Spoiler Alert: This list contains spoilers for the ‘High Potential’ Season 2 premiere.High Potential is arguably one of the best new procedurals on television right now. The quirky angle of the story that follows a high-IQ single mom working as a consultant has endeared fans to the series. It’s thanks, in large part, to the performance of Kaitlin Olson and the fabulous dynamic between Morgan (Olson) and Detective Adam Karadec (Daniel Sunjata).
As the show enters its second season, this time with more episodes, fans are eager for answers to some of the most pressing questions from Season 1. But they also want the show to address a few important things that have been left to the background.
1
Where Is Roman?
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While High Potential, one of the most anticipated returning drama series this fall, follows a different case of the week (for the most part), there’s one overarching storyline that has been part of it since the beginning. Morgan’s first husband, Roman, left one day 15 years ago to get diapers for their baby and never returned. She has always had a sinking feeling he hadn’t just abandoned his family and that something had happened to him. She asks LAPD Major Crimes head Selena Soto (Judy Reyes) to look into it, and Selena discovers that Morgan’s right.
The last that viewers knew in Season 1, Roman was confirmed to still be alive, but in a massive revelation at the end of the season, Karadec finally got a location. They know where he is. While this was teased in Season 2, Episode 1’s “Pawns,” the expectation is that the storyline will continue to be teased for many episodes. But Season 2 needs to eventually address what happened to him and why. It would also be nice to finally see a reunion between the two.
2
Why Did Roman Leave All Those Years Ago?
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Continuing with Roman, most intriguing is not only the team finding Roman but also learning what happened to him and why he left. As a popular street artist, he wasn’t caught up with bad people, at least not to Morgan’s knowledge. As they learned more from a man named Gio Conforth (Domenick Lombardozzi) who had dealings with Roman before his death, Roman was working with an undercover agent who was killed around the same time he disappeared.
Clearly, Roman was involved in something, potentially even on the right side of the law, like working as an informant, that ended up putting his life in danger. But what was he doing, for whom, and why has it been important for him to stay away for so long with no contact at all with his wife and daughter? Morgan, his daughter Ava (Amirah J), and viewers need to know.
3
Will They Catch the Game Maker?
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The Game Maker, played by David Giuntoli, marks the first case that spills over to not only multiple episodes but also multiple seasons. The final episode of Season 1 followed the team being forced to play his game. They saved several kidnapping victims before they ran out of air while being held in a compromising situation, one of whom was Oz (Deniz Akdeniz). When the man approaches Morgan in a grocery store parking lot posing as a good Samaritan helping her with her bags, however, the case gets even more personal for her.
Viewers already know his face. He’s enjoying taunting Morgan, one of the best TV detectives of the last five years, and playing this game with someone worthy of solving the puzzles. But that can only go on for so long. The case needs to wrap up in an episode or two, and the inclination after that shocking end to Episode 1 is that it might very well happen soon.
4
What Was the Game Maker’s Motivation?
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The Game Maker is a man going by a fake name in a grief group that Oz was attending. He went after people who were seemingly suffering, though Season 2, Episode 1 suggests that he might have other ideas and another victim in mind through some sick and twisted means.
What viewers truly want to know is what the motivation is behind what he’s doing. Every kidnapper or killer has some type of backstory, often with details that influence why they do what they do. Learning his backstory and why he’s fascinated with Morgan is important, especially if he sees a sort of intellectual kinship with her.
5
The Negative Side of Morgan’s Gift
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Prior to the release of Season 2, showrunners commented on wanting to use the season to showcase the negative side of Morgan’s gifts more, and how debilitating it can be for her. In Season 1, she noted many times that while it seems like she’s so blessed to be so smart, it’s a double-edged sword. Her intellect and the fact that her mind is always processing something has made it challenging for her to hold down a job or a relationship.
Seeing more of how a case can consume Morgan will give the series more depth, and that has already begun with the Season 2 premiere, which shows a much more frantic, anxious version of Morgan who is frustrated with others not understanding how her mind works. High Potential is one of the funniest legal drama shows. But diving more into her gift as a curse would remind viewers that while Morgan jokes around a lot about her gift being a curse, it truly can be devastating for her at times. Viewers want to see Morgan more in a vulnerable state to also see how her new work family responds to it, and shows that there are people with the patience and the understanding to help her through it.
