ABC’s High Potential season two, episode 18 – the season finale – opens with guests having a good time in a hotel’s pool area. They’re totally unaware a dead woman is lying on one of the lounge chairs. It’s not until a waiter asks if she needs anything that the guests learn they’re partying near a dead person.
(The following is a recap of season two’s finale and there are spoilers.)
Ava (Amirah J) is upset about a piece of art she’s been working on for weeks, worried the art school reps won’t have anything to look at. She’s anxious over not getting another shot at doing what she loves, and Morgan (Kaitlin Olson) assures her that Roman used to fill up trash cans with his work. He came up with his best stuff when he was frustrated.
In a strange coincidence, the hotel with the dead woman is the same hotel where Karadec (Daniel Sunjata) is about to drop Lucia (Susan Kelechi Watson) off for work. Lucia’s a manager there who handles the VIP guests. The dead woman is a celeb named Vera Hensley, the star of a home remodeling show. Vera was already on the chaise lounge when the first guests came up to the rooftop pool, and the guests didn’t notice anything unusual.
Vera’s body’s wet, and Morgan notices sprinkles nearby, which means she was there at night when the area was closed. Lucia confirms Vera wasn’t staying at the hotel, but her husband, Frank, was in the penthouse suite. She’s surprised when the pool cameras show they were turned off last night.
Karadec and Morgan interview Frank in his suite and he reveals Vera wasn’t staying with him. Morgan spots a bra and Frank says he had friends over. Apparently, it got wild. Morgan pulls up photos of the suite and notices a lamp and other items are missing. Frank has no idea why.
Once the interview wraps up, Morgan thinks it’s weird that Vera died at a hotel where Frank was staying, yet he claims he never saw her there. Karadec thinks Vera confronted her husband and things got out of hand. They can’t bring Frank in because they don’t have proof… At least they didn’t until they reach the elevator and spot blood on the buttons.
Morgan is parked on the street and as she’s leaving, she sees a man speaking with Lucia. It’s obvious they know each other, and she sees Lucia jerk away from his hand.
Back at the station, Karadec’s weirded out by the murder since he’s a fan of Vera and Frank’s show. Morgan doesn’t mention what she saw and holds up a new bottle on Karadec’s desk. He explains it’s a gift from Lucia of gypsum sand – it’s rare, like their love.
Karadec and Oz (Deniz Akdeniz) interrogate Frank, taking the approach that he cheated on his wife and she found out. He continues to insist he didn’t see her at the hotel and that they would take breaks from each other. Frank’s lawyer quickly puts an end to the questioning.
The team reviews the evidence, and it’s confirmed the blood by the elevator is Vera’s. Oz learned that Frank and Vera had a joint account at the hotel. If Frank booked solo, Vera would still receive a digital key. Oz also found the missing items from the room in the dumpster. He believes someone cleaned the room after a fight.
Vera’s wound matches one of the missing bookends, which hasn’t been found yet. Daphne and Oz discovered Frank was partying with his manager, Aaron; his stylist, Talia; his producer, Lois; and his best friend, Boyd. Oz shows the team photos Boyd took during the party, and Morgan sees the same man who was talking to Lucia. (Morgan doesn’t mention seeing him.)
Before Karadec and Morgan head out, Willa Quinn (Jennifer Jason Leigh) calls with a warning that Morgan’s heading into danger. Willa suggests she back off. She drops a cryptic warning: “There’s no way to catch up when the people that are helping you are helping me too.”
Karadec and Morgan discuss that warning on the way back to the hotel, and Karadec finally reveals Willa was seen with Nick Wagner Sr., the captain’s father. Karadec warns Morgan that they may need to consider the possibility of Nick working with Willa.
Lucia looks at the photo and says the mystery man was Charles Hale, a guest who just checked out. Morgan watches Lucia like a hawk and doesn’t seem surprised when she fails to mention that she knows Charles.
Charles comes to the station for an informal interview and says he met Frank at the hotel bar. Charles is a fan of Frank’s show and Frank introduced him to his friends. They didn’t seem sketchy, but there was a 40-ish white male who was looking for Vera. Charles says the guy gave him a “bad vibe.”
