Current:Home > MyReview: 'High Potential' could be your next 'Castle'-like obsession-Angel Dreamer Wealth Society D1 Reviews & Insights
Review: 'High Potential' could be your next 'Castle'-like obsession
View Date:2024-12-23 15:21:22
It's a TV story as classic as boy meets girl: Mystery-solving genius meets prickly detective in need of investigative help. It's not love at first sight; more like crime-solving at first murder. Sparks fly. Happy endings ensue. The credit roll. That is, until there's another body next week.
You know what kind of TV show I'm talking about here. "Castle." "Bones." "The Mentalist." All cut from the same Sherlock Holmes-inspired cloth, each has an uptight detective matched with an unconventional, dare I say downright irritating civilian with seemingly magical powers of investigation and deduction. We love to watch these prodigies find clues the police miss, all while whipping out a witty retort to every suggestion that they follow procedure and the law.
In that venerable TV tradition, ABC brings us "High Potential" (Tuesdays, 10 EDT/PDT, ★★★ out of four), another cop-and-consultant show that might just be worthy of mention with that list of hits. "Potential," based on a French series, is a bit silly and a bit formulaic, but also lot of fun. It's the kind of sunny detective dramedy we don't see that often anymore in the broadcast sea of overly grim "Chicago" spinoffs and "Law & Orders." Created by "The Good Place" and "The Martian" producer Drew Goddard and starring "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" MVP Kaitlin Olson, "Potential" has the, well, potential to fill a cozy mystery niche that we've all been missing in our deeply serious times.
In the duo of a quirky genius and a straitlaced cop, our smarty pants is Morgan (Olson), a single mom of three with a "high intellectual potential," but enough flightiness and flakiness to mean she's quit or been fired from every job she's ever had. She stumbles into her police consulting gig when she oversteps her real job as a janitor at the station, and is quickly scooped up by commanding officer Selena (Judy Reyes, "Scrubs"). It's very "Good Will Hunting," but with Olson dancing to pop music and wearing leopard prints.
Morgan is paired with Detective Karadec (Daniel Sunjata, "Rescue Me"), a − you guessed it! − by-the-book, surly cop who has no interest in outside help. That is, until Morgan proves her knowledge of random trivia (like what direction the wind blows in Los Angeles on which days) and powers of observation can help put the bad guys behind bars. He just has to put up with her antics, like taking her baby to crime scenes and borrowing evidence to "work from home."
Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle.
The odd-couple marriage works, of course, and Morgan and Karadec are off to the races with their crime-fighting zeal. Morgan's new career is aided by her ex (Taran Killam) who acts as chief childcare provider for her teen (Amirah Johnson), preteen (Matthew Lamb) and infant.
The episodes quickly fall into an easy pattern, at least in the first three made available for review. Morgan and Karadec swiftly establish a patter together, too, as the actors play off each others' tics nicely. The scripts maintain an easy balance between case-of-the-week mysteries and a larger arc in which Morgan and Selena look into the 15-year-old disappearance of Morgan's boyfriend.
Everything about "Potential" feels easy, in fact. It's not like so many stilted and forced network procedurals that lack charming characters, a sense of whimsy or even compelling murders-of-the-week. "Potential" feels fun because it is fun, taking copious notes from sunny cop shows such as "Monk," "Lucifer" and "Psych." All that murder feels just a little bit less gruesome because everyone's having such a blast hunting the bad guys.
A series as predictable as "Potential" can be comfortingly familiar, or it can feel tired and clichéd. Most of the time, Olson's charisma and Goddard's quick-witted scripts keep "Potential" from feeling too much like a rehash of the shows with which it shares so much DNA. Whether you will welcome another idiosyncratic crime-solving genius into your weekly TV rotation might be based on your own mileage for this subgenre of TV. Is Morgan lovable, or just annoying?
Depending on how you see her, she has the potential to be both.
veryGood! (2293)
Related
- Joey Graziadei Details Why Kelsey Anderson Took a Break From Social Media
- The Latest: Harris-Trump debate sets up sprint to election day as first ballots go out in Alabama
- BOYNEXTDOOR members talk growth on '19.99' release: 'It's like embarking on our adulthood'
- Local Republican official in Michigan promises to certify election results after being sued
- Ryan Reynolds Clarifies Taylor Swift’s Role as Godmother to His Kids With Blake Lively
- What to know about Taylor Swift’s endorsement of Kamala Harris
- Check Out All the Couples You Forgot Attended the MTV VMAs
- Dave Grohl announces he fathered a child outside of 21-year marriage, seeks 'forgiveness'
- Martin Scorsese on faith in filmmaking, ‘The Saints’ and what his next movie might be
- Attorney for police officer involved in Tyreek Hill case speaks out
Ranking
- MLS playoff teams set: Road to MLS Cup continues with conference semifinals
- Local Republican official in Michigan promises to certify election results after being sued
- Taylor Swift Breaks Silence on 2024 U.S. Presidential Election
- Nordstrom Rack Flash Sale: Score a $325 Trench Coat for $79 & Save Up to 78% on Hunter Outerwear & More
- Patrick Mahomes Breaks Silence on Frustrating Robbery Amid Ongoing Investigation
- Apple announces new iPhone 16: What to know about the new models, colors and release date
- Hoping to win $800M from the Mega Millions? Here's exactly how to purchase a ticket.
- Nebraska’s top election official might try to remove a ballot measure to repeal school funding law
Recommendation
-
Jelly Roll goes to jail (for the best reason) ahead of Indianapolis concert
-
Two people hospitalized after explosion at Kansas State Fair concession trailer
-
Girl, 3, dies after being found in a hot car in Southern California, and her mother is arrested
-
How fast was Tyreek Hill going when Miami police pulled him? Citation says about 60 mph
-
What is ‘Doge’? Explaining the meme and cryptocurrency after Elon Musk's appointment to D.O.G.E.
-
Florida jurors deliberate about activists accused of helping Russia sow political division, chaos
-
Poverty in the U.S. increased last year, even as incomes rose, Census Bureau says
-
When does NHL season start? Key dates for 2024-25