The BEST episodes of The Irrational
Every episode of The Irrational ever, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of The Irrational!
Alec Mercer is a world-renowned professor of behavioral science who offers up his unique and unexpected approach to understanding human behavior to help solve an array of high-stakes cases involving governments, law enforcement and corporations.
#1 - The Overview Effect
Season 2 - Episode 16 - Aired 3/11/2025
With an astronaut trapped in space, Alec is tapped to evaluate whether the pair of astronauts assigned to rescue them—a married couple—can safely complete the mission, until an accident during a training exercise puts the mission at risk.
#2 - Reciprocity
Season 1 - Episode 11 - Aired 2/19/2024
Alec and Marisa are close to finding the culprit of the church bombing. Kylie gets an interview with the FBI, but is pulled into the investigation. Rose tracks down a witness. Phoebe and Rizwan make a discovery that sheds light on the truth.
#3 - Conversation Games
Season 2 - Episode 15 - Aired 2/25/2025
When Kylie and Marisa find evidence that a tech billionaire may be a serial killer, Alec quickly determines the only way to prove the killer's guilt is for Alec to extract a confession, which leads into a dangerous game of cat and mouse.
#4 - Suddenly, Alec
Season 2 - Episode 17 - Aired 3/18/2025
In order to solve an actor's murder, Alec and Rose must go undercover to infiltrate a community theater production of "Little Shop of Horrors," but joining the cast may put them right in the killer's crosshairs.
#5 - The Barnum Effect
Season 1 - Episode 3 - Aired 10/9/2023
After a passenger plane crashes into the Potomac River, suspicions focus immediately on the pilot. Professor Mercer and the team are asked to investigate the pilot’s personal motivations and piece together clues in the hopes of revealing the truth.
#6 - Straight From the Heart
Season 2 - Episode 12 - Aired 2/4/2025
Renee seeks Alec's help after she has a dream containing details about a murder that actually happened. The case grows more intriguing when they realize the victim was Renee's heart transplant donor. Marisa is surprised by a visitor from her past.
#7 - The Exchange
Season 2 - Episode 18 - Aired 3/25/2025
When Alec is recruited to assist with a multi-national prisoner exchange that has gone awry, he sees an opportunity to rescue a wrongfully imprisoned colleague. The case pulls Alec and Rose into the dangerous world of international espionage.
#8 - Bombshell
Season 1 - Episode 10 - Aired 2/12/2024
Alec and his team come face to face with the man who was put away for the church bombing 20 years earlier. Marisa and Kylie work together to save Alec, Phoebe and Rizwan. Jace makes a critical break in the case that changes everything.
#9 - The Milgram Experiment
Season 2 - Episode 14 - Aired 2/18/2025
Alec helps Rose when an attorney general is threatened by a scandalous deep fake video that puts lives in danger. The head of Rose's firm arrives from Europe and gets entangled in their case work, leading Alec to do an experiment.
#10 - Bad Blood
Season 2 - Episode 3 - Aired 10/22/2024
When a rising star on Wall Street is killed during her hockey game, Alec must determine if it was an accident or murder. Alex and Rose find themselves on opposite sides of the case as they try to get to the heart of the victim's cutthroat world.
#11 - Scorched Earth
Season 1 - Episode 8 - Aired 1/29/2024
Alec takes a case involving a young burn victim and arson that forces him to confront some trauma from his past. Phoebe and Rizwan compete for an important research grant.
#12 - Anatomy of a Fall
Season 2 - Episode 5 - Aired 11/12/2024
Simon's mother asks Alec to help stop a suicide contagion when a third student death strikes the campus. Alex asks Marisa to help when he thinks there might be more to the case. Phoebe struggles with her next career move.
#13 - Murder She Rode
Season 2 - Episode 13 - Aired 2/11/2025
After a champion horse throws and kills its rider, Alec and Phoebe are called up on to save the horse from being euthanized. Their investigation reveals what happened isn't at all as it appears.
#14 - Lucky Charms
Season 1 - Episode 5 - Aired 10/23/2023
Alec and the team head to Las Vegas to help Camille, a former colleague turned expert poker player who's been lured into danger. They must take some risks to solve a gambling mystery before Camille gets hurt. Marisa makes a significant discovery.
#15 - Dead Woman Walking
Season 1 - Episode 2 - Aired 10/2/2023
Professor Mercer is approached by old friend CJ, a prominent investigative journalist, who asks for his help after she’s poisoned with a rare and deadly nerve agent. With time running out, Mercer pieces together scant clues.
#16 - Cheating Life
Season 1 - Episode 9 - Aired 2/5/2024
After witnessing a hit and run during a friend's livestream, Alec and Kylie aim to prove it wasn't an accident. As Marisa and Jace continue their investigation into the church bombing, they set their sights on a prominent senator.
#17 - A Kick in the Teeth
Season 2 - Episode 2 - Aired 10/15/2024
The FBI needs Alec and his team to help stop a serial killer terrorizing the suburbs. As the bodies pile up, Alec helps the police uncover what's really driving this murderer to his choice of victims.
#18 - Formal Ties
Season 2 - Episode 4 - Aired 10/29/2024
Alec and Marisa attend the wedding of a mutual friend's daughter located inside a foreign embassy, where the father of the bride has been ensonced for diplomatic reasons. Their night off quickly turns into a murder investigation.
#19 - Now You Don't
Season 2 - Episode 10 - Aired 1/21/2025
Alec brings Rose on a date to a magic club he frequents where a friend is the headliner. The evening turns deadly when an audience volunteer is inexplicably killed onstage, and seemingly by magic.
#20 - Ghost Ship
Season 2 - Episode 11 - Aired 1/28/2025
Alec and Marisa investigate a mysterious ghost ship that has washed up on the shores of his hometown. This forces him to revisit his past and spend time with his father with whom he has a fraught and complicated relationship.
#21 - Pilot
Season 1 - Episode 1 - Aired 9/25/2023
Professor of behavioral science Alec Mercer is called upon to investigate the murder of a fashion influencer whose boyfriend, a decorated soldier and son of a senator, has confessed to the crime. Mercer suspects there’s more to the story than meets the eye.
#22 - Zero Sum
Season 1 - Episode 4 - Aired 10/16/2023
Alec and the team take on a kidnapping case at the request of a desperate father. Their investigation is hampered by a complicated family dynamic that slowly reveals everyone's hidden motivations.
#23 - Point and Shoot
Season 1 - Episode 6 - Aired 10/30/2023
Alec agrees to testify as an expert witness in a wrongful death trial for a friend of Kylie's. As he faces an old nemesis, he discovers competing emotions around an accidental shooting. Marisa reaches a decision about the bombing investigation.
#24 - Another Man's Treasure
Season 2 - Episode 9 - Aired 1/14/2025
Alec and Marisa investigate a museum heist, and a curator and his son might hold the key. The case raises ethical questions about the controversial practice of buying and selling cultural artifacts, which brings old memories for Marisa.
#25 - Collateral Damage
Season 2 - Episode 1 - Aired 10/8/2024
When Rose goes missing, Alec quickly discovers this is no ordinary kidnapping. While Rose plays a dangerous game to stall for time, Alec takes matters into his own hands to find her.