It’s a battle for control of the world, or at least that’s how the lawyer (played by Elijah Wood) explains the situation in the official trailer for Ready or Not 2: Here I Come. The official trailer reveals the sequel’s going to be just as bloody as the original 2019 horror film.
Samara Weaving returns to star as Grace and Kathryn Newton joins her as Grace’s sister, Faith. The horror sequel also stars Sarah Michelle Gellar, Shawn Hatosy, Néstor Carbonell, David Cronenberg, Kevin Durand, Olivia Cheng, Varun Saranga, and Daniel Beirne.
“Moments after surviving an all-out attack from the Le Domas family, Grace discovers she’s reached the next level of the nightmarish game—and this time with her estranged sister, Faith, at her side,” reads Paramount’s synopsis. “Grace has one chance to survive, keep her sister alive, and claim the High Seat of the Council that controls the world. Four rival families are hunting her for the throne, and whoever wins rules it all.”
Ready or Not 2: Here I Come opens in theaters on March 20, 2026.
Ready or Not‘s writers Guy Busick and R. Christopher Murphy wrote the sequel. The original film’s directors, Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, are also back at the helm. Producers include Tripp Vinson, James Vanderbilt, William Sherak, and Bradley J. Fischer.
NBC’s new trailer for the half-hour comedy The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins shows off a big-name guest star from the music world. Grammy winner Megan Thee Stallion will be popping in as Denise, “a recently divorced mom who strikes up a flirtation with Arthur Tobin (Daniel Radcliffe).”
Tracy Morgan leads the cast in the titular role. Additional season one regulars include Erika Alexander, Bobby Moynihan, Precious Way, and Jalyn Hall. Heidi Gardner, Ronny Chieng, Anna Camp, and Craig Robinson will guest star.
“Disgraced former football star Reggie Dinkins (Morgan) is on a mission to rehabilitate his image with the help of award-winning filmmaker Arthur Tobin (Radcliffe). In order to earn back the admiration of his fans and the respect of his family, Reggie will also have to confront the ghosts of his past,” reads NBC’s synopsis.
Daniel Radcliffe and Megan Thee Stallion in ‘The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins’ (Photo by: Hot Girl Productions / Courtesy of NBC)
The 10-episode season had an early premiere after the Rams and Bears playoff game. It will settle into its normal Mondays at 8:30pm ET/PT on Mondays, beginning on February 23, 2026.
Robert Carlock and Sam Means created the series, write, and serve as showrunners. Carlock, Means, Tina Fey, Tracy Morgan, Eric Gurian, and David Miner are executive producers. The comedy’s produced by Universal Television, Little Stranger, Inc., 3 Arts Entertainment, Bevel Gears, Means Ends Production, and Streetlife Productions, Inc.
Scott Wolf continues his guest-starring role on Fox’s Doc with season two, episode 15. “Trust.” Episode 15 will air on Tuesday, February 10, 2026 at 9pm ET/PT.
“Trust” Plot: While navigating the fallout from Katie’s secret, Amy treats a critically ill patient with a dark one of her own. As Gina and Jake evaluate a world-class poker player, searching for the source of what may be a mental disorder, Jake is forced to hide the truth from Amy about Rachel’s health scare. Sonya and TJ investigate their theory behind Joan’s frequent absences. And Richard returns with a trick up his sleeve.
Molly Parker stars as Dr. Amy Larsen, Omar Metwally plays Dr. Michael Hamda, Felicity Huffman is Dr. Joan Ridley, Amirah Vann is Dr. Gina Walker, and Charlotte Fountain-Jardim plays Katie Hamda. Jon Ecker is Dr. Jake Heller and Anya Banerjee plays Dr. Sonya Maitra.
“Inspired by a true story and based on the hit eponymous Italian drama series, Doc begins its second season of the life-affirming medical drama following the heartbreak and victories of hard-charging, brilliant physician DR. AMY LARSEN (Parker) as she rebuilds her life after a car crash erased eight years of her memory. This season, Amy will continue to confront hard truths about her missing years, work to repair fractured relationships and seek to reconcile the person she used to be with the one everyone else has come to know.
Determined to get her memory back and piece together who she really is, Amy’s goal is to become the doctor she used to be in those missing years and to eventually, once again, be Chief of Internal Medicine. In the interim, her ex-husband/Westside Hospital’s Chief Medical Officer, DR. MICHAEL HAMDA (Metwally) fills the position with Amy’s former mentor and friend DR. JOAN RIDLEY (Huffman), whose motives and priorities remain hidden, just as long as Amy still can’t recall Joan’s life-changing secret. Amy’s best friend and colleague, DR. GINA WALKER (Vann), is weary of Joan’s motives and continues to be a beacon of support for those around her, while finally learning to put on her own oxygen mask first.
