Saagar Kote
ABC’s ‘High Potential’ follows the life of Morgan Gillory, a civilian consultant for the LAPD. She uses her deductive skills and high intelligence to solve cases for the cops. The second season dives deeper into the potential of the main character as she faces unparalleled challenges. The previous episode ended with the tense and engaging capture of the Game Maker, whose real name is revealed to be Matthew Clark. He takes her on a ride of deception and intrigue, hoping to outsmart her and avenge the past wrongs against his mother, caused by rich men.
In an attempt to rebel against the system, he ends up being apprehended due to Morgan’s intelligence. After successfully ending the reign of the Game Maker, Morgan gets into family matters again when a man named Arthur approaches her, saying that he knows Roman’s whereabouts. Ava gets involved in the mystery, hoping to see her dad. This sets the tone for “Eleven Minutes,” the third episode of the second season. SPOILERS AHEAD.
The Attack on Nathan Gould Challenges Morgan’s Wits
A man walks into a café by the beach holding a ring for someone special. The receptionist tells him he looks amazing, but just seconds later, he is choked with a plastic bag by an unknown individual. Morgan takes care of her kids as she gets ready for the day. She tells Elliott that she wants to hire a girl for domestic help and babysitting. Elliot approves an unknown girl to be the help, who also happens to be Ava’s schoolmate. The eldest daughter asks her mom about news regarding her biological father, but Morgan doesn’t respond, and after that, she leaves. The victim from the beachside café is revealed to be a man named Nathan Gould, who is shifted to the hospital due to serious injuries. The first responder who picks him up informs Morgan and Karadec that he was frequently admitted to the hospital due to injuries, indicating that someone has been targeting him for a while.
Morgan examines the ring found on Nathan and then has a conversation with the café’s receptionist. The restaurant staff member tells the protagonist and Karadec that she found the victim due to the sound of ducks. Morgan deduces that there are no ducks in the area. The civilian consultant and her cop partner head to Nathan’s apartment, where they find that he is a sports enthusiast. Morgan deduces that the victim was mostly addicted to gambling after spotting overdue bills on his table. She also spots a random number on a piece of paper on the table. An unknown man breaks into the house, but runs away when he spots Karadec. The cop chases him out on the streets, and Morgan tries to contact Soto.
The Emotional Tale of Jessica Gould
Karadec catches the man, whose name is revealed to be Marco, and arrests him. Morgan asks Marco to introduce them to his boss, assuming that he works for gamblers. Ray, the gambling boss, has a conversation with Karadec and the main character. Morgan spots the electronic card shufflers beneath his tables and deduces that he has been using them to rig the games at his establishment. Karadec says Ray is probably not responsible for the murder attempt on Nathan, but Morgan finds out that the number on the paper from earlier is actually Ray’s Social Security number. The whole attack incident at the café is thought of as a plan devised by Ray and Nathan together, wherein Marco uses an air bubble injection to make it look like Nathan died of natural causes. This would allow Nathan to sign over life insurance to Ray using the social security number.
Karadec and Morgan then head out to find out whose name was taken out of the life insurance plan as beneficiary. Jessica, Nathan’s daughter, is questioned by Karadec and Daphne, and she says that she didn’t even know about her father’s life insurance plans. She says her mom and dad split a long time back and that her father told her he was going out to make things right before he went away. When Daphne reveals that a ladybug-shaped ring was found at the scene of the attack, Jessica gets emotional, saying that Nathan used to call her “ladybug” in her childhood. The cops figure out that Jessica and Nathan were supposed to meet earlier, but someone may have fed Nathan the wrong address, which led him to the attack site.
The Man With the Heart of Gold
Morgan is informed of Jessica’s situation and the information she provided. The civilian consultant asks if Nathan had planned to travel anywhere, but finds no indication of travel plans. The protagonist deduces that Nathan has no pet dog, despite having subscribed to a supply of specialty dog food. She makes the connection that Nathan wanted to kill himself in order to settle the debt with the loan shark, Ray, but someone tried to kill him before he could take his own life. At the hospital, Morgan and Karadec find out that Nathan is officially brain-dead. She tells her cop partner about Ava’s situation at home and how she keeps asking for news about Roman. Jessica is shocked to learn from Karadec and Morgan that her father wanted to take his own life. She tells them that he asked her to take care of his dog, Emmett. When asked about anyone she suspects, she says nothing, after which Morgan deduces that the daughter is pregnant.
Jessica tells them that she used to visit a cardiologist. The next day, Morgan drops Elliot off at school and then has a conversation with Ava about Roman. She tells him about Arthur and the information he gave about Roman’s possible whereabouts. At the station, Morgan theorizes that someone probably wanted Nathan dead long enough to use his heart for organ donation and that someone sent him a fake email to lead him towards the café. The victim’s phone has a duck sound alarm, which is what the café receptionist heard. So the killer wanted Nathan’s body to be found exactly at the right time. Soto and Karadec ask questions to the first responders who shifted Nathan to the hospital, who tell them that it takes eleven minutes of stillness for a victim to be declared brain dead.
Ava and Morgan Break the Law
Karadec tells Morgan that her theory was probably correct. Later, Soto and Morgan try to find where Nathan’s heart is going. They ask the woman at the hospital responsible for organ transplants, but find no details. Morgan finds out that Ava was arrested, following which she rushes to help her daughter. It is revealed that Ava was arrested for trying to desecrate a mural painted by Roman in the past. When Morgan chaotically intervenes to prevent her from going to jail, both mother and daughter are imprisoned in the same cell. Karadec managed to get them out of jail. At home, Ava apologizes to her mother and tells her that she felt it was difficult to process the information about her father and the fact that he abandoned them.
Morgan shows her daughter the Nathan Gould case files and tells her that she’s looking for an influential figure in need of a heart transplant, who probably influenced the hospital to possibly extract Nathan’s heart. The mother and daughter find a possible person of interest named Carson Wood, a movie producer with a possible intent, due to his cardiac issues. Karadec and Daphne question Carson as he is being taken to a hospital for a heart transplant. He says he doesn’t know about Nathan and that he is getting a better heart in Utah. The cops find out that Nathan’s heart has been stolen on the way out of the hospital. A hospital staff member is investigated by Karadec and Soto. She says that Carson Wood pressured the hospital by threatening to pull out his funds, which prompted them to take out the name of Nathan’s preferred candidate to donate his heart to.
A Desperate Man’s Desperate Attempts
The hospital staff member doesn’t remember the name of the person to whom the heart was supposed to go. The transplant list is looked at by Morgan, who rules out some names due to medical and distance reasons, because the heart will only be active for a few more hours. She narrows in on a woman named Rosemary Caferri on the transplant list. It is deduced by Morgan that one of the emergency paramedics, named Christopher Bishop, is actually Rosemary’s son, and he knew Nathan from earlier. She also makes a deduction that when Nathan changed his mind about the organ donation, Christopher most likely staged the café attack to make sure that Nathan was found by the café’s receptionist.
Karadec stops Rosemary from getting the transplant. She cries when she finds out how her son acted and requests to speak to her. Christopher is arrested by the cops, but shares an emotional moment with his mother, hugging her and apologizing. Morgan hands over the ring to Jessica at the station and asks her how she let her father back into her life. She says that’s how her mother raised her, and leaves. Karadec reveals that another patient got Nathan’s heart, which makes the civilian consultant happy.
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