Tuesday’s “High Potential” midseason finale brought the ABC drama to a screeching halt, introducing another playing in the Roman mystery before leaving Morgan in the arms of a potential killer.
This week’s case revolved around the theft of a $20 million painting, which required the additional services of an art recovery specialist named Rhys Eastman (guest star Aiden Turner). And what an eerie time for this episode to air, considering the recent jewel heist at Paris’ Lourve Museum.
“Isn’t that crazy? I even had somebody go, ‘Was it you?'” showrunner Todd Harthan tells TVLine of the “bizarre” coincidence, noting that it’s actually happened to him a few times in his television career.
Following Morgan and Rhys’ unauthorized (albeit successful) return to the scene of the crime, Captain Wagner gave her the business in front of the entire precinct, calling her “reckless and insubordinate.” Morgan gave it to him right back (“Do you practice that in a mirror?”), and when Karadec suggested that Morgan should cool it, she snapped at her partner: “Do not tell me to calm down!” It was intense from all angles — and Wagner was much nicer when he had the mustache, just saying.
While Wagner and Karadec teamed up to catch a potentially guilty informant (more on that later), Morgan hit the bar with Rhys to forget about her little incident at work… which led to the bedroom… which led to a shocking discovery: Rhys has a scar on his shoulder that matches the gunshot wound of the suspected art thief! To quote Whoopi Goldberg in “Ghost,” “Morgan, you in danger, girl!”
Meanwhile, Soto spent the hour having Oz and Daphne examine the evidence recovered from Roman’s backpack, including a photograph of a mysterious bearded gentleman whose unknown identity she finds particularly particularly vexing. We still don’t know his name, but we might find out soon — because the episode ended with him surprising Arthur in the back of his car!
So, who is this mystery man? And how worried should we be about Morgan right now? Read on for Harthan’s answers to these questions and many more, then grade the midseason finale via our poll and drop a comment with your full review.
Did Rhys Really Do It?
First things first, our girl Morgan is currently trapped in a hotel room with a potential art thief and murderer. So we have to know, did Rhys really do it? Not to sound like Wagner, but could Morgan’s hunch actually be w…wr…wrong? As it turns out, we’re right to question her conclusion.
“Just because he has a scar, that doesn’t mean he’s the guy, you don’t know!” Harthan tells TVLine. “We’ve got surprises, we’ve got tricks up our sleeve. We have some pretty interesting twists and turns in the [second] part. It’s a really fun ride.”
To be fair, at least we know that Rhys couldn’t have killed the museum curator himself; he was with Morgan when Karadec discovered the body. Frankly, we’re a little relieved to hear that Rhys may not be the bad guy Morgan thinks he is — mostly because we’re having so much fun seeing Turner in this role.
“We knew right away that he was the guy,” Harthan says of casting the “All My Children” star as Rhys. “We just needed [him to feel like] Pierce Brosnan or James Bond without it being too smarmy or arrogant. Like, why would Morgan be drawn to this person? Well, they’d better be smooth and smart and mysterious. All the things. So [Turner] walked in and it was just like, “Yep, there it is.”
Who’s The Mysterious Bearded Man?
Besides having “stranger danger” written all over his face, what’s the deal with this mysterious new addition to the ever-growing Roman mystery?
“He’s someone that knows a lot about the who, the when and the what of what happened all those years ago,” Harthan teases. “But there are just some people that walk this planet that, you know, good luck getting information out of them! So when it comes to filling in some of the blanks, he’s going to be very challenging. We’re going to lean into that in the back half.”
As for the influx of characters connected to Roman this season, Harthan tells TVLine that he’d rather have new clues revealed by actual people, rather than Morgan and the team simply learning by looking at redacted files.
“I have a really big appetite for getting to some of the people and the players [of the Roman situation], whether they were the architect of it — which is going to take us a minute — or foot soldiers,” Harthan says. “Either way, they’re interesting people to talk to because they’re going to illuminate things that Morgan, Ava, Soto and everybody else wants to know. We’re doing an episode right now that deals with that particular character, who he is and and what he knows.”
What The Heck Was Up With Wagner This Week?
If you thought there was something off about Wagner this week, congratulations, you have very good instincts. His outburst at Morgan the precinct was meant to feel out of character for him, Harthan says, though he’s also quick to remind TVLine that we don’t really “know” him yet.
“There’s a lot going on with that guy that we’re going to unpack as we learn who he is, what makes him tick, what his demons are, what his insecurities are, what he’s running from and what his secret is,” Harthan says. “Those are things that we’re waiting to unpack in the back half of the season. My hope was that the audience would be uneasy and not really know who he is or what his agenda is because it’s confusing and confounding the characters around him.”
And Morgan isn’t just going to brush off their tense encounter and move on. “The juxtaposition between [Wagner’s usual flirty] energy and the energy in this episode is a little jarring,” Harthan says. “That’s why she’s spinning out about it, too. Like, where did that come from?”
How Much Does Wagner Know About Roman?
The other hiccup with Wagner, as revealed in this episode, is that he knows about Roman — or at least he’s aware that his subordinates are conducting an off-the-books investigation under his nose. And he doesn’t appreciate it. So, how is that situation going to unfold when “High Potential” returns? In a word, Harthan says it’s going to be “tricky.”
“[Wagner] has really strong opinions when it comes to being lied to,” Harthan says. “Once he lays down that law in the show, which he really doubles down on in the back half, it forces our team to make a decision: Will they continue to hide what we’re doing from him, or will they be more transparent and hope that he’s an ally, not an enemy? That’s something we’re going to play with for a batch of episodes before we answer that question.”
Where Does The Midseason Premiere Pick Up?
When “High Potential” resumes Season 2 on Tuesday, Jan. 6 (now at 9/8c!), things won’t pick up exactly where we left them, and Harthan tells TVLine that he has a good reason for doing so: “I don’t love direct pickups.” Fair enough!
Instead, Harthan explains, “We came up with this clever little device that kicks off the episode in a way that I think is surprising and interesting. It’s not like she’s in the hotel room wondering what she’s going to do now. It gives us some interesting backfill about what happened in that hotel room in the time between getting that call and getting to a crime scene. Karadec has some questions for her, so we start with a really fun, juicy scene at the top of the next one.”
Did Harthan clear up all of your questions, or is your mind still racing after that midseason finale? With more than two months until “High Potential” returns, we’ve got plenty of time to speculate. Grade the episode in our poll below, then drop a comment with your thoughts on the hour.