Roush Review: The Quirky Potential of ‘High Potential’
Review
High Potential
Heads-up to Elsbeth, Charlie of Poker Face, that Irrational prof, and other unorthodox practitioners of the TV art of crime-solving: There’s a new kid on the block, with a scrappy attitude and a funky fashion sense that might even give Carrie Preston’s Elsbeth pause, not to mention a Sherlock level of perspicacious observational and deduction skills.
The gal’s got potential, all right, and so does ABC’s High Potential, a breezy and fun procedural that fits nicely on the network that introduced us to Will Trent (returning at midseason). Morgan Gillory is a hot mess of a single mom—with a bratty teen, an adorably nerdy pre-adolescent son and an infant—whose “hyperactive brain” and IQ of 160 qualify her as a “high potential intellectual.” Which she doesn’t see as a gift. “I obsess over every little problem that I see. My mind is constantly spinning out of control,” she explains, lamenting her inability to keep a job or a relationship or even afford to get her car out of the shop.
As played with winning sass and an undercurrent of warmth by the terrific Kaitlin Olson, whose comic chops have been well established on It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and more recently Hacks, Morgan is a high-concept heroine in high boots, short skirts and fuzzy jackets. Not your typical LAPD police consultant, in other words.
“Who the hell is this?” sputters Detective Adam Karadec (Daniel Sunjata, a perfectly uptight foil) when he first spots her on a surveillance video, dancing around the precinct office after hours doing janitorial work, accidentally spilling a police file onto the floor and instantly connecting the dots in a tricky murder-kidnapping case. He wants to lock up Morgan for messing with his murder board, but she counters: “I wasn’t tampering. I saw a problem and I tried to fix it.”
Soon enough and inevitably, his impressed lieutenant (Scrubs’ always-welcome Judy Reyes) overrules his objections, welcoming this impulsive, argumentative but undeniably effective asset onto the team, despite Morgan’s distrust of and antipathy toward authority. Will the newbie break rules and defy protocol, continually ruffling Karadec’s composure as she pursues her nearly infallible instincts? Only those who’ve never watched TV before would doubt it.
“I think this whole idea is moronic,” Karadec bellows, and of course it is. Brilliantly so, in fact. In adapting the French series Haut Potential Intellectuel for a U.S. audience, veteran producer-writer Drew Goddard leans in on the humor but isn’t above sentiment, especially once we learn that Morgan has a need for the police that may run even deeper than their almost pathetic reliance on her brilliance.
The chemistry between Olson and Sunjata is strong, with Morgan’s blithe brashness igniting Karadec’s by-the-book exasperation to solid comic effect. The rest of the Major Crimes squad is so far mostly generic, and the great Garret Dillahunt is initially wasted as an RHD lieutenant. More care has been taken in establishing Morgan’s messy home life, including regular appearances by Saturday Night Live veteran Taran Killam as her sweet and long-suffering ex, who’s happy to be the “manny” of the household once she takes the gig—which she quits twice in three episodes, and that needs to stop.
In one of the pilot episode’s best scenes, Morgan calculates the exact price of her groceries at the store, embarrassing her teenage daughter, Ava (Amirah J). “Stop showing off!” Ava snaps, but Morgan can’t help it.
If we’re lucky, Morgan will be showing off for quite a while to come.
High Potential, Series Premiere, Tuesday, September 17, 10/9c, ABC
Watchlist Easy access to only the shows you care about — all in one simple place
Alerts Only important notifications — when a show is returning, when it becomes available to stream, and more.
Special Offers Exclusive products we release related to your favorite shows and streaming services