Back in the aughts and early teens, television discovered a kind of alchemy. Take a murder. First, assign some good but overly serious cops to it. Then, team them up with an unusual consultant. Voila! TV magic. In no time, the subgenre spread like wildfire over network and basic cable. Anyone could be a quirky consultant, including a former cop overwhelmed by mental illness (Monk), a mystery writer (Castle), a fake psychic (The Mentalist, Psych), mathematicians (Numb3rs), and time-traveling revolutionary war soldiers (Sleepy Hollow). Sure, they weren’t high art, but they frequently provided a great time in front of your big screen. High Potential, the American remake of a French series, delightfully transports audiences back to that breezy era.
Developed by Drew Goddard, the series revolves around Morgan (Kaitlin Olson). A single mom of three, she struggles with interpersonal and professional relationships. The cause, in part, is her off-the-charts IQ, which gives her insomnia, an intolerance for authority, and difficulty dealing with anything that isn’t “right.” Those same features lead her to rework an evidence board at the Los Angeles police precinct where she’s working her latest gig as a cleaning lady. When head detective Selena (Judy Reyes) traces the changes back to Morgan, she offers her a job, much to the frustration of Detective Karadec (Daniel Sunjata), Major Crime’s go-to investigator.
Javicia Leslie and Deniz Akdeniz, and Garret Dillahunt round the police side of the cast as two younger and more welcoming members of Major Crimes and a gambling-addicted head of Robbery/Homicide, respectively. At home, Taran Killam plays Ludo, Morgan’s most recent ex and father to her two youngest children including Matthew Lamb as Elliot, inheritor of Morgan’s IQ and love of random facts, but not yet her attitude. Her oldest daughter, Ava (Amirah J), seems more like her father, who disappeared when Ava was still in diapers. She believes he abandoned the family, while Morgan insists he’d never.
Like the shows noted above, High Potential is heavy in the bittersweet. As you might expect, Olson is quite funny and has strong comedic chemistry with Sunjata (although, thankfully, not romantic). She also nicely underplays Morgan’s struggle to process the absence of Ava’s dad and the ongoing tragic deaths her new job as a police consultant exposes her to. Network “quirky consultant” shows tended to lean more toward drama over time, while their basic cable cousins would become increasingly comedic. It’s too early to say which way Potential will tip. In terms of the talent on-screen, though, it feels whatever direction it pursues.
Realistically, High Potential isn’t a peak television offering. Given the first three episodes of the season provided to critics, I don’t anticipate it’ll earn a mention in the same breath as The Wire or Breaking Bad. There’s some awkward dialogue, for sure. They make Reyes say, “You see a cleaning lady, but I see something more,” for instance. Morgan’s short-lived moments of quitting will definitely get old if they keep going to it every second episode. It doesn’t exactly boast the most creative of visual palettes.
But it is a good, fun effort in network programming. Olson makes an appealing lead who can play enough notes to give Morgan facets. The concept has legs to run for seasons and seasons. It’s the kind of episodic show that network television’s made for—interesting, capable of evoking several emotions, and featuring a cast of charismatic, entertaining performers. A great watch-anytime show. High Potential, indeed.
ABC will find all its stuff rearranged by High Potential, beginning September 17.