Warning: spoilers ahead for the penultimate episode of The Irrational Season 1, called "Bombshell."
Only one episode is left of The Irrational's first season on NBC, and it's clear that the show has a lot to resolve before the wait begins for Season 2. Wes Banning escaped from prison after an attempt on his life by the elusive Mathias, and a hostage situation involving Alec, Phoebe, and Rizwan turned into their best chance yet at identifying the mastermind behind the deadly bombing that left Alec scarred. While that didn't quite go according to plan, it did drop what I think is a major clue about the identity of Mathias as somebody we already know in Season 1, to be revealed in next week's finale in the 2024 TV schedule.
The clue came during the hostage situation at Alec's office, when Wes Banning was still holding him and his assistants hostage while Marissa coordinated a potential rescue from outside. Alec was trying to get through to Banning after the bomb-maker revealed that Mathias was coercing him by threatening his daughter Dahlia. As if knowing what was going on, none other than Mathias himself called the phone in Alec's office to say that he was going to kill Dahlia if Benning was still alive in under 40 minutes.
And it's not the threat so much as the call itself that immediately convinced me that Mathias is somebody we already know. The caller didn't use his own voice, or a voice garbled by technology into sounding robotic. No, the caller somehow cloned Banning's voice, so it sounded like Banning was threatening himself. Why would The Irrational go to the trouble of hiding Mathias' voice if it wasn't a voice that viewers would recognize and use to identify him? If Mathias was a stranger, why would it matter if we heard his real voice?
I'll admit that this clue is open to interpretation rather than a solid fact of the case, but Mathias would have known that Alec would almost certainly be listening in on the call. To me, that suggests a voice that Alec as well as viewers would recognize, and what character deeply involved in the case just so happened to be absent from the hostage situation entirely?
Yes, I'm back on the Jace train, and not just because Marisa's concern for Alec was a touching look into their relationship. I was suspicious of Jace as far back as Episode 5, when it seemed like somebody from within the FBI must have leaked info that led to the death of a witness who could have been key to identifying the mastermind. (Episode 5 is available streaming with a Peacock Premium subscription.) Admittedly, subsequent episodes pushed me to think better of Jace, but "Bombshell" has me suspicious all over again.
And no, it's not lost on me that "Bombshell" ended with Jace seemingly shot in the chest on the floor of Marisa's home, with the credits rolling without confirming if he lived or died. If the finale opens with the reveal that he died, then the Jace half of my theory is going to fall apart very quickly. Until that happens, though, I'm not going to rule out Jace either arranging his own injury or just being another pawn to the actual mastermind.
Whether or not Jace is exonerated of my suspicions in the finale, I do think that the events of the penultimate episode point toward the mastermind as somebody whose voice we'll recognize. For now, take a look at the promo for the Season 1 finale:
Tune in to NBC on Monday, February 19 at 10 p.m. ET for the Season 1 finale of The Irrational. The creator previously opened up about ending the first season "the way we want to," which hopefully means answers for fans before the final credits roll! I certainly can't wait for the episode, whether or not any part of my theory is correct.