Image via ABC
Published Apr 7, 2026, 10:00 PM EDT
Jennie Richardson is a TV Features and Lists Writer for Collider, and a graduate student pursuing an MFA in Fiction Writing. In other words, she really loves stories.
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Editor's Note: The following contains spoilers for High Potential Season 2, Episode 18.High Potential's second season has been a true roller coaster ride for Morgan Gillory (Kaitlin Olson), as it's seen her solve weekly cases that have often become dangerous, explore potential romantic connections, and get closer to solving the mystery of what happened to her missing ex, Roman Sinquerra. This week, High Potential wraps up the season with a strong and action-packed season finale titled "Family Tree."
"Family Tree" is an excellent episode on its own, but as a season finale, it's a little underwhelming. The episode ends teasing the possibility of multiple storylines that could either become explosive or be red herrings that get resolved early on next season. Ultimately, though, "Family Tree" is an entertaining and suspenseful installment that ends on a wild cliffhanger, even if it doesn't resolve as much as it should at this point in the season.
In 'High Potential's Season 2 Finale, Lucia Is Complicit In Major Crimes' Latest Murder Case
This episode, the Major Crimes team investigates the murder of a woman who was killed at The Blackwood Hotel, the luxury hotel where Lucia (Susan Kelechi Watson) works. The victim is a celebrity named Vera Hensley, who co-stars in a reality home renovation show with her husband, Frank. Lucia initially helps Morgan and Karadec (Daniel Sunjata) with the case by telling them that Frank has been staying in the hotel's penthouse under the radar. Crucial videotapes from the time of Vera's death have been erased, but Lucia says she doesn't know what happened. Morgan and Karadec talk to Frank, who claims that Vera wasn't staying with him at the hotel, and that he didn't even see her there. After they find blood on the elevator buttons on Frank's floor, he's taken into the station. Immediately after, Morgan sees Lucia having a secretive and tense conversation with a mysterious man.
Things have been going very well with Karadec and Lucia. They're planning to move in together, and she recently even gifted him with a bottle of rare gypsum sand. Morgan doesn't say anything at first, especially when Frank is the main suspect. Frank claims that he and Vera were in an open marriage, and that he'd been partying with some friends the night she was killed. Major Crimes looks into Frank's friends, and in the background of their pictures is the man Morgan saw fighting with Lucia. His name is Charles Hale (Billy Brown), and Lucia claims that he's just a guest at the hotel, but Morgan can tell that she's hiding something. Charles gives a description of someone he saw that night when Karadec questions him, but Morgan later figures out that Charles was lying. Next, they look through the elevator footage from that night, and they see Lucia wheeling a suspiciously large cart by herself.
Morgan tells Karadec and the rest of the team that she saw Lucia and Charles arguing earlier, and that she made out the words "No cities, just seasons" and "Frosty trees." Morgan suggests that there is or was a romantic relationship between Lucia and Charles, and Karadec gets defensive. Karadec questions Lucia on behalf of Major Crimes, and she tells him that Charles was a guest who had been hitting on her repeatedly. The interrogation causes problems for their relationship, and Karadec just wants to drop it and leave Lucia out of this going forward. When Morgan pushes the issue, he accuses her of wanting Lucia to be guilty, and they get into a fight in front of Oz (Deniz Akdeniz) and Daphne (Javicia Leslie) that ends in him storming out of the precinct. Later, Daphne tells Morgan and Selena that Charles' prints match multiple different names. He is a conman who has lived all over the place, scamming people.
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They realize that Charles went to The Blackwood to con Frank, but an insider would have had to tell him Frank was there, and Morgan thinks it was Lucia. Charles was there to con Frank, and Vera caught him, so he killed her. Charles couldn't have erased the videotape either, and Morgan tells Karadec that she's sure it was Lucia. Karadec then goes to find Lucia using the code language that Morgan told him about earlier. Charles is sitting on a water tower with a gun, seemingly planning to end his life rather than go to jail, and Lucia tries to convince him not to. Karadec succeeds in talking Charles down, and then Charles is arrested. Karadec and Lucia talk, and she tells him that Charles is her ex. After her first breakup with Karadec, Lucia met Charles in New Mexico. He told her that he wanted to stop being a conman once he got the money to leave that life behind, so she helped him by pointing out high-profile hotel guests to him. When he didn't give up conning, she left him. He followed her to LA and blackmailed her into helping him again, so she did.
