The newest episode of NBC’s The Irrational on Jan. 21 saw a fun and nerve-wracking story for Travina Springer’s Kylie Mercer, and the actress broke it down for PopCulture.com. In “Now You Don’t,” Kylie goes on a date, and while she has a great time, she doesn’t hear from said date again. She was left to figure out if she was ghosted or if something else happened, which led to her putting all of her energy into proving that she was not ghosted, which included using her FBI skills to track down her date and working with Marisa. Springer had much to say about the episode, including Kylie’s reaction to the whole situation. (Interview has been edited for length and clarity).
PopCulture: In this week’s episode, Kylie went on a date, and she doesn’t hear back, but she doesn’t really think anything of it until Marisa puts in her head that she’s been ghosted. What do you think was going through Kylie’s mind when that possibility came to light?
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Travina Springer: First of all, it’s so fun for Kylie and, I think, for the audience to see because everyone’s experienced being ghosted or, okay, maybe not everyone. But I think enough of us have. But I think for Kylie, she hadn’t even considered it. She had such a nice time with Joyce, and they really connected. So she really thought the whole idea was just [preposterous].
PC: It was fun to see how she wound up being a little obsessed with trying to find out what actually happened to Joyce. And she still wasn’t believing that she was being ghosted. She even was going all FBI over it. What was it like playing this side of her? Mixing personal with professional?
Springer: It was interesting. We got to see Kylie use the privilege of having the access she had doing her work to, I guess you’re right, to solve this personal issue. But I think it really just reflects what a lot of people do when they go out with someone or have a connection with someone, and then they’re in touch. Immediately, people rationalize that something is wrong, that clearly they’re in an emergency, a car accident, versus the fact that maybe the person’s just not that into you and they have left you in the dust. So I think for Kylie, she just couldn’t fathom it. And I think it’s kind of fun to see her go all guns blazing.

PC: The storyline also saw Kylie and Marisa working together, and even though it isn’t really anything new, it was still nice to see. Is there any particular storyline that you would want for them in the future?
Springer: Oh, that’s great. I love doing things with Maahra Hill. She’s just such a fun actress to play with, and we have fun on and off camera. So whenever the writers write things with us together, we just have a blast. I would love to see Marisa in non-work mode. I would love to see Marisa, like, three drinks in. I would love to see them either take a girl’s trip or to just be at the house and really connecting and not talking about work and not talking about a guy and just showing up talking to each other like sisters do. I think those things would be really fun to do.
PC: Luckily, it was revealed that Kylie was not actually ghosted and her date’s phone was just confiscated at the Washington Monument. If she didn’t go all FBI, what do you think would have happened had she just let it go?
Springer: That’s a good question. I think if Kylie had let it go, she probably would have kept the fantasy that something happened to this person, and that’s why she ghosted. Like, she’s been kidnapped. Maybe. I don’t know. She’d probably be delusional like that. Or, on the other hand, she might have gone online because she’s a cyber wiz. She’s a great hacker, so she probably would have done something like that, gotten to the bottom of it, hacked the girl’s phone, hacked her computer, proved a point, gone off on her for ghosting her, and then blocked her on all accounts. That’s what would’ve happened.

PC: She was able to go on another date with Joyce, who admitted to initially having second thoughts because of her last relationship, which was why she wasn’t responding. What can you tease about where this relationship goes from here?
Springer: I think it was really beautifully written that the writers gave Kylie an opportunity for hope and maybe at the beginning of something that could develop into something else. And I think it’s really nice to see this season that Kylie is really desiring a deep connection with someone romantically, and I really like that she wasn’t ghosted and that this person was just having a fear, vulnerable moment of fearing what could happen once the relationship continues.
Sometimes, people can get scared to go further once they start catching feelings. So, I think it’s a hopeful ending, and I hope that the audience will get to see more of that. And also, I think it was nice to see Kylie not be in work mode and be a little sexy in her house and see that she can still rock a look with no lashes and no lipstick.
PC: Kind of going off of that, what else would you wanna explore with Kylie for the rest of the season?
Springer: I am hopeful for you guys to see Kylie coming into her own and showing the skill set that she has beyond the computer. She’s very, very good at that and being able to help Alec and Marisa and Rose solve cases when it comes to the cybersecurity and the hacking and problem solving with that in that way, but she’s so much more than that, and I’m really excited for audiences to see what else she brings to the table and what else is possible. And for Kylie to really start making some intentional choices about what her next needs are.
New episodes of The Irrational air on Tuesdays at 10 p.m. ET on NBC.