High Potential, ABC's new crime series, opens with Morgan Gillory (Kaitlin Olson) leaving her house at night for work. She's a cleaner at the Los Angeles Police Department's office.
As she cleans, she dances energetically around the room when she knocks a file off a desk, scattering crime scene photos. Picking up the photos she sees details the police missed. She notices the crime board assembled by the detectives has listed the dead man's wife as the suspect, but that's not what Morgan sees. She crosses out "Suspect" and writes "Victim" under it. Then, Morgan goes back to cleaning.
What else happens in the series premiere of High Potential? Read on to find out.
The case
The next morning, Lieutenant Selena (Judy Reyes), Detective Daphne (Javicia Leslie) and Lead Detective Karadec (Daniel Sunjata) go over the case on the board. They believe the suspect, Lynette Acosta (Kate Craven), killed her husband, Anthony (Francisco Trujillo Avalos-Davidson). But Lynette is nowhere to be found.
Karadec tells Selena the two have a daughter in college, Letty (Maia Jae Bastidas), who is on her way there. With no leads on Lynette, Karadec's next move is to interview Lynette's sister, Sofia Bellier (Sarah Smyth), to see if she's heard from Lynette.
As Karadec, Selena and Daphne are discussing the case, Karadec notices the board has changed, reclassifying Lynette as a victim. He tells Daphne to check the security footage so he can know who did it. The tape shows Morgan dancing around and changing the crime board.
Morgan reveals her gift
While this is happening, Morgan is at the grocery store with her kids: Ava (Amirah J), Elliot (Matthew Lamb) and baby Chloe. After she gets the cart (they took it because currently their car is in the shop and they don't have the money to get it out) and kids home, it's not long when Karadec and Detective Ozdill (Deniz Akdeniz) show up at Morgan's door and tell her she needs to come with them to the police station.
When she's confronted about changing the board, Morgan explains she has a compulsion to fix mistakes when she sees them. Intrigued, Selena gives Morgan the case file and asks her what other mistakes she sees. Morgan points out details that indicate a third person had to be in the room when Anthony was killed.
Daphne comes in and tells Karadec they have security footage of a woman at the Acosta home the day of the murder. Karadec puts Morgan in a holding cell while they check out her third person theory.
Security footage from the Acosta home shows Lishka Zhang (Mya Lowe) at the door of the home on the day of the murder. Zhang had been harassing Lynette Acosta because she was the defense attorney of Brian Dimon (Sebastien Roberts). Brian was Zhang's previous boss who she accused of harassing and assaulting her. Zhang lost the case. Karadec questions her, but she says she wasn't at the Acosta house.
Morgan is released from the holding cell. When she returns to the office to sign paperwork she notices the video showing Zhang at the house has the wrong date stamp. Zhang couldn't be the third person.
Morgan starts to leave, but Selena chases her down. She asks Morgan how she notices all those details. Morgan explains she has an IQ of 160 and that she is a high potential intellectual, someone with advanced cognitive abilities. Then she walks out the door.
In the parking lot some cops have gathered, talking. Ludo (Taran Killam), Morgan's ex and father of Elliot and Chloe, is there to pick her up. Morgan gets into a tussle with some of the cops, which lands her right back inside the police station.
Letty Acosta reveals some clues
When Morgan is released, again, she sees Letty Acosta sitting outside. Morgan strikes up a conversation with her. Letty tells Morgan her mom had been quite upset about a letter she received from a woman named Sarah. Sarah had also worked with Dimon and had killed herself just after sending the letter.
Morgan, who agrees to help out with the case for some leniency after her tussle with the cops, goes with Karadec to Letty's aunt, Sofia. Morgan pokes around the apartment while Karadec asks Sofia if she knows anything about Lynette's disappearance. She says she doesn't. One of the things Morgan notices in Sofia's apartment is a small frog figure with a sticker on it that says "Fontana Nature Preserve."
Solving the case
The police can't get a search warrant to search Lynnette's office for the letter. Regardless, Morgan sneaks in as a cleaner and nabs the letter. The letter says Sarah, a paralegal, also was assaulted by Dimon. But since the letter was stolen, Karadec tells her it can't be used in the case.
Still, Karadec brings Dimon in for questioning. He has an alibi: he was in Fontana. Morgan doesn't buy it. She says Dimon isn't the type of person to hang out in Fontana. Even so, Dimon is released.
At the scene of the crime, Morgan breaks down her theory for Kardec. Sofia and Dimon were having an affair. Sofia then tells Dimon Lynnette is ready to turn on him following Sarah's letter. Both Sofia and Dimon go to Acosta's house to confront Lynnette, but Anthony is there and uses his shotgun to threaten Dimon, who takes the gun and shoots Anthony. Then, Dimon and Sofia kidnap Lynnette and take her to the vacation house in Fontana that Lynnette and Sofia's family owned.
When Selena sends police units to Fontana they find Lynnette, tied up but alive. Selena is so impressed she offers Morgan a job consulting with the LAPD. Initially Morgan turns it down, but then she accepts on the condition that Selena help her find Ava's dad, who disappeared without a trace when Ava was a baby.
New episodes of High Potential air Tuesdays on ABC, then are available to stream on Hulu the next day.
