High Potential Episode 1 Recap: Kaitlin Olson Kills It Solving Murders

By
Rebecca Murray
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Kaitlin Olson in High Potential
Kaitlin Olson stars in ‘High Potential’ (ABC/David Bukach)

Kaitlyn Olson (It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia) shines in ABC’s new procedural High Potential, based on the French crime series HPI. Olson stars as Morgan, a brilliant single mom of three who accidentally becomes involved in solving a murder case. Episode one introduces Morgan as a free spirit with a mind that never stops, leading to problems at home and work.

The following is a recap of episode one, which aired on September 17, 2024. There are spoilers ahead – you’ve been warned!

Episode one begins with Morgan (Olson) stripping out of her faux leopard-print jacket and high-heeled boots, putting on her just a shade less sexy uniform, and dancing her way through a night-time job at the LAPD Major Crime Unit. Wearing fishnets and pink headphones, Morgan rocks out as she works her way through the building tidying up. Sometimes, that means dancing on desks while dusting, and sometimes, that means pulling off club moves while vacuuming.

She apparently took the “dance like no one is watching” suggestion to heart.

On the night we meet her, she inadvertently knocks over a case file and spills photos on the floor. Morgan peruses its contents, glances at the murder board, and switches the primary suspect to “victim.”

The next morning, Detective Adam Karadec (Daniel Sunjata, Power Book II: Ghost) does a quick recap of the evidence for our sake and for his boss, Lt. Selena Soto (Judy Reyes, Succession). Anthony Acosta was murdered with a shotgun. Survivors include his daughter Letty who’s in college at Santa Cruz, and the primary suspect, his wife, Lynette (the one Morgan thinks is actually a victim), who has since vanished.

Adam notices the change to the murder board. I mean, if it hadn’t noticed it, he’d really suck at being a detective, right? No one fesses up to marking up his board.

Meanwhile, Morgan takes her three kids grocery shopping, which gives the new drama its first opportunity to show off Morgan’s “special skills.” She knows exactly how much her groceries should cost to the penny, and when her total doesn’t match the cashier’s, she guides her through every discount that should have been applied but wasn’t. Morgan is right, the cashier is wrong, and those of us who hate math are suitably impressed.

Eldest daughter Ava (Amirah J) is beyond embarrassed that they’re forced to take the bus home with the shopping cart full of groceries. Apparently, the car is too expensive to fix. Her son, Elliot (Matthew Lamb), has his mom’s math talent and tries to figure out what it would cost. Morgan’s third child, Chloe, is just a baby and doesn’t weigh in on the bus/car/grocery shopping discussion.

They make it home with the cart, and helpful next-door neighbor Henry – who is also the babysitter – assists with putting away the groceries. Their brief conversation provides the tidbit that Morgan still talks to her ex-husband, Ludo, every day. They are friendly co-parents, even if they’re not together.

High Potential Episode 1 Judy Reyes and Daniel Sunjata
Judy Reyes, Daniel Sunjata, and Javicia Leslie in ‘High Potential’ episode 1 (Disney/David Bukach)

Back at the station, the team watches security footage of Morgan dancing her way through her shift and changing the board. Morgan’s brought into the station to explain why she tampered with a murder case. She reveals she has a compulsion; if she sees a mistake, she has to correct it. Lt. Soto gets an earful when she asks what mistakes Morgan found in the case file. Morgan methodically goes through the photos, pointing out the house is meticulous except for the curtains. A missing tieback must have been used to tie someone’s hands while the legs were taped to a chair. And since the murder victim didn’t have marks around his hands, there’s another victim. And drumroll, please, that victim is the person the detectives have designated the primary suspect.

Morgan wants to go home and fry up her expiring ham, but Adam says not so fast. They need the results back from the lab before she can leave, so of course, the other members of the team – Detectives Daphne Forrester (Javicia Leslie, Batwoman) and Lev “Oz” Ozdil (Deniz Akdeniz, The Flight Attendant) – arrive with the results on cue. Morgan’s right, again, but Adam refuses to back down and locks her up. He doesn’t believe she put this all together and thinks she could be involved in the murder.

Lt. Soto and Adam admit they have a botched homicide investigation, a second victim somewhere, and no leads. Because Morgan is…say it with me…right about everything.

The team discovers footage from Acosta’s house showing a woman identified as Lishka at the murder scene around the time of the shooting. Lishka had threatened Lynette Acosta over a lawsuit she lost, and during questioning, Lishka admits she was angry with Lynette. However, she claims she wasn’t at Lynette’s house yesterday, even though that’s what the security footage timestamp indicates. She was working at home, but no one saw her.

Morgan’s walking through the bullpen after finally being released when she hears the team discussing the fresh developments. They don’t ask for her opinion, but she chimes in anyway, informing the foursome the date on the timestamp is wrong. The wind’s blowing from the wrong direction for this time of year. And she can tell the wind’s direction because there’s a Catholic church in the background and all churches face east. (I didn’t know that, but Google confirms most churches face that direction.)

The footage is months old, which means someone doctored the security footage. It also means Lishka is innocent. Morgan heads off after not even getting a thank you, and Selena chases her down. Morgan admits she has a 160 IQ and is technically a high-potential intellectual, hence the series’ name. She has advanced cognitive capabilities and can’t keep a job (or a relationship) because she obsesses over every little thing.

High Potential Episode 1
Daniel Sunjata, Javicia Leslie, Deniz Akdeniz, and Kaitlin Olson in ‘High Potential’ episode 1 (Disney/David Bukach)

15 minutes in we’re introduced to Morgan’s ex, Ludo (Taran Killam), when he meets her outside the station, worried that she got arrested again. Barely released, she immediately engages in a shouting match with cops that escalates into a brawl. Fortunately, she and Ludo are only feet from LAPD’s front door, so it’s a short walk back into a holding cell.

