High Potential Season 2, Episode 4 Recap and Spoilers

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This week’s episode returns to the standard case-of-the-week format. In ‘High Potential‘ Episode 4, Morgan and Karadec investigate a truly unusual case: a woman calls 911 reporting a murder, but then denies ever making the call, even though evidence proves she did. Their investigation leads them back to a decades-old murder.

I’m really enjoying watching Morgan’s powers develop in surprising ways. But this week, Selena truly shined – her storyline felt so important, and it’s clearly building to something big for her character this season. Plus, we met a brand new character who seems like they’re going to be a major player, and honestly, I can’t wait to see what happens next!

High Potential’s Latest Crime Goes Back Decades

The story starts with a chilling yet strangely funny situation. A woman, clearly terrified, calls 911, frantically reporting a murder and fearing for her own life. It sounds like the beginning of a horror film. However, when officers Morgan and Karadec question her, she denies making the call, despite a distinct South Carolina accent revealing she did. The mystery deepens when Karadec checks her phone and finds no record of the 911 call. It’s a careless oversight to assume her age means she couldn’t have deleted the call or is using a second phone. Karadec should investigate more thoroughly.

The team left, but received another call to the same house the next day, only to find Raina dead at the bottom of her stairs. Morgan is furious with Karadec, despite his insistence that they did everything possible to help. Raina’s phone shows three missed calls from someone named Lucy. Because there are no marks on her hands, it appears she either fell or was pushed. They also notice a strange stain on the back of her shirt.

This week’s case leads the investigators to Logan, a college student who threw a large party and is also involved in drug dealing. They suspect someone died at his party. A witness saw something happen and believes Logan is responsible, but he claims they were friends and he was simply helping her obtain medication she needed for migraines. It’s revealed she was struggling financially and couldn’t afford her prescriptions. They later discover she had early-onset dementia, which explains why she didn’t remember making a crucial phone call. However, the detectives suspect there’s more to the story. The woman was actually recalling a memory of witnessing a different murder years ago, meaning they now have two cases to investigate.

Raina’s Case Brings Them to a Woman’s Death From 25 Years Ago

Logan confessed he was at Raina’s house on the day she died. She led him down to the basement to show him things she was hoping to sell. He went back upstairs, and when Raina joined him, she appeared to be okay. However, it was around this time that she made the desperate 9-1-1 call. Investigators confirmed Logan’s account and searched the basement, hoping to find something that might have caused Raina’s frightening flashback. They discovered a bloodstained dress hidden in a box, which seems like a likely possibility.

After carefully examining the dress – its fabric, labels, and everything else – Morgan (with Daphne’s help on the computer) figured out the case likely happened around the year 2000. They found only one other case featuring a woman in a similar dress. If you’re willing to go with it, the woman was named Greta, a rising music star who was murdered. The crime wasn’t witnessed, and the police never investigated.

Morgan and Karadec begin their investigation. They learn from Greta’s former manager that she was incredibly talented, but had a difficult relationship with her ex-boyfriend, Mac. Her career flourished while Mac was in prison, but things became complicated when he was released and started working with another singer, Raina, who he seemed to ignore professionally, focusing instead on getting back to Greta. Separately, Lucy, a photographer who recently profiled Raina for a magazine, reveals that Raina and Greta were competitors. The investigators now plan to question Mac.

Okay, so Mac definitely seems like the guy who did it – I mean, all signs point to him! But the police can’t quite prove it yet. Morgan and Selena were looking through old photos and realized Greta was actually pregnant and had a baby, which makes so much sense when you think about it. It seems like she hid the child from Mac. And then there’s the bandage on his hand in photos from the day after the murder – he was clearly injured the night it happened, and he *did* shoot Greta. Raina actually witnessed it, and he bought her a house to keep her from talking. There was this crazy scene where Karadec shot Mac, thankfully not fatally, right before he was about to hurt another woman he’d taken hostage. But here’s the thing – Mac has a solid alibi for when Raina was killed, so whoever killed her is *still out there*! It’s so frustrating.

The Story of High Potential’s Latest Murder is Heartbreaking

Since Mac was too far away to help, Morgan and Karadec are starting their investigation over. They believe the culprit might be Greta’s daughter, now in her mid-20s, who could have discovered the truth and resented Raina for remaining silent about her mother’s murder. Their suspicions focused on Lucy after they discovered she manipulated the timestamps on her alibi photos using a sundial as a reference point. This, combined with the discovery of silver nitrate – a photo developing chemical – on the back of Raina’s shirt, confirmed Lucy was their suspect.

