As the third episode of ABC's "High Potential" season two unfolds, a dapperly dressed man is viciously attacked while awaiting a special lunch date. The café, though not tucked away from sight, has placed him conveniently near the alley. Morgan (Kaitlin Olson), the cafe's resident chef, serves toaster waffles to the children as they discuss the need for a new helper for Ludo. Elliot yearns to visit the morgue, while Ava (Amirah J), who only wants news about her father, is promised a check-in with Lieutenant Soto by Morgan (Morgan is keeping Ava in the dark until real information can be found).
Detective Oz Osman (Deniz Akdeniz) informs Morgan and Detective Adam Karadec (Daniel Sunjata) of their new case. The victim, Nathan Gould, was found by the café hostess behind the restaurant with a plastic bag taped around his head. Despite nothing being stolen and EMTs managing to revive a heartbeat, he remains unconscious and may be brain dead. An EMT reveals that Nathan had a history of "suspicious injuries," but he was a good guy and the EMTs hope to uncover the culprit behind these injuries. The hostess, shaken by the incident, confirms that he seemed both nervous and excited to be meeting someone special. When she returned to the outside tables, he was gone, but the pin he brought for this lunch date was still there.
Morgan surveys her surroundings and deduces that the other tables were deliberately left messy to ensure Nathan would sit by the alley. The hostess seated him around 7:45am and found him in the alley after hearing ducks quacking. However, Morgan doesn't see any signs of duck activity and doesn't know what the hostess heard (I'm guessing it was his cell phone's ringtone). Nathan's apartment indicates he was into sports, but they can't figure out what team(s) he actually supported. Nathan has a stack of overdue bills, suggesting he wasn't a sports fan but rather a sports gambler who may have owed his bookie money - which could explain his strange injuries.
As the pair explored the premises, a man attempted an uninvited entry, striking Adam without hesitation. As Morgan swiftly summoned Lieutenant Soto for reinforcement, the assailant, identified as Marco DeLeon (played by Charlit Dae), made a run for it. Soto's silence on the phone left Morgan eyeing the getaway driver outside. She declared the police on their way, prompting the driver to take off, leaving Marco stranded. Adam swiftly intervened, tackling him and securing his arrest.
Upon investigation, it emerged that Marco's identity, and Adam suspected a connection between him and the getaway driver—both potentially working for someone Nathan owed money to. This individual likely orchestrated the hit on Nathan that morning. As Adam rummaged through Marco's pockets, he found a needle but no injection substance or weapons. Morgan entertained doubts about their initial assessment of Marco's role.
Adam and Morgan met with Marco's boss, Ray, who was less than eager to engage with law enforcement. Ray operated a bustling card room hidden in the back of his barbershop, where Morgan noticed that every table boasted the same advanced electric card shuffler. Before she could delve deeper into the shufflers' significance, Ray ushered everyone out of the room. These shufflers allowed Ray to manipulate the odds in his favor.
The empty syringe indicated that Marco intended to inject air into Nathan's bloodstream, a deadly maneuver. If Ray had ordered the earlier hit that should have killed Nathan, he wouldn't have sent Marco in his stead. Moreover, an air bubble death would have appeared accidental, and Ray, with his reputation for being cunning, would have preferred it to look like a murder—unless he could profit from Nathan's death, which he would indeed do since Nathan had named him the beneficiary of his life insurance policy.
Ray claimed it was all Nathan's idea. Adam and Detective Daphne Forrester (portrayed by Javicia Leslie) then questioned Jessica, Nathan's estranged daughter and former life insurance beneficiary. Jessica insisted she had no knowledge of the policy's existence. Her parents' divorce had caused a rift between them, and she hadn't been close to her father in recent years. However, a few months ago, he reached out and told her he was going away. He wanted to make amends, so they had seen each other more in the last few months than during her childhood.
Nathan carried a ladybug pin with him on the day of his attack, a token that held a secret memory—it was his childhood nickname for her. Jessica's tears were unmistakably genuine as she confessed that she was supposed to meet him that morning, but he never showed. She insists they were meant to rendezvous at a completely different locale, not the bustling Dudley Market in Venice.
As the team gathered, Oz revealed a startling truth: Nathan had not made any travel arrangements prior to his assault, leading them to a chilling conclusion—he was on a path to end his own life. This revelation sheds light on why he reached out to his daughter, telling her he was leaving and entrusting her with his beloved dog. So, why would anyone take a life that was already on a suicide mission?
Adam and Morgan ventured to the hospital, where they discovered that Nathan's brain was in a state of near-death. Jessica, by his side, was stunned to learn of his impending suicide plan. Yet, this explanation sheds light on why he gifted her his dog. Unaware of Nathan's friends or who he might have confided in about his intentions, Morgan uncovered a heartwarming detail—Jessica was pregnant, and her father had been overjoyed about it. They had bonded over doctor's visits; he had been undergoing cardiac scans with a cardiologist recently, yet insisted he was fine.
The next morning, Morgan shared a delicate revelation with Ava—her father might still be alive in Nevada. She presented her daughter Arthur's card, explaining her reluctance to disclose this earlier fear of spiking Ava's hopes too high.
