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What Happened on The Irrational Episode 6? Writer Kirk Moore Breaks It Down
Alec Mercer is in court as an expert witness after a police raid kills a friend of his sister Kylie on the latest episode of The Irrational.
Alec Mercer (Jesse L. Martin) may be sidelined in his own church bombing investigation, but he finds himself at the center of a personal case for his sister (Travina Springer) on the latest episode of The Irrational.
Co-executive producer and writer Kirk Moore spoke with NBC Insider about the episode’s approach and the “deepening” of Alec and Kylie Mercer’s relationship.
What is The Irrational Episode 6 "Point and Shoot" about?
Episode 6 of The Irrational brings Alec in a new environment as he testifies in a civil trial as an expert witness after a police raid killed Kylie’s friend Joshua Hill Jones.
“You would be surprised how many raids gone wrong there are like across the country,” Moore told NBC Insider.
Jones was the husband of Kylie’s close friend Mason. He was shot and killed by a tactical unit called the Viper Squad. She asked Alec to take a look at list of expert witnesses they have lined up for the case, but Alec ended up taking up the job himself after seeing who they were up against.
RELATED: How The Irrational's Travina Springer Brings a "Creative" Energy to Her Character Kylie
Who plays Dustin Atwood in Episode 6 of The Irrational?
Audiences might recognize the expert witness working against Mercer in the wrongful death lawsuit. Dr. Dustin Atwood is played by former The Cosby Show star Malcom-Jamal Warner, who played Theo Huxtable. He’s also guest starred on USA Network’s Suits as a prison counselor.
Mercer describes Atwood as having dual PhDs in experimental psychology and neuroscience with “morals of a jackal,” during the episode. He decides he’d have to go toe to toe with Atwood as an expert witness for Mason to have a better chance with the jury during the civil trial.
"We have sort of these two men who are at the top of their game in their industry and their particular profession, but at the same time to completely different sides of the law,” Moore said of the Atwood and Mercer.
MSNBC anchor Joy Reid makes a cameo hosting the two characters debating the case on her show. Reid was a specific choice the writers wanted for that scene, Moore said.
"We wanted somebody that we felt reflected like who these particular men would talk to,” Moore said. "We were sort of very pointed in who we wanted.”
For the writers, they thought it would be the perfect time in the show to dive deeper into Kylie’s character and have audiences get to the know her better, Moore said.
“In a case like this where she sort of felt hopeless, we wanted to sort of mirror that with Alec’s frustrations about what was going on within his own case, the church bombing,” Moore said.
Moore’s father is a retired police officer and their conversations about policing were part of what informed his writing.
“A lot of times we don’t necessarily agree," Moore said. “The episode was an interesting way to sort of talk about bias and talk about profiling.”
The episode shows how bias and a broken legal system could cause a raid to go wrong, according to Moore.
“I think that part of the fun of the show is learning a lot of the psychological and behavioral techniques that you know that Alec uses when solving cases or making decisions,” Moore said. “For me, I just hope that people are really enjoying getting to know these characters and also just getting to know a different way to look at crime and a different way to look at behavior.”
Watch The Irrational Mondays at 10/9c on NBC and the next day on Peacock.
