There is always that one case that sits with a detective. Soto faced hers in The Irrational season 2, episode 11.
Caution: This post contains SPOILERS from High Potential season 1, episode 11.
The episode saw Soto step into a case, as she realized that a confession wasn’t right. She needed Morgan to look over the evidence, which led to Morgan realizing that the cops had it wrong from the beginning.
The case was 10 years old, and it was one Morgan only vaguely remembered due to having a baby and a toddler at the time. However, she quickly realized that the cops had it wrong from the beginning. There were signs from the evidence photos that pointed to signs that the victim didn’t die of a broken neck.
Going behind the captain’s back in High Potential season 1, episode 11
The episode opens with the death of the patriarch at Bucket Lane. He confessed to murdering Barry all those years ago, and the captain at the station was more than happy to accept that. Soto wasn’t. She knew that something was off about this. The old man didn’t do it.
As Morgan looked over the evidence photos, she found inconsistencies that told her what actually happened. Naturally, nobody wanted to believe her at first. Soto and Karadec thought it was a cute story, but then they realized that maybe she was right.
Sure enough, there were scorch marks behind a replaced wall plate and a dead body would fit into a laundry shoot. That fall would lead to a broken neck, and if you hadn’t figured out how the matriarch of the family could have mistaken someone else for Barry going to the basement to the sauna, then you’d be an idiot. I was really surprised that Soto and Karadec hadn’t figured that one out as the rest of Morgan’s points came out.
The only thing that initially stood out as being unbelievable was that there had been no changes made to the house in 10 years. How had that wall plate not been replaced? How had the one in the bedroom not been spotted? Well, the ending clarified all that as we found out who the murderer was.
A classic whodunit story in High Potential
One thing that I did enjoy about this episode was that it felt like a classic Agatha Christie story. I started to wonder at one point whether it would turn out that all of them had a hand in Barry’s death, a little like Murder on the Orient Express.
There were plenty of reasons for everyone in the house to want him dead. I even wondered if a couple of people were involved and just covering for each other.
The end twist was a good one, though. It turned out that Barry’s son did it. He was smart enough to realize his opportunity and make the death look like a heart attack. When the fire started on the socket, he had to rethink his plan, and it was quickly clear how the bathrobe would end up downstairs and the matriarch believe that Barry had gone down those stairs.
Once again, though, it took one small thing for Morgan to finally piece absolutely everything together. She realized that Cody could use the radio frequency remotes for the TVs to make it sound like Barry was still upstairs so that he could get away with murder.
It took a confession for Morgan to prove she was right
As Morgan goes through everything, it’s clear that without a confession, there’s nothing. The captain doesn’t believe Morgan to be right at all. He wants to take the video confession to close the case, and he keeps apologizing to the family.
Had Cody not confessed that he had done it, Morgan would be out of a job and Soto would be in a lot more trouble for going behind the captain’s back. And the only reason Cody confessed was because the guilt was eating him up. He didn’t want his grandfather to be remembered as a murderer when he didn’t do it.
It’s heartbreaking for the family, but Cody is ready to take accountability. I do like that about this story. We get to see just how bad lies and secrets are. Families shouldn’t protect themselves in times of murder.
Will this change the captain’s mind about Morgan working as a consultant? He is certainly impressed, but he’s not completely on board just yet. It’s clear that he views this as an experiment. I just wish that captains like him would just take a step back and accept that they’re wrong. He could have learned the same lesson as Cody about taking accountability. Had the captain done his job right in the first place, the questions about the murder wouldn’t have gone on for so long.
High Potential airs on Tuesdays at 9/8c on ABC. Catch up the following day on Hulu.
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