High Potential episode 9 recap: caught stealing

In High Potential episode 9, Morgan (Kaitlin Olson) is stuck when Keradac (Daniel Sunjata) calls her to a crime scene because Ludo is unavailable to watch baby Chloe. So, she's forced to bring her daughter to the crime scene of the murder of the week: the death of famous baseball sportscaster Marvin Price, who has been run over by a car.

Oz (Deniz Akdeniz) and Daphne (Javicia Leslie) find a witness who was collecting cans along the street. The man (Mike Bridenstine) tells the detectives a car hit Price once, then hit him a second time. While the man is giving a statement to the others, Morgan starts looking deeper at the crime scene. The man can’t give the detectives any details about the car except it had a loud engine. Morgan figures out from the width of the tire tracks, the blue paint scrapes on Marvin’s watch and the detail about the engine that the murder weapon is a Jensen Interceptor, in Malaga Blue.

Because of the direction of the street and other details, Karadec theorizes the killer must have hidden the car in the parking garage of an apartment building nearby. Sure enough, they find a blue Jensen Interceptor with damage and no plates under a car cover hidden away in the parking garage.

The suspects

The detectives work the case at the LAPD offices. Price’s son Dexter (Sean Patrick Thomas) is there waiting for them to speak about his dad. Dexter says that Tiana Johnson (Melanie Liburd), his dad’s live-in “house manager,” killed him, noting that she is the sole beneficiary in his dad’s will.

Dexter also tells Karadec and Morgan that he was on the phone with his father when he was hit. Dexter says Marvin told him he was planning on changing his will to remove Tiana, suggesting that’s why she killed him.

After talking to Dexter, Morgan gets a text from Selena (Judy Reyes) saying she is meeting with Gio later and will tell Morgan whatever she finds out about Roman.

Oz and Daphne go to speak with another suspect that Marvin had issues with, Marvin’s neighbor, Phil Elko (Steve Guttenberg). Phil had a long history of disputes with Marvin, but Phil has an alibi, so he’s likely not the killer.

Meanwhile, Morgan and Karadec go to Marvin Price’s home to speak with Tiana Johnson. Tiana tells them that she loved Marvin like a father and that they weren’t lovers.

In the car outside the house, Morgan and Karadec talk about Tiana. As Morgan is talking a phone rings. But it’s not her phone, she stole Tiana’s phone. Morgan wants to dig into the phone to see what’s there, but Karadec makes her return the phone to Tiana immediately.

Morgan has Karadec drop her off at the diner where Selena is meeting Gio (Domenick Lombardozzi). She promises to be quiet, but tells Selena she needs to hear for herself what Gio has to say about Roman. Of course, Morgan can’t stay quiet, appealing to Gio to tell her what he knows. Gio tells them his nephew is about to be charged for a couple of misdemeanors, and he needs some help with that. Then he leaves.

Caught on tape

The next day at the LAPD, Daphne is still trying to track down the owner of the car when Karadec arrives. Selena pulls him into her office. She asks him to use a connection at the DA’s office to help with Gio’s situation so she can get the information Morgan needs. She tells him a little about Morgan’s request for help. He agrees to reach out to his contact.

Daphne has a breakthrough when she’s staring at the list of LLCs that own Interceptors and figures out that “Autophile Holdings” is code for “Auto”, “Phil”, “E” – Phil Elko. Karadec and Daphne rush to Elkos’ house.

Elkos’ LLC has four Jensen Interceptors, and one is missing. He had filed a police report for it a week before the murder. Elko also has security camera footage of the person who stole it. He sends the security camera footage to Karadec.

When Morgan reviews the footage from Elko she is able to identify the thief and the killer as Olivier Debois (Aren Farrington), who works at Hollywood Auto. She explains the call that came into Tiana’s phone when Morgan had it was from Hollywood Auto. It would make sense that a mechanic would know how to hotwire an Interceptor. The thief had on shoes with a distinctive French logo. Based on the brick wall behind him she is able to calculate the thief’s height as 6-foot 5-inches. She went on Hollywood Auto’s webpage, looked at a photo of their team and immediately knew Olivier was the thief.

Morgan theorizes that Marvin caught Tiana and Olivier together and was angry. He told Tiana he was going to change his will. So, Tiana and Olivier hatched a plan to kill him. Olivier stole Elkos’ car to make it look like Elko killed Marvin.

Morgan and Karadec go to Hollywood Auto to arrest Debois. After a short chase, Karadec takes him into custody. Tiana gives up her claim to Marvin’s estate in exchange for a deal, and Dexter gets to inherit his father’s estate.

The RAMs

Leaving the LAPD building, Morgan is approached by Gio. She’s suspicious, but he gets in her car and she drives. Gio tells her he’s going out of town but when he comes back, he may have some information. Morgan challenges him saying she doesn’t think he ever knew Roman.

Gio tells her that Roman told him they called themselves the RAMs: Roman, Ava and Morgan. Morgan knows he couldn’t have known that unless Roman told him. Gio is the key to figuring out what happened to Roman.

New episodes of High Potential air Tuesdays on ABC. They premiere on streaming the next day on Hulu.