From start to finish, High Potential (2024) delivers an absolute feast in its sophomore season, producing the kind of exhilarating cases and character development that make procedurals extra enticing for network television. For those of us who watch this genre, oftentimes we can predict exactly where the narrative might go, but High Potential consistently ensures that even when we're right, our suspicions come to the surface with earned payoff that makes for gripping television.
ABC has already renewed the show for a third season. Therefore, leaving fans with a bloody cliffhanger isn't all that shocking to ensure that we'll be waiting with bated breath for its return. The dynamic finale not only delivers a few answers, but it also simultaneously leaves us with the type of questions that'll guarantee hiatus results in a rewatch or two to see if there's something we missed. Now streaming on Hulu, "Family Tree" also results in one of the strongest episodes of the year, with exceptional performances from the whole cast.
Does 'High Potential' Kill Off Wagner In The Season 2 Finale?
Steve Howey's Captain Nick Wagner wasn't exactly a fan-favorite character when this season first introduced him, but with carefully laid domino pieces, the show effectively proved that he wasn't the threat we initially pegged him for. Really, he's just a privileged white man in a position that should've gone to a woman, but outside of his rank, Wagner's motives were ultimately driven by his own paternal issues that came to a head in the last few episodes.
For several reasons, fans were shocked when he kissed Kaitlin Olson's Morgan Gillory in the equally explosive penultimate episode, "Second Sunday." However, longtime viewers could also interpret it as a kiss of death, to a degree. He was never meant to be her endgame—we know as much, and the show never tried to trick us into thinking it was. Instead, the writers gave us a complicated story of a complicated man whose circumstances aren't all that great.
The High Potential Season 2 finale doesn't explicitly show that Wagner is dead. There's still a good chance that he could be saved despite all the blood from the wounds, but it makes a point that perhaps this is the end of his time as an officer. Whether Wagner makes it out alive or not, everything has now changed for him substantially, and it's hard to imagine a way in which he could go back to work. Still, the ambiguity of his mortality makes for excellent television, and no matter what happens, this season finale is one people will continue talking about when it comes to the show's run. It's got everything to make it extra enticing.
The 'High Potential' Season 2 Finale Makes It Clear That Roman Isn't Who We Thought He'd Be
There's much left up in the air in the episode, but the news we get on Roman changes things and puts much into perspective. For the longest time, all we knew was that he'd disappeared, and it wasn't something he would've done, which almost made him sound like the victim. However, as we learn in the finale, Roman wasn't working alone, and he might've killed his partner, a woman named Lyla Flynn.
Willa Quinn and Nick Wagner Sr. aren't as "connected" as we think they are, but Willa's rank in covering things up might be bigger than we initially learned. Lyla Flynn was involved in a number of crimes, and the belief is that, at some point, she wanted out, but Roman killed her. A photo of a hooded Roman points to him leaving her house, where Morgan also recognizes his car. The consensus is that this crime was too big for the FBI to handle, so Willa helped hide it. However, if we are to believe this, then was Arthur completely in the dark about Roman, too? Was Lyla a more significant threat if Roman killed her? Or was Roman corrupt?
Ultimately, what this reveal proves is that he certainly wasn't just an artist, and the layers to him are even more riveting now, which the third season will presumably begin to untangle. The most compelling part about the High Potential Season 2 finale is that it does an incredible job of showing us that people aren't fully evil or fully good, allowing that delicate middle to be the piece of the puzzle that's so intriguing to continue looking at.
A hooded figure also shows up at Ava's art showcase, so we know Roman is around for his family, but this also leaves us with the question of why Willa is so concerned about the fact that Morgan could be endangering Elliot and Chloe, her other kids, who aren't Roman's. Whether it's the truth or another ploy to get her to stop searching, only time will tell.
The 'High Potential' Season 2 Finale Continues To Strengthen Morgan And Karadec's Partnership
In an arc that's brimming with parallels, the secrets in this finale do wonders for the fans who ship Morgan and Karadec. In the same episode where we learn that Roman might not be who we thought he was, we also learn that Adam's girlfriend, Lucia, has secrets of her own. The episode's case wasn't just surrounding her place of work, but also her past actions as well, which means she'll be charged with accessory.
Procedurals are often deliberate in the type of slow burns they develop, and everything that we've seen with Morgan and Karadec from day one has deliciously hinted at what's ahead. It's no coincidence that in the same episode that we learn a substantial amount of Roman, we also have Adam newly single again. It's also no coincidence that Wagner might die at the end of all this. Just like it's not a coincidence that Morgan and Karadec's last scene together ends with another hug, showcasing that the way the two of them have each other's back is bigger than they can grapple with at the moment. High Potential's Season 2 finale leaves fans with plenty to sit with during the hiatus, and the result is a perfectly paced finale that's digging into a pit of more secrets.
