High potential has a lot of potential

The new crime series “High Potential” has just started in the USA and provides excitement and entertainment with a likeable cozy crime factor. So that I don’t get to the pilot episode in the review, why we are really impressed.

Spoiler warning – This message may contain hints about the continuation of the plot!

This is what happens in the first episode of the crime series “High Potential”

In High Potential, Morgan (Kaitlin Olson) is a single mother who makes a living cleaning the LAPD offices at night. One evening while dancing and cleaning the room, she accidentally comes across a box with pictures and notes from a current murder case on the table where murder detective Karadec (Daniel Sunjata) is stuck. However, when he comes to work in the morning, he finds the name of the victim’s suspicious wife crossed out on the white board. Instead, she is declared a victim. The security camera quickly proves that Morgan made the correction.

When Karadec and his boss Selena (Judy Reyes, Scrubs) summon the cleaner to the office, it turns out that she has an IQ of 160 and can see connections that even the most experienced detectives can’t find. Since it is now important to save the second victim of the crime as quickly as possible, Selena Morgan makes an unusual offer. She is supposed to accompany Karadec as an advisor and solve the case together with him…

Here is the trailer for the new series “High Potential”:

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A funny introduction

Just imagine this: A cleaner is dancing through a police building at night, swinging her cleaning rag with motivation, when she suddenly knocks over a box of evidence about a murder case that is spread out long and wide on the whiteboard in front of her. One look is enough and she finds the devil in the details, corrects him and goes home. The next morning she is looking after her children, slightly stressed but carefree, when suddenly the bell rings and two police officers take her away and summon her to the desk of a grumpy detective, who then lectures her.

Sounds kind of crazy fun, don’t you think? That’s exactly what it is, because the pilot episode of the crime series “High Potential”, which has just started on the US channel ABC, will obviously have a cheerful tone and combine it with exciting murder cases according to the good old cozy crime principle.

Based on the debut episode, this has worked really well so far. The first 45 minutes are definitely extremely entertaining and relaxing. Already in the first scene in which you get to know Morgan, a joyful smile crosses your lips. The lively art in which It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia star Kaitlin Olson introduces the new format’s main character is simply charming.

The seriousness of an investigator’s life

Of course, attentive viewers are surprised that the supposedly “simple” cleaner is suddenly messing around with a murder case. However, the clarification of this deliberately somewhat confusing scene follows quickly, because the next day she has to answer Morgan’s questions and also learns that she actually started a crime that night.

Her answer is delivered so energetically and sympathetically by her acting alter ego that you are really happy about the puzzled looks of the cop Karadec, who forms a harmonious contrast to the single mother. The organizing factor is his boss Selena, who immediately recognizes that Morgan has the special gift of discovering details that others wouldn’t even dream of.

In a short but important dialogue it turns out that the cleaning woman has an IQ of 160 (that would roughly correspond to the intelligence of Stephen Hawking) and therefore quickly joins the ranks of the most intelligent people in the world. Nevertheless, Karadec understandably doesn’t feel particularly keen on being accompanied by a complete beginner as an advisor, although of course that’s exactly what happens in the end.

The chemistry is right

In the following scenes and dialogues it becomes clear that the chemistry between the two very different people is still right. Although Morgan makes one investigative mistake after another, her comments on the case are always correct. This is a challenge for the experienced investigator that should not be underestimated because he has to get involved in the not exactly easy life of his new colleague, but on the other hand he also often has to trim her down so as not to jeopardize the success of the investigation due to her inexperience.

All of this comes across in a relaxed, breezy tone that knows how to entertain and take the audience along. Series creator Drew Goddard (Lost, Daredevil) ensures that the case to be solved isn’t too obvious, but on the other hand, he doesn’t just leave it to a pure “case of the week” concept. Of course, at the end of the episode, the perpetrators are put behind bars and Morgan receives a permanent job offer from Selena.

But she herself also demands something in return. 15 years ago her husband disappeared without a trace, a circumstance that left deep marks on the family. For example, Morgan’s daughter Ava (Amira J) feels left out because her brother Elliot (Mathew Lamb) obviously has the same talents as his mother, but she doesn’t. She also never met her father, so she was frustrated on the one hand, but also sad because she thought she had been abandoned by him.

So Morgan now asks Selena for help in return for her services, a perhaps far-fetched but understandable request that could give “High Potential” a nice push toward horizontal storytelling. This would mean that the series would work according to a similar principle to the successful tracker, in which the main character solves a case every week, but at the same time pursues an overarching goal. The advantage of such formats is clear. If you miss an episode, the world doesn’t end immediately, although you are certainly motivated to stick with it.

Conclusion

The debut episode of the series “High Potential” is well done and certainly a win for fans of episodic series. That is, if the cases don’t get boring and the writing team around Drew Goddard puts in the work. Writing good cozy crime stories is not that easy. The humor has to be right and shouldn’t get out of hand, the stories shouldn’t be too simple and the chemistry in the ensemble has to be right. Which ingredients are needed is also clear, and the pilot presents them in a routine and presentable manner. We are also looking forward to the start in Germany, which will hopefully take place soon.

So we currently have four out of five feather dusters.