While relearning eight years of medical advancements is complicated, it pales in comparison to learning to navigate her new/old/current romantic entanglements. Amy continues to fight her feelings and let Michael go, especially now with the birth of his son with his new wife, bringing up emotions for both Amy and their daughter KATIE HAMDA (Fountain-Jardim). Amy’s on-again, off-again relationship with Chief Resident DR. JAKE HELLER (Ecker) is a bit more delicate as he struggles to protect his heart from her this time around. However, DR. SONYA MAITRA (Banerjee) would only be too glad to pick up the pieces, navigating the balance between her feelings for Jake and her complicated resentment towards Amy.
The second season of Doc begins as Amy’s past comes back to haunt her when a desperate father sacrifices everything to secure his daughter’s heart transplant. Chaos and confusion reverberate through the hallways of Westside Medical when a subsequent high-stakes emergency leaves a doctor’s life in the balance.”
Charli xcx and Alexander Skarsgard in ‘The Moment’ (Photo Courtesy of A24)
The line between documentary and mockumentary has been blurred over the last few decades. And aside from horror’s found footage subgenre, the best use of the faux documentary has been made by music movies. Usually, it’s comedies like This is Spinal Tap or Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping. But The Moment is something different.
The Moment stars pop sensation Charli XCX as, well, Charli XCX. The popular singer has just finished conquering the charts during the “Brat Summer” (a cultural phenomenon inspired by her album Brat), and the only thing left to do is a massive tour to keep the momentum going. Charli and her artistic director, Celeste (Hailey Benton Gates from Marty Supreme), begin designing a red-hot stage show, but the record company, led by a ruthless woman named Tammy (Patricia Arquette from Severance), has other ideas. The company wants to create a tour that can be transformed into a concert movie.
The problem with this concept is that the director that Tammy has hired, a sought-after auteur named Johannes (Murderbot‘s Alexander Skarsgård), has a vision for the concert that conflicts with Celeste’s ideas. Charli finds herself stuck between her artistic integrity and the once-in-a-lifetime chance to put her career over the top.
Director Aidan Zamiri is best known for making music videos, and that experience is on full display in The Moment. The visual style is chaotic and gritty, nihilistic and visceral. It even crosses over to pure sensory overload in places (there’s a flashing strobe warning for those sensitive to it). In a lot of ways, The Moment feels like a feature-length music video.
There is a story to it, though. Zamiri cowrote the script with Charli XCX and Bertie Brandes, and it is a fairly typical portrait of an artist at the crossroads of their career. Charli herself is torn between Celeste and Johannes, so much so that she basically abandons the rehearsals and runs off to Ibiza for a vacation, leaving the two creatives to duke it out. And that’s really where the external conflict in the movie lies – between Charli’s artistic comfort zone of Celeste and her commercial success symbol of Johannes.
Which leads to the internal conflict inside Charli herself. She seems to struggle with what is happening with her, seeing the loss of her artistic freedom becoming a possibility with the introduction of Johannes’ controlling personality. She’s torn between what she wants to do and what she feels she has to do for her career. It doesn’t help that she’s surrounded by drugs and party people (Kylie Jenner and Rachel Sennott both make cameos) that tend to influence her in different ways.
The Moment seems like a very personal film for Charli XCX. Whether it’s indicative of obstacles that she may be facing now or it’s a memory of feelings she’s had in the past, it all feels very real and genuine. It’s a dark movie, but it’s also got equal parts heart and humor. It feels like a glimpse into the life of Charli XCX, warts and all. While it never feels like a straight documentary, it does have the vibe of reality, both in tone and narrative. Zamiri’s camera captures that realism well, at least when it’s not creating seizure-inducing visuals.
I am personally not super familiar with Charli XCX’s music, and therefore, The Moment is not a movie made for me. Still, I found it intriguing. I also find myself looking forward to watching it a second time, maybe once it hits VOD or cable. For such a simple and archetypical plotline, it’s a surprisingly deep movie. And, for better or worse, it’s not as slathered in Charli XCX’s music as one would think it would be. Aidan Zamiri seems to have left that for his music videos.
GRADE: B-
Rating: R for language throughout and some drug material
Running Time: 1 hour 43 minutes
Release Date: January 30, 2026 (limited), February 6, 2026 (expands)
Studio: A24
The trailer for Netflix’s War Machine shows Alan Ritchson (Reacher) taking on a possibly otherworldly killing machine. The trailer proclaims, “It was built for war, but so was he,” as Ritchson vows to keep the world safe from this new threat.
