High Potential season 1, episode 5 recap and review: "Croaked"

Usually, when you shoot a cop, you get into a lot of trouble. Morgan did not in High Potential season 1, episode 5.

Caution: This post contains SPOILERS for High Potential season 1, episode 5.

The new episode of High Potential saw the team pulled in to investigate the murder of an exotic animal vet. That murder turned into something much bigger, which involved trafficking, adoption, and more.

Let’s touch on Morgan shooting Karadec, though. This was for his own good. Karadec was about to use a soap dispenser, which Morgan deduced had a poison in it. That poison came from a frog, which, as Morgan had figured out, had been put in the dispenser. Poor Fred! RIP, man!

Anyway, the poison wouldn’t have caused death, but paralysis. Morgan didn’t want that to happen, so she shot him with a tranquilizer gun. It was for a snake, so not too bad for him. And he didn’t actually hold a grudge against her because it was either that or paralysis.

When a vet isn’t just a vet in High Potential season 1, episode 5

The murder investigation took a couple of turns. At first, it looked like someone wanted revenge against the vet because of dead animals. As much as some of her clients were upset by her putting their animals down without allowing them to say goodbye, they did not kill her.

This did open the door to finding out the vet was selling exotic animals on the black market. There’s a black market need for everything, and it turned out that this vet would pretend to put animals down so that she could sell them. Fortunately for one owner, he was reunited with his beloved spider at the end.

What was the vet selling the animals for? Well, she wanted to buy a home for her lover—her best friend. At least, that’s what everyone believed at first, and it led to Oz getting a great moment in the interrogation room to get the husband of the friend to confess to murder.

It was too easy, though. This isn’t to say that Oz couldn’t be a great interrogator, but the husband was clearly covering for his wife. Morgan realized that the son wasn’t biologically the friend’s and her husband’s. It was the vet’s son from when she was a teenager. She wanted the house for the son, faking a relationship with the friend to get that.

Yes, the friend killed the vet. Case closed.

Please don’t change Morgan and Karadec’s friendship in High Potential

Look, this is a drama, and I know that eventually Morgan and Karadec are likely to realize they love each other. I don’t want that to happen, though. I love this platonic friendship that they have.

Karadec was on a terrible date, so I wasn’t mad that Morgan came in with details about the case. Her faking being his wife with such ease makes it clear that they work well as friends. They’re like siblings, and I think a TV show really needs something like this. We need to see how two people can be in-tune with each other and bounce ideas off each other without being romantically connected or “twin souls” and “soulmates” as every other TV show puts it.

To be honest, I want to see more of Morgan and Ludo. He still loves her; that bit’s clear. I would love to really delve into why the two broke up, because it wasn’t your usual reasons. Ludo may be a little immature at times, but he’s a terrific dad. This is a man who enjoys being in his children’s (and I include Ava there) lives. He may be a fake manny at this point just to get paid, but he is a dad. He is there for all three kids, and he hasn’t once made Morgan feel terrible about needing to go out to work. This is the type of guy we need to see on our screens more.

So, as much as I love the banter between Morgan and Karadec, please don’t go there with them. They work so well as friends.

Morgan shows growth as a parent

Something that I do appreciate seeing in the series is Morgan growing as a parent. The lesson are never ending. Parenting a child is so different to parenting a teenager. I have a tween in the house, and man, was I not ready for it!

We get to see how Morgan is learning as she goes. At first, she takes some bad advice and snoops. However, she then realizes that this was a bad thing and she decides to talk to Ava about the birth control pills.

Having this mother-daughter moment is also so important. As mothers, we know what our teenagers are likely to do. We’ve been there. Did getting lectures and abstinence lessons work? Of course not! They tend to lead to more teen pregnancies. Talking about birth control—and all the different benefits of it, by the way, because it’s not just a contraception!—was a great way to grow that bond between Ava and Morgan. These are the types of parent-child relationships we need more of.

Honestly, High Potential is doing so much right in the writing, breaking down the cliches that we usually see. The cases are great, but it’s the personal dynamics that keep me returning to this series.

High Potential airs Tuesdays at 10/9c on ABC. Catch up the following day on Hulu.

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