The past doesn’t stay buried for long in High Potential’s latest episode as a deathbed confession threatens to unravel a decade-old murder case that Lieutenant Soto has never been able to let go. With Morgan Gillory applying her unique investigative skills and Karadec warning Soto of the risks, the team revisits a case that was long thought to be closed. But as new evidence emerges and hidden family secrets come to light, they realize the truth is far more complicated than they ever imagined.

Episode 11: “The Sauna at the End of the Stairs” – Written by Kat Sieniue
At a mansion on Bucket Lane, George Donovan (Lawrence Pressman) lies on his deathbed, surrounded by his family. With a weak but determined voice, he asks one of them to record a video—he has something to confess. His son tries to stop him, but George insists. “I killed Barry,” he declares. George goes on to describe the events of Thanksgiving night ten years ago. He waited for his son-in-law at the top of the stairs, pushed him to his death, then moved the body to the sauna to make it look like an accident. His wife, Lenore (Pamela Roylance), immediately denies it, but George stands firm.
Morgan Gillory (Kaitlin Olson) injects a bit of humor into the start of her work day by showing off a fake police badge she got at a dollar store. Detective Adam Karadec (Daniel Sunjata) confiscates both of them in annoyance. As he pockets it, Officer John (Russell Wong) arrives with Lieutenant Melon (Garret Dillahunt) to discuss the case with Lieutenant Selena Soto (Judy Reyes). Barry Donovan (TJ Thyne) was murdered in 2014, back when Soto and Melon were junior detectives. Melon bet that George did it, while that didn’t sit right with Soto. Not that George has confessed, they came to gloat.

With the rest of the team wanting to know more, Soto walks them through the original investigation. Barry, married to Heather Donovan (Marguerite Moreau), was found dead in the sauna. At first, it appeared to be a tragic accident—he had passed out and slowly cooked to death. But the autopsy revealed a broken neck. Lenore claimed to have seen George in the hallway around midnight, but no one in the house heard a struggle. The only physical evidence linking George to the crime was a single drop of Barry’s blood on one of his shirts in a laundry hamper, but it wasn’t enough for a conviction. The bigger complication? Barry had cocaine in his system, and his dealer, Billy Ross, was arrested nearby that same night, but he was never confirmed to have been at the Donovan mansion. Soto never believed George had the physical strength to push Barry down the stairs. But when Melon dismissed her suspicions, she let it go. Now, with the case back in the spotlight, she wants a fresh set of eyes on it. She hands the files to Morgan. “See if I missed anything,” she asks, describing this as the one case that has haunted her career.
Morgan takes the case home and digs through the old evidence. By morning, she has a breakthrough. “George Donovan didn’t push his son-in-law down the stairs; In fact, no one did,” she informs her team the next morning. She lays out her theory: Barry was actually killed in the upstairs bathroom. The real killer found him vulnerable in the shower, grabbed an old 1980s hairdryer sitting on the counter, and tossed it in the water. Electrocution wouldn’t have been flagged in the autopsy—it could easily be mistaken for a heart attack. But Morgan notices something in the crime scene photos. The electrical outlet near the bathroom sink didn’t have wallpaper covering it like the rest of them. She believes the outlet caught fire when the hairdryer was exposed to water, leaving scorch marks that the killer tried to hide.
After Barry was electrocuted, the killer pushed his body down a laundry chute head first, resulting in a broken neck on impact, and putting blood on one of George’s shirts in the hamper. From there, the killer went to the basement, propped Barry up in the sauna with a planted bottle of wine, and made the death look like an accident.
Behind her boss’ back Soto, contacts Lenore and arranges to visit the home to investigate while the Donovan’s are out spreading George’s ashes. Morgan, Karadec, and Soto arrive with a dummy named Ida Perp, who is about George’s size and weight. The housekeeper (Karen Constantine) lets them inside, and Morgan immediately goes to the upstairs bathroom. She removes the wall plate and confirms her theory—scorch marks from an electrical fire are behind it.

Meanwhile, at the LAPD, a camera crew arrives with Nedda Donovan (Nasim Pedrad) who is the subject of a documentary about the case, titled The Sauna at the End of the Stairs. Daphne (Javicia Leslie) and Oz (Dennis Akdeniz) work to keep Nedda from interfering. Nedda holds up a promotional poster for her documentary, claiming, “I know for a fact that George’s confession is a scam.” Oz snaps a picture of the poster and steps out to update Soto, while Daphne stays behind to probe deeper.
Daphne asks why Nedda is making a documentary about the case, and she’s quick to justify herself. She claims her prenuptial agreement with Barry was criminal, and she has every right to tell her side of the story. When Oz returns, he confirms what they already suspected—George’s confession was a lie. Daphne urges Nedda to put aside her grievances and use her platform to bring Barry’s real killer to justice. Nedda scoffs. She says George called her personally, begging her to drop the documentary to spare the family further misery. If George had really been the killer, she reasons, he wouldn’t have waited ten years to confess. Still, she doesn’t know who actually murdered Barry. One thing she does know? The Donovan family would do anything to protect each other.

