‘High Potential’ Episode 4 Recap: “Survival Mode”

By
Rebecca Murray
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High Potential Episode 4
Daniel Sunjata and Kaitlin Olson in ‘High Potential’ episode 4 (Disney/Carlos Lopez-Calleja)

Morgan (Kaitlin Olson) arrives at work with an extra pep in her step as ABC’s High Potential episode four kicks off. Today’s the day she receives her official ID badge, which, in her mind, is a huge step forward. Lt. Selena Soto (Judy Reyes) and the detectives aren’t as enthusiastic, but that doesn’t break her stride as she snaps selfies in the bathroom.

Things turn serious when she’s joined in the bathroom by Mia (Madeline Zima), a sobbing mom. Her ex, Wendell, was supposed to drop off their young daughters, but he’s ghosting her. She’s on her way to talk to the detective but confesses she has a really bad feeling about this.

Mia’s joined by her dad, John Ashford (Christopher Cousins), as she explains the situation to Selena and Detective Adam Karadec (Daniel Sunjata). Wendell has become obsessed with environmentalism and wanted Mia and the kids to live off-grid. But Mia runs an online business, so she moved in with her dad and left Wendell. Selena says they’ll issue a BOLO for Wendell’s car but have to wait 24 hours to issue an Amber alert.

Mia confesses she doesn’t know if Wendell will harm their daughters.

Detective Lev ‘Oz’ Osman (Deniz Akdeniz) learns Wendell applied for passports for his daughters. And Detective Daphne Forrester (Javicia Leslie) discovers Child Protective Services deemed him unstable. Selena wants a search done to see if he booked tickets out of the country. Before heading out to Wendell’s house with Adam, Morgan promises Mia she’s in good hands.

Wendell’s house has solar panels and a compost bin, but that’s not what Morgan notices right off the bat. A pink stuffed bunny is lying in the yard, and Morgan recalls seeing it in professional photos with the kids. It’s probably a favorite toy and wouldn’t have left it behind unless something happened.

Morgan and Adam look around the house, which is full of kid-friendly stuff. Three breakfasts remain on the kitchen table, along with half-empty drink glasses. Morgan spots a greenhouse, and inside are hundreds of healthy fruits and vegetables. However, the cucumbers and tomatoes are planted next to each other which is, apparently, a big gardening no-no.

These particular plants haven’t even rooted, and Morgan deduces they were just recently planted. Morgan thinks something is hidden there, and Adam points out it could be a body. They begin digging and discover Wendell isn’t ghosting Mia. He’s dead.

High Potential Episode 4
Daniel Sunjata and Kaitlin Olson in ‘High Potential’ episode 4 (Disney/Nicole Weingart)

Police dogs are called to try and track the girls as scores of cops look over the crime scene. Wendell was killed by a blow to the back of his head, presumably by the nearby shovel. He was murdered within the last 12 hours.

There’s no sign of the girls but Adam’s assuming they were taken alive since no other area in the garden was recently disturbed. Oz reports Wendell was seen at a café arguing with a woman just yesterday. The woman is described as having long red hair and glasses.

Morgan discovers a photo hidden in Wendell’s survivalist handbook, but they don’t know who the people are in the picture. There’s nothing else in the book that’s helpful.

Tire tracks in the dirt are being investigated, and Morgan points out the odds of the girls being found alive are 42% – if they were taken by a stranger. They head to Mia’s father’s house, and it’s obvious he’s incredibly wealthy. He owns Ashford Luxury Estates so they can’t rule out this is a kidnapping for ransom. Adam and Morgan break the news about Wendell’s murder, and Morgan makes an excuse to leave the room. She gets into the housekeeper’s good graces by pouring her a drink and learns Wendell was a sweet man and a great dad. The housekeeper reveals she saw Wendell coming out of Mia’s dad’s office last weekend. She has no idea what he was doing in there.

Back at the station, Lt. Solo’s pulled some strings and got the media to report on the missing girls. Hundreds of calls have come in as a result, but they aren’t any closer to discovering the girls’ location.

Morgan determines nothing in the incredibly negative CPS report about Wendell is true, based on what they’ve learned about him thus far. Morgan believes the social worker must have hated him. What do you know? She has long red hair and glasses. Bingo! They visit social worker Sarah Keller, and Morgan points out all the past-due bills on her table. Plus, she buys cheap dishwashing soap. She’s broke yet somehow just vacationed in Kauai. (Morgan sees a fresh lei and Sally’s wearing comfy high-end resort slippers.)

Sally confesses that John Ashford paid for the vacation and that she had to do what he asked and write a negative report or she’d have been fired. Adam wonders if maybe she killed Wendell so Wendell wouldn’t get her fired. Sally’s shocked they think she’s a murderer. Her argument with Wendell was over the report, with Wendell warning her he was going public with what John did. Sally wanted to write a new report to make this all disappear, but Wendell said John needed to be exposed. He had evidence that John bribed lots of people, and it was time to stop John from destroying the planet.