Detective Adam meets with the murder victim’s daughter, Letty, and promises he won’t stop looking for her mom. Letty reveals her mom felt guilty about Sarah, a colleague at work who committed suicide. Sarah wrote her mom a letter before her death, and that really shook her up.

Adam and Selena try to get access to Lynette’s office, but since she’s a defense attorney, they’re denied permission to go through her files. Adam wants to go to Lynette’s office and appeal in person, and Selena agrees, but only if he takes Morgan with him. Adam protests, but Selena points out Morgan noticed what they all missed.

While waiting outside the station for a ride, Morgan expresses her condolences to Letty for the murder of her dad and the disappearance of her mom. Letty shows Morgan recent photos of her mom on her phone, including one her mom sent just two days ago. Morgan empathizes with the girl because she has also experienced losing someone who has never been found.

Selena tries to bribe/intimidate Morgan into helping with their case and Morgan agrees, mostly because she sympathizes with Letty. Adam uses the murder board to show Morgan where the case now stands, including the missing letter from Sarah to Lynette they’d like to get their hands on.

Letty, Adam, Daphne, Oz, and Morgan arrive outside Lynette’s sister’s house, and Adam lays down the rules. No touching, talking, or doing anything. In other words, just stand there. Want to place bets on whether Morgan will abide by the rules?

Lynette’s sister, Sophia, says she knows nothing about Sarah and a letter. She hasn’t spoken to Lynette in two days, and Morgan correctly points out that Sophia is a botanist. (If you bet she would, you lost.) Morgan asks about her alibi and receives a warning from Adam in response.

After they leave Sophia’s, Morgan says they need to get their hands on that letter. Everyone agrees, but Adam doesn’t want Morgan involved in obtaining it. He doesn’t want her help and hopes she quits. Morgan walks off in a huff. Adam orders Oz to confirm Sophia’s alibi while he works on getting access to Lynette’s office and the letter.

Adam’s told he can only get into Lynette’s office if he gets a warrant. But, it turns out that Morgan has already broken into Lynette’s office, figured out the code to the safe, and has taken Sarah’s letter. All of which she confesses to Adam while he’s washing his hands in the men’s restroom.

The letter indicates that Lynette’s client who assaulted Lishka also assaulted Sarah, the paralegal on the case. This means the man who did the assault, Brian Diamond, is probably the killer. Morgan thinks this is the motive, but Adam informs her it doesn’t matter. The letter is now inadmissible. They can’t hang onto this letter, and they absolutely can’t use it in court. That’s not how the law works.

Adam orders Morgan to return the letter. And if she’s caught doing it, he’ll arrest her. He softens the order by saying they’ll then go talk to Brian.

Adam brings Brian in for questioning while Oz and Morgan watch through the one-way mirror. Unfortunately, Daphne checks Brian’s alibi and he wasn’t even in town on the day of the murder. He was in Fontana, a city Morgan describes as the “Kentucky of California.” (She said it, not me!) Morgan believes he’s so wealthy that he’d never be caught dead in Fontana. She screams through the window to ask why he was in Fontana.

Selena is forced to stop the interrogation before Adam can ask any further questions. It turns out someone noticed Morgan entering Lynette’s office twice and got this shut down. Adam warns Morgan to be grateful she’s not being arrested. This experiment is over.

Later at home, Ava admits she’s not like her mom or brother. She has a different dad – the person Morgan mentioned earlier who is missing – and Morgan remains convinced he didn’t choose to leave. Something must have happened all those years ago.

Daniel Sunjata High Potential Episode 1
Daniel Sunjata in ‘High Potential’ episode 1 (Disney/David Bukach)

They’re eating breakfast the next morning when Adam shows up, wondering why she wanted him to ask about Fontana. Morgan reveals the one tchotchke on Sophia’s shelf that wasn’t dusty was from Fontana, so she probably just visited there with Brian. Morgan has an epiphany; the murder didn’t happen when they think it did, based on the flowers in Lynette’s recent photo she sent Letty.

Morgan believes Brian and Sophia were having an affair because Brian needed leverage to stay close to Lynette. Brian and Sophia must have gone to Lynette’s to pressure her but were surprised that Anthony was home.

Adam and Morgan head over to Lynette’s, and Morgan walks through the murder. She believes Anthony Acosta picked up his rifle, there was a struggle, and Brian shot him. Lynette saw it happen and they had to take care of her, too. Brian works in security technology and Sophia is a botanist, and Lynette’s living room is basically a greenhouse complete with state-of-the-art climate controls. All of which means Brian set the air to freezing and left Anthony there, dead. He then changed the security footage to show Lishka at the door months after she was actually there.

Then, he increased the temperature and cooked the house, unfreezing Anthony’s body and killing the flowers from Lynette’s last photo. That screwed with the time of death. Morgan notices a photo of a remote cabin the family owns, and they hustle over there to discover Lynette alive but tied up.

Selena credits Morgan with putting the pieces together and hands her a job offer. She wants Morgan to be a full-time consultant. Morgan doesn’t read the offer and just hands it back, thanking Selena but declining.

The next day, Morgan and Ava take a walk in the park. Morgan assures Ava that her father vanished. There’s no way he left voluntarily 15 years ago. He loved them both. Ava remains unconvinced.

Morgan changes her mind and accepts the job offer, with a few tweaks. She wants 20% more, child care, and Selena’s help locating Ava’s dad, Roman.

It’s a deal.

New episodes air on ABC on Tuesdays at 10pm ET/PT.




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