Will we ever grow bored of the savant sleuth? I suspect not – the satisfaction of witnessing a fantastically gifted person crack absurdly complex cases is one of fiction’s most reliable draws. As ever, our screens are swarming with them: in the past year alone we’ve been introduced to Ludwig, David Mitchell’s puzzle-setter turned incredibly astute (if reluctant) detective; been reunited with Natasha Lyonne’s human lie-detector Charlie Cale in Poker Face; and crossed paths once again with brainiac attorney Elsbeth, whose forays into policing are chronicled in the Good Wife spin-off of the same name.
Also back for more mental gymnastics is Morgan Gillory, the protagonist of breezy procedural High Potential, which returns for a second season. With an IQ of 160 – giving her “high intellectual potential” (Mensa typically requires a score of about 130) – Morgan’s ability to unravel mind-bendingly complicated sequences of events is downright astonishing. Yet there’s something a little different about this particular clever-clogs crimestopper. Ever since an antisocial drug addict by the name of Sherlock Holmes set the genius detective tone, such characters have usually had a few issues. Ludwig is reclusive, his talents tempered by intense awkwardness. Cale is a chaotic, commitment-phobic outsider partial to a drink or two, while Elsbeth is a no-filter weirdo who gives people the creeps.
