Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for High Potential Season 2, Episode 5.Last week’s episode of High Potential ended with Morgan (Kaitlin Olson) meeting the LAPD’s new captain, Nick Wagner (Steve Howey), so I knew we’d be in for some interesting changes this week. Sure enough, Season 2, Episode 5, “Content Warning,” brings two main storylines alongside the case of the week. While the Major Crimes unit solves the murder of a woman named Tori Nolan (Monette Moio), they also deal with the arrival of Captain Wagner, who wants to speak to each of them one-on-one.
This week’s episode sets up some interesting threads, as Morgan sets her sights on Roman’s backpack for clues about what happened to him, and Captain Wagner spends a little too much time sniffing around the Major Crimes division. As a whole, this episode feels more transitional than anything else, because it primarily sets up storylines that don’t get paid off by the end.
In ‘High Potential’ Season 2, Episode 5, Morgan and Her Team Investigate the Death of a Reporter
“Content Warning” starts off with two teens finding Tori’s body in a pond. Morgan and Karadec investigate the case and learn that Tori was an investigative reporter who was hiding from someone. They then wind up at a content house where Tori was undercover, seemingly looking for information from the residents there. In a red herring, Morgan and Karadec learn that three of Tori’s housemates played a dangerous prank on her for both content and payback. They thought that they killed her at first, but the real killer isn’t them, or even their suspicious leader, Phineas (Jake Short).
As it turns out, Tori was investigating a protein powder that one of her housemates (Nicole Bruner) was supposed to promote for her channel. The protein powder is made by a company owned by Bobby Romano (Johnno Wilson), a former college classmate of Tori’s who doxxed her after an article that she wrote. Tori threatened to expose Bobby’s company a week before she died, so Morgan and Karadec believe that he may have killed her, until they find Bobby dead after being drugged. The very drug that killed Bobby is one that his company has been selling under his nose, and the person in charge is none other than Bobby’s friend, Gavin Tillman (Brian Howe), who also runs the halfway house Bobby used to live in. Gavin killed both Tori and Bobby to keep the story about the drugs from getting out, and the Major Crimes team finds out in time to arrest him. The case felt like it was missing some crucial scenes, like Morgan and Karadec’s interview with Bobby’s second-in-command, Lamar (Deron J. Powell). Ultimately, though, it was a surprising twist, even if it felt a little out of nowhere.
In ‘High Potential’ Season 2, Episode 5, Morgan and Ava Hunt for Clues About Roman
After being unable to get through to Arthur (Mekhi Phifer) when she called his company last episode, Morgan does some investigating to find where he’ll be in this one. She shows up while he’s working and asks about Roman, but Arthur admits that Roman called him from a burner phone and that he didn’t even cross paths with him in Nevada. Morgan lightly blackmails Arthur into agreeing to give her Roman’s backpack at some point. Later, Morgan fills Ava (Amirah J) in on these developments. Ava wants to go with her to meet with Arthur, but Morgan says no.
Morgan goes to meet with Arthur about Roman at a diner, where Arthur tells Morgan that he and Roman were childhood friends and vouches for Roman’s character. This made me wonder how Arthur and Morgan had never met in all the time that Morgan and Roman were together, but this will likely be explained once we meet Roman. Ava then shows up and convinces Arthur to give them the backpack, but Morgan is furious that she disobeyed her, and she and Ava later get into a huge fight. The episode ends with Arthur leaving the backpack for Morgan, but we don’t see her open it yet, once again dragging out the mystery of Roman Sinquerra into another episode.
‘High Potential’ Season 2, Episode 5 Sets Up the Perfect Antagonist in Captain Wagner
I wouldn’t have expected the LAPD’s new captain to suddenly spend so much time with one precinct, but Nick Wagner has an unusual interest in Morgan. He kicks Selena (Judy Reyes) outside of her office for a few days, then spends the episode meeting with each person in the Major Crimes division. Oz (Deniz Akdeniz) says that his meeting was odd, but we don’t actually see it. What we do see of Wagner sets him up as an interesting potential villain. He tries to talk Daphne (Javicia Leslie) into taking the Sergeant’s exam and leaving Major Crimes, much to Selena’s concern (although she doesn’t discourage Daphne). Later, Wagner shows no interest in Karadec during their interview, and he only wants to talk about Morgan. Wagner clearly has an alternative motive here, even if it’s just that he’s fascinated by Morgan’s unique talent and wants to use her to prove himself at the LAPD, and I actually think he’s even more calculated than that.
By the end of the episode, it seems like Morgan has warmed up to Wagner quite a bit. He asks her for a reading of him as a person, and she acknowledges that he got his job through nepotism but suggests that he’s trying to prove himself on his own terms. Morgan may like Wagner, but I’m very suspicious of him, if he’s a villain, High Potential is doing an excellent job of planting those seeds. The episode makes a point of mentioning once again that Roman is specifically hiding from law enforcement and by revealing that Wagner’s father retired only five years after Roman disappeared. My working theory right now is that either Wagner or his father may have been involved in Roman’s disappearance, and now that Morgan has Roman’s backpack I can’t wait to learn more.
New episodes of High Potential air Tuesdays on ABC at 10:00 P.M. EST.
