‘High Potential’ Season 2 Episode 1 review: “Pawns”

We’re back! (I know I just got here, heh. Under the wire, as always.) High Potential Season 2 Episode 1, titled “Pawns,” continues the case of The Game Maker, or that’s what Morgan tries to convince everyone of in this stellar premiere episode.

A blonde woman leaves a bar late at night, rocking to the fading music of the club. From behind, she looks a lot like Morgan (Kaitlin Olsen). Long blonde hair, similar clothes. A purposeful misdirect on the show’s part — or is it? But it’s not Morgan. Maya Price (Kate Miner) just wanted a night out with her friends. Instead, it ends in her kidnapping.

Connecting the dots.

When High Potential Season 2 Episode 1 begins, it’s been about a week since The Game Maker (David Giuntoli) first started playing his games. Morgan and her family have been holed up in their house while the police try to track down the man who is now stalking Morgan. Of course, that doesn’t stop Morgan from getting involved. Especially not when she receives the wrong mail, a rare statistical occurrence, according to Morgan. She walks one street over to the address printed on the advertisement to discover a house blaring ‘The Lion Sleeps Tonight’ and the front door wide open. Which leads Morgan to one conclusion — The Game Maker has made his next move.

Now, she just has to convince the rest of the LAPD that Maya’s disappearance is connected to The Game Maker. She’s got a leg to stand on, too. The wrong mail that led Morgan to the next street over brought her to Maya’s house. Sure, coincidences happen but this has an air of someone sacrificing his next pawn in the game of chess that started in the Season 1 finale.

Too close to home.

But what starts as Morgan’s typical penchant for seeing what the others cannot turns into a spiral of anxiety and fear. She’s moving too fast, too manically, too angrily. It’s a great insight into her psyche in the wake of realizing a stalker is playing games with her. It’s also a nice reminder that Morgan didn’t originally want to get involved with this job, as Selena (Judy Reyes) reveals to Keredec (Daniel Sunjata). Ultimately, Morgan’s a civilian, now caught in a dangerous game of cat and mouse.

As the case goes on, all signs point to Jason (Nick Wechsler), Maya’s boss. But for Morgan, it actually means it’s very obvious that The Game Maker is framing Jason. Selena, Keredec, Daphne (Javicia Leslie), and Oz (Deniz Akdeniz) can’t seem to follow what’s clear to Morgan. There’s too many small connections to the season one finale — Jason is diabetic, just like the first victim was. He’s also a painter who paints similar images to the ones hanging in the gallery where the second victim was found. And, Jason’s a scuba instructor, a connection to Oz’s kidnapping in the finale. These small details could be coincidences, but that’s why Morgan is so good. She never misses the bigger picture found in the smaller details.

Got your back.

Though the team isn’t exactly on board, they want to believe Morgan. And they worry their friend isn’t doing great. Even just at the start of this second season, this investigative team has a strong bond that’s very clear, and one of the reasons the show is so great. This particular aspect is even more clear in the scene where Selena expresses her concerns about Morgan to Keredec.

Keredec always plays the grumpy skeptic but here he’s sincere in how much he appreciates Morgan’s contribution to the team. And Selena’s always had Morgan’s back, but the care she shows for Morgan’s well-being, even if that means taking her off the case, is just another example of how much they all care about each other. But Keredec has faith that Morgan can solve this case, even if they think she’s off the mark with her Game Maker theory.

Catch me if you can.

Keredec and Morgan end up at Jason’s party, a high-end shindig with creepy, Game Maker-like masks. Jason is appropriately skeevy in his interview, played well by Wechsler. He’s obviously lying about something. Morgan also notices one of Jason’s tantō daggers missing from the wall. Jason ends the interview abruptly and not at all suspiciously, allowing Morgan an opportunity to snoop. But the crowded party, loud music, and unsettling face masks make for a labyrinthine chase — but is Morgan chasing the Game Maker, or just seeing things?

Jason’s near escape from his own party leads to a dramatic confrontation at the precinct. Handcuffed, he’s escorted into the LAPD, but almost gets jumped by Derek, Maya’s ex, screaming “Did you kill her?!”

Mysteries like the cases in High Potential are fun, especially with a character like Morgan. Her deductive reasoning skills are borderline Sherlockian. But the structure also invites the audience to keep a sharp eye, too. If you’re paying attention, you might have clocked Derek’s language where he refers to Maya’s kidnapping as a killing. Now hang on a minute — who said anything about Maya being dead?

Morgan puts the pieces together moments later. Jason is being framed and also being set up for execution by Derek, who The Game Maker has manipulated into believing Jason killed Maya. That misdirect earlier with Maya wasn’t really a misdirect at all — The Game Maker just wanted Morgan’s attention with the similarities. We’re yet to reach a reason for why that is but the explanation is sure to come next week because the answer walks into the doors of the LAPD. The Game Maker makes his first official appearance to close out High Potential Season 2 Episode 1. Exciting times ahead.

Old ghosts.

But one more person also made their first official appearance at the end of this Season 2 premiere. Selena has filled the whole team in about Morgan’s search for Roman, so when she gets a call from Nevada that they’ve located Roman, Daphne and Oz offer to drive there to pick him up so that Morgan doesn’t have to leave her kids while The Game Maker is still out there.

Roman appears in the form of Mekhi Phifer, head lowered and baseball cap on, even inside his motel room. He grabs an envelope from underneath the bed, with an address that reads “3426 Sandstone Ave, Henderson, Nevada.” But what else is inside the envelope remains to be seen as Daphne and Oz come knocking on Roman’s door.

It’s an exciting start to High Potential Season 2, one that promises answers and even more mind-twisting games.

Stray Thoughts

• The family aspect of High Potential is one of my favorite parts. Though it was great to see Ava, Elliot, and Ludo, it would have been cool to actually see the kid’s reaction when Ludo told them what was going on.
• The music soundtrack in this show is so good. Got me rocking out to Gaga after a woman gets kidnapped, smh. Plenty of other great needle drops here too, but none better than the creepy version of “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” when The Game Maker walks in.
• Getting Mekhi Phifer as Roman was such a good get. Very excited to see what he brings to the table.

High Potential airs new episodes every Tuesday at 9 p.m. Central on ABC