Spoilers below for anyone who hasn't yet watched High Potential's Season 2 premiere on ABC or via Hulu subscription.
Zounds! When High Potential's Kaitlin Olson said the ABC dramedy wouldn't waste time before following up on the Season 1 finale's various cliffhangers, she wasn't lying. Technically, none of the romantic elements were tied off, but fans certainly got some reveals by way of Morgan's theory-sparking nemesis, the Game Master, and possibly even the hunt for the long-missing Roman. Nothing boring about this opener in the slightest.
The episode ended with a big reveal that felt like it had to be inspired in part by David Fincher's Se7en, with David Giuntoli's character showing up at the precinct, alluding to detectives looking for him. Giuntoli's smile is a hell of a lot warmer than Kevin Spacey's was when his John Doe surrendered in the 1995 hit, but the approach and impact were indeed more similar. It was effective in a different way, though, considering that's how the ABC installment ended, with the next episode presumably following in some of Se7en's other footprints, even if the tones don't wholly align.
Co-star Judy Reyes talked to TV Insider about the episode and the immediate aftermath, sharing that audiences will get to see her character Soto and Daniel Sunjata's Karadec interacting more this season, while also getting to know more about other characters. But when it comes to Giuntoli's Big Bad, she shared:
The threats are really always calm people, right? It’s always the nice ones that shock us with all kinds of danger. So I know that we’ll see a lot more of that. The threat of his existence looms; even when you don’t see his face, you know who it is, and, two episodes in, we’re still trying to hunt down the Game Maker and see what happens.
There are definitely some major takeaways to dwell on here, and let's just go ahead and hone in on the biggest one first: despite the alleged culprit waltzing in and putting himself at the mercy of the police, Morgan and the LAPD crew apparently aren't able to figure out a way to keep him held for very long. Unless her point is that the Grimm vet isn't the Game Maker. And it's too early in the season to start going down THAT kind of rabbit hole. Giuntoli is the villain, plain and simple.
My second takeaway would be that Reyes seems to be implying that we won't see the Game Master suspect going into an angry rage and freaking out all over the place. Outside of the fast-cut hypothetical moments that play out Morgan's theories, we've really only seen Giuntoli at his most genial and photogenic, never looking like someone who masterminds murder scenarios.
The episode also already presented viewers with a situation where the presumed killer was able to use a mask to disappear himself within a larger group, and it sounds like different versions of that situation could pop up in future episodes. As well as seeing our main characters stumbling across more crime scenes orchestrated by the unseen deviant.
As if that weren't aready enough of a stressful ending, High Potential also delivered our first look at Mekhi Phifer's mysterious character, who may or may not be Morgan's missing hubby Roman. I'm guessing it's not, based on not just the early reveal, but also Reyes' take on it. When asked if that reveal should be taken as gospel, the Scrubs vet replied:
It’s never as cut and dry as it appears… There are questions that he has, and we’ll see how he leads us down that path.
I cannot wait to go down that path, even if I know it'll likely just lead to more mysteries and head-scratching questions. We're coming for you, Roman! Eventually.
High Potential will continue its run on the 2025 TV schedule every Tuesday night on ABC at 10:00 p.m. ET. Just beware of smiling faces.
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