6
A Backstory for Karadec
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Throughout Season 1, fans only got surface-level details about all the main characters, including Karadec. In one episode, Morgan visited Karadec at home to work together on a case they were both obsessing over, which provided a glimpse into his life and his personal abode. In another Season 1 scene, Morgan crashed a blind date he was on because of pressing information she discovered for a case. One detail that is known about Karadec is that he had a fiancé named Lucia who broke up with him because of his intense dedication to his job.
It would be great to see more of Karadec’s backstory, either through flashbacks or by having him open up more about Lucia. It could even be people like Selena providing details, since she might have been working with Karadec at the time he was engaged and knows what happened or how their dynamic was. Todd Harthan, executive producer and showrunner, confirmed with TV Guide that he wants to dive more into backstories this season, including not only of Morgan but others as well. “We haven’t even gotten into the friends and family yet and all those messy storylines,” he says. “We’ve barely scratched the surface of some of the relationships.” Hopefully, Karadec is on that list.
7
More Details About Selena’s Personal Life
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Just as with Karadec, there isn’t much known about Selena’s personal life through all the episodes of Season 1 of High Potential. Is she or was she married? Does she have kids? Selena certainly has motherly instincts in the way she has gone to bat for Morgan and sympathizes with her over her situation, especially with Roman. But she seems so deeply entrenched in her job and never goes into personal details with anyone.
It would be interesting to see what she does at the end of the workday once she goes home. It’s important to see more of her personality outside of work and what kind of person she is. Even learning how she rose up the ranks to her position would provide more context for one of the show’s most beloved characters.
8
A Romantic Storyline for Morgan
Morgan has had a few brushes with romance on the show. She and the police station janitor Tom (JD Pardo) shared some dates and there was a clear connection. However, her busy schedule with work and being a mom and his busy schedule with work and studying to become a nurse made it challenging. Once he graduated, he left to take a nursing job. Tom returns to attend a police gala with her, but it’s evident anything romantic simply won’t work out due to distance.
There are romantic undertones between Morgan and Karadec, but some fans hope their relationship remains a platonic friendship. Ludo (Taran Killam) is a wonderful ex-husband, but it’s clear there are no more romantic feelings there. Roman coming back into her life could mean the resumption of a romance. But it feels more like it’s crucial for closure for Ava and not for Morgan, who is likely a very different person now than she was 15 years ago. Whether it’s someone new or not, it would be nice to see Morgan get some time to herself outside of work and being a mom to enjoy a relationship with someone who truly understands her and is willing to be patient with her gift.
9
We Need To Know More About Daphne and Oz
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The Season 1 finale provided personal details about Oz for the first time, including the fact that he was attending a grief group to help get over the loss of his father. After being saved by Morgan and the others after he was kidnapped and chained to the bottom of a pool by the Game Maker, Oz opened up to Morgan about a case he once worked when he was a rookie cop that involved the possible drowning of an 8-year-old. Those tiny morsels of information help paint a picture of him, but it isn’t much. Meanwhile, viewers know even less about Daphne (Javicia Leslie).
Daphne appears to be a rising star in the department and someone who looks up to Selena, hoping to be the type of lieutenant like her one day. She’s perceptive and intelligent, and her and Oz seem to work well together as partners. While their relationship seems like nothing more than a platonic partnership, both are single, so romance storylines down the line might be nice, too, even if it’s not with one another.
10
Who Are the New Characters?
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It’s confirmed that Mekhi Pfifer is joining the cast in a recurring guest starring role. But the nature of the role is still a mystery besides the detail that he is someone who “becomes involved in Major Crimes,” according to Variety. Fans who watched the Season 2 premiere will notice that he’s the man who takes an envelope from under the bed of a hotel room where Roman is supposedly staying, but the description of his role suggests that he isn’t Roman himself.
Shameless star Steve Howey is also tapped to play a character named Jesse Wagner, and there’s a bit more detail known about him. Reyes told US Weekly that he’s a “new sheriff in town” who is “messing with the lives of the people here at the precinct.” His character influences Selena’s arc on the show now that he appears and is in charge. “Steve Howey’s character is really turned on by this group of people,” adds Reyes, “and he wants to be part of it so bad. He continues to inject himself into the environment, and it creates a little drama.”