Netflix has set a March 6, 2026 streaming premiere for the action thriller co-written by Patrick Hughes (The Hitman’s Bodyguard) and James Beaufort and directed by Hughes.
Netflix’s synopsis for War Machine reads, “During the final stage of US Army Ranger selection, an elite team’s training exercise turns into a fight for survival against an unimaginable threat.” Dennis Quaid, Stephan James, Jai Courtney, Esai Morales, Blake Richardson, Keiynan Lonsdale, and Daniel Webber also star.
Todd Lieberman, Alexander Young, Patrick Hughes, Greg McLean, and Rich Cook serve as producers. Valerie Bleth Sharp is an executive producer.
What could possibly go wrong when Martin’s made a judge of a blueberry contest? The teaser for Fox’s Best Medicine episode six confirms that the answer is just about everything. Episode six, “Eyewitness Blues,” will air on Tuesday, February 10, 2026 at 8pm ET/PT.
“Eyewitness Blues” Plot: On the eve of Port Wenn’s annual blueberry festival, Martin treats a local man who has apparently become blue from eating too many blueberries. Also, Martin is disturbed by Aunt Sarah’s lack of attention to her health, Mark faces the repercussions when his vision issues may stem from his sexual history and Louisa is determined to win the pie competition.
Season one stars Josh Charles as Dr. Martin Best, Abigail Spencer (Suits) as Louisa Gavin, Annie Potts (Young Sheldon) as Aunt Sarah, Josh Segarra (Sirens) as Sheriff Mark Mylow, and Cree (Twinless) as Elaine Denton. Recurring guest stars include Didi Conn as councilwoman Geneva Potter, Clea Lewis as pharmacist Sally Mylow, Stephen Spinella as Greg Garrison, Jason Veasey as George Brady, Cindy De La Cruz as Jeannie, John DiMaggio as Bert Large, Carter Shimp as Al Large, and Wattson as Copernicus.
The series follows Martin Best (Charles), a brilliant surgeon who abruptly leaves his illustrious career in Boston to become the general practitioner in a quaint East Coast fishing village where he spent summers as a child. Unfortunately, Martin’s blunt and borderline rude bedside manner rubs the quirky, needy locals the wrong way, including schoolteacher Louisa Gavin (Spencer). He quickly alienates the town, even though he’s all they have.
Although Martin can expertly address any medical ailment or mystery in this idiosyncratic town, he’s really just desperate to be left the hell alone. Instead, he keeps getting dragged smack into the middle of their personal chaos, feuds, and fantasies. What the locals don’t know is that Martin’s terse demeanor masks a debilitating new phobia and deep-seated psychological issues that prevent him from experiencing true intimacy with anyone. But tenacity is the creed of everyone in their small village, and the people who live there may be exactly what the doctor ordered.
Fox’s new primetime drama Memory of a Killer continues with season one, episode four, “Unhappy Ending.” Episode four will air on Monday, February 9, 2026 at 9pm ET/PT.
“Unhappy Ending” Plot: Angelo postpones a hit to hunt for The Ferryman, who Angelo believes was responsible for shooting Maria. Meanwhile, the F.B.I. investigates a crime scene linked to Angelo.
Patrick Dempsey stars as Angelo Flannery, Michael Imperioli plays Dutch, Richard Harmon is Joe, Odeya Rush is Maria, Daniel David Stewart is Jeff, and Peter Gadiot plays Dave. Aaron Zelman and Glenn Kessler serve as co-showrunners and executive producers.
Inspired by the book and 2003 award-winning Belgian film De Zaak Alzheimer, Memory of A Killer is a dramatic thriller starring Emmy nominee Patrick Dempsey as a hitman, Angelo Doyle, leading a dangerous double life while hiding an even deadlier personal secret. Emmy winner Michael Imperioli stars opposite Dempsey in the role of Dutch, Angelo’s oldest friend and an accomplished chef whose restaurant is a front for criminal enterprise.
‘THE SCREAM MURDER: A True Teen Horror Story’ (Photo Credit: ABC News Studios)
Hulu’s The Scream Murder: A True Teen Horror Story reexamines the Scream-inspired murder of teenager Cassie Stoddart. 16-year-old Stoddard was murdered on September 22, 2006 by two of her high school friends. The convicted murderers, who are currently serving life sentences, claimed inspiration from the horror film.
The three-part documentary series will stream on Hulu on Wednesday, February 11, 2026 at 9pm ET/PT.
