The High Potential season 1 finale begins with Selena (Judy Reyes) announcing that everyone needs to RSVP for the annual LAPD Gala. But they are quickly pulled back into work when Karadec (Daniel Sunjata) gets a phone call and email with an attachment showing a man seated in a chair, bound and gagged, with a sign on his chest saying they have two hours to make a move. The email names the victim, Spencer Wallace (Adam Kantor). Morgan (Kaitlin Olson) and the detectives swing into action.
They are sent on a scavenger hunt of clues hidden in children’s games. At Wallace’s empty apartment, Oz (Deniz Akdeniz) and Daphne (Javicia Leslie) find a puzzle, and insulin. They need to find Spencer before he needs his medication. Morgan puts together the puzzle, but there’s one piece missing. It’s a survey map.
Morgan and Karadec head to the location indicated by the missing puzzle piece, a hiking trail, and find more games hiding clues. They have to play a card game, hopscotch, and then find coordinates on a viewfinder on the path. When Morgan enters the coordinates on the viewfinder she sees a storage unit rental building in the distance.
Oz and Daphne find out Spencer rented a storage unit at that location. When they open it, there’s Spencer, finding him in time to save his life.
When they get Spencer to the hospital, he tells them the kidnapper was wearing a white anime-style mask with huge eyes. Karadec asks Spencer why the storage unit was empty? Spencer says he and his partner had planned to fill it with their belongings when they left to travel the world. But his partner died.
More games
Later that night after work Morgan stops at a diner to pick up food. Gio (Domenick Lombardozzi) is there, waiting for her. When she approaches, Gio tells her to look into a woman named Lyla Flynn, she was working with Roman before he disappeared.
The next morning Oz and Daphne get a call about a potential lead. On her way to meet them and Karadec, Morgan gets a call from Tom (JD Pardo), who lets Morgan know he’s going to be at the gala.
Morgan and the others check out a clue called in by a police officer. It’s a doll carriage filled with creepy old dolls. There are some Scrabble tiles arranged among the dolls that say “The fun has just begun.”
Oz drops a bomb
As the detectives talk their way through the clues, Oz reveals he knew Spencer, and knew about the storage unit. Oz has been going to a private grief support group to help him process his grief because his father died. Spencer was a member, and he had told the group members about the storage unit.
The detectives assume the kidnapper must be someone in the group. Oz and Daphne go to the group’s meeting scheduled for that day. The group members mention a man named David, who was obsessed with children’s games. The group leader tells Oz and Daphne it’s strange that a woman named Sierra (Michelle Macedo), who is an ASL interpreter, isn’t at the group.
At her apartment the detectives find signs of a struggle, and a clue. Morgan notices a bookshelf has been moved in front of a door. When they turn off the lights a hidden message glows from the wall that says, “You can’t tell in the dark.” Morgan realizes the clue means tell as in speak, referencing ASL. Morgan and Karadec rush back to the LAPD where Morgan realizes the hands of the creepy dolls are positioned in ASL letters. They spell out the address of an old art gallery.
The detectives rush to save Sierra, finding her locked in a safe. Morgan figures out the combination from the art on the walls and they save Sierra.
Who is Lyla Flynn?
As the LAPD team gets ready for the gala, Karadec is visited by his FBI pal Ronnie (Jocko Sims), who looked into Lyla Flynn and Roman after Karadec for Morgan. Ronnie gives Karadec a file and tells him to burn it after reading it.
Lyla Flynn was an undercover agent, murdered 15 years ago. One of her last cases involved Roman, who disappeared after Lyla’s death. Everything they FBI has on Roman is in the file.
The gala
Unfortunately, the kidnapper isn’t done. Oz is his next victim. Getting in his car to go to the gala, Oz’s airbag deploys, knocking him out. A face in a creepy anime mask appears in the passenger side window, looking at the unconscious Oz.
At the gala, Morgan looks amazing in a pink dress and dances with Karadec, then with Tom. Daphne gets worried when Oz doesn’t show up. She goes to his apartment and finds his car out front with the airbag deployed and blood. She also finds a game timer and a clue that says “Marco!”
Morgan, Karadec, Daphne and Selena go back to the LAPD to figure out this new puzzle. Together Daphne and Morgan realize the names of the fonts that the different clues use were in. spell out the name of a famous architect. When they search homes in the area designed by that architect, only one has a pool (since the game the kidnapper is referring to is Marco Polo).
The detectives race to find Oz unconscious in the pool, chained to concrete blocks on the bottom of the pool with a diver’s oxygen mask on him. Karadec dives in and unchains him, but when he’s back on land he’s not breathing. Daphne performs CPR and finally Oz starts breathing on his own again.
Cliffhangers
The next day at the grocery store, a mysterious man approaches Morgan and her kids. He helps her pick up some dropped groceries and slips a card game deck with a message written on it into the grocery bag, promising they’ll play again. Is this man (David Giuntoli), the kidnapper? And why does he have his sights set on Morgan?
Piling on, the season ends with Karadec making a frantic phone call to Morgan, telling her Roman is alive, and he knows where he is.
Stream all of High Potential season 1 on Hulu in the US and Disney Plus in the UK. Also check out our quick primer on what we know about High Potential season 2.
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