At the station, Daphne stumbles upon an email addressed to Nathan, claiming to be from his daughter and altering their scheduled meeting location. Morgan peruses her alarm settings, revealing a quacking ringtone set for 8:00am. "I was right!" she exclaims. This early-morning timing implies a cunning plan to ensure Nathan's body would be found late enough to render him brain-dead but not quite dead. Morgan suspects he was murdered for his heart.
Lieutenant Selena Soto (played by Judy Reyes) and Adam engage with the EMTs who transported Nathan, inquiring about the timeline. After noting that someone had stolen more of their albuterol, they confirm the call came in at 8:01am, with them arriving on the scene five minutes later. Nathan's heartbeat was restored about three minutes later. Selena inquires about the time it would take for brain death and learns it would take 11 minutes.
Adam returns to the station, updating Morgan on their findings. She was correct; Nathan was turned into an organ donor intentionally. Morgan now believes Nathan was in on the scheme and had his heart checked out by a cardiologist for this very reason. However, when he found out he was going to be a grandfather, he changed his mind. The hired killer still murdered him because they desperately needed his heart. The team must uncover who the heart is destined for; if they find them, they find the killer.
Morgan and Selena question the hospital's transplant coordinator, who claims ignorance about the recipient's identity, which is peculiar since it's her job. Adam, Selena, and Morgan sense something off, with the transplant surgeon also appearing freaked out by the question. Someone powerful is making them keep quiet. The team has until tomorrow to discover where the heart is going, as Nathan's organs will be removed then.
Morgan receives a call that Ava has been arrested for vandalizing one of her father's murals. Adam accompanies her to the location, where the building owner wants to press charges. Adam is willing to smooth things over with the owner, but Morgan escalates the situation when the officer refuses to remove Ava's cuffs. She picks up a paintbrush and adds more paint to the mural...and to the officer's uniform. She ends up sitting in lockup next to her daughter until Adam can secure their release.
Later at home, Ava apologizes, and Morgan apologizes too. She hadn't considered the impact of dropping the information right before Ava went to school. Ava confesses that knowing her dad has been alive in another state all this time is worse than anything she imagined. Morgan doesn't know why he stayed away but is sure there's a good reason.
Morgan lays out photos from Nathan's case on the coffee table, explaining she's looking for someone who needs a heart among the hospital's largest donors. Ava sifts through them and spots a photo of Hollywood producer Carson Wood posing at an old movie premiere. He's been posting old photos and acting like they're recent, suggesting he hasn't been seen in public in months. Carson could be hiding his illness.
Morgan is proud that her daughter figured this out, adding another layer of intrigue to their investigation.
As Adam and Daphne arrived to visit Carson Wood in the hospital, he was being wheeled out by nurses, hooked up to an oxygen mask and looking as if death was imminent. Carson insisted he had never heard of Nathan Gould and was on his way to receive a heart transplant. He admitted to possibly exerting pressure on St. Clare Hospital to be placed at the top of the list, but the heart he was receiving was in Utah, as the doctors had informed him that Nathan's heart was not a suitable match.
Morgan called Adam and Daphne to report that Nathan's heart had been stolen from the hospital. The hospital confirmed that everything had gone smoothly during the removal and it had been packed for transport, but it had been stolen after that. The heart could only be outside of the body for six hours before it was no longer viable. Someone who knew the procedure must have taken it.
The team had only four hours left, so Selena brought in the transplant coordinator for questioning. She claimed she had no choice in bumping Carson Wood to the top of the list, but it turned out that Nathan had directed his heart be given to someone, but the hospital committee had invalidated his request and given it to Carson Wood instead. Unfortunately, she had deleted the name of the original designated recipient and confessed she had never even looked at it.
Adam and Morgan went through all the people on the recipient list who resided in the southwestern US. The heart only had two hours left, and Morgan determined that some of them lived too far away, while others had the wrong blood type or were of the wrong body size. That narrowed it down to just six people, and Morgan thought she had figured out who the killer was.
Rosemary Caferri, 70 years old, at Eaton General, was the recipient. She was the only one on albuterol, which was the drug the paramedics said was being stolen. Morgan discovered that one of the paramedics, Christopher Bishop, was Rosemary's son. Christopher and Nathan had become acquainted due to Nathan's injuries, and he must have offered to give his heart to Rosemary. When he changed his mind about killing himself, Christopher murdered him.
Adam alerted Eaton General about the situation, but it was too late for Rosemary to receive the heart. Adam broke the news about what Christopher had done to his mom to him. Christopher had already dropped off the heart at the hospital but returned when the hospital texted him that he needed to be present as next of kin. He was currently in custody, but Adam allowed Rosemary to see her son. Informed that she would go back on the waiting list, Rosemary admitted she didn't care anymore. She gave her son a hug and they apologized to each other.
Later, Morgan gave Jessica the ladybug pin that her dad meant to give her, believing it was for her baby. Morgan asked why Jessica let her dad back into her life, and Jessica said it was how her mom had raised her. Adam informed Morgan that a 17-year-old girl had received the heart instead of Rosemary, but it had not gone to waste.
