The Irrational
Mondays 10:00 PM on NBCThe Irrational Quotes
Trey: Stop, or I'll shoot her
Mercer: I just came to talk. I feel like what's happening here is my fault. I'd have gotten here sooner, but you know, there was so much snow.
Trey: Snow? It's not snowing.
Mercer: Sorry, Eddie. I stand corrected.
Trey: My name is Trey.
Rose: What is he doing?
Marisa: He's using absurdism, saying weird things to force Trey to correct him and ground himself in reality.
Given your guilty fidgeting, Keith's hostility, and Ted's inability to look away from you, I'm pretty sure you and Ted had an affair. Long term? You ended it. You and Keith stayed together, but it's still a source of tension in your marriage.
Mercer
Zero Sum bias is the misbelief that nonmaterial resources like love, respect, even good grades are finite. Such that if one person wins, then another one has to lose. The worst part about Zero-Sum bias is that it can make a situation where everyone could win into a cutthroat competition, making win-win into win-lose.
Mercer
Trey: Look, Mrs. Moore has worked at our house for as long as I can remember. Veronica and I practically grew up together. She may not be my sister, but she's still family.
Mercer: Pseudo-family bond.
Trey: Mr. Moore, sounds like my dad really hurt you, but let us help.
This retrospective framing. Let's say you go out to dinner, and it's amazing, the best meal of your life. Then someone tells you they served cat food. Now, your experience is ruined even though you thought it was fantastic at the time.
Mercer
Phoebe: The airline discovered the pilot had been in treatment for depression.
Mercer: Not depression. A depressive episode. There's a difference.
Our eyes and ears take in electrical signals, which our brains interpret based on our expectations. We don't see reality; we see our reality.
Mercer
Mercer: The truth is, everyone has an incentive to blame the pilot. That's because he's dead, and he can't defend himself.
Marisa: We've got some new evidence.
Jace: Hey, Alec. We've been going through the pilots, credit card, and bank statements. Are you familiar with the Mastery?
Mercer: They teach classes on how to be attractive to women. I've seen better advice on bathroom stalls.
Six million car accidents per year. The chances of dying while going to see a plane crash are 1000% greater than dying in one.
Mercer
Gene thought that he'd committed the perfect crime. It had all the elements of a perfect murder story. Pride. Revenge. A virtually invisible murder weapon, but couldn't stand the fact that no one knew about it. Some of the world's most notorious killers might not have ever gotten caught if it hadn't been for their fatal narcissism. But rarely do their victims get a chance to talk.
Professor Mercer
CJ: I need your help solving a murder.
Mercer: Oh yeah. Whose murder?
CJ: Mine.
Marisa: That ability you have to completely divorce emotion from reason is both why I married you and...
Mercer: ... why you're longer married to me.