Morgan speaks one-on-one with Nick (Steve Howey), and he claims he’s not working with Willa or his dad. She believes him and Nick insists he’s not done trying to get info on Willa, even though his NY subpoena got shot down. Morgan has another suggestion that’s outside the lines, and Nick willingly agrees to handle it. They don’t discuss the kiss but promise to talk about it later.
Ava calls asking if she can use the box of her dad’s stuff in Morgan’s closet. Of course Morgan says yes.
Charles works with a sketch artist to come up with a likeness of the man he saw at the hotel. Morgan immediately recognizes the eyes in the drawing. The drawing is a composite of all of Frank’s friends. Meaning, he doesn’t exist.
They already let Charles go and now he’s not answering his phone.
Daphne (Javicia Leslie) has the recovered security footage from the hotel’s elevators and the team watches as Lucia wheels a cart big enough to hold a body into the elevator from the penthouse. Before Lucia arrives at the station, Morgan finally admits she saw Lucia speaking with Charles. She only heard what sounded like “no cities, just seasons” and “frosty trees.” Morgan describes them as very friendly and confesses it didn’t make her feel good.
Karadec tries to dismiss it as nothing.
Against Soto’s better judgement, Karadec interviews Lucia himself. Lucia confirms she got called in to clean up Frank’s party after it got out of hand. She took all the broken items and put them in a hotel meal cart. Lucia then wheeled the cart into the elevator.
She finally realizes there are people watching this interview and Karadec confirms that’s true. He continues the questioning, turning to Charles. Lucia claims he’s just a hotel client. Karadec reveals he thinks Frank or Charles killed Vera in the penthouse and her body was moved in that cart. Lucia becomes angry, upset that Karadec would accuse her of moving a dead body to the pool.
Karadec finally asks about her conversation with Charles outside the hotel, and Lucia says sometimes clients cross a line because her job requires her to be friendly to them. He asked her out to eat and wouldn’t take no for an answer. Charles followed her outside and she told him never to come back.
Morgan still thinks Lucia’s not telling them something. Karadec’s angry about this situation and upset he had to put Lucia through that. Morgan believes Lucia needs further questioning, and Karadec accuses Morgan of wanting Lucia to be guilty of something. Karadec and Morgan have their first legitimate fight, and he warns her not to try managing him like he’s one of her kids.
Wagner texts Morgan about something at noon the next day, and the action fast-forwards to a luncheon Nick Sr. is hosting for his political campaign. He pulls his son and Morgan into a room, and Nick asks if Willa was behind the job offer that he extended to Morgan. Morgan asks him to call Willa to join them.
Nick begins the conversation by revealing he’s finally figured out Willa’s been pulling the strings and helping his dad advance for decades. She admits that’s true and Nick reveals he’s ready to expose everything. His dad reminds him he doesn’t have actual evidence, but Morgan shows off a thumb drive, claiming it has logs of his calls, texts, and emails from the past year.
Nick confirms it’s real; they had a hacker from their last case collect it. It’s illegal, but Morgan thinks the press won’t care. Willa thinks she’s in the clear; however, Morgan explains that Nick Sr. constantly bragged about his connection to her when he was speaking with friends.
Nick and Morgan will forget all about it if Willa tells her what happened to Roman. Willa insists Morgan’s putting all her children in danger by pursuing this. She leaves without giving Morgan any answers.
Morgan chases after her car and rams into it. Willa continues to insist she’s keeping Morgan safe, but Morgan will have none of it. Finally, Willa agrees to give her what she wants.
Daphne discovered Charles Hale’s work history is a lie. When she ran his prints, three different names came up associated with them. He’s run scams in multiple cities and has police records in all the cities he’s lived in. Charles is a con man, not a businessman.
Charles and Frank checked in on the same day, but Frank was high profile and his arrival at the hotel wasn’t announced. So, how did Charles know his next target, Frank, would be there? Morgan believes Lucia tipped him off. Lucia gave Karadec gypsum sand, which is from White Sands near Alamogordo, New Mexico, where Charles lived. Morgan is convinced Charles and Lucia were together in Alamogordo.
