With Soto sharing the name Gio with Morgan in the previous episode, we knew it wouldn’t be long before he came up in the story. Well, that happened in High Potential season 1, episode 9, with Karadec now involved in the case.
Caution: This post contains SPOILERS for High Potential season 1, episode 9
Up to this point, Soto has been the only one working the case of Roman. She didn’t want others involved until they had to be, and this episode saw Karadec needed for an assist. However, it looks like Morgan will end up on her own for a bit, as Gio understandably doesn’t want to be involved with the cops.
What’s the case in High Potential season 1, episode 9?
Of course, while there is a lot going on with Gio and Morgan, there’s also a case to solve. This is a pretty easy one to figure out, although there is one thing that bugs Morgan as usual throughout. In this case, it was the word “tiddlywinks.” This was the last word the victim, Marvin Price, said on the phone to his son when he was killed.
Everyone initially thought that it was Marvin’s “house manager” who killed him. She had wormed her way into Marvin’s heart, and he ended up changing his will to make her the sole beneficiary rather than his son. After all, father and son didn’t really get along. The son shared that Marvin was making the change back, but he was killed before he did it. That ruled the son out, but made Tiara look all the more guilty.
Sure enough, Tiara was having an affair. The man she was having an affair with, Olivier Dubois, had stolen a neighbor’s car and ran Marvin over. He made sure the car was found, hoping that it would be blamed on the neighbor. It almost was, except that the neighbor had reported the car stolen and there was video footage of the theft.
Morgan very quickly worked out who had stolen the car thanks to knowing Hollywood Auto had called Tiara and the website showing off the entire team. She also showed her skills as determining height because of her knowledge of the size of bricks. To be honest, this isn’t too far-fetched. I’ve worked out if someone is lying about their height on dating apps based on photos when they’re stood in doorways and against some walls. That’s more of a woman thing than a Morgan thing. I liked it being added in!
When Tiara was being written out of the will, Olivier decided to kill Marvin to get the money. He and Tiara could have everything then. Fortunately, Tiara saw that she could gain some sort of leniency by doing the right thing. She turned Olivier over to the cops and signed over the whole inheritance to Marvin’s son. That meant Marvin’s son could get his daughter (actually, stepdaughter, but that only mattered to Marvin and not the son) into the perfect school.
This whole storyline was an important message of saying things you want before you die. Let people know that you love them. It turned out that despite the back and forth between father and son, Marvin did deeply love his son. A picture of his son in a production was the only one on his desk, highlighting how important his son was to him. If only the son knew that rather than making the last words negative ones.
What was the deal with tiddlywinks?
Of course, the word kept annoying Morgan, until she heard Marvin say it as he commentated baseball games. Then Tiara mentioned that Marvin thought Olivier was a “waste of space.” As Morgan thought back to all the videos she watched, she realized that the word “tiddlywinks” was the way that Marvin would refer to a waste of space.
By saying the word to his son, he was highlighting that it was Olivier who was going to kill him. He wanted someone to know that it was the waste of space in Tiara’s life.
I love how this word wasn’t a make-or-break part of the case. It was just a clue that helped to eventually get Tiara to confess to Olivier not being with her at the time of the murder. Plus, it just shows us how Morgan’s brain works. Again, I get it. If there is something that my brain latches onto, it’s going to annoy me until I’ve figured it out.
Did Gio really meet with Roman before his death in High Potential?
Soto and Morgan ended up meeting with Gio in a diner. He clearly didn’t want to talk, but it was also clear that he knew something. He wanted something from Soto first. He had a nephew who was facing jail time but needed rehab help instead. I actually like that Gio wasn’t trying to get the nephew off completely. He wanted his nephew to take some accountability, but do it in a way that would actually help him. I think that helped his cause with Soto.
She decided Karadec finally needed to be pulled in. Karadec has a former relationship with an attorney, who could use some sway with the judge on the case. However, Karadec wanted to know why this was important, and that meant explaining the Roman situation.
Karadec comes through, and he’s not angry that Morgan turned to Soto and didn’t say anything to him. Karadec doesn’t take a lot of the job personally. He’s made it clear that he wants to get to the bottom of the cases, and he wants to help people. He also knows that sometimes, he’s not the right person for the task. But he does want Morgan to watch her back because Gio is a dangerous man.
The question is whether Gio actually knows anything. Morgan doesn’t think so at first, but then we get the reason for the title of the episode. “The RAMs.” Gio brings that up and says “that’s what you called yourself.” The RAMs stands for Roman, Ava, and Morgan. It was the three of them against everyone, and Gio would only know that because Roman told him.
This cements the idea that Roman and Gio did know each other. Gio is even clear that he didn’t meet with Roman enough, but there is the reminder that Roman was a good guy. He was afraid for himself and his family, though. Gio doesn’t want to work with the cops, but he will help Morgan. It seems like something happened that even Gio has felt bad for, because otherwise, why would he remember this after 15 years?
I’m really glad that we’re learning that Roman wasn’t a bad guy. I’m also glad that we see Ava tell her mom that she overheard what Soto said about Roman not just disappearing on purpose. There’s a bit of a relief in this for everyone, even though they still don’t know what happened to Roman just yet.
Can Morgan and Tom make it work?
Just after getting a cute dinner, we find out that Morgan has ghosted Tom for a week. This wasn’t intentional. Again, we see how Morgan’s brain works. She gets so focused on tasks that she forgets to reply to messages or return calls.
I can so relate to Morgan in this. I don’t think this is just her high IQ. There’s an element of ADHD going on here as well. Some of the most caring people in the world can end up forgetting about messages. For me, it’s an “out of sight, out of mind” thing. I have to purposely make myself remember things and set timers so that I go and check I’ve done something.
You either have people who understand that, or they just don’t. Tom seems to understand that Morgan didn’t intentionally ghost him, but I’d be very surprised if this relationship can work. That’s especially now that we know Tom is moving to San Diego for work after finishing nursing school and getting a job. It certainly seems to be pushing the storyline toward Morgan and Karadec being together, because they are both in the job and will end up forgetting about each other.
High Potential airs on Tuesdays at 9/8c on ABC. Catch up the following day on Hulu.
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