Along with a slew of other shows popping up across the 2025 TV schedule, ABC’s procedural dramedy High Potential is returning soon with new episodes, and now we know exactly what audiences can expect when Kaitlin Olson is finally back on our TVs. Okay, maybe not exactly, since it’s hard to know right away whether or not the midseason premiere sounds more exciting or worrisome.
All things considered, I have faith that showrunner Todd Harthan & Co. will keep Olson’s Morgan from dealing with anything too emotionally debilitating in its first season, but the next episode’s description can be read with enough variance in tone that it’s not entirely clear what she’s in for. Check out the logline from ABC below:
A famous baseball newscaster is murdered, and the team is on the case. Meanwhile, Soto and Morgan meet with a potential lead to discuss Roman’s disappearance, and Tom has some personal news to share with Morgan.
First and foremost: this synopsis is definitely bad news for the famous baseball newscaster. There's not even a question about what happened to that character, as they've straight up been murdered. Our condolences and whatnot.
More important is Morgan and Soto's next step, which leads to the following mental split:
- Why It Might Be Worrisome: The synopsis specifically refers to the person Soto and Morgan meet with as a "potential" lead in regards to the disappearance of the latter's first hubby Roman. I guess it wouldn't be very mysterious if the description confirmed it as a definitively positive lead, but I'm still skeptical to buy in already.
- Why It Might Be Exciting: If Morgan and the Major Crimes boss actually do get a legitimate lead out of this person, that would mark one of the first big steps forward in the case, no doubt with a lot still left to figure out, depending on what information could be shared. I have to imagine the writers are planning to keep this story going for more than just this first ten-episode season, but it's possible Roman's fate will be revealed by the end of the Season 1 finale.
Obviously that's not the only detail mentioned that's worth putting extra thought into. The other bit concerns the office custodian character portrayed by Mayans M.C. vet JD Pardo, and is also leads to a two-pronged reaction.
- Why It Might Be Worrisome: How many times has a TV show teased a character's "personal news" and it ended up being something really cool and positive, like innate superpowers or ownership of a winning lottery ticket? Right next to never, I'd say. So the pessimist in me can only assume that Pardo's Tom will reveal that his estranged wife and child have appeared out of the blue, and they need him to move back to their former home located roughly 2,000 miles away from wherever Morgan is at any given moment. Or, less specifically, that he'll need to leave, since I don't believe the actor was originally cast in a series regular capacity.
- Why It Might Be Exciting: For all that the above worry might be justifiable from a TV trope perspective, a big part of what I love about High Potential is how it avoids genre tropes. One such trope would be a workplace romance, true, but I would love to see Morgan and Tom kindling the sparks that developed between them in past episodes, as opposed to her hooking up with Karadec, which seems inevitable at this point anyway, but hopefully after a long stretch. In this scenario, I envision Tom's personal news being, "I can't stop thinking about you," and then a saxophone riff blares, but like a classy one. The classiest one, even.
Whichever way it goes, I can't wait to get more of Olson's A+ performances in my life alongside everyone else in High Potential's impressive ensemble. And judging by the high-end ratings the first half of Season 1 earned, I am far from alone.
While waiting for its return starting January 7, High Potential's past episodes can be streamed with a Hulu subscription.
