‘High Potential’ Season 2 Episode 5 review: “Content Warning”

High Potential Season 2 Episode 5, titled “Content Warning,” starts off promising but fizzles after taking a long detour to the point. On the character side of things, the episode fairs better, but this episode’s case could have used some major editing down and a refocus on what originally made it interesting.

An intriguing case fizzles out.

An investigative reporter is found dead in her car. Morgan (Kaitlin Olsen) traces her latest story back to a “content house,” where influences spend their days producing mind=numbingly awful content for social media. At first, it seems like the reporter might have been investigating one of the other content creators, which would have actually been interesting. Instead, Morgan and Keredec (Daniel Sunjata) realize she was actually investigating a protein powder company one of the influences was contracted with.

This is where the episodes goes off the rails a bit. While Bobby (Johnno Wilson) was hilarious as the protein powder owner and potential suspect, suddenly going from the content house to a warehouse for the investigation is a bit of a whiplash, especially so late in the episode.

It’s not a smooth transition as far as plot twists go, making it feel like two entirely separate investigations with a whole new batch of suspects to interview. High Potential Season 2 Episode 5 ends with an expository wrap up, with Morgan doing her classic “I know who did it!” moments without the show allowing the audience to follow along with Morgan’s thought processes.

Sizing up the new boss.

The interpersonal character dynamics fair better. Everyone’s trying to size up the new boss, Nick Wagner (Steve Howey), who seems unphased by the scrutiny. In fact, he charms most everyone in the precinct — thanks in part to Steve Howey’s performance — including Daphne (Javicia Leslie), who says should apply to be a sergeant. The only ones not phased are Selena (Judy Reyes) and Morgan.

For the audience, Wagner is hard to pin down. He clearly got in his position through his connections and family history, but it’s not clear on what his goals are here. When he approaches Morgan, is it for intimidation, or is there something else there, a curiosity on both their parts? Morgan’s definitely wary; it doesn’t seem like Wagner has showed his cards yet, making him a delightful new mystery for High Potential Season 2.

Searching for Roman.

Mekhi Phifer returns as Arthur as Morgan tries to get more information about Roman from him. While he’s not super forthcoming, we do get a bit more info from him. It seems like Arthur and Roman were really good friends growing up, which is curious since Morgan didn’t know who Arthur was at first.

Arthur hasn’t heard from Roman in 15 years either, not until recently when Roman called to ask him a favor in keeping an eye on Morgan and Ava. It’s not much, but Arthur does emphasize to us that Roman is a good guy, so whatever made him decide to leave his family for 15 years must have been for a good reason.

These revelations come because Ava decided to force her way into her mother’s investigation. Morgan and Ava’s relationship is one of the best parts of High Potential. Seeing them fight is hard, but it’s also refreshing to see them work through their communication issues. Morgan is trying her best to keep Ava safe and also informed — even with the little information she gets from Arthur. But Ava also deserves to know the truth. It’s a balancing act Morgan is playing here, but it makes the investigation into Roman’s whereabouts all the more dramatic and intense.

High Potential Season 2 Episode 5 fumbles an interesting case but does well on the interpersonal conflicts of the main characters. If only they can right size the cases with the personal, the show would be in good shape.

Stray Thoughts

• How many times do we gotta ask before Daphne and Oz get any actual focus in an episode? Their sparse presence throughout each episode is grating.
• Morgan’s outfits are always amazing, but these ones were some of the best.
• When I ask if there’s something else there between Wagner and Nick, I don’t necessarily mean anything romantic. That’s reserved for Keredec. But it almost feels like they might be on some level a lot like each other, and I’m wondering if there’s some kind of foil going on there. Like a more neutrally opposed version of The Game Maker.

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

Katey Stoetzel

Katey is co-founder and tv editor for InBetweenDrafts. She hosts the “House of the Dragon After Show” and “Between TV” podcasts and can be read in various other places like Inverse and Screen Speck. She wishes desperately the binge model of tv watching would die, but still gets mad when she runs out of episodes of tv to watch.