Conor McCarthy and Lisa Quijano Wolfinger directed the docuseries. Wolfinger, Beth Hoppe, and David Sloan serve as executive producers. Lone Wolf Media produces the series for ABC News Studios.
The Scream Murder: A True Teen Horror Story Synopsis:
“When high school student Cassie Stoddart was found stabbed to death in a house on the outskirts of Pocatello, Idaho, the community was gripped by fear that a random killer was on the loose. Police retrace Cassie’s final hours and focus on the last three people to see her alive: her boyfriend Matt, who was investigated and ultimately cleared of charges, and classmates Brian Draper and Torey Adamcik. As the investigation narrows, detectives uncover a shocking buried videotape that reframes the case, raising the unthinkable question of whether two 16-year-olds could have committed—and attempted to document—such a brutal crime.
The three-part series follows the arrest, trial, and conviction of Brian and Torey, two young men whose fascination with horror films, particularly the 1996 slasher movie Scream, influenced them to make their own—selecting a classmate, setting the scene, and then brutally killing her. The show examines the devastating impact on Cassie’s family, the reckoning faced by the boys’ parents, and the life sentences handed down by the court.
Eighteen years later, the story returns to Pocatello as Brian and Torey reflect on that Friday night, while families and viewers alike grapple with what justice means after a life has been taken, alongside the debate of issuing life sentences to minors.”
Sarah Yarkin, Nick Pugliese, Milo Manheim and Kristian Ventura in ‘School Spirits’ season 3 episode 4 (Photo Credit: Ed Araquel/Paramount+)
Paramount+’s School Spirits season three, episode four picks up with Simon frantically struggling to climb out of the hellhole. When he finally emerges, Simon doesn’t notice that he’s dropped the watch.
(The following is a recap of season three, episode four, and contains spoilers.)
Maddie (Peyton List) continues to have visions of the boiler room. She’s spooked and doesn’t understand why it’s happening. Xavier (Spencer MacPherson) shows up to check on her and notices she’s sweating. Maddie claims she’s okay, but it’s obvious she’s not. He even volunteers to stay, but Maddie insists she’s fine.
Nicole (Kiara Pichardo) is nursing her first hangover as the school day starts, and Xavier and Claire (Rainbow Wedell) give her a hard time. Meanwhile, Maddie’s shocked to learn that Wally (Milo Manheim) went into the hellhole. He and Simon (Kristian Ventura) lie and say Simon didn’t go, and Wally’s forced to confess that he scared Mr. South, the custodian, and made him fall off a ladder. Wally describes the area below as a sub-scar to all the other scars, and Simon describes it as a church.
Simon shows them a book that he says Wally found, and Maddie jots down the title. Simon believes there are people—and answers—down there. But are they ghosts or scar people? No one knows.
Maddie orders Simon to stop poking around in the hole until her dad has time to talk to the other hospital ghosts. The ghosts are stunned she talked to her dad and realize she’s not fine—even though she keeps claiming to be.
Wally promises to calm Simon down and get him to stay away from the hole.
Principal Hartman (Alex Zahara) gathers Nicole, Claire, Xavier, and Maddie in the lunchroom for Saturday detention, confiscating their phones. Rhonda (Sarah Yarkin) and Charley (Nick Pugliese) are also hanging out, and when Hartman steps out, Maddie quickly fills the gang in on what the ghosts told her. She needs to track down Simon. Claire worries she’s not okay, but Maddie warns them not to ask her again or she’ll lose it.
Yuri (Miles Elliot) heads to the band room after overhearing students discuss hiding shrooms there. He’s shocked that Mr. Martin’s hanging out there, and Mr. Martin (Josh Zuckerman) confesses he’s hiding from everyone. Yuri offers to share the shrooms, suggesting they might help him find what he’s looking for.
Quinn (Ci Hang Ma) pops in and wants some too. She eats the whole bag before Yuri can tell her it holds four doses!
While Maddie’s tracking down Simon, Xavier tells Claire and Nicole that Maddie’s mom went to detox. They’re going to give her some space. As they’re waiting, they find the paper Maddie wrote the book’s title on. It looks alien to Xavier, but Claire realizes it’s Finnish. Neither Xavier nor Nicole knew Claire spoke Finnish and she reveals she spoke it with her grandparents.
The book’s from a Finnish church and she grabs Simon’s tablet to translate it, but there isn’t any internet. Unfortunately, there’s a message from Simon’s parents wanting him to call them to make sure he’s okay. Nicole thinks she can find some of Simon’s old podcast episodes and cut them together to leave Simon’s parents a message.
Nicole and Claire take off, leaving behind Xavier to do all the homework Hartman assigned.