The Donovan family returns home earlier than expecting, and they’re upset to find Soto back in their lives. Still, Soto is able to convince them to relive that disastrous night one more time to put the case to bed. They recount the events leading up to Barry’s death, painting a picture of a deeply fractured household. Barry had been coked out, and George reprimanded him for bringing drugs into their home. Still, the family put their differences aside for dinner. They took a family photo, toasted, and then things quickly unraveled.
Matty Donovan (Ryan Devlin) started drinking, Barry got offensive, and George grew increasingly agitated. Cody (Noah Silver) left the table, and then Matty revealed that Barry and Clark (Jonathan Chase) had lost a fortune investing in a friend’s failed business venture. In the middle of the chaos, Heather accidentally caught on fire reaching over a candle, but was put out quickly. Barry stormed upstairs. The rest of the family cleared the table and sat down for a game of Monopoly. Cody returned at some point. Then, just after midnight, Barry blasted the TV at full volume. George, enraged, shouted, “I’m going to kill that bastard.” That was the last time anyone saw Barry alive.
Daphne follows up with Nedda, who admits she confronted Heather that night and tore off her wrap, revealing bruises.
Oz calls Soto with an update just as Lieutenant Melon arrives, immediately questioning why Nedda is there in the first place. Soto learns from Oz that Barry had been abusing Heather for years.
Determined to confirm the abuse, Soto confronts Heather directly. Heather admits that she never went to the police because she was ashamed. As a nurse, she knew how to tend to her injuries and hid them from the world. Soto, recalling her own experiences with a nurse in her family, gently points out that Heather wouldn’t have been able to conceal injuries that required real intervention. Cody, standing protectively nearby, becomes defensive, but Heather reassures him. With a clearer picture of the timeline, Soto moves on to question the rest of the family.

Lenore says Cody was winning Monopoly when Barry switched the TV from a war movie to an adult film, escalating tensions. Matty and Clark offered to handle it and went upstairs, saying that Barry’s door was locked, but they yelled through the door, and he turned the TV off. The brothers then went to the attic to help bring down Christmas decorations. They were gone for about thirty minutes.
While interviewing the brothers, it’s revealed that Matty and Clark had an argument in the attic about drinking in front of their father. Matty eventually left Clark alone up there for 15-20 minutes. Soto shares her theory with Karadec and Morgan—either Matty and Clark did it together, or one of them acted alone.
Then, Nedda provides another clue. She mentions that Lenore lit a fake pine-scented candle, knowing full well that Nedda despised the smell. It forced her to step outside for fresh air. When she did, she saw Billy Ross selling drugs to Matty.
Karadec relays the new information to Morgan and Soto, but before they can make a move, he also reveals that both Melon and Captain Pacheco (Keith David) have left the station.
Morgan replays the pieces in her mind, running through every detail they’ve uncovered. Then, she spots something. But before she can share her breakthrough, Pacheco arrives, furious with Soto. “You put this entire case at risk, and the department,” he scolds Soto, making a grand apology to the family as if she’s already lost. He refers to Morgan as a “cleaning lady experiment” and declares that it’s over. That’s when Morgan speaks up, saying she knows who killed Barry Donovan.

The family gathers as Morgan lays out her final theory. Lenore was wrong. She thought she saw Barry in his robe, but in reality, she saw someone wearing Barry’s robe. Cody, Barry’s son, killed him before the family even started playing Monopoly. A prodigy being recruited to MIT as a sophomore, Cody was brilliant. He also knew exactly what his father had been doing to his mother. That night, he heard Barry in the shower and saw his chance. He grabbed an old 1980s hairdryer and threw it into the water. The outlet caught fire. Knowing he had to hide what he’d done, Cody shoved Barry’s body down the laundry chute, breaking his neck. Then, he swapped out the scorched wall plate and went downstairs to join the family, securing his alibi. At midnight, he slipped into Barry’s robe and walked through the house, making sure Lenore saw him. Finally, he moved Barry’s body to the sauna, set a wine bottle nearby, cranked up the thermostat, and left the robe behind. It was the perfect cover-up—except for one mistake.
Barry was supposedly watching TV in his bedroom while the family played Monopoly. The family assumed he was changing the channel, but Morgan points out that the remotes in the housework on radio frequency, meaning they don’t require direct line-of-sight. The reality? Cody had a remote in his pocket and accidentally turned up the volume while he was in the living room.
With the truth laid bare, Cody finally breaks. The secret has been eating him alive. He tried to confess years ago, but George wouldn’t let him. Instead, George made the video, taking the blame to protect his grandson. Soto tells Cody that, as a minor, he’ll likely serve less than three years. The officers lead him away.

As the dust settles, Captain Pacheco tells Soto she did good work. But he warns her never to go behind his back again. She simply smiles at Morgan, knowing it was worth it.
Later that night, back at the LAPD, Soto calls Morgan into her office. “You continue to amaze me,” she says. “We’re lucky to have you on the team.” Morgan grins. “Back at you, Lieutenant.” As Morgan heads out, she grabs her jacket from near Karadec’s desk. She notices that he pinned one of her dollar store badges to it, which makes her laugh.
Next Episode: “Partners” – Airing Tuesday, February 4th, at 9/8c on ABC
The FBI joins the investigation into the murder of a controversial tech magnate, forcing Karadec to reunite with his former partner. Meanwhile, Ludo becomes overwhelmed with his increasing childcare duties.
Songs Featured in This Episode: