This New Series Is Perfect Comfort TV, And More People Should Be Talking About It
I won’t name names, but I’ve settled down to watch a lot of high-profile TV shows on streamers recently and have found myself disappointed to the point of scrolling almost the entirety of Instagram — and ultimately, I’ll be honest, falling asleep. As with books, I hate not to finish what I’ve started, but a few shows recently have bucked the trend. It was in my search to turn this around (and fill the Traitors-sized hole in my life) that I found mention of High Potential, on Disney+.
Huddled under a full duvet (I told you I was seeking comfort) I watched the trailer. Intrigued, I hit play on episode one. Already past bedtime, I ventured into episode two (a sure sign of success) before realising that the third was just about to drop on the platform. I’m already looking forward to getting home. Now, I just need everyone else to get involved so I can share in the sweet joy (and theories already cropping up in my brain) of High Potential. So, hurry up, won't you?
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Based on the French series, Haut Potentiel Intellectuel, High Potential stars Kaitlin Olson (It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia and Hacks) as the extremely watchable and instantly likeable (to the viewer, if not her colleagues) Morgan, a single mum of three who cleans in the evenings for the LAPD and — through a fun and faintly ridiculous set up — is discovered to be absolutely excellent at solving crimes. The foil to her unconventional approach and rule-breaking attitude is her mismatched partner, Detective Kardec (Daniel Sunjata) who is resistant (naturally) and as ‘by the book’ as they come (of course!).
Morgan, we learn, is a ‘high potential individual’ with an extremely high IQ and an inability to let anything unsolved go. While her crime-solving is played up for laughs and can seem Columbo-ishly frothy at times (deducing the way a curtain is tied means a murder suspect is actually a victim, for instance) her ‘ability’ isn’t just played for laughs. Morgan struggles with her brain, and is reluctant to embrace it, and time is taken for that to play out.
The overarching mystery of what happened to Morgan’s former partner (and father of her eldest teenage daughter) 15 years earlier when he disappeared, provides the motivation for Morgan as well as the string to pull us back in — it also sets up another dimension of tension between Morgan and her new role with the police. Issues with the police aren't ignored or glossed over (especially by Morgan).
You may have seen Morgan, pink-gloved and peeking through a window blind, on your Disney + suggestions and scrolled past — the picture perhaps doesn’t do it justice. It’s a bit more multi-layered than it seems. Morgan, for instance, is struggling as a coupon-wielding single mum — I loved seeing her childcare juggle writ large into the plot.
But it also isn’t that multi-layered. There's no Mare Of Easttown struggles and demons. 'Baddies' get uncovered quickly. Gone is the Line of Duty-esque wading through paperwork for days on screen, in favour of observations about how the cushions are plumped. It’s fun. It’s 45 minutes and procedural and a crime gets solved each episode (lovely! Don’t make me wait 17 episodes to show me a completely preposterous ending!). The Guardian’s TV critic Lucy Mangan described it as ‘ Jessica Fletcher with a 160 IQ’ and the calling to mind of the Murder She Wrote icon fits well. It’s created by Drew Goddard of The Good Place and I think fans of shows in that vein (like Schitt’s Creek, Somebody Somewhere, Parks and Recreation) will enjoy High Potential, as well as those looking for something a little deeper.
I can’t give it higher praise than to just say it’s really appealing — a quality I think it’s hard to describe and as key to TV success as any other. You just want to watch the characters, you just are invested quite quickly, it looks nice. That sounds like I’m damning it with faint praise, but I don’t mean to.
My best advice if you’re in a TV rut is to give the trailer a watch — its appeal will likely pull you in and, like me, you’ll find yourself up way past bedtime.
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