Wally blames Simon for making him lie to Maddie, but Simon insists that doesn’t matter now because they need to go back down into the hellhole. It’s only during this debate that they realize Simon lost the watch in the hole. Simon wants to use Wally’s key (a football) and take the long way around to enter Mr. Martin’s scar.
Wally needs to speak with Maddie first before they do anything rash.
Rhonda and Charley research churches that could have been in the area decades ago, and it turns out there were hundreds. Charley confesses he said things to Yuri that he shouldn’t have and wonders why he ruins good things just as they’re starting. Rhonda reminds him she’s not a relationship expert.
Their conversation comes to a halt when Dr. Deborah Hunter-Price (Jennifer Tilly) and Principal Hartman enter the library. Deborah’s determined to tear it all down, calling the school a deathtrap. Too many students have died there for it to be normal.
Yuri, Quinn, and Mr. Martin relax and wait to feel something, but nothing’s happening. Quinn confesses she doesn’t remember much from her life, and Yuri wishes he remembered less. Mr. Martin admits that decades ago he realized he couldn’t remember his mom’s face. Yuri points out they’ve been dead longer than they were alive.
They split up and Yuri heads to the greenhouse after looking at Janet’s letter again. Yuri activates his key (his lighter) and steps inside his scar for the first time. An old TV broadcasts a game show where he’s the host, asking how he’d like to live the American dream. He sees himself as a middle-aged man, seated in a recliner, drinking beer. His scar seems to taunt him with an ordinary life before choking him with a tie.
Maddie continues looking for Simon, and Wally and Simon realize she’s still pissed. Wally gets a minute with Maddie and tells her he doesn’t blame Simon for doing anything, because Simon is desperate to get back to her. Maddie claims Simon always jumps before he thinks. If he’d just waited for her to get back, he wouldn’t have gotten stuck in the ghost world.
Simon’s been listening outside the bathroom as Maddie confesses she’s overwhelmed by everything—her mom, seeing her dead dad, and Simon. She thinks she’s almost at her breaking point and Wally has her do an exercise his coach taught him. They get sidetracked talking about her favorite movie, Harold and Maude, and Maddie confesses she doesn’t want to be controlling. Wally says she’s a pivotal player in all this and is where Simon needs her to be—able to talk to the living and find out what’s going on.
Maddie gives Wally permission to go back into the hellhole.
Simon tells Wally he hates keeping things from Maddie, and Wally doesn’t like it either. He finally confesses he hasn’t told anyone—including Maddie—that he got his door. It’s been there since Maddie got back into her body. He hasn’t figured out when he’s going to tell her.
Neither Wally nor Simon is going to tell anyone that they’re going back into the hellhole.
Peyton List and Peter New as Mr. South in ‘School Spirits’ season 3 episode 4 (Photo Credit: Ed Araquel/Paramount+)
Maddie runs into the custodian, Mr. South (Peter New), who Wally accidentally injured and tells him she knows he sees things. Maddie also sees things and asks Mr. South if there was anything on this land before the school was built.
Mr. Martin sits outside the school, and the shrooms are definitely kicking in. His mother passes by but we don’t see her face. She tells him to follow her.
Quinn wanders the halls and imagines the marching band has fallen in behind her. She runs outside and suddenly she’s in a dance number, making a group of students dance as she moves her hands. They lift her up and move with her as she loses herself in the music. She sees Rhonda in a pretty dress and smiles, and suddenly the action switches to the ghosts behind her as backup singer, seated for prom photos in 2004.
The students, including Simon, scream and cheer for them to run to the school bus and the ghosts do, stripping off their prom clothes. They can touch the students, and the students can see them in this shroom-fueled hallucination. Even Deborah and Hartman are in on the dance number.
The scene switches to Quinn on top of the bus as everyone continues cheering for her. A banner unfurls behind her reading “Go Quinn Go.”
Nicole is almost caught by Mr. Hartman while editing Simon’s podcast to fool his parents. Back in the library, Claire continues looking up the history of the school as Rhonda and Charley look over her shoulder. Suddenly both Charley and Claire say, “Holy shit.”
Mr. South takes Maddie just barely outside the school’s fence line. The last head janitor showed him a cornerstone there and when you get close to it, there’s an energy and vibration. He believes it’s like the stone tape theory, where places remember everything that’s ever happened near them—joy, grief, blood, and death. It’s etched into the walls, and under the right circumstances they play back the lost memories. He thinks the school’s not haunted; it’s trying to say something. That cornerstone has been talking for a very long time, even before the school was built. He tells Maddie to keep listening.
