‘High Potential’ Returns With Morgan’s Choice With Rhys & That Arthur Twist

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for High Potential Season 2 Episode 8, “The One That Got Away: Part Two.”]

High Potential is back and raising plenty of intrigue in its midseason premiere episode, “The One That Got Away: Part Two,” which revealed the truth about Morgan’s (Kaitlin Olson) new fling, Rhys (Aiden Turner).

While Season 2’s midseason finale hinted that the art dealer and consultant could have been the criminal responsible for stealing art in a case Morgan was working, the premiere revealed that wasn’t exactly the case. Although Rhys did ultimately steal the painting, it was from the Fosters, Greg (Joel de la Fuente) and Linda (Tricia O’Kelley), who had tried to get away with collecting insurance money on their “missing” item.

In the end, Rhys delivered the painting back to the Weismans, the family who had the painting stolen from them decades before amid war. Meanwhile, Captain Wagner (Steve Howey) continued to express concern over Morgan’s antics, making Karadec (Daniel Sunjata) extra protective of his partner. And as the art chaos unfolded, Arthur (Mekhi Phifer) was forced to connect with Soto (Judy Reyes), despite his aversion to police, to share details about the man who targeted him. When he was finally going to the precinct to share further information, Arthur was seemingly kidnapped.

Disney / Jessica Perez

What could this new threat mean surrounding the Roman storyline, and how could it impact Morgan? Showrunner Todd Harthan answers this question and more in the Q&A below.

Morgan lets Rhys get away with the crime of stealing the painting and handing it back to the family that originally owned it. Did she let him get away with it because they share a similar point of view, or does she not see him as a threatening criminal?

Todd Harthan: Well, I think it’s some combination of both. We talked about this a lot because it comes into black and white versus gray. And I think that in this instance, maybe not for law enforcement, but for Morgan, who doesn’t carry a badge or a gun, she was able to reconcile letting him go. In her brain, it made sense. And I think it was also a way for us to give an example of how she is different from the cop she works with. It’s a different rule book for her. We’ve kind of established that going all the way back to the pilot. And I think that we want to work in these palatable surprises of the decision she makes.

And at the end of the day, I think if I were to distill it down to its simplest reasoning, I don’t think she thinks that a guy like Rhys is a danger to society, that Rhys is going to hurt somebody, because if she did, if even one percent of her thought this is a guy that could be dangerous and hurt somebody, she would’ve never let him go. And once we were able to reconcile that ourselves, we were okay with it. So yeah, I loved it. I thought it was a very satisfying and surprising conclusion.

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Karadec follows Morgan when she wanders away from a crime scene. Where does that concern come from? Is it about Wagner’s threat to her, or does it come from something else?

Well, I think for him, it is very, very clear why he does what he does in that episode, which is that he values her and respects her so much, but he also knows that she can be her own worst enemy. And if there’s a line she’s getting ready to cross that could be the death blow and get her fired from something, he so badly wants to protect their partnership, he’s going to chase her down and try to stop her from doing that thing. And so that’s really where it’s coming from in this particular episode. I mean, and usually that’s where it’s coming from him in general.

We saw Arthur connect with Soto earlier in the episode, and on his way over to meet her at the precinct to share details about the attack he experienced, he was kidnapped. Should we be worried that he might end up a victim?

I won’t say definitively that he won’t pop up in one of these episodes, but I will say that it’s unlikely [as a victim]. It’s just when you have Mekhi Phifer in the mix, you don’t want to take him out of the mix prematurely. He’s been a wonderful character. He’s just starting to cross [paths] with other characters in our story. There’s more to do. So I think that the way that we’re going to fill in those blanks, and the audience is going to find out what happened to him, where he is…  There might be some surprising twists and turns coming in that story, too, which I don’t think people will see coming. But yeah, I have a sneaking suspicion… Mekhi’s going to be around.

High Potential, Season 2, Tuesdays, 9/8c, ABC