Few series are as celebrated and long-lasting as the crime drama. Viewers love stories of valiant detectives or witty savants using their skills to save lives, with shows like Law & Order and 9-1-1 wowing for years with their intense stories of fighting against evil (while making sure to inject in some laughs whenever they can). There are countless shows in this genre, though few have been able to establish themselves as a truly exceptional project as quickly as High Potential. Created by Drew Goddard for ABC, this series follows an intriguing but not unique setup: after discovering that their janitor has an IQ of 160 and a knack for seeing what they miss, the LAPD enlists her to help them solve crimes and save lives.
It’s your typical premise of a police department getting help from some unconventional yet effective professional, yet the series distinguishes itself by imbuing the first two episodes with an amount of depth that other shows take entire seasons to accomplish. This is largely due to Kaitlin Olson’s exceptional portrayal of our central genius, Morgan, but the show’s distinct approach to a saturated concept goes beyond just acting. It’s how the series allows our protagonist to feel, to truly be a person with all of her genius, and to display unabashed emotions. This clarifies that (despite what other programs may tell you) emotions aren’t weak — in fact, for people like Morgan and many of those watching, they may just be your real superpower.
‘High Potential’ Isn’t Your Average Crime Show
High Potential‘s premise is one that viewers have seen in many different flavors before: Morgan Gillory (Olson) is a single mom and night cleaner who, after tampering with some case files, is discovered by the LAPD to be a person with “High Potential,” someone who has a keen eye essential for their complex cases. She agrees to help them out as a consultant if they help find out what happened to her husband, who’d gone missing more than a decade before, adding some motive to the typical crime procedural formula that features some quirky genius clashing with some tough detectives who take every moment to remind viewers what steely, dedicated figures they are.
This is a successful concept — as the countless shows in this genre will tell you — yet High Potential evolves it by turning Morgan into a kind of protagonist like this medium has never seen. She recognizes the conventions surrounding her and not only ignores them but actively fights against them, particularly the many people who think that her intense emotions will make her unsuccessful in the field. It’s a toxic, repressive belief that shows like this unintentionally (mostly) perpetuate, and it is one that High Potential pushes back against devastatingly well.
Immediately, viewers see that Morgan isn’t afraid of emotion; she openly expresses her anger at the unjust police department and constantly tries to draw the feelings out of her children, particularly her daughter, Ava (Amirah J), who resents the missing father she believes abandoned the family. There are many moments of this in the series’ first two episodes, but it is surmised perfectly at the end of the second, when Morgan is finally granted a truth that she’d desperately clung to for years: her husband did not abandon his family. Morgan begins to quietly weep in a heartbreaking display of emotion that acts not only as a testament to Olson’s skill but reveals the core of this character. She is moral, she is intelligent, she is fiercely strong in a way that nobody around her is, and she recognizes that this kind of strength isn’t possible without her feelings. She knows that it’s these responses that drive her to not only search for her husband but solve the crimes that impact so many innocents every day. Scenes like this not only add a heartbreakingly heroic layer to an already complex character, but create an endearing, relatable protagonist, one who is not afraid of her feelings and is unlike any that this genre has seen before.
‘High Potential’ Is Already Standing Out From Other Procedurals
While High Potential is certainly more open with its feelings, it’s unfair to say that similar procedurals don’t also lean into their character’s emotions. Oftentimes, the grittiness of these protagonists will be punctuated by their feelings, or peeks behind their tough persona to show viewers that there is a heart behind their heroism. But that’s the thing: these characters hide their feelings. They see them as a hindrance and work hard to suppress them, the narrative only revealing them in small moments because it believes that too much would cheapen the “badass” image they need for the show. Yet High Potentialseamlessly integrates Morgan’s emotion into her every action and shows that her massive capability is in no way damaged because of these feelings — actually, it’s improved by them. This kind of main character breaks a harmful cycle with shows in this genre that treat feelings as weakness, and in doing so, grants viewers a hero that they can actually see themselves in.
High Potential is available to stream on Hulu in the U.S.
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