Mr. Hartman glances at the security cameras and sees Xavier alone in the cafeteria. Xavier knows they’ve been caught and runs through the halls (just like in The Breakfast Club) to get everyone to return. They run into each other in the halls and catch up on what’s going on as they hurry back to the cafeteria.
Maddie finally loses it, telling her friends that while she’s happy her mom’s in detox, they’ll be right back where she started in a week. She’s okay being alone because her mom does this so often. Xavier tells her she’s not alone.
Peyton List, Kiara Pichardo, Rainbow Wedell and Spencer Macpherson in ‘School Spirits’ season 3 episode 4 (Photo Credit: Ed Araquel/Paramount+)
Mr. Hartman runs through the building, but they beat him back to the cafeteria. He’s just sat down when Deborah calls him to the principal’s office. Once he’s gone, Claire reveals she couldn’t find anything on Split River going back decades because the town used to be called Stillwater. Rhonda and Charley are standing behind her, and Rhonda tells Maddie that thanks to Claire’s discovery, she realized she’d read about Stillwater in one of the old books. The town was known as Stillwater in 1912, when nine people died in the church that Simon believes is located in the hellhole. Eight were children.
Maddie tells her friends what Rhonda’s discovered. Mr. Martin hallucinates that he’s standing behind his mom, her back toward him, in the cafeteria as he listens to everyone discuss Stillwater. His mom turns around and tells him he remembers this. “It was the day they split the river,” says Mr. Martin.
His mom told him about it. On October 28, 1912, the town split the river to redirect water to local farms. However, the recent heavy rains caused the old church to flood. The church became a grave for those trapped inside. The school was built directly over it, and the memory of what happened is trapped here too.
Elsewhere, Wally and Simon continue to go through scars to get to the hellhole.
Charley joins Yuri outside the greenhouse, and Yuri explains that he went into the scar and it showed him he had a dead-end job, watched TV every night, and drank beer. “That was my horror, not a kid and a wife—just me, wasting away with no freedom,” says Yuri. He believes he trapped himself in fear of it.
He took a flower into his scar with him and when he brought it out, it didn’t reset. Yuri confesses the only thing he wants to make stay is Charley.
It’s getting late when Xavier finds Maddie and asks if she’s still there waiting for Simon to get back. She’s not sure. Xavier reminds her that they’re getting answers and are closer than ever to figuring things out. Everyone’s pitching in and the pieces are starting to fit together.
Maddie thanks him for being there for her. She’s also thankful for everything Nicole and Claire are doing. Xavier promises Simon will be there tomorrow and reminds her she can’t control everything.
Maddie’s dad, Dave, is searching for answers at the hospital and approaches a nurse, seated in a chair, smoking. He asks if she remembers him and she’s shocked to see him since no one comes to this part of the hospital. Dave knows she’s been there longer than anyone else and informs her there are also ghosts stuck at the high school. The nurse says they’re not stuck, “Not like the others.”
As Maddie’s leaving school, she steps on the mom figurine from her dollhouse. It cuts her hand and suddenly she sees her dollhouse go up in flames. When Xavier finds her, she’s holding keys and not a figurine. She asks to stay at his house that evening.
As the nurse is talking about the others, Simon and Wally are making their way down the stairs in the hellhole. Simon retraces his steps, looking for the watch.
The nurse says “these ones” will never find a way out, unlike the other ghosts. “There are spirits further down, older than us. They are truly stuck here. No way out. No escape. Lost. We call them The Forgotten,” reveals the nurse.
Simon finds the watch and Wally wants to leave, but Simon hears something. He sees a figure walking toward him, and it grabs his face.
Daniel Sunjata, Javicia Leslie and Kaitlin Olson in ‘High Potential’ season 2 episode 12 (Disney/Jessica Perez)
ABC’s High Potential season two, episode 12 opens with a man going through his daily routine. It’s the same thing, repeatedly, until one morning the housekeeper arrives and he’s not where he should be. She finds him dead on the floor, a sharp object protruding from his chest.
(The following is a recap of season two, episode 12 and contains spoilers.)
Morgan (Kaitlin Olson) needs to hitch a ride to work from Detective Adam Karadec (Daniel Sunjata) and pops by his place after Ludo drops her off. Karadec refuses to let her inside, and Morgan spots Lucia (Susan Kelechi Watson) walking around his apartment. Morgan’s full of questions, but Karadec only allows her three on the ride to work. Karadec confesses it’s strange how comfortable it is being back with Lucia and admits he’s happy.
The dead man from the opening scene is Gabe Rafferty (Brad Raider). Morgan’s impressed that he’s 55 but doesn’t look it. She figures out the murder weapon is a phurba, a Tibetan dagger used to ward off negative energy and protect against evil. (It obviously didn’t work.)
