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Overview

For detailed information on plot for each season, refer to the respective tabs

Rachel Pirzad
Portrayed By Azita Ghanizada
RachelS2
First Seen Pilot
Last Seen God's Eye
Status Unknown
Gender Female
Age 24
Alpha Type Synesthete Synesthete


Rachel is an synesthete Alpha and member of Rosen's Team, who was a CIA linguist before joining Rosen's team. She's under constant pressure from overbearing parents that want her to settle down rather, and the downside of her ability — Sensory Overload — makes things difficult in social situations.

Events[]

Pre-season[]

Season One[]

Episode One:  Rachel Pirzad is first seen entering a dry cleaners business from the apartment above.  It is quickly suggested that it is her family's business when someone asks her where her Mom is.  She asks a man to hem a skirt an inch for her.  Another man says, "Any shorter it's a mini-skirt."  She calls the man "Papa".  As she is leaving the dry cleaners, she manages to listen in on her father saying that she couldn't get a husband with her "condition".  The DoD Alphas Initiative file on Pirzad diagnoses her with synesthesia, which means that she is able to enhance her senses.


Physical Appearances[]

Rachel is from an Afghan background. With a petite appearance she has been the love interest of a few characters. She possess dark brown eyes and hair and stands at 5 feet and 4 inches. 

Powers and Abilities[]

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Rachel identifying food ingredients

Rachel is a Synesthete. Her synesthesia allows her to enhance, or detract her natural senses. She can enhance her eyesight to see at microscopic levels, hear heartbeats from meters away, determine the chemical composition of objects by smell, dissect food ingredients by taste, and determine fabrics by touch. Paired with Rachel's wide knowledge of chemical compounds, micro-biologic structures, and food ingredients, she becomes the team's "walking crime lab", to her dismay. However, her ability may be one of the most useful in crime investigations, as she was able to solve many unexplained situations by using her ability. In the Pilot episode she was able to solve the mystery of how a man was shot from the inside of a building with no visible windows and a sealed door.

Rachel's ability only allows her to super-enhance one sense at a time. The more she enhances one particular sense, the less effective her other senses become. In some circumstances, she is able to completely shut down all other senses to avoid being stunned. For example she was the only person still coherent after Skylar Adams set off her stun device because she was able to "shut everything down" but her sense of taste.

Because of the nature of her abilities, Rachel can't stand the sight of germs. She's extremely hygienic to the point where she had to clean her office entirely before moving into it. It is also revealed that her powers had manifested at an early age, or even at birth because as a child it was very difficult for her to eat with her family because of her germaphobia. Rachel also has a hard time forming intimate relationships with other people (particularly other men/potential romantic interests) because she often looses control during times of great sexual drive or stimulation. In the episode Never Let Me Go Rachel showed difficulty with a kiss because the sensations she experiences are far more powerful than a typical human. Over time however, Rachel was able to control her ability enough to form a romantic relationship with John Bennett, an agent who worked with Rosen's Team. Controlling her ability enough to engage in sexual activity without "sensory overload".

Trivia[]

  • After yelling at her mother that she's moving out during exposure to anger-inducing pheromones, Rachel moves in with Nina (Anger Management)
  • Rachel has issues with assertiveness.
  • Rachel also has problems with intimacy, caused by her synesthesia.
  • Despite Rachel's ability being called, "synesthesia", (blended senses) she actually has hyperesthesia - (heightened senses). She also has synesthesia though as she can see smells.


Series Stars
David Strathairn as Lee Rosen Ryan Cartwright as Gary Bell Warren Christie as Cameron Hicks Azita Ghanizada as Rachel Pirzad Laura Mennell as Nina Theroux Malik Yoba as Bill Harken
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