High Potential Season 2 Review: ABC's Charming Procedural Raises the Stakes

When High Potential debuted on ABC in 2024, it felt as though it arrived fully formed — a feat for any freshman series. Sure, part of this is thanks to the fact that the show is adapted from the Franco-Belgian series HPI, so it arrived with a roadmap. But this type of self-assuredness also comes from the creative team behind it — the American version of the series was created by Drew Goddard (Daredevil) and is showrun by Todd Harthan (The Resident, Psych) — who know how to deliver a compelling crime procedural in an ocean full of crime procedurals. The cases of the week are more than serviceable, a nice mix of characters make up the main team, and typically by the end of the hour, the bad guy is caught and the story is all tied up: all of your basic must-haves for a procedural to work. 

The element that has made High Potential stand out since the start is, of course, Kaitlin Olson's Morgan Gillory. The single-ish (shout-out to Taran Killam, who plays her friendly ex-husband, Ludo, and does so much with the little he's given!) mom of three and mini-skirt-wearing genius who has agreed to help the LAPD's Major Crimes unit with their cases is a hoot to watch. Olson is excellent at holding both the snarky and the soft sides of Morgan.

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Still, the first season's best episode didn't come until the end, when Harthan, who wrote the season finale with Marc Halsey, made an incredibly smart choice and introduced us to the Game Maker (David Giuntoli). If Morgan is High Potential's Sherlock Holmes, she was always going to need a Moriarty. The finale saw her go toe to toe with the first adversary who actually challenged her, whose high intelligence and penchant for gameplay and puzzle solving rivaled hers. The stakes were raised, and it made the show not just more interesting but more personal. The first season ended with a major cliffhanger when Morgan realized that the Game Maker was closer than she thought and was personally targeting her, so it was clear we'd come back to him in Season 2, but it's a nice surprise to discover that the storyline stretches over the first two episodes of the second season and really establishes the Game Maker as a true nemesis for Morgan. Giuntoli plays the part with just the right amount of menace and charm to present the perfect foil for Olson to play against. The story wraps up in a satisfying way, but seeing how well the Game Maker shakes things up for both Morgan and the show, it would be such a missed opportunity for High Potential not to play that card again eventually. A character like this gives the show a way to add some complexity to its format without ever losing the elements that make procedurals so fun to watch.

6.8

High Potential Season 2

at ABC

Like

• Kaitlin Olson's central performance remains something to see
• The introduction of a nemesis has upped the stakes

Dislike

• The supporting characters still feel thinly drawn

High Potential Season 2, which premieres on ABC on Sept. 16, does eventually get back to its regularly scheduled case-of-the-week programming — this time around with some new, nifty clue-sleuthing visuals — and it never misses a beat. The gang's all here; Morgan (and Olson) rules; and the mystery as to the whereabouts of her ex Roman continues with some new developments that should genuinely push that storyline forward. But while the three episodes provided for review are not nearly enough to judge an entire season, these early episodes are still rife with Season 1's major problem: Aside from Morgan, the characters on High Potential are so thinly drawn. We've gotten some information about Morgan's partner, Karadec (Daniel Sunjata), through old colleagues who've popped up or time Morgan has spent in his apartment, which is helpful in regards to their chemistry, both professionally and personally, but he could still use some filling out. The rest of the team at the station are even worse off. Even after Oz (Deniz Akdeniz) was kidnapped by the Game Maker in the Season 1 finale and we learned a little bit about his grief over his late father, the show never returns to it. Does anyone want to ask him some follow-ups about his dead dad? Everything in the team's characterization still feels shallow. 

The show is clearly Morgan's, and thus far we've gotten to see some real layers that make her feel like a fully realized character — and the same goes for her immediate family. While the show shouldn't change its focus, giving the supporting characters Morgan is working with some background details or consistent quirks to make them feel like they have their own lives when Morgan isn't around would only make them more endearing. 

High Potential is a solid procedural with a great central character — one who has only grown in complexity as the series has continued. You can easily see how it could run for many seasons to come. But if just a little more attention were paid to the supporting characters, it would make watching all of those seasons much more enjoyable. 

Premieres: Tuesday, Sept. 16 at 10/9c on ABC, streaming next day on Hulu
Who's in it: Kaitlin Olson, Daniel Sunjata, Judy Reyes, Javicia Leslie, Deniz Akdeniz, Amirah J, Matthew Lamb, Steve Howey
Who's behind it: Drew Goddard (creator), Todd Harthan (showrunner)
For fans of: Quirky procedurals, Sherlock Holmes
How many episodes we watched: 3