Warning: spoilers ahead for Episode 2 of The Irrational, called “Dead Woman Walking.”
The Irrational debuted in the 2023 TV schedule to bring Law & Order and The Flash alum Jesse L. Martin back to primetime, and the pilot set up what Alec Mercer is capable of as a behavioral science professor on top of an ongoing mystery about his past. In “Dead Woman Walking,” Alec had somebody else’s mystery to solve, with a ticking clock before an old friend died from polonium poisoning. In the process, he ended up in a life-or-death sequence with bullets flying and nowhere to run. Episode director Jesse Warn spoke with CinemaBlend about what went down, and how much Martin did.
Alec wound up in a deadly situation in “Dead Woman Walking” when his mission to find the hitman who poisoned CJ led him onto a dark dock with backup still fifteen minutes away. He decided to investigate despite the danger, and paid for it when the man he was searching for was shot dead, and then the shooter turned on Alec. He had to jump for cover, and then dive into the water to survive. Jesse Warn, who had previously worked with Jesse L. Martin when directing The Flash, had nothing but praise for the actor:
I think Jesse Martin [is] spectacular. After lots of experience in this genre, and just generally, he was just all over his character. He was just so into it, and just connected to the material.
Given that it took Jesse L. Martin all of one line in the pilot to convince me that The Irrational would be must-see this fall, it’s not hard to believe that he was “spectacular” to work with behind the scenes! Martin and the director weren’t exactly on a warm and cozy enclosed set for the harrowing marina sequence, but an outdoor location. I asked Jesse Warn about filming Alec’s action sequence, he explained:
It was on location and I can testify that it was very cold. Cold and rainy, but I think [with] those kinds of things, someone like Jesse can really use them as an advantage. And we all did, because when you read a scene and then you’re down there and you’re really in the elements, it really helps to bring it to life and there’s less for people to imagine. Instead, they’re right there and they’re really in that world. All of us really embraced it and just kind of took it as an opportunity to just be in the world and have a lot of fun with that sequence.
If anything, the unpleasant weather helped to sell that Alec was heading into a very dangerous situation, and might have been better off waiting for Marisa and the FBI. Filming was of course safe for the star, but TV magic certainly sold the peril for Jesse L. Martin’s character. Part of that was the overhead shot that really showed how Alec was pinned down by the shooter with nowhere to run, and the director explained how he was able to get that shot:
What was interesting about the overhead shot [was] we had to do that on a drone. In different circumstances, we might use a crane or something, but in this particular case, because we were down on the dock, there was very limited space and there were obviously weight issues and all the various sort of safety precautions you need to take. So the only way we can shoot some of that stuff was with a drone. We had a lot of fun.
The team behind the scenes at The Irrational may have had a lot of fun, but Alec certainly wasn’t enjoying the experience. Out of options and unable to leave the way he came, the professor ran to the end of the dock and dove into the dark water. Jesse Warn explained the safe way that they found to film that sequence, and it involved a stunt that Jesse L. Martin couldn’t do himself as the star of the show. I asked about the dive into the water after Warn mentioned safety precautions, and the director shared:
Well, we used a double for sure. Having said that, Jesse very much mixed it up and was jumping around himself. But for some of those sequences and obviously for the run off the pier and the jump into the water at the end, we used a double.
The actor was able (and allowed) to jump around when Alec was still on the dock, which enabled the camera to catch his expressions instead of hiding the double. The dive into dark water at night was work for a double, however! When I commented that of course they weren’t going to send TV star Jesse L. Martin diving into darkness in Episode 2 of a new show, the director laughed and confirmed:
No! Absolutely not. Absolutely not. I wouldn’t do that to him.
The Irrational is Jesse L. Martin’s return to NBC after spending the better part of a decade on The CW as part of The Flash. While coming back to his former network wasn’t to join the Law & Order revival as fans of that series might have hoped, I’d say that the show would be an intriguing new primetime option even if the fall wasn’t lighter than usual on scripted shows.
If you’ve missed out on The Irrational so far, you can catch up with episodes streaming via a Peacock Premium subscription. New episodes – which may or may not involve less danger for Alec than “Dead Woman Walking – will air on NBC on Mondays at 10 p.m. ET, following The Voice‘s very first season without Blake Shelton as a Coach.