There aren’t any signs of forced entry or defensive wounds, and the alarm was still set. There’s no indication of a struggle, either. Gabe’s phone is located just as Renata, who’s left 35 missed calls, barges in. She was Gabe’s assistant for eight years and reveals all employees have unique passcodes for entering the house.
Renata claims she was out of town when the murder occurred. When she checked a special app from Gabe’s company, GeneGevity, Gabe’s biodata was blank. Renata explains that her life changed after she went to Gabe’s seminar. Gabe’s mission was life extension, and GeneGevity is a pioneer in gene hacking to slow down the aging process.
Back at the station, the team watches his videos on health and Daphne (Javicia Leslie) admits she tried a GeneGevity cleanse once. She quit when they wanted a bio sample. Daphne recalls that pharmaceutical companies didn’t like Gene’s business so they could be on his enemy list.
Lt. Selena Soto (Judy Reyes) joins the group with news that a woman named Siobhan was suing Gene for child support. This secret love child gives Siobhan a motive. Oz (Deniz Akdeniz) has the day off so Daphne’s tasked with doing further research.
Speaking of Oz (Deniz Akdeniz), he’s at a cemetery making sure everything’s set for his father’s memorial service happening in a few days. The headstone hasn’t been installed yet, and a worker says it would have been installed the day they received the order.
The confirmation of Renata’s alibi keeps the team’s focus on Siobhan. However, Morgan rules her out as soon as she walks into the station; she’s about to give birth. Siobhan claims she didn’t know Gabe was dead until Karadec just broke the news, but she hopes it was painful.
It turns out Gabe’s not the father of her unborn child, and in fact she never met him. Instead, she was a GeneGevity customer and believed she was taking all the precautions not to get pregnant. But then she noticed GeneGevity’s pills had changed and included different ingredients. The new formula included St. John’s Wort, which screws up birth control pills. And that’s why she’s suing Gabe.
She was furious with Gabe but wouldn’t have killed him and left her baby with a mom in jail.
Karadec and Morgan head over to GeneGevity and learn that the board is now handling the company’s finances. A loud argument draws their attention, and they walk in on an employee meeting where different departments are blaming each other for funding cuts. Morgan picks up a report, scans the figures, and realizes they’re victims of “the check is in the mail.” Gabe was buying goods but then wiring the payments to himself. He’d then tell the companies he owed money that the check was in the mail.
In other words, Gene was bleeding the company dry without any of his employees knowing it. However, if someone did know, that would have been a reason to kill Gabe.
As Karadec and Morgan talk to the employees, everyone in the company receives a video message from Gabe. He says that upon his death he instructed his attorneys to share this message. He promises his successor will be announced soon.
Oz visits his mom and she confesses she doesn’t have any money to pay for a headstone. She met with a funeral director, got confused over all the costs, and now the life insurance money is gone. She was too embarrassed to tell Oz but thinks they can have the memorial without a headstone. Oz doesn’t take this well.
The next day at work, Daphne asks Oz if he’s okay. His mom called and asked her to check on him.
Daphne reports that the financial crimes team confirmed that Gabe was embezzling from the company. However, he didn’t keep the money. Instead, he bought other companies, including a nursing home. Since he purchased the Brookville Manor nursing home, all the money has gone there.
Brad Raider, Daniel Sunjata and Kaitlin Olson in ‘High Potential’ season 2 episode 12 (Disney/Jessica Perez)
Karadec and Morgan pay a visit to the nursing home and it looks abandoned. The only staff member on the premises, Jesse, confirms he worked for Gabe. Jesse explains the patients were moved out because Gabe was investing in Brookville’s therapy team (physical, occupational, and speech), which has the best specialists and equipment. Gabe wanted to reach his full human potential with their assistance.
Karadec and Morgan are stunned when Jesse introduces them to Gabe in AI form. He knows his physical body is gone but with advancements in technology, he believes you can survive without your human body. And Gabe’s had the team create a “humanoid robot replica” that looks just like him. Gene believes his knowledge would be wasted if it died with him, so everything he’s ever read or written was uploaded into this form.
Morgan asks who killed him and Gabe doesn’t know. However, he did receive death threats and less threatening messages and forwards them to Karadec and Morgan’s phones. He walks them through his daily routine, noting his house goes into Do Not Disturb mode at 10:15pm. Morgan recalls that it went on at 9pm on the night of his murder. Gabe connects to his home monitoring system and reveals someone signed in as him at 9:05pm and changed the setting.
When he delves deeper into who accessed the panel, the system starts getting all wonky and shuts down.
