Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for Season 2 Episode 1 of High Potential.
After a long wait and much anticipation, High Potential is officially back for Season 2 with an intense premiere that continues the events of the Season 1 finale. In the final episode of High Potential‘s first season, Morgan Gillory (Kaitlin Olson) and the rest of the Major Crimes unit investigated a killer who is officially dubbed the Game Maker (David Giuntoli) in Season 2. The Game Maker is not just a killer who’s trying not to get caught, but instead, he’s a calculated person who’s trying to get Morgan’s attention with his outlandish and intentional crimes. As a result, the Season 2 premiere is intense and suspenseful, as Morgan tries to prove that the Game Maker is back at it.
The Season 2 premiere of High Potential picks up about a week after the end of the Season 1 finale. Ludo (Taran Killam) has been staying with Morgan and her kids at the house, and Morgan has been taking some time away from work after the Game Maker tracked her down at her local grocery store. Morgan is still on edge, worrying about when the Game Maker will come after her again, but the rest of the Major Crimes unit believes that she’s seeing his involvement everywhere, even when he may have nothing to do with a case.
In ‘High Potential’ Season 2, Episode 1, Morgan Tries to Prove That the Game Maker Is Back
Like Season 1 of High Potential, Season 2 opens with a woman dancing alone. This time, though, it’s not Morgan; it’s a woman named Maya Price (Kate Miner) who is going out for a night at a club with her friend. Morgan is struggling after a week of hiding from the Game Maker and trying to keep the truth from her kids. Selena (Judy Reyes) visits Morgan for a regular check-in, but Morgan is still away from work, and it’s taking a major toll on her. The next day, she finds a piece of mail misdelivered to her address, that takes her to a house playing “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” with the door open. As it turns out, the house belongs to Maya Price, who is now missing.
Everyone else is unsure at first that the mail is from the Game Maker, but Morgan confidently pursues the case with the belief that it is him. She goes back to work and starts looking into Maya’s whereabouts, alongside her team. In the Major Crimes unit’s investigation, they learn that Maya recently bought a gun, and that she received some really expensive luxury gifts. Although Morgan is convinced it’s the Game Maker, the main suspect is Maya’s ex, Derek. Maya’s friend also turns the Major Crimes unit to Maya’s boss, Jason Howard (Nick Wechsler), who is the one responsible for the gifts and the tickets to the club. As an It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia fan, I enjoyed watching Olson and Wechsler act together again, and his character is the perfect red herring for the Game Maker.
Morgan looks into everything, and she concludes that the Game Maker has been intentionally choosing targets with similarities to Jason Howard, so that he can frame Jason for everything that he’s done — particularly Maya’s abduction. Everyone else is not as ready to agree with Morgan, which frustrates her. It’s a great moment in which, once again, Morgan’s condition leaves her feeling isolated from the people around her. She can see things before others put them together, and she can’t always explain her train of thought. Selena worries that this is too much for Morgan and even doubts her choice to make Morgan a consultant, but Karadec (Daniel Sunjata) confidently assures Selena that he trusts Morgan, which is a lovely subversion of their conversation in the pilot.
In ‘High Potential’ Season 2, Episode 1, The Game Maker Continues to Wreak Havoc
While investigating Maya’s abduction, Morgan and Karadec go to Jason Howard’s party looking for him. They figure out that Jason wasn’t the one to buy Maya the gifts on his card, and that he doesn’t have a clear alibi, but they don’t get much else from him. Just when it seems like Morgan might have been wrong about this one, she sees the Game Maker at Jason’s party. The Game Maker is clever though, showing himself just enough for only Morgan to see him. When they catch him, Jason Howard is the one stuck in his place, and Jason even gets arrested for Maya’s abduction. Derek is waiting back at the station for Jason, and he yells at him as Jason is brought into custody. Morgan later puts the pieces together that the Game Maker must have called Derek ahead of time about Jason’s arrest, and she realizes that the Game Maker has been setting everything up to try to guide Derek into killing Jason for him.
Part 1 of High Potential‘s Season 2 premiere is a strong episode that sets an exciting tone for the season. The Game Maker’s return brings Morgan back to work with a purpose, and Selena even gets a lead on a hotel room that was checked into with Roman Sinquerra’s name. As of the end of the episode, Derek is planning to kill Jason, Daphne (Javicia Leslie) and Oz (Deniz Akdeniz) are waiting outside a hotel room registered to Roman, and the Game Maker has checked himself into the station. With these cliffhangers, High Potential has planted some exciting seeds for next week’s episode, where the rest of the Game Maker’s plan will come to light.
New episodes of High Potential air Tuesday nights at 10:00 P.M. EST on ABC.
