TV Recap: “High Potential” – Morgan and her Daughter Become Hostages in Midseason Finale

The midseason finale of High Potential presents yet another new challenge for LAPD consultant Morgan Gillory, who becomes a hostage while visiting the office with her daughter. In many ways, this episode is all about family, both the ones we have by biological relations, the ones we connect with at work, and friends close enough they feel like family. Let’s recap.

Episode 7: “One of Us” – Written by Marc Halsey

A runner (Jeris DuPree) jogs past a camper that some kids are marking with graffiti. After putting a stop to it, he notices that the door looks like it’s been damaged. He knocks on the door, but nobody answers. It’s not locked, so he opens the door and peeks inside. That’s when he sees a dead man sitting at the kitchen table with a gunshot through his chest.

One Week Later

It’s game night. Morgan Gillory (Kaitlin Olson) and Elliot (Matthew Lamb) are playing a warring strategy game like Risk against Ludo Radovic (Taran Killam) and Ava (Amirah J). Ava asks if she can have a “Yes Day” if she and Ludo win, and Morgan agrees, presuming they won’t. But as she and Elliot argue over history-based strategies,

Ava’s Yes Day itinerary includes a number of things, but at the top is a visit to Morgan’s work at the LAPD. When they arrive, Ava sees a dog in the reception area and runs to pet it. Morgan notices a woman, Brooke Kirkman (Addison Timlin), standing around with a package. Tom (JD Pardo) approaches Morgan to tell her he got her cheesy chip finger message and tried to call the number, but he got a woman named Edna who invited him to watch her bowling league. He flirtatiously invites Morgan to join him as a date.

In the office, Daphne (Javicia Leslie) takes information from a man with an ice pack on his head, Jeremy Davis (Michael Trotter), who claims to have been assaulted. Ava asks Morgan where her desk is, and she tells her daughter that she doesn’t have one. Detective Adam Karadec (Daniel Sunjata) is surprised to see Morgan at work on her day off. She tells him abut Ava’s ‘Yes Day.” He leaves to drop something off. Ava has to go to the bathroom.

Lieutenant Melon (Garret Dillahunt) gets in the elevator, followed by Brooke, who stands behind him. She successfully removes his gun from his belt and takes him hostage, entering the office with him at gunpoint and holding a detonator in the air, pointing to a package and saying it’s one of several bombs that have been planted. A cop tries to stop Daphne, and Jeremy stops him, pulling out a gun and revealing they’re working together. Brooke has Daphne make a call for the rest of the building to evacuate. Jeremy goes around collecting everyone’s phone and guns. Before Morgan’s is taken, she sends a text to Ava in the bathroom, warning her to get out.

We see Ava step out of the bathroom, with the hallway full of people evacuating the building. Gunshots can be heard in the office.

The gunshots were from Brooke and Jeremy, who were taking out the cameras in the office. They announce the reason for their intrusion – a friend of theirs has been sentenced to life in prison for a murder he didn’t commit. They refuse to leave until the detectives find the real killer and free him. “Who’s your best detective?” Brooke asks. Lieutenant Melon raises his hand.

Lieutenant Selena Soto (Judy Reyes) is outside with the SWAT operation. SWAT Captain Cliff Halloway (Christopher Matthew Cook) and his team have information on Brooke and Jeremy, both of whom served in the National Guard. Cliff is getting guys on the roof. Soto gets a call from Melon, who is being held at gunpoint and forced to read a message. “Staff Sargeant Logan Hanson is an innocent man.” When Soto tries to ask a question, Jeremy hangs up the call.

Detective Lavolie (Merrick McCartha), the agent who worked on the case that put Logan Hanason away, comes to the LAPD to meet with Soto. He says the case was open and shut. The deceased was Frank Webber (Douglas Olsson), who was shot in a trailer. The murder weapon was Frank’s own gun, which was found in a garbage can nearby with Logan’s fingerprints on it along with traces of acetone, which aligned with the fact that Logan was working on a home renovation project. Furthermore, Logan’s height matched the angle of the bullet into Frank’s chest. Logan’s alibi was that he was home with his girlfriend at the time, Brooke, who corroborated his story. Logan had been offered a promotion that would’ve taken him overseas. Logan claimed that he and Frank went to a shooting range together the day prior, which is why his fingerprints are on Frank’s gun.

In the office, Frank Webber’s case box has been pulled out, and Melon has assembled the details on a case board. As he reviews it, he concurs with Lavolie’s assessment that Logan killed Frank, which angers the captors. Morgan raises her hand, noticing something in one of the photos. Allowed to step closer, she points to the sharp edge of one of the blood drops on the counter in the trailer, indicating something was on the table that was removed. The captors allow Morgan to call Soto, and she asks to speak with Karadec. “Are you enjoying your Yes Day?” she asks, hoping he will say that Ava is with him. She asks if Frank’s RV is in the impound lot, asking him to go look for a paper.

Inside the RV, Karadec finds a desktop computer attached to the TV. Lovging in, he sees that Frank’s last command was printing a military form to write someone up.

The message gets back to the office. Brooke doesn’t see how the form could’ve been meant for Logan. When they hear a noise from one of the side offices, Jason finds Ava hiding and brings her out with the rest of the hostages. Morgan rushes to her daughter, crying. Jason is ready to shoot Morgan for getting up, but Tom intervenes.

