Morgan Gillory (Kaitlin Olson) may be the token genius on High Potential, but she has made some basic mistakes alongside law enforcement that make us question her brilliance. The cleaning woman turned consultant teamed up with the Los Angeles Police Department’s Major Crimes Unit to help them solve crimes. With an IQ of 160, Morgan’s photographic memory is both a blessing and a curse.
Although she’s is the brains behind the operation, there are a few moments that didn’t add up with Morgan on High Potential. She made some sloppy mistakes in season 1, and as a person of high intellect, it’s shocking that she didn’t foresee the issues with some of her actions.
Morgan Gillory Has Made Some Sloppy Mistakes For Being So Smart
In season 1, episode 3’s “Dirty Rotten Scoundrel,” Morgan Gillory made some obvious mistakes when working for the LAPD. Although Morgan was new to life as a consultant, she missed very basic rules that those without her kind of influence or intelligence understood.
In the episode, Morgan and Karadec (Daniel Sunjata) are on a mission to find out who killed a man in a hotel room bathtub. Morgan noticed some red flags instantly upon entering the crime scene, but while investigating the case, Morgan made some careless mistakes that could have gotten her fired or, worse, jailed.
When Karadec was looking for the evidence box, he realized Morgan had taken it with her to work from home. Taking official evidence from an ongoing crime investigation is against the law and can be dismissed in court for being tampered with. Karadec’s rage carried on when he visited Morgan to retrieve the evidence and saw her son examining the items.
As someone with a photographic memory, it’s presumed she’d remember something on evidence etiquette upon starting her position. Likewise, in the same episode, Morgan made another jarring mistake: she tampered with evidence without wearing gloves after stealing an item from the box.
During the case, Morgan stunned her partner after admitting to stealing the victim’s car keys from the evidence box, and entering the car without gloves. Wearing gloves protects the scene from contaminated fingerprints. She admitted to touching everything in the car, much to Karadec’s chagrin.
Between taking the evidence box, stealing the victim’s car keys, and trespassing through his car without gloves, Morgan was careless for being so smart. Hopefully her background and previous experiences are fleshed out in season 2 of High Potential.
Morgan Gillory Needs The LAPD More Than They Need Her
There are moments in High Potential where Morgan Gillory acts more knowing than the police, and while that may be true, acting on instinct can get her into legal trouble.
In the same episode where Morgan made some questionable decisions, she quit. Sometimes her genius makes it too hard to focus on big tasks because her mind is thinking and observing so many things. Quitting proved that Morgan really needed the job to support her family, whereas the LAPD continued as usual. She was back at work by the end of the episode.
With 13 episodes in season 1, Morgan has proven to be a large asset to the LAPD, and they could help each other. The benefit of having Morgan on-board is she expedites most of the investigation process.
With season 2 of High Potential releasing this September, it will be interesting to see how much the two have grown alongside each other.
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