Critic’s Rating: 4 / 5.0
4
Was I the only one who guessed the solution to this magical mystery by looking in the credits?
The Irrational Season 2 Episode 10 offered one of the most lighthearted murder mysteries yet, but the guest list gave it away.
Still, this story was pure fun, even if the last ten minutes were on the silly side.
Some Of The Magic Tricks Were Unbelievable, But That’s Okay
Alec made a big deal out of how magic simply uses neuroscientific principles, such as distracting the audience’s attention, which made sense.
The magic that Charles used to try to cover his tracks, however, went beyond that.
I enjoyed it more than the standard chases we get on procedurals such as FBI, but I would have rather that he was caught at the end without that silliness.
I didn’t think that it was realistic that the magic box went up in purple smoke to interfere with the police investigation, and Charles’ attempt to escape was ridiculous.
The case itself was a lot of fun, though.
Even if the trailer hadn’t shown it, I knew something bad had to happen at the magic show, or there’d be no point to the episode. But this was the one time I didn’t mind a long cold open.
The magicians who interacted with Alec and Rose were highly entertaining, and it wasn’t clear who would end up being the victim until it happened.
In some ways, it would have been a more interesting case if Helene herself had been killed during the show, though I guess that wouldn’t make sense given how it was done.
Alec would have wanted to avenge his friend’s death, and it would have been logical for a competitor to want to eliminate her.
The Set-Up On The Irrational Season 2 Episode 10 Was Compelling Despite Some Flaws
I was surprised that Helene chose a random person from the audience for this trick. You’d think that for something like this, she’d want to have a plant in the audience who completely understood how the box worked and what they were supposed to do.
Her “random” choice of Adelaide helped illustrate Alec’s point about the architecture of choice, so it would have lost something if she’d been a plant.
Still, there’s no guarantee an audience member you’ve never met before will understand how to do this type of trick. Someone could easily ruin it by making noise while standing outside the back of the box or making themselves seen too soon.
Tricks that use specialized equipment are far different from simple card tricks, where the volunteer doesn’t have to do anything special.
If you overlook the implausibility of choosing a random person, the setup was solid, with one exception.
Smoke or no smoke, I’d think someone would have heard or seen something if a guy sneaked onto the stage, stabbed someone, and left. At the very least, Adelaide should have screamed.
It would have made more sense to plant something outside where the box would leave the volunteer so that she was stabbed as she spun around, without the killer having to be physically present.
Either way, this was the perfect way to frame Helena and ruin her career, though it wasn’t clear that the cops really had enough to arrest her after their preliminary investigation.
They didn’t know about Helena’s potential motive until later, and all they had was a prop that someone destroyed before they could check it out. The fact that she was on stage with the victim was circumstantial.
Yet somehow, she was behind bars the second after it happened.
That raised the stakes and gave Alec additional motivation to investigate — not that he ever needed any — but it seemed to come out of nowhere unless I missed something.
Why It Was So Obvious That Charles Did It
During the Golden Age of cozy mysteries, the joke was that if someone mostly known for playing good guys was listed as a guest star in the opening credits, they probably did it.
Well, Charles Shaughnessy is doubly known for good guys. He has played Days of Our Lives’ Shane Donovan on and off for about 40 years, and he has played Mr. Sheffield on the 1990s sitcom The Nanny.
So as soon as I saw his name in the credits, I began wondering whether he was going to turn out to be the villain, and when he first appeared on screen, I had a feeling I was right.
I wouldn’t have guessed he was a sexual predator who wanted to silence Adelaide because she was about to expose him, but the kindly mentor persona he put on seemed to make it even more clear he wasn’t who he claimed to be.
Maybe I was subconsciously picking up on the fact that he was able to open the magic box with his supposedly arthritic fingers, but I think it was probably more that I recognized his name in the credits.
Plus, guest stars with British accents turn out to be bad guys on TV more often than not.
Kylie’s Silly Storyline Mirrored Alec And Rose’s Relationship
I usually enjoy Kylie’s subplots, but this one was ridiculous. I mean, great that she recovered a bunch of stolen phones, but I was with Marisa on this.
The FBI has better things to do than find a missing phone, and it definitely isn’t in the business of finding dating partners who have suddenly gone silent.
I want Kyle to be happy, but that would turn me off big time. I’d feel like someone who went to those extremes because I hadn’t called in a few days might be somewhat unstable.
Still, I’m glad the story had a happy ending and that Kylie and Joyce could talk through Joyce’s insecurities.
Although Kylie’s insistence on tracking down Joyce (and later her phone) was really over-the-top, in some way, her relationship mirrored Alec and Rose’s.
Rose has often been hesitant to commit to Alec because of her trauma, and he’s had to talk her into taking a risk on him.
Similarly, Joyce got cold feet and almost ran away from Kylie before her phone disappeared.
I like that both couples can talk through these things. That’s rare on television, where drama often springs from misunderstandings and unnecessary jealousy.
I’m also glad that Alec and Kylie are both getting happy endings to their relationships so far. Alec especially needs that after all the trauma he’s been through.
I knew that he didn’t want to remove his shirt because of his scars. It’s a very different situation, but he was acting similarly to Charlie in Heartstopper, who never wanted to take off his shirt because of his body dysmorphia.
Anyway, Rose’s response to his reluctance to take off his shirt was so sweet. I was neutral on this couple before, but now I’m shipping them hard.
Over to you, The Irrational fanatics.
What did you think of The Irrational Season 2 Episode 10? Did you solve the mystery before Alec did?
Vote in our poll to rate the episode, and then hit the comments with your thoughts.
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Article by:Source: Jack Ori