After their argument, Sally told John Ashford what Wendell planned to do.

John Ashford’s arrested, but his wife and the chauffeur, Curtis, claim he was down in San Diego last night. He couldn’t have been at Wendell’s house at the time of the murder. Adam asks about toll receipts, but Curtis claims he used Fast Pass. When Adam asks for the license plate number to check the toll roads, Curtis is forced to admit he doesn’t know where John was last night.

Morgan steps into John’s office and makes a copy of her hand. The copy has the same pink streaks as the photo she found in Wendell’s survivalist handbook. Adam interrogates John, with his attorney present, and points out a bag from one of John’s hotels. The man in the photo is a San Mateo judge who allowed John to build a hotel in a protected area. Plus, that same judge spent his 60th birthday with his family in the Maldives at one of John’s resorts.

Wendell’s dead, so he can’t testify about what he’s discovered, but Sarah Keller knows what John’s capable of. Right after Sarah called John warning him, John texted a pre-paid phone: “Must speak. Urgent.” John refuses to say who he texted, and Adam says he believes John pays people to make problems – like Wendell – go away.

“How long do you think your pre-paid phone guy is willing to risk leaving your granddaughters alive?” asks Adam. John finally caves and provides the name Eddie Malone and where to find him.

Morgan and Adam stakeout Eddie and arrest him. Unfortunately, the girls aren’t with him when he’s taken in.

Back at the station, Eddie confesses that John paid him to keep Wendell quiet. However, when he went to Wendell’s, Mia was there arguing with him. Morgan can’t believe Selena and Adam are taking Eddie’s word over Mia’s and think Mia might have killed Wendell. Selena advises Morgan that they need to go into this with open minds. Adam adds fuel to the Mia fire when he confirms the tire tracks belong to her car. And Daphne just discovered Mia withdrew $100,000 this morning.

Morgan’s frustrated they’ve landed on Mia as the primary suspect, and Selena suggests they all go home. Adam sticks around with Morgan, who is adamant that Mia is a terrified mom and not a murderer. Morgan admits she hasn’t slept in 27 hours, and this case is going to keep her awake.

High Potential Episode 4
Matthew Lamb, Taran Killam, and Kaitlin Olson in ‘High Potential’ episode 4 (Disney/Carlos Lopez-Calleja)

Morgan returns home and suddenly decides they’re getting a compost bin tomorrow. She gives Ava a big hug and kisses Elliot. It’s been a rough day and this case has gotten to her. As she’s talking to Ludo, the news comes on about the missing girls. A photo of the two kids shows a Buddha in the background that wasn’t there when Morgan visited the house. She quickly connects the dots and realizes something in the cabinet behind the Buddha was switched.

Morgan catches Mia at an antique store and confronts her about her mom’s love of Chinese antiques. Morgan believes the Ming in the cabinet is fake and opens a box next to Mia, revealing the real Ming vase. Mia comes clean and says she’s got to put together $200,000 tonight or her girls will be killed. She’s selling the Ming to help pay the ransom.

Mia also admits she went to Wendell’s to beg him not to turn her father in. She’s supposed to meet the kidnapper at midnight, and Morgan insists on going with her. Morgan alerts Adam to what’s going on, and he surprises Mia by meeting them at the drop-off. Mia insists he can be trusted, and they need him as backup.

The kidnapper texts her a location and Adam has Morgan give Mia her phone. Adam calls it and has Mia keep it on while she goes to the meeting. Mia’s instructed to enter an auditorium and place the bag on a hook. The kidnapper refuses to let her speak to her kids and takes off running after grabbing the bag. Adam pursues him and is forced to fire a shot, but the guy gets away.

Adam’s tracking the money bag and they find the guy’s car in flames. Mia’s frantic that her girls are in the trunk, and Adam pries it open. It’s empty.

Lt. Selena Soto and the cops arrive, and Morgan inspects the car. She listens to the car’s radio and it’s on a station reporting on sports betting. She pieces the clues together and realizes the kidnapper is Mia’s dad’s chauffeur, Curtis. She believes Curtis is in love with Mia, and after not making a fortune betting, he decided to kidnap her kids for ransom. He’d have to be rich to date Mia, and picked a slimy way to do it.

Curtis was free during the hours of Wendell’s murder, and Morgan believes he got into a fight with Mia’s ex before kidnapping the girls. Curtis is brought in and confesses to the murder and kidnapping but claims not to know where the girls are. He took them to the mountains and they ran off.

The detectives join Search & Rescue as they scour the mountains. Morgan uses instructions from Wendell’s survivalist book to track their route and finds an arrow pointing to their hiding place. Mia’s reunited with her kids, thanks to Morgan.

Later, Adam thanks Morgan for trusting him, and Morgan thanks Adam for not Rambo-ing out. Neither are sure they’ll have this amount of trust again, and they’re okay with that. Adam scores a few points by placing Morgan’s badge around her neck. She wasn’t even aware she lost it in the woods.

Episode four ends with Morgan returning home and falling asleep between Elliot and Ludo on the couch.




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