ABC might have stumbled onto something rare. It’s called High Potential, and if you haven't seen it yet, you're missing the moment network television finally stopped trying to be "prestige" and remembered how to be fun. Shows like this don't usually survive the transition from overseas concepts to American living rooms. We’ve seen dozens of brilliant European procedurals get sanded down into boring, gray replicas once they hit US airwaves. But this one feels different. It’s loud. It’s messy. It’s got Kaitlin Olson doing what she does best: being the smartest person in a room that doesn't want her there.
The premise is basically "Good Will Hunting" if Will Hunting was a single mom with three kids and a penchant for leopard print. Olson plays Morgan, a cleaning lady with a 160 IQ who accidentally solves a "cold case" while dusting a precinct. It’s based on the French smash hit HPI (Haut Potentiel Intellectuel), which broke records in Europe. Honestly, the American version had every reason to fail. Usually, these adaptations lose the soul of the original in favor of safe, "broadcast-friendly" scripts. Instead, High Potential leans into the chaos.
What High Potential Gets Right About Neurodivergence
Most "genius" characters on TV are unbearable. They’re either Sherlock Holmes-style sociopaths or they’re magical puzzles that exist just to move the plot. Morgan is different because her "high potential" isn't a superpower that makes her life easy. It’s actually kinda ruining her life. She can’t turn it off. Imagine seeing every pattern, every inconsistency, and every lie in real-time while you’re just trying to buy milk. It’s exhausting.
The show does a great job of showing the sensory overload. It’s not just "she’s smart." It’s "she can’t help but notice the dust on your shoulder is actually a specific type of drywall used only in buildings constructed before 1974." The burden of intelligence is a real thing. Dr. Linda Silverman, a psychologist who has spent decades studying the gifted, often talks about "asynchronous development." That’s Morgan. She’s an intellectual giant who can’t keep a steady job or keep her kitchen sink from leaking.
People relate to that. We're tired of perfect heroes. We want heroes who lose their keys but can identify a killer by the way they tie their shoes.
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The Olson Factor: Why Casting Was Everything
Let's be real. Without Kaitlin Olson, High Potential is probably just another police procedural that gets canceled after six episodes. Olson has spent years on It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and The Mick perfecting the "functioning disaster" archetype. She has this specific brand of physical comedy that makes Morgan feel grounded. When she’s arguing with Detective Karadec (played by Daniel Sunjata), you aren't just watching a consultant and a cop. You’re watching two different philosophies of life collide.
Sunjata plays the straight man, and he’s good at it. He’s the rules. She’s the intuition. It’s a classic dynamic—think Castle or The Mentalist—but the gender flip and the class struggle add layers that those shows lacked. Morgan is broke. She’s working class. She’s a mother. That matters because it changes the stakes. If she gets fired, her kids don’t eat. That adds a level of tension that isn't present when a billionaire playboy decides to play detective for a weekend.
Breaking Down the "Genius" Trope
There is a specific scene in the pilot where Morgan rearranges a board of evidence because the "physics of the crime" didn't make sense. It’s a trope, sure. But the show handles it with a wink. It knows it's a TV show. It isn't trying to be The Wire. It’s trying to be the thing you watch on a Tuesday night to decompress.
One thing people get wrong about High Potential is thinking it’s just about the crimes. It’s not. The crimes are the B-plot. The real story is a woman finally finding a place where her "weirdness" is actually an asset instead of a liability. For anyone who grew up feeling like they didn't fit in because their brain worked too fast or too differently, this show is a bit of a love letter.
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Why Network TV Needed This Win
Ratings for traditional broadcast TV have been in a tailspin for a decade. Everything moved to streaming. But High Potential is pulling numbers that make executives breathe a sigh of relief. Why? Because it’s episodic. You can jump in anywhere.
We’ve reached "peak serialization." Everyone is tired of having to watch 40 hours of backstory just to understand why a character is sad. This show gives you a beginning, a middle, and an end in 42 minutes. It’s satisfying. It’s like a meal instead of a 10-course tasting menu that takes three weeks to finish.
A Few Things to Watch For:
- The fashion choices are deliberate. Morgan’s outfits are her armor. They scream "don't overlook me" even though society tries to do exactly that.
- The soundtrack. It’s punchy and modern, steering away from the generic orchestral swells you hear in most crime dramas.
- The kids. Usually, TV kids are annoying or invisible. Here, they are the reason she stays sharp. They are her "why."
Is It Scientifically Accurate?
Well, sort of. "High Intellectual Potential" (HPI) is a recognized term, especially in French psychology. It refers to an IQ above 130. In the US, we usually just say "Gifted" or "Highly Gifted." The show takes some creative liberties with how fast she processes information—obviously—but the core traits are there. The hyper-focus, the pattern recognition, the difficulty with authority. It’s all rooted in actual cognitive studies.
However, don't expect a documentary. It’s a drama. Sometimes she solves things a little too fast. But that’s the trade-off for good pacing. If the show spent three hours showing her researching chemical compounds, we’d all change the channel to a football game.
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What’s Next for the Series?
The big question is whether the show can maintain the "Will they / Won't they" tension between Morgan and Karadec without it becoming a cliche. Right now, they have no chemistry, which is actually great. They respect each other's brains, and that’s a better foundation for a show than just having two attractive people stare at each other.
The mystery of Morgan’s missing ex-husband—the father of her eldest daughter—is the "long arc" that keeps the binge-watchers happy. It provides enough mystery to keep the Reddit threads buzzing without alienating the casual viewer who just wants to see a lady in a faux-fur coat outsmart a detective.
Actionable Insights for the Viewer
If you’re going to dive into the world of High Potential, here is how to get the most out of it:
- Watch the French Original (HPI): If you can find it with subtitles, do it. It’s fascinating to see how they adapted the humor for an American audience. The French version is a bit more slapstick; the US version is a bit more character-driven.
- Pay Attention to the Background: The show runners love to hide clues in the set design. Morgan notices them, and if you’re quick, you can see them too.
- Follow the Ratings: This show is a bellwether for the future of ABC. If it stays a hit, expect a wave of "smart person" procedurals to follow.
- Don't Skip the Pilot: Unlike many shows that take five episodes to find their footing, this one knows exactly what it is from the first five minutes.
High Potential isn't just a title; it’s a promise. It’s a show that trusts its audience is smart enough to keep up with a protagonist who is always ten steps ahead. In an era of "second screen" viewing where people just scroll on their phones while the TV is on, this is one of the few shows that actually demands—and deserves—your full attention.
Next Steps for Content Enthusiasts:
To truly understand the impact of the show, track its performance on Hulu the day after it airs. The "Live+3" and "Live+7" ratings (which measure viewership over three and seven days) are where High Potential is truly dominating, proving that the modern audience prefers to watch high-quality procedurals on their own schedule rather than according to a network clock.