Spoilers below for High Potential’s Season 2 winter premiere for anyone who hasn’t yet watched on ABC or via Hulu subscription.
Aiden Turner hinted that his hunky art-tracking character Rhys would have more to do with Kaitlin Olson’s Morgan when High Potential finally returned from its extended hiatus for the back half of Season 2, and his return was a twisty one. Just when it looked like Rhys was actually innocent, Morgan caught him red-handed, but didn’t actually turn him in. It’s possibly the central character’s clearest example of unlawfulness yet, albeit for good reason, and it came after she unwittingly revealed a previously untapped weakness: Morgan kinda sucks at lying.
To clarify, she’s not too shabby at dodging truths and avoiding being straightforward with those she’s closest to, since she’s pretty good about hiding things from Ava, and about bullshitting Karadec. However, as was proven in during multiple conversations with Rhys, she is not very convincing when trying to straight up lie about something.
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Early on, when Rhys asked about her ducking away from the crime scene, she continued her lie about having to shift focus to another case, going so far as to say she “solved it” when he asked how it was going. In any other circumstance, such a declaration would spark zero suspicion, but in that moment, she was clearly just making shit up. Later, outside the interrogation room, she does a similarly bad job when lying about seeing his scars.
Thankfully, Rhys isn’t such a bad guy, even if he is the notorious Jean Batiste, so Morgan wasn’t put into danger by her crappy poker face. But when High Potential showrunner Todd Harthan talked to CinemaBlend about “The One That Got Away, Part 2,” I asked if it was indeed a weakness that could be taken advantage of by others, and he teased that it will come back to haunt her down the line. In his words:
It is. It absolutely is, in fact, a vulnerability that is going to pop back up and burn a little bit in our last chapter of episodes we as we ramp up to our finale.
A very interesting tease indeed, considering Morgan's main weakness to date has been more about her inability to ignore work-related duties to focus on her family and, erm, more personal needs. When it comes to tracking clues and memorizing schedules and speaking her mind, Morgan cannot be topped. But I can think of several ways where not being a good liar could blow up in her face.
For instance, if she goes against Karadec's wishes and pulls a slightly undercover tactic to get face-to-face time with a major criminal, only to come across as entirely unconvincing, that could easily put her in an early and unmarked grave. Or it could very well come down to her comfort with lying to Ava getting upended, presumably involving Arthur and/or Roman.
Or, more interestingly, maybe Karadec will start to suspec that Morgan helped Rhys out, and that lie sets up a potential fracture in their partnership. Not that I think she'd allow it to reach that level, but I have to think she'd be hesitant to confess that kind of thing to any cop, regardless of how many cases they'd solved together.
It's also possible she'll get in trouble with the Captain Nick, considering he already has a multitude of reservations about keeping her around the precinct. If he catches wind of her actions, that would certainly jeopardize all the goodwill and respect she's built up. Maybe she can just watch a few videos about how to expertly lie, and she can put those to good use.
Before any of that happens, though, check out the trailer for the next episode below!
High Potential airs new episodes every Saturday morning at 10 a.m….Ha, that was ME lying, and I did a better job than Morgan, I think. The ABC drama actually airs Tuesday nights at 10:00 p.m., and streams the next day on Hulu and via Disney+ subscription.
