High Potential season 2, episode 5 recap: A case of revenge?

Morgan and Karadec seem to have a case that involves revenge, but there's much more to it.
HIGH POTENTIAL - “Content Warning” - When a social media stunt turns deadly, Morgan and Karadec head to an influencer content house to track down answers. Meanwhile, the LAPD team adjusts to Captain Nick Wagner’s new role, and Ava seeks out more information on Roman’s disappearance. TUESDAY, OCT. 14 (10:00-11:00 p.m. EDT) on ABC. (Disney/Mitch Haaseth) 
JUDY REYES, JOHNNO WILSON, JAVICIA LESLIE, DENIZ AKDENIZ, DANIEL SUNJATA
HIGH POTENTIAL - “Content Warning” - When a social media stunt turns deadly, Morgan and Karadec head to an influencer content house to track down answers. Meanwhile, the LAPD team adjusts to Captain Nick Wagner’s new role, and Ava seeks out more information on Roman’s disappearance. TUESDAY, OCT. 14 (10:00-11:00 p.m. EDT) on ABC. (Disney/Mitch Haaseth) JUDY REYES, JOHNNO WILSON, JAVICIA LESLIE, DENIZ AKDENIZ, DANIEL SUNJATA

Another episode of High Potential is here, and this is one where we get to know a little more about the new captain. We also get a case that is far more than it originally seems.

Caution: This post contains SPOILERS for High Potential season 2, episode 5.

There are a few arcs playing out throughout High Potential season 2, episode 5, with the case being the main one. However, we do get more with Arthur, and we get to see Captain Wagner a little more. We’ll break it all down in three sections.

DENIZ AKDENIZ, DANIEL SUNJATA, JUDY REYES
HIGH POTENTIAL - “Content Warning” - When a social media stunt turns deadly, Morgan and Karadec head to an influencer content house to track down answers. Meanwhile, the LAPD team adjusts to Captain Nick Wagner’s new role, and Ava seeks out more information on Roman’s disappearance. TUESDAY, OCT. 14 (10:00-11:00 p.m. EDT) on ABC. (Disney/Mitch Haaseth) DENIZ AKDENIZ, DANIEL SUNJATA, JUDY REYES

The case of the week in High Potential season 2, episode 5

For the case, we knew going in that the victim would be an investigative journalist who was going undercover as a social media content house. Well, it turns out that it wasn’t the content house itself that Tori was looking into—although that does come up as a problem, as it turns out the person running the business has been scamming the content creators.

Instead, Tori stole protein powder that another content creator had been given to promote on her channel. That led to a prank, which was how Tori was covered in red dye and why there was peroxide in the car to remove all the evidence.

It wasn’t the prank that killed her, though. She would have been concussed, but she died by a gunshot, and nobody in the house knew about that. It all went back to that protein powder, and the company was run by someone Tori knew from her past. Bobby had doxed her online, and she made it her life’s work to destroy him, even sending him to prison for scams that he ran.

He thought he was running a legit business (of sorts) by reselling and repackaging protein powder. Only, Tori had learned that it was a front for drug smuggling. Bobby genuinely had no idea about this, and Morgan helped to work that out when Bobby was found dead from an overdose of the new party drug. Where was the soup that he’d eaten? It turned out that the guy running the halfway house and group therapy had used Bobby’s business to smuggle drugs, and he killed Tori as she threatened to expose it. He then killed Bobby to make it look like Bobby was the murderer.

AMIRAH J, KAITLIN OLSON, MEKHI PHIFER
HIGH POTENTIAL - “Content Warning” - When a social media stunt turns deadly, Morgan and Karadec head to an influencer content house to track down answers. Meanwhile, the LAPD team adjusts to Captain Nick Wagner’s new role, and Ava seeks out more information on Roman’s disappearance. TUESDAY, OCT. 14 (10:00-11:00 p.m. EDT) on ABC. (Disney/Mitch Haaseth) AMIRAH J, KAITLIN OLSON, MEKHI PHIFER

Morgan goes to see Arthur

Throughout the case, we got more of the Roman storyline sprinkled in. Morgan went to see Arthur in High Potential season 2, episode 5, asking for the backpack that Roman had given him. The two then meet at a diner, where Ava also joins them, much to Morgan’s disapproval.

Arthur shares that he and Roman went years back before Morgan met Roman. They grew up together, and he hasn’t seen Roman in 15 years until he called out of the blue to ask for a favor. Arthur also wants to know why Roman would just up and leave, but at the same time, he’s not sure he really does want to know. It’s a tricky situation to be in.

What I really want to know is if Roman and Arthur grew up together, why didn’t Morgan know who Arthur was? That doesn’t make a lot of sense, especially since Roman and Arthur were still talking when Roman went missing.

STEVE HOWEY, KAITLIN OLSON
HIGH POTENTIAL - “Content Warning” - When a social media stunt turns deadly, Morgan and Karadec head to an influencer content house to track down answers. Meanwhile, the LAPD team adjusts to Captain Nick Wagner’s new role, and Ava seeks out more information on Roman’s disappearance. TUESDAY, OCT. 14 (10:00-11:00 p.m. EDT) on ABC. (Disney/Mitch Haaseth) STEVE HOWEY, KAITLIN OLSON

Wagner talks to everyone individually

Meanwhile, we have the Wagner storyline happening. It turns out that he’s from a family dynasty, with the men in his family always making captain. That seems like Wagner’s dad bought Wagner’s way to the top, but Morgan works out that’s probably not the case.

Throughout High Potential season 2, Wagner takes time to talk to people individually. We have no idea what he said to Oz, who is contemplative after the meeting. When we see him chat to Daphne, he’s pushing her to take the sergeant’s exam, seeing the potential in her, and he isn’t taking no for an answer. He doesn’t want to talk to Karadec about himself, but more about the work with Morgan, pointing out that the two of them have an excellent case-closing record.

It's all a little odd when at the end, Wagner finally gets a chance to speak with Morgan. He wants Morgan to tell him what she’s worked out about him, and that includes that he doesn’t want the job handed to him, he misses the field, and he likes to keep people guessing. Well, Wagner says that she got two out of three things right, but he won’t tell her what the one wrong is. He knows that once she has a puzzle, she can’t stop thinking about it, hinting that he wants her to think about him.

I can’t tell if Wagner is going to be a problematic boss or if this is going to be a fun back-and-forth as he continues to see that Morgan is an asset to Major Crimes. Is there also a potential relationship going to happen?

High Potential airs on Tuesdays at 10/9c on ABC.

Get the latest High Potential updates and more with Precinct TV.

Loading recommendations... Please wait while we load personalized content recommendations