wondering… how do we fight back and retake the system? To which there are no easy answers, not when the monster in question has a great deal of power. 

But there are some actions we can take part in to regain agency and faith, which were explored in the season one finale of The Irrational on NBC. Shortly after a time to grieve took place. For ‘Reciprocity’ opened up at Jace’s funeral, allowing for everyone to say goodbye to this fallen hero, and shortly after Jace was laid to rest, did ugly answers about who took his life and who has been making life hell for Alec and Marisa come to light, courtesy of a deeply unsettling discovery. For Marisa found a bug in her home, and that meant someone in the FBI had access to the information she was assembling about the Mathias case and no one there could be trusted, and well… that also meant… now was the time to confront this and put a stop to it.

Because this madness was no longer tenable and peace had to be made, so with Rose’s help, Alec and his friends put on a full court press to uncover the real identity of Mathias and bring him to justice and what they uncovered was heartbreaking to say the least. Because it turned out that Senator Sanford was indeed Mathias and had a long history of cover ups and affairs and had no qualms doing dirty acts to keep his nose clean and keep him ahead, such as bombing a church to encourage a sympathy vote. Plus, he had old friends in high places to help him accomplish his disgusting cover ups, including Marisa’s mentor at the FBI, and… he wasn’t averse to handling his own dirty work. For he did take down that very mentor when it served the right purpose.

Which left everyone stunned. For the system had let a bad egg float through and that bad egg was thinking about rising to the top of the Federal Government, and for a time… no one knew what to do or how to handle a man with so much power, who was willing to do awful things to keep it. But Alec took a page from his own studies to ponder upon an answer. Wherein, if the monster in question felt as though they’d won and felt as though submission and a desire to go with the flow was their reward over those, they imparted power upon… that perhaps… one could get a confession. And Alec was right. For he played the pitiful fool/pawn and submitted. Which garnered Sanford’s trust, and with Kylie’s help, allowed for a broadcasted confession to take place. Which brought an end to Mathias and decades of pain.

For at long last… the darkest chapter in Alec’s life was closed, and he could properly move on. And he found quite the solution in bringing down those who do evil at the highest levels and that made… for one satisfying finale. One that brought together eleven wondrous episodes of storytelling in a manner that was perfect really, and it even opened up new chapters for the forthcoming second season of the show. Wherein Phoebe will embark on a life without the stresses she’s recently endured and where Alec and Marisa can forge a new path not bonded in dark trauma and where, they will both go above and beyond to save Alec’s new love. Courtesy of that juicy cliffhanger at the end of the story. But that really is the best news of all, that we know more adventures from this refreshing show are coming, and it will be interesting to see what lies ahead when season two gets underway. Until next year.

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