Morgan calls Karadec and fills him in on her suspicions. Charles was going to blackmail Frank over the fact that he and Vera weren’t a happy couple, which would have killed their brand. He put a recording device in Frank’s room and Vera caught him. Charles killed her, but not before she put up a fight, resulting in lots of broken items in the room.
She ran from the room and touched the elevator button, but it was too slow. She took the stairs to the pool and collapsed. Meanwhile, Lucia cleaned the room, but Charles was still there. Charles couldn’t erase the security video, but Lucia could. Also, she tipped off Charles that Frank checked in.
Morgan apologizes for having to tell Karadec this.
Karadec and the team show up at a tower that Charles has climbed with a gun to kill himself. Lucia’s already there when they arrive, and Karadec asks him not to do something Lucia will have to live with the rest of her life. He drops the gun and is taken into custody.
Karadec figured out where they’d be by putting together the no cities, just seasons, frosty trees clues. Lucia confesses she met Charles in New Mexico and he insisted he just needed a couple big paydays and then he’d change. She helped him out by pointing out high profile guests at different hotels. When he didn’t change, she moved back to LA and Charles followed, threatening to tell Karadec everything if she didn’t help him one last time.
Lucia doesn’t want this to destroy their relationship, but Karadec’s all business.
Back at the station, Nick shows Soto (Judy Reyes) and Morgan what Willa sent over. FBI Agent Lyla Flynn was murdered while working undercover. She was a dirty cop and the FBI believed Roman was working with her. When she wanted to quit, Roman killed her. Willa helped them bury this scandal.
The file contains security footage photos showing Roman’s car outside Lyla’s place the day she was murdered. Morgan’s done and wants them to stop digging because it’s too dangerous. She doesn’t want anything to happen to Soto, but Soto insists they keep on investigating. Soto’s not scared and pledges that they’ll continue this together.
That night Karadec shows up at Morgan’s and apologizes. Lucia’s in custody and Morgan feels terrible for him. Karadec can’t believe this is happening and feels stupid. Morgan insists that opening his heart was the right thing to do. Karadec admits that he believed Lucia wanted a life with him, and Morgan pulls him in for a hug. She believes he loved her too much to see things he didn’t want to see. (Just like her with Roman.)
Morgan assures him it will be okay. (Their friendship is so incredibly special, and this is heartbreaking for both.) She invites him to Ava’s art show, but he declines. Morgan reminds him she’s there if he needs her.
Morgan’s a proud mom looking at Ava’s art piece when Nick calls. His dad gave him the name of an FBI ghost who knows about Roman. He’s going to meet him tonight and Morgan begs to go with him. He says okay but gives her the wrong meeting time and goes on his own. (It’s at 9pm, but he says 9:30pm.)
Morgan arrives early and Nick’s sitting on a bench. He’s been shot (or stabbed) in the back and appears to be dying! She holds him tight and screams as the ambulances arrive. Nick doesn’t seem to be moving as the season two finale ends.
- High Potential Season 2 Episode 1 “Pawns” Recap
- High Potential Season 2 Episode 2 “Checkmate” Recap
- High Potential Season 2 Episode 3 “Eleven Minutes” Recap
- High Potential Season 2 Episode 4 “Behind the Music” Recap
- High Potential Season 2 Episode 5 “Content Warning” Recap
- High Potential Season 2 Episode 7 “The One That Got Away, Part 1” Recap
- High Potential Season 2 Episode 8 “The One That Got Away, Part 2” Recap
- High Potential Season 2 Episode 9 “Under the Rug” Recap
- High Potential Season 2 Episode 10 “Grounded” Recap
- High Potential Season 2 Episode 11 “NPC” Recap
- High Potential Season 2 Episode 12 “The Faust and the Furious” Recap
- High Potential Season 2 Episode 13 “In the Driver’s Seat” Recap
- High Potential Season 2 Episode 14 “If You Come for the Queen” Recap
- High Potential Season 2 Episode 15 “Pie in the Sky” Recap
- High Potential Season 2 Episode 16 “Turn, Up the Heat” Recap
- High Potential Season 2 Episode 17 “Second Sunday” Recap
The post High Potential Season 2 Finale Recap: A Deadly Betrayal and a Shocking Cliffhanger appeared first on ShowbizJunkies.
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