Summary
Episode 5’s introduction of Wagner and refocus on Roman helps High Potential Season 2 to feel like it’s telling a wider story, but the one contained to “Content Warning” is decent enough on its own.
A culture is defined by the stories it tells, so I’m not sure what it has to say about our current climate that you can’t turn the TV on these days without having to endure something about influencers. High Potential isn’t the worst lens through which to view this subject, since you can rely on it to be snooty and judgmental, but Episode 5 of Season 2, appropriately titled “Content Warning”, takes us to a “content house” full of prank-loving product-pushing archetypes, and I just hate being reminded that this kind of thing exists.
That’s no criticism of the episode, of course. We don’t spend much time in the so-called “Clout House”, and it’s just one piece of a larger puzzle for Morgan to solve, though it does rope in a gymfluencer for us to be annoyed by as well. Again, though, not really the point. Of primary concern in this week’s mystery is that these burgeoning industries – content creation and the kind of large-scale e-commerce that can be facilitated by its attendant virality – are so vast and move so rapidly that even the people participating aren’t quite sure what’s going on, what they’re selling, or what the consequences of their actions might be.
Threaded through all this are two additional subplots. One is the official introduction of Captain Wagner after his brief encounter with Morgan. He spends the whole episode being performatively nice and encouraging but also pulling each member of the Major Crimes unit into his office – or, more accurately, Soto’s office – for an informal chat. We only really see Karadec’s, but all of the questions he’s asked are about Morgan, so it’s sensible to assume that’s the case across the board. At this point, it’s obvious that Wagner has a thing for Morgan, but it’s a little unclear whether he wants to get her fired or get her into bed (or both).
There’s also a bit more Roman-related stuff, reintroducing Mekhi Phifer’s Arthur so that Morgan and Ava can continue to disagree about whether she’s old enough to be emotionally ready for whatever mystery her father is embroiled in. The crux of this is that Morgan wants to take a sneaky peek at Roman’s backpack, which is in Arthur’s possession. Ava, despite having been told to stay at home while Morgan brokers the handover, follows her to the diner and introduces herself to Arthur. At the end of “Content Warning”, Arthur drops the backpack off at Morgan’s home, almost certainly compelled to do so by meeting Ava, despite the fact that Morgan was technically right to fly off the handle about her behaving irresponsibly. How’s that for a puzzle?
On the subject of puzzles, we might as well talk about the main case of High Potential Season 2, Episode 5, which involves the murder of an investigative reporter named Tori who was posing as an influencer to work on some story that is mysterious even to her own editors. Despite having almost been killed in a ridiculous prank by some fellow members of the Clout House, she was actually shot at close range in a pretty cold-blooded way, which means the real perpetrator is likely someone else.
Could it be Phineas, the owner of the Clout House, who sets his tenants untenable performance goals, massively overcharges them for rent, and lines his own pockets through their popularity? Nah. He’s a dork, but he isn’t a killer. What about Bobby Romano, the dumb gym-bro conman who doxxed Tori in college and whose protein powder company she was threatening to expose? Not quite. Bobby’s a lifelong grifter and has served time for it, and seems genuinely reformed thanks to a stay in prison and then a halfway house operated by a guy named Gavin Tillman. When Bobby himself dies of an overdose, exposing that his protein powder was being used as a front for a wide-scale drug distribution network entirely without his knowledge, there are only two viable suspects remaining – Bobby’s prison buddy business partner, or Gavin himself. Needless to say, it turns out to be Gavin.
There’s some good Morgan stuff in this. Some of her deductions feel a bit too convenient – I always appreciate her little “I know that because…” qualifiers, but I think there’s only one in this – though I’m willing to overlook it as a means to an end. Morgan has to look preternaturally gifted in front of Wagner, since her perceived usefulness is probably going to be central to their dynamic. He’s even visibly impressed by her deductions at one point, and implies something similar towards the end. I largely think it’s good storytelling that I genuinely can’t figure out this guy’s intentions and whether I should consider him to be some kind of romantic option – especially since the best part about Morgan’s relationship with Karadec is that it’s totally platonic – but there’s a part of me that feels fairly certain High Potential is going to go in the most obvious possible direction.
Here’s to hoping otherwise.
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