After arriving at LAPD, it was clear that the Game Master was setting up his alibi. However, he was also setting up his own downfall in High Potential season 2, episode 2.
Caution: This post contains SPOILERS for High Potential season 2, episode 2
We’ve waited all spring and summer to find out more about the Game Master. I have to admit that it seems over just a little too soon, and I have to question if it really was everything that Oz needed when it came to catching the guy who tried to kill him in the High Potential season 1 finale.
As Morgan, Karadec, and Soto dealt with the Game Master, who we learned was called Matthew Clarke, Oz and Daphne continued to hunt down Roman.
Morgan realizes the game the Game Master is playing in High Potential season 2, episode 2
We open with Karadec chasing down Derek, but it’s too late by the time he catches up with the car. What he doesn’t realize is that the Game Master has walked into the precinct. Matthew Clarke is the man behind it all, and it doesn’t take long for the team to learn that his mother was accused and found guilty of stealing while working at a high-end hotel. She died in prison, and that led to Matthew being moved from family member to family member.
As Matthew continues to give little away, Morgan realizes that he is playing the Pillsbury Variation in chess, also known as the Queen’s Gambit Declined. They need to play his game if they want to win, but he is constantly one step ahead of them.
Matthew starts to give things away, though, because he wants Morgan to play with him. While staring at the mirror as Morgan is on the other side, he says words like “don’t blink” and “you swerve, you lose.” They are clearly clues of things to come, but it takes Morgan time to work them out.
One thing is clear, though. By Matthew being in the interview room at the precinct, it means that when there’s a nitro bomb that turns out to be just a thumb drive, Matthew has an alibi. In fact, when it’s clear that there is a real bomb out there, Matthew still has the alibi. There is a video of Mia singing a song, though, and this could help the case.
Matthew allows a search of his apartment
While in the interview room, Matthew allows the search of his apartment. Morgan knows that it means something has to be in there, but it’s not an easy find. It’s only as she realizes that he mentioned he was reading the night of Mia’s disappearance that she realizes it’s something to do with the books.
One book is upside down. It’s all about Stanislav Petrov, who is known as “The Man Who Saved the World.” He managed to avert a full-scale nuclear attack, and it’s later that clue that helps Morgan figure things out.
Before that, the blinking comes up. Morgan thinks back to the Vietnam war when a prisoner sent a message through blinking. The video of Mia comes up again. She was blinking constantly, and Morgan and Karadec realize that it was Morse Code. It’s all numbers, and that takes them back to Jason.
It’s all a bigger ploy, though. As Morgan and Karadec get to Jason’s house, the bomb goes off. It was attacked to Karadec’s car all along, and this gets Jason to hire his own private security instead of allowing the police to look out for him. That gives Derek a chance to find Jason and kill him for killing Mia.
Fortunately, Karadec and Morgan are able to see through it all. As Karadec starts tracking down Derek and Jason, Morgan goes back to see Matthew, who has now been released. She has realized the message in “you swerve, you lose” and the book. It’s a game of chicken, and Morgan decides that she’s going to give up.
All Morgan wants to know is where Mia is, but Matthew doesn’t tell her. He does tell her to take the stairs, though, which leads Morgan to an apartment where music is blaring. It’s the same song Mia was singing, and finally, Morgan has found her.
It’s all just in time, as Derek gets to Jason and is going to shoot him, believing that Mia is dead. Karadec is on the phone with Morgan, who is able to get Mia to share some personal details so Derek knows that she’s alive.
With a somewhat happy ending, everyone still needs to figure out how to put all the abductions on Matthew. It all comes down to the blood. You see, Mia doesn’t have a scratch on her, so where did all that blood come from in the High Potential season 2 premiere?
The Game Master is caught in High Potential
This leads to Morgan finally putting the pieces together. The blood is Mia’s, but it’s not from the last 48 hours. It turns out that Matthew volunteers at the blood bank that Mia donated to. Sure enough, Matthew stole the blood to use it.
With the video footage of him doing it, there’s enough to arrest him. However, Morgan knows that Matthew doesn’t want to be locked up in a cage. He has a picture of a tarsier monkey on his wall, making it clear that he would rather die than be arrested, but nobody is going to allow that to happen. So, he should know that the fact she just allows him to climb onto the railing of his balcony as he explains his hatred for the rich and the police due to what happened to his mom is a ploy.
Sure enough, as Matthew releases himself from the balcony, he falls onto one of the large blowup catchers that first responders use. They already had it ready, knowing that Matthew would end up throwing himself off the balcony. Oz gets to arrest him in High Potential season 2, episode 2.
I just can’t believe that this is the end for the Game Master. He’s too smart, and he could probably end up being useful to the LAPD. He probably even wants to, but it will be a game to him.
Who is Mekhi Phifer’s character in High Potential?
As all of this is going on, Oz and Daphne are following Mekhi Phifer’s character, who is definitely not Roman. So, why does he use Roman’s name for the motel? He won’t tell them, but when they mention Morgan’s name, he does flinch without them seeing for a moment.
At the very end, as Morgan is at Eliot’s school talent show (where he does a cut rap about everyone being the same), the mystery man shows up. His name is Arthur Ellis, and he is a friend of Roman’s. He shares that he’s checking in on Morgan and Ava, as Roman trusts Morgan. He doesn’t trust the police, and Arthur only spoke to him “last week.”
It means Roman is definitely alive, but he’s worried about Morgan working with the police. As Ava asks who the man was, Morgan just looks at his business card and says she doesn’t know. However, there is hope that Ava will be reunited with her biological father at some point.
High Potential airs on Tuesdays at 10/9c on ABC.