Okay, so it turns out she really didn’t *want* to hurt Raina. But Raina let slip she’d helped cover up Greta’s murder, and honestly, I get why she reacted. We find out she confronted Raina about it, things got heated, and… well, she lost it and pushed Raina down the stairs. It’s a total tragedy, but she’s going to jail for it.

Selena is Passed Over for Promotion and There’s a New Boss in Town

The episode starts with a lot of anticipation as Selena competes to become captain. Morgan worries that if Karadec becomes lieutenant, they won’t be partners anymore. She jokes that the only other detectives she’d want to work with are Daphne and Oz, but Karadec playfully points out that a three-person team wouldn’t work in law enforcement. It’s good to see Karadec being lighthearted and reassuring Morgan that things will be okay.

Despite her efforts, Selena doesn’t get the promotion, and it seems Morgan may have influenced the decision. Her boss, Solomon, explains he’s carefully reviewing her work due to Morgan’s involvement. Selena fires back, saying what happens with her team is none of his concern, to which he responds with a condescending, “Until it is.”

Morgan offered Selena a listening ear, letting her know she was there if Selena needed to talk. Selena, hesitant at first, admitted she was angry but determined to get her work done. As Morgan headed out for the night, she met the new captain, Nick Wagner, at the elevator. They exchanged greetings, and Morgan quickly realized, recalling a conversation with Solomon, that Nick was likely sent to oversee her, Selena’s team, and especially Morgan – a development that promised to create significant changes.

Christine’s Observations About Morgan & Karadec’s Evolving Dynamic, Key Side Stories in This Episode

  • The Roman storyline that first takes a backseat this episode but for Morgan’s attempts to call Arthur’s number. She only gets a full mailbox notification. Morgan is seen looking up Arthur Ellis Landscaping on Karadec’s computer. When Karadec opens his computer and sees what she was looking up, is that a twinge of jealousy I detect?
  • The storyline with Logan serves as social commentary on the health care system. Raina worked hard her whole life and in her time of need, she could not afford the medication that was essential to her wellbeing. Logan’s comment about “robbing Peter to treat Paul when the system denies people the meds they need” cuts deep.
  • Karadec finally beats Morgan to being clever. To corroborate Logan’s story, he brings a black light to the basement. Since Logan likely had tons of drugs in his system, his fingerprints would shine brighter than normal. They find them, confirming he was there. What’s most notable is that Karadec does this on his own versus waiting for forensics. Morgan is clearly rubbing off on him and he’s loosening up.
  • I feel it’s essential to highlight the way Morgan deduced when the crime took place based on the dress, because it was really impressive. She figured out it was made of tinsel, which was not available until 1985. The registration number was for a company that went out of business in 2015. The wash symbols on the dress meant it was made in 1998 or later. There was no barcode or inventory number, so it had to be before 2000. That narrowed the search down to 200 cold cases, nine of which included a gunshot. I mean, way to go, Morgan!
  • The scene with Morgan and Karadec in the car when he asks what’s wrong and advises of all her specific “tells” is super sweet. He knows what she looks like when it’s family drama that’s eating away at her, when it has to do with a case, when she’s mad at him (a classic, he calls that one), or when she has something to say. I was always against a Morgan and Karadec romance. But he’s sure making it difficult for me to continue hoping that never happens.
  • The fact that Selena figured out Greta was pregnant based on the three months postpartum clues (the splint from mommy’s wrist, the flat shoes, the different styling of the hair since it was falling out) suggests she could be a mother herself. We need to know more!
  • Morgan’s influence is further showing on Karadec when he’s told he needs to be cleared by behavior science before going back to work after firing his weapon, but he asks to bend the rules. That’s something the old by-the-book Karadec would never have done. Solomon even points this out, stating that bending the rules is not his style and it used to not be Karadec’s either.
  • It makes sense that there should be fallout from Morgan’s unorthodox methods. Solomon says her value comes with tactics that make him nervous. Considering chain of custody, mishandling of evidence, or botched crime scenes, is it possible some of the cases she was a part of got thrown out at trial? This is something worth exploring, maybe through a case from the past that comes back to haunt them.
  • Karadec’s confidence about the shot he took at Mac was pretty badass. While he has only fired his weapon three times (that’s surprising but makes the show seem more real), he claims to spend every morning at the gun range preparing for a day like that one. He had taken that same shot a million times before and knew he wouldn’t miss.

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2025-10-08 06:09