Selena overhears Oz on the phone threatening the funeral home and mentioning he’s a police detective. She calls him into her office and confesses she’s worried about him. He admits his dad’s $20,000 headstone is stuck in a shipping container in Italy, with fees continuously being added because his mom can’t pay to have it shipped. Selena thinks the funeral home took advantage of his mom when she was vulnerable. Oz blames himself for not being there for his mom. Selena understands and felt the same way when her mom passed away. She believes he’ll get through it in time but needs to quit blaming himself.
Karadec calls Daphne with the weird news that Gabe 2 passed along the threats Gabe received, and that one, Mika Astor, looks like a potential suspect. Gabe bought Mika’s company and then closed it, and Mika probably wasn’t happy. Mika has the tech skills to shut down Gabe 2, and Morgan believes the murder and the shutdown are related.
Deniz Akdeniz, Javicia Leslie, Judy Reyes, Nadine Ellis, and Brandon Engman in ‘High Potential’ season 2 episode 13 (Disney/Jessica Perez)
Oz and Daphne interview Mika, revealing they’ve learned Mika was harassing Gabe to sell him back his company. And Mika has the tech skills to get into Gabe’s house and to shut down Gabe 2. Mika admits that Gabe lied and said he’d be able to keep working on his company. Instead, Gabe booted him and forced him to sign a non-compete agreement because of it. (Gabe 2 is running on Mika’s tech.)
Morgan and Karadec return to Gabe’s house and Morgan wonders why the plants in the room where Gabe died are also dying. The rest of the plants in the house aren’t. Adam’s investigating the control panel and suddenly the door closes, locking them in the room.
The air vents come on, and Morgan thinks she’s figured out Gabe’s murder. Someone locked him in the room and rigged the air vents to blow in toxic gas. (That’s why the bugs and plants are dead.) Adam confirms Gabe’s nasal passages and throat were inflamed. Morgan believes he stabbed himself rather than enduring the excruciating symptoms.
It’s possible they just turned the gas on again when the DND was triggered. Karadec calls Selena as Morgan panics after calculating they don’t have much time. Karadec tries to calm her, but she insists she needs to think of a way to escape this 10×10 death trap.
Karadec remains calm while Morgan absolutely crashes, thinking she’s going to die and leave her children without a mom. She can’t breathe and Karadec pulls her into a tight hug, even as she insists she can’t catch her breath. Karadec assures her she’s okay; he’s got her and isn’t going anywhere.
Karadec refuses to let her go and in his arms she calms down. He’s still taking care of her as the door opens. Selena got Mika to access the panel and open the door. Morgan thanks him for calming her down, but she’s still tense. She’s thankful the gas didn’t get to them, and Karadec thinks maybe the door locking didn’t trigger it.
Morgan quickly switches into analysis mode and believes she knows what happened and who set up Gabe.
Later at the station, Renata’s brought in and accused of killing her boss. Gabe had arsenic in his airways and Morgan believes it came from the candles he lit in the room where he died. Since Renata majored in 19th-century arts and textiles, she would have known candles could be used to kill people.
Renata didn’t even need to be there to kill him. And it turns out Renata’s sister has breast cancer and their mom died of it. Gabe’s GeneGevity was doing an important study on the same genes that Renata’s family carries until he started embezzling money and stopped the research.
Mika already confessed to his part in Gabe’s murder, confirming he’s the one who used Gabe’s password to change the time of the DND. Renata knows she’s caught and admits that she murdered Gabe because he stopped the research. Renata believes Gabe deserved to be murdered. Now that he’s gone, GeneGevity can get back on track.
Karadec returns home and Lucia confesses she’s surprised he kept her drawing. He didn’t even say thanks when she originally gave it to him. Karadec hopes that he’s become the man she needs and deserves. Lucia says he’s always been that man.
The team and Oz’s family and friends gather at Oz’s dad’s gravesite. The headstone is in place and looks perfect. Daphne whispers to Selena that she heard she’d pulled some strings, and Selena admits she spoke with the funeral home, reminding them they’re violating the rules of predatory price gouging. They refunded Mrs. Ozdil’s money and provided the headstone she really wanted.
Oz delivers an emotional, moving speech honoring his dad. Karadec keeps his eyes on Morgan as Oz talks about how things don’t last forever. “It takes a loss to really know what you have,” says Oz as Karadec watches Morgan wipe away tears.
The episode ends with Morgan admitting she feels weird after falling apart at Gabe’s. Karadec can’t believe she’d apologize for being human and admits that when he does fall apart, he is certain she’ll be there for him.
He seems to have a tough time looking away as Morgan gets into her car.
