Crime
His & Hers
When a whodunnit is wrapped up in sex, blood, foul language and extramarital affairs, you have to wonder if it’s even worth investigating.
Morgan Gillory is very gifted. She’s a high-potential intellectual, actually. That means she has advanced cognitive abilities, intellectual creativity, photographic memory … stuff like that.
Unfortunately, Morgan’s gifts also lend themselves to obsessive tendencies. As a result, despite an IQ of 160, Morgan has struggled to hold down a job or maintain a relationship. (The only stable relationships she’s managed to maintain are those with her three kids, whom she loves dearly.) In Morgan’s own words, she obsesses over every little problem she encounters. She can’t rest until she fixes it. And her mind is constantly spinning out of control.
“Not a gift,” she says. But the Los Angeles Police Department sees it differently.
While working the night shift as a custodian for the department, Morgan spots an error in an ongoing murder investigation. She highlights the mistake on the case board. And soon after, she’s invited to consult for the police. Adam Karadec, the detective assigned to the case, isn’t thrilled to be working with Morgan—who’s been arrested more than a few times. But Adam’s boss, Selena Soto, doesn’t give him much of a choice. They need someone like Morgan, Soto says.
Soto’s instincts turn out to be correct: Morgan winds up catching the culprits, as well as saving the life of a would-be victim. With that, Karadec softens towards the super-intelligent single mom.
So Morgan trades in her heavy-duty cleaning gloves for disposable nitrile ones, solving murders, kidnappings and other major crimes for the LAPD.
Potential Problems
ABC’s whodunnit series High Potential is full of mystery and intrigue. Morgan Gillory is a compelling character. The single mom is absolutely devoted to her kids, but you can also tell how much it means for her to have finally found her niche.
But it’s easy to like many of the show’s other characters, too. Karadec, for instance, constantly butts heads with Morgan over proper police procedure, but he’ll also be the first person to defend her if someone comes after her. Soto proves herself to be a trustworthy, caring and competent lieutenant. And other members on the force stand up for Morgan when her methods are called into question.
However, families should keep an eye on some potentially problematic elements.
As we know from the very first episode, murder is often in the mix. The Season 1 finale (and Season 2 introduction) focused on tracking down a baddie calling himself the “Game Maker,” who put Morgan’s talents to the test by kidnapping several police officers and forcing Morgan to solve his puzzles in order to save them from gruesome deaths.
Morgan solves other major crimes, too, such as grand larceny. But one of the show’s big mysteries actually surrounds her first husband, Roman, who disappeared when their daughter, Ava, was just a baby. Morgan is determined to find out what happened to Roman for Ava’s sake. So she enlists her new pals on the force to help her track the guy down.
Less mysterious but still a little messy is how Morgan has conducted herself since Roman’s perceived abandonment. Romantically speaking, Morgan hasn’t had much luck. She and her second husband, Ludo, got divorced after having two kids of their own. (He’s still around, coparenting with Morgan and even acting as a father figure to Ava.) But it seems Morgan’s still looking for love, dating and flirting with people she meets in and around the LAPD—perhaps even when she shouldn’t—and occasionally getting frisky with those paramours.
Light language is sometimes dropped in. A few plotlines involve LGBT couples. And some throwaway lines show a disdain toward Christianity. We also see evidence of some sexist attitudes at times.
Like many crime dramas, High Potential has a lot of potential to entertain and dole out justice. Even so, it may be hard for many families to justify the grittier content that comes with such a show.
(Editor’s Note: Plugged In is rarely able to watch every episode of a given series for review. As such, there’s always a chance that you might see a problem that we didn’t. If you notice content that you feel should be included in our review, send us an email at letters@pluggedin.com, or contact us via Facebook or Instagram, and be sure to let us know the episode number, title and season so that we can check it out.)
When the major crimes unit is called in to investigate the theft of a rare painting, Morgan suspects that the culprit may be a consultant hired to help the police.
Morgan makes out with a guy after getting drunk with him, and they start to undress (we see the guy without his shirt) before they’re interrupted. Morgan frequently wears short skirts. We also see some cropped tops.
Someone speculates that the stolen painting—Rembrandt’s “Girl at a Window”—is a portrait of a courtesan, which Morgan says is disturbing: The girl appears to be a child.
A dead body is discovered lying in a pool of blood. Security footage of a past art theft shows a security guard shooting a thief in the shoulder. We see a scar on someone’s shoulder. Two cops draw their weapons on a car thief (the thief has his own gun), but no shots are fired. A car chase results in several near crashes.
A scene shows the thief removing a glass pane from the ceiling, releasing smoke grenades into the museum where the art is housed and knocking a security guard unconscious. An elderly woman says that Nazis took everything from her family when she was a girl—and that she was the only member of her family to survive. A man tells Morgan that he thinks he’s being followed. Sure enough, someone shows up in the back of his car and threatens him.
Morgan gets upset when people give more attention to the missing painting than she thinks they would to a missing person. Police are forced to let a car thief go when their intended target makes an appearance. Karadec inadvertently steals a vehicle after disobeying an order from his captain. (He has legal cover, since he’s using the car to pursue a criminal.)
Morgan purposely keeps information from the new police captain, Nick Wagner, so that she can continue to investigate in less-than-legal ways. When Wagner finds out, he takes her off the art case after yelling at her. Karadec, defending Morgan, then verbally threatens the captain.
People drink at a bar. Morgan’s kids seemingly break a few rules. People lie. We hear singular uses of “a–” and “p-ss.”
Morgan and the major crimes unit continue to search for the thief of the Rembrandt, who may also be responsible for murdering the art museum’s curator.
A guy sneaks up on a woman in a parking garage and shoves her up against her car before kissing her. It turns out to be her boyfriend playing a trick, so they continue to kiss once she realizes who he is. Flashbacks show Morgan making out with a shirtless man. We learn that the art museum’s curator was gay and living with his boyfriend. Morgan wears a short skirt the whole episode. We see some women working out in leggings and sports bras.
We see a dead body lying in a pool of blood. Recreations of how the man might have died show two different characters attacking him with a tire iron. Someone points a flare gun at an armed police officer; the assailant is disarmed and subdued shortly after. We see a man who was attacked with a knife getting patched up at a boxing gym, since he thinks hospitals ask too many questions.
A flashback to the previous episode shows an elderly woman saying that she was the only member of her family to survive the Nazis. A man removes his shirt, revealing many scars he received while serving in a foreign country’s army. A guy who believes he is in danger disappears shortly afterward. It’s revealed that Morgan is being followed by someone dangerous.
Morgan breaks laws stipulating how police investigations should be conducted. She tells Karadec to cover for her, and though he’s clearly uncomfortable, he does so—lying to his boss, Wagner, in the process. Morgan pickpockets someone. An insurance fraud scheme is unveiled. We hear about blackmail. More theft occurs, but the thief gives the item to someone who he believes is the rightful owner.
Many lies are told. The owners of the stolen painting insult members of the LAPD. People drink at a bar. We hear uses of “a–,” “d–n” and “h—.” God’s name is also misused a couple of times.
Emily studied film and writing when she was in college. And when she isn’t being way too competitive while playing board games, she enjoys food, sleep, and geeking out with her husband indulging in their “nerdoms,” which is the collective fan cultures of everything they love, such as Star Wars, Star Trek, Stargate and Lord of the Rings.
When a whodunnit is wrapped up in sex, blood, foul language and extramarital affairs, you have to wonder if it’s even worth investigating.
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