Later, Karadec goes to Morgan's house to talk, and he apologizes to her. He tells Morgan that Lucia has been taken in, and that she'll both be charged as an accessory in Vera's murder, and for the other cons she helped Charles with in New Mexico. Morgan comforts Karadec, who's distraught that he didn't see what was right under his nose, and that all his plans with Lucia have fallen apart. This time, Karadec falls apart, and just like he predicted, Morgan is the one to help him through it. She leaves for Ava's art show and invites him along, but he goes to the station to say goodbye to Lucia. This isn't how I expected Karadec and Lucia's relationship to end, but it's a good twist, although I wish this had been hinted at more instead of coming out of thin air.
In 'High Potential's Season 2 Finale, Morgan Learns a Troubling Claim About Roman
Image via ABCRoman is already on Morgan's mind this week, because Ava (Amirah J) has a major showcase coming up, and there will be art school representatives there. Ava is anxious because she hasn't yet created something that she's proud of, and in this way, she reminds Morgan a lot of Roman. Ava later gets the idea to use the box of Roman's old things for her next art piece, with Morgan's approval. Later, Willa Quinn (Jennifer Jason Leigh) calls Morgan to tell her to back off the Roman investigation. Willa claims that she's trying to protect Morgan and warn her, and then she tells her that someone in the precinct is helping her. Karadec tells Morgan what he and Selena (Judy Reyes) know about Wagner Sr. (Clancy Brown), and he tells Morgan about their shared suspicions about Captain Wagner (Steve Howey).
Later, Morgan goes to talk to Wagner, and she asks him right to his face if he's working with his father and Willa. He tells her he isn't, and she believes that he's telling her the truth. Morgan even brings Wagner in on a plan that she has to get more information, and then she says that later, they will talk about their kiss. Later, Morgan and Wagner go to talk to his father together, where she insists that he get Willa. Morgan and Wagner talk to Willa, and Wagner tells her that he's finally realized that Willa was the reason his father was able to get ahead his whole career. She would go behind the scenes and ruin other people's lives and careers to help him move forward, and upon realizing this, Wagner tries to blackmail both of them with it. Willa then threatens Morgan's two younger kids by name, so Morgan follows her out and drives right into her car. Finally, Willa agrees to tell Morgan the truth.
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Later, Wagner comes back to the station with Willa's information. Lila Flynn, the FBI agent who'd been working with Roman, was allegedly a dirty cop who'd been selling intel and laundering money. The higher-ups believe that Roman was working with Lila, and that she'd tried to come clean, so he killed her. I don't believe this at all, and I think both Lila and Roman were framed by either Wagner Sr. or someone connected to him. A part of Morgan believes that Roman may have been guilty, though, and she wants to stop investigating, but Selena insists that they don't. Later, Morgan attends Ava's art show, where she has made a sculpture of a tree made up of papers from Roman's box.
Wagner calls Morgan to tell her that his father put him in contact with an FBI agent who is willing to talk to him tonight, and Morgan goes to meet Wagner after the art show. After she leaves, Ava sees a mysterious figure at her art show, and it's very likely Roman. When Morgan gets to Wagner, he's been stabbed and left for dead, likely in a setup by his father. The episode ends with Wagner's fate left up in the air, and while I don't feel attached enough to this character to care very much either way, I do think he's still alive. Procedurals rarely kill major characters off in cliffhangers, because it takes away the emotional impact. Either way, Wagner Sr. is clearly an even more ruthless villain than we thought. With the Lucia and Wagner twists, this was a strong episode, but it's frustrating that High Potential went the whole season without introducing Roman. Hopefully, Season 3 will finally provide some real answers, especially because I believe there's more to Roman and Lila's story than we've been led to believe.
Release Date September 17, 2024
Showrunner Todd Harthan
Pros & Cons
- The Lucia twist is a strong addition to this week's case, ending in an emotional scene between Morgan and Karadec.
- The cliffhanger ending is a powerful and intense way to end the season.
- Once again, 'High Potential' fails to either introduce Roman or provide any real information about his past, dragging this storyline out for another season.
English (US) ·