Karadec and Soto talk with Frank’s daughter Lauren (Tristen MacDonald). She doesn’t know of anyone who would want to kill her father. He would come over every Monday night for dinner, but be missed the last one before he died.

Karadec calls up to the office and tells Morgan to look for Frank’s phone in the evidence box. Lauren gives them the passcode and Morgan opens it up. In his maps app, she sees the last addresses Frank searched for. The first was a park that Soro says is notorious for drugs. The second address turns out to be a detox center. It seems he picked someone up and took them to the center, but the only call log is to Lauren after.

Karadec calls the detox center, but they won’t release patient information. Oz (Dennis Akdeniz) makes a call to the DA for a warrant.

Melon has noticed that Jason has grown increasingly anxious. He wants to jump him while Daphne lunges for Brooke, but Daphne worries that could set off the bomb. Melon goes rogue, trying to jump Jason without backup. They get into a fight over the gun. Tom jumps in to help and gets shot in the right leg.

Outside in the SWAT van, Cliff gets word of the gunshot and wants to deploy his team from the roof. Karadec says they need more time. The roof team was able to lower a camera to a window. They see that someone is down, but their face is out of frame.

Jason handcuffs Melon to a chair while Morgan and Daphne tie up Tom’s wound to slow the flow of blood. Tom’s nursing school has taught him to elevate his leg and check his pulse frequently. Morgan tries to  remember the first aid training classs she took when she was was pregnant with Ava. And then she realizes that Brooke has spots of dry skin and injection marks on her waist from IVF treatments. Morgan realizes out loud that Brooke and Logan were planning to have a baby, and the home renovation project was for a nursery. That’s why Logan turned down the promotion that would take him overseas. Jason is frustrated when Brooke confirms because he didn’t know any of this. His paranoia grows even worse.

Karadec calls bodegas near the detox center asking if they’ve had any customers around 6 feet tall who look like they could be military and may have been shaking. From that, he ends up with a blurry image of a man from a security camera. Oz recognizes the field officer jacket.

When the photo is sent up to the office, Jason is outraged that it’s all they’ve been able to find so far. Melon warns that if Tom does, they will go to prison for homicide. Morgan says that Tom’s condition is such that he would need someone to help him out. Brooke assigns Ava to do it. Ava doesn’t want to leave her mother, and Morgan is emotional as she teaches her daughter how to stand with her hands above her head when they get to the first floor so the SWAT team knows she’s not a threat. Morgan helps them into the elevator.

Jeremy is angry at Brooke, thinking that Ava was their greatest leverage to get what they want. In his anger, he punches the glass case board, cracking the center. As they argue, Morgan realizes that Frank didn’t have a call before going to the park. She looks through the evidence box and finds a receipt for a luggage locator tag. His phone doesn’t show signs of him planning a trip, so she believes he was using it to track a person, likely a soldier who was having drug problems. And she presumes that person was the blurry face from the bodega security camera. Using Frank’s phone, she finds the tag’s history. It was at the RV on the day and time of Frank’s death. She believes Frank was preparing to discharge the soldier, and he took the form after killing him. She sees the address of the tag and calls Karadec.

Ben Spoelstra (Colton Adams) is arrested. Karadec is part of the team that takes him in, and Ben is surprised when Karadec pulls the tag out of his jacket, asking what it is. “This means you’re under arrest for the murder of Frank Webber,” Karadec tells him.

Everyone in the office breathes a sigh of relief when they get the news that Frank’s real killer has been caught. Brooke thanks Morgan, but when she puts her weapon down, Jeremy attacks her. “This isn’t over until I get what I want,” Jeremy announces as Brooke passes out.

Jeremy threatens to detonate the bomb if he doesn’t get a plea deal. But before they can call Soto, Morgan has an epiphany. She remembers the dog in the lobby, and how a dog would’ve been upset by the smell of a bomb. And she remembers seeing Brooke in the reception area with a bag, not a box. A box wouldn’t have made it past security. And if Brooke is trying to conceive, she would be unlikely to go near the chemicals required to make a real explosive. Brooke regains consciousness and confirms Morgan’s theory. The box just contains the contents of Brooke’s bag. It’s fake. Jeremy is handcuffed and arrested.

Ava and Morgan have a tearful reunion outside.“Good thing you’re so smart,” Ava says to her mom, beaming with pride. Morgan promises her a raincheck on her Yes Day. Morgan and Karadec thank each other.

Logan Hanson (Maurice Marvel Meredith) is released while Brooke is taken in.

Morgan goes to the hospital to check on Tom. He will be okay.

When Morgan returns to work, she is surprised to find the entire team lined up to thank her and shake her hand. In the office, Melon says they have a surprise for her. Pulling the case board out of the way, Morgan finds her own desk butted up to Karadec’s. With the fanfare over, she takes her usual seat on the edge of his desk to get to work on their next case.

Next Episode: January 7th, 2025

Since this was the midseason finale, we have to wait until January 7th for more High Potential. ABC recently released its midseason lineup, and this show will be paired with another fan-favorite mystery series, Will Trent, which I also recap. If you’re looking for a good quirky detective show to fill in the gap between now and January 7th, the first two seasons of Will Trent are now streaming on Hulu and Disney+ (with the Disney Bundle).

Songs Featured in This Episode: