High Potential Season 2 Episode 13 Recap: Morgan Uncovers a High-Tech Frame-Up

By
Rebecca Murray
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High Potential Season 2 Episode 13 Recap
Deniz Akdeniz, Kaitlin Olson, and Daniel Sunjata in ‘High Potential’ season 2 episode 13 (Disney/Mitch Haaseth)

ABC’s High Potential season two returns after a month-long break with episode 13, “In the Driver’s Seat.” Episode 13 opens with two thieves breaking into a luxury car dealership and attempting to steal a car worth half a million. Unfortunately for the thieves, the car’s so automated that it automatically pairs with their phone. It also initiates the self-driving mode and destroys a portion of the dealership while trying to exit the building.

The following morning, the place is crawling with cops, as Morgan (Kaitlin Olson) takes in all the evidence before joining Karadec (Daniel Sunjata) next to a dead body. The body’s inside the dealership, under the car’s front tire. But it’s not all as it appears. The victim has a bullet in his chest.

Morgan goes upstairs to get a bird’s-eye view of the dealership’s interior. Karadec joins her and confirms the victim’s face was obliterated by the tire and he doesn’t have a wallet. So, was he shot or run over first? It doesn’t make sense.

Karadec does the cutest little sneeze, which Morgan notes is very weird, just as the dealership’s owner arrives. Gannick doesn’t recognize the victim but offers to pull up the security footage. It shows the thieves lost control of the car, and another camera reveals the victim was already shot and killed before the thieves arrived. The footage shows the killer wearing a dark hoodie dumping the body where it was found.

At the station, the detectives and Lt. Selena Soto (Judy Reyes) go over the clues and admit they can’t figure out why the killer would break into the dealership to plant the body. They haven’t located the actual location of the killing, and the victim’s fingerprints aren’t in the system. He’s still a John Doe.

Morgan found evidence pointing to one of the thieves, and she and Oz (Deniz Akdeniz) bring him in. Karadec and Soto interrogate the thief and promise to put in a good word with the district attorney if he helps identify John Doe. Karadec runs through the clues Morgan pieced together to find him—tennis court dust and expensive scalp moisturizer led to a private tennis club. And he’s the only bald man there with airbag dermatitis. Voilà!

The thief says the only time he saw the victim last night was in the headlights as he crashed. However, he’d seen the victim multiple times before, while they were casing the dealership. Since he was always on foot, he probably lived close by. The thief agrees to sit with a sketch artist.

High Potential Season 2 Episode 13 Recap
Kaitlin Olson and Amirah Johnson in ‘High Potential’ season 2 episode 13 (Disney/Mitch Haaseth)

Morgan’s home early from work and Ava (Amirah J) asks for a ride to the design center after dinner. She wants to apply to a night class for a design course because she’s been thinking about her future. Morgan freaks out that Ava’s almost an adult and that she’s acting so mature. She totally supports the idea but also is about to start crying.

Oz and Karadec show the sketch to people in the neighborhood, and Oz finds three people who’ve seen him but don’t know him. Karadec’s allergies flair up again and he realizes that he’s near wherever the victim was. There’s a community garden nearby, and Karadec reveals one of the few things he’s allergic to is chard pollen. There’s a photo of their victim in the garden, and it turns out he was teaching kids to garden. John Doe is actually Joaquin Herrero, and he lives in the neighborhood.

They find his front door’s been broken and barge in, guns drawn. The couch has blood and a bullet hole, so he was shot at home while grading papers. But they don’t know why his body was placed at the dealership.

As they’re leaving, they question Katie, a neighbor who doesn’t seem to like Joaquin. She feels bad that he’s dead and describes him as an eco nut. He was constantly protesting in support of the environment. Joaquin claimed his neighborhood is covered in toxic waste, and Katie hands over a flyer Joaquin made accusing the dealership of killing the neighborhood.

Karadec and Morgan return to the dealership armed with the knowledge that Joaquin believed it was dumping service center waste in the neighborhood. Joaquin was causing problems for the dealership, affecting their profits.

Morgan asks a computer tech if a mom would be able to monitor her daughter’s movements in one of their cars. She’s happy to learn the cars are fully capable of allowing parents to spy on their kids. Karadec doesn’t think buying a car from a polluter/possible murderer fits her MO, and Morgan explains that after the dealership’s shut down, the cars will go for much less during an auction.

They bring Gannick in for questioning and he claims he was set up. Oz and Karadec point out Joaquin was hurting the dealership’s business, which would hurt his plans to build a second dealership. Gannick’s lawyer reveals his client fired the company dumping the waste and issued an apology a month ago. Gannick had no idea about the waste dumping and won a civil case against Joaquin. A judge even issued a restraining order against Joaquin. Apparently, Joaquin had been obeying the order.

Gannick claims he didn’t hurt Joaquin and that chapter was closed.

High Potential Season 2 Episode 13 Recap
Javicia Leslie as Daphne and Daniel Sunjata as Adam Karadec in ‘High Potential’ season 2 episode 13 (Disney/Jessica Perez)

Back at the station, Karadec tells Selena he believes Gannick was framed. Their attention turns to the waste hauler Gannick fired, but there isn’t really a motive. They weren’t named in the civil suit. The team’s learned that Joaquin’s students liked him; however, during the civil case there were lots of character witnesses who spoke against him.

Morgan hurries home after Ava sends an urgent text. It turns out Ava opened a letter from an East Coast prep school inviting Elliot to attend. Neither Morgan nor Ava is aware they’re being spied on by the guy in the photos in Roman’s backpack. He’s sitting in his car sending a text when Arthur reaches in, tases him, and then smashes his phone. Arthur takes over the driver’s seat and drives off.

Morgan shows Selena the letter from the exclusive Connecticut academy for gifted kids. They’re offering Elliot a full ride, and Morgan is conflicted because it’s a fantastic opportunity, but she doesn’t want him to leave. Selena suggests the next step is to actually ask Elliot what he wants.

Karadec and Morgan speak to a man at the courthouse, and it turns out Joaquin threatened the judge in his civil case. He sounded unhinged when he demanded to be allowed to return to his neighborhood garden, even though it was in the radius of the restraining order. Joaquin had told Judge Lyne that he would tell the voters the truth, which would end the judge’s career.

Judge Lyne joins them and Morgan walks around his office as he answers Karadec’s questions. She notices his calendar says he has lunch with Stew every week, and she found a piece of a band banks use to wrap up $2000 in 20s. Given the cleanliness of his office, the paper is from today.

Judge Lyne laughs and says Stew is an old friend who isn’t successful. He always takes Stew to lunch and gives him cash.

After they leave, Morgan explains that the judge had vanilla body spray on his hand. Also, his lunch was on his assistant’s desk. So, that means he does something else on his lunch break and it probably isn’t with his wife. Makeup on his neck leads Morgan to believe he was meeting with a dominatrix every week. Joaquin must have known that and threatened to expose him.

Morgan suggests they tail Judge Lyne, but Karadec doesn’t want to right now, just as Soto texts with a tip on Joaquin’s neighbor. Someone saw Katie hide a gun and blanket, but she claims to have never seen the items before as she’s being arrested. The gun is the same caliber as the one that shot Joaquin.

The team looks around Katie’s house and discovers she emailed a realtor offering to buy Joaquin’s house. Karadec is certain she’s guilty, but Morgan disagrees. She finds a spot where someone broke in just a few hours ago. Katie’s window was popped, the evidence was planted, and then they re-puttied the window. Oz thinks they’re looking for a professional window installer, and traffic cams may help find a window installer’s truck in the area.

Darby Winters, the window guy, is questioned, and he’s super jittery. Morgan thinks he’s a druggie, but Karadec still doesn’t see a connection between him and Joaquin. However, it’s possible he was hired to do the job by someone who knew about his addiction. And it’s strange that Darby and the judge both drive cars from Gannick’s dealership. Morgan’s put the pieces together—of course—and realizes Gannick’s known the killer’s identity all along.

Apparently, Gannick framed himself for murder. Joaquin had discovered Gannick is a serial blackmailer who used the intel his electric cars collected to blackmail his customers. Darby made drug deals in his car, so Gannick held that against him, threatening to get his child taken away. And he blackmailed the judge to rule in his favor. Joaquin overheard him blackmailing the judge, so Gannick decided to kill him. He then framed himself and sent Darby to set up Joaquin’s neighbor, Katie.

Karadec returns home and Lucia (Susan Kelechi Watson) has made dinner, has wine sitting out, and Ella Fitzgerald playing. Lucia confesses she explored a few houses today that they may want to buy. She doesn’t want to rush him but thinks their relationship is different and better now. Karadec agrees that he’s changed for the better and credits Morgan with the improvements. He even agrees to look at properties.

Morgan shows Elliot the acceptance letter and reminds him Connecticut is far away from her. She also wants him to be a kid as long as he can; he’s more than just his intelligence. Elliot’s already decided not to go and confesses he and Ava talked about it. She reminded him the school will still be there years from now, but he’ll only get to experience being with his family now.

Morgan hugs him but looks at Ava and says, “You know, when it’s time, it’s going to be really, really hard to let you go.”

Lt. Soto calls with news that Arthur was arrested after beating up the man in the photos in Roman’s backpack. And then Selena drops a bombshell: the man confessed he abducted Roman 16 years ago!

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