different is beautiful

The High Potential S2, Episode 18 season finale titled, “Family Tree” was chock full of good meaty stuff to chew on over the next few months. And I fear this episode analysis will be long, especially since the title alone holds a lot of symbolism and double meanings but will get to the symbolism part later in this post. First, will start with the most controversial character.

Captain Nick Wagner: I have to say, I wasn’t super surprised about what happened to Nick Wagner. In fact the moment he whispered to Morgan that they would have to talk about that ‘other thing later’ meaning the kiss, I knew he was in trouble. Had a feeling he would try to redeem himself on his way out, and he made me eat my words from my last episode review (when I called him selfish) and he finally put Morgan first by texting her the wrong meeting time on purpose. I will be the first to admit he showed exemplary growth there and I think what he did was honorable and selfless.

Now I do think that little ill-timed rendezvous at the end between Morgan and Nick, and whoever else stabbed or shot him could potentially create some complications for Morgan and Adam down the line. Why? Because Morgan didn’t tell Adam about her making a side hustle with Wagner to investigate Roman independently, since Adam will likely be coming fresh off his just ‘got played’, by Lucia, accomplice to murder. And if he finds out about Morgan and Nick kissing? Not that Morgan doesn’t have every right to kiss any person she wants, but it could put a bit of a wedge between them. I don’t think Wagner Sr. was behind that attack. I think it was Willa, as she has proven time and time again that she has connections on the inside and she was able to make Erik disappear quickly. (I only wish Soto would not have shown her hand to Willa so willingly about what information they had already obtained).

Speaking of Soto, I loved her comment to Morgan about not being afraid of Willa’s threats. Soto is a badass who has proven time and time again to have Morgan’s back. The entire A-Team (Soto, Karadec, Daphne, & Oz) have really been there for Morgan without asking for anything in return. I hope Morgan remembers that. I know she tries to support them in her own way, but there is a little transparency thing that she needs to remember must work both ways, because it really could put herself and the team in danger-when her instinct to go rogue kicks in, like she did with Nick.

And holy shit, Lucia really did a number on Adam-wow, girl really knew how to eff up her life. I have to say her actions were the most surprising for me. Of everyone, I could have sworn, it would have been Lucia who was going to be the one to cut the chord with Adam once she realized he still had feelings for Morgan. (Maybe Lucia will still make a reappearance in a future episode and we could still get this POV from her), but as it is, we only saw Lucia as mostly a one-dimensional character who was there to be Adam’s girlfriend, except at the end when it appeared even though she had his complete loyalty, she felt she had to go to the dark side to preserve what they had. Sorry Lucia, you could have played that much differently and probably still come out ahead. Honestly, I was a little disappointed in her character.

So back to Morgan. I think I understand Morgan a little better after watching this episode. It’s obvious her priority #1 is her kids. And that calls back to the title of the episode, ‘Family Tree’ and how I mentioned earlier that there was a lot of symbolism tying into the title of this episode. Like when Morgan went full “Mama Bear’ on Willa Quinn, after Willa threatened her kids. (Don’t trust Willa at all BTW-Think that woman is evil)

Even when it came to Nick, Morgan may have enjoyed herself when he kissed her, but she wasn’t looking for a relationship. They obviously didn’t discuss it at the time, and she went home and spent Mother’s Day with her children, because she’s got her priorities.  It is and will always be family first.

But just like Morgan is the rock for her children. Morgan’s rock has been and continues to be her partner, Detective Adam Karadec. And back to the theme of Family tree, early in the episode Lucia comments to Adam before she’s about to be interrogated is that ‘Adam would make a great dad.’ And then at the end of the episode Adam shows up at Morgan’s house, after he finds out that Lucia was indeed involved in the murder cover up, a broken man and Morgan embraces him and invites him to her daughter, Ava's important art show (an intimate activity that I imagine only a friend she held in very high regard and was 100% trusted could get an invite.) Adam even answers he would love to go, but must tend to Lucia first, and that’s when they have that moment where Morgan who appears to be sympathetic to his heartbreak, a single tear falls down her cheek and he reaches up to sweep it gently away with his thumb.

They aren’t there yet, but considering where they were at this time last season. Adam sees her in the pink dress and gets fumbled all about asking her if she wants him to buy her a drink. When you think about how far these two have come. In s1, Adam could barely take Morgan seriously, to her being his most trusted ally, confidant, and the reason he opened his heart. And Morgan is letting her guard down with him too and I think they both are starting to get to a place now where they can’t imagine their lives without the other person in it. Two partners who have been to hell and back together, who talk about love and relationships and being the others person in times of high duress, and still at the end on their worst day in the darkest hour, they choose to seek the other out for solace-this is the foundation for endgame.

I have to add a shout out and thank you to TPTB because at the beginning of the season I put on my wish list for a Morgan/Adam hug, and not only did we get one amazing embrace after Morgan’s panic attack, but we got two! <3

BTW, I know there are already so many ship names for these two but couldn’t help but thinking, what about Madam? (Morgan + Adam = MADAM ), since when Morgan calls Adam by his first name it’s more intimate. Anyhow, just putting that one out there into the universe. 😊

Last few observations:

Not sure about Nick Wagner coming back. I kind of think he didn’t make it. Typically, when it happens at the end of the season like that and the actor has a lot of other obligations they are likely signing off. ☹ But we will see.

I also swore I saw a man’s silhouette at the end of Ava’s art show making it appear as if someone was watching Ava from afar. Was that supposed to be Roman? Or is Ava now in danger?

On the Roman front, I don’t believe he committed cold blooded murder if he killed the dirty FBI agent. My thought is that if he did kill her, he did it to protect his family. But if he didn’t do it, it’s possible that he could have been framed too.

And last but not least, the S3 wish list:

I want to see a Selena Soto-centric episode and what her relationship is like with her ex-husband and her children, who I’m assuming are now adult children. Also, would like to see an Oz and Daphne-centric episode too where we learn more about their back stories. I’d be okay if they did theirs together. (Maybe we could see Oz working at the amusement park, teehee)

I would like an Adam backstory too, maybe one with his mom. Id like to know more about Adam’s upbringing. Morgan tends to assume a lot about him, but Id be really interested to know how much she got right or wrong.

Id also like to know about Morgan and her relationship or lack of a relationship with her father. She’s mentioned him a couple times and he seems to be a sore subject for Morgan. I want to know how he relates to her now and how he might fit into her world and her kids’ lives if at all.

Roman reveal. If they wait too long, it’s going to start to become anticlimactic and more of a running gag.

And finally, I’d like more development between the relationship of Morgan and Adam (Madam, ha-ha). Perhaps some angst, mixed with heavy pining, humor, and passion. Paired with a few death-defying brushes with baddies to inevitably bring them closer towards that love conquers all romantic endgame. <3

So after having time to digest the latest episode of High Potential, 2x17, Second Sunday, I have to say I don’t feel that much different from my initial reaction. But in my usual breakdown, Ill do it character by character, starting with the man of the hour.

Nick Wagner: Who was certainly featured looking buff and shirtless for all to admire with his cute puppy, and the sad story about his wife. And it was actually compelling realizing the connection to this group of thieves was connected to his wife, which allowed Wagner to  get justice for her murder. So yeah, it could have been a really great episode for his character development and growth. If they didn’t muck it up with the soap opera stuff, and I'm not just saying that because I like Morgan and Adam better. I'm saying that because we had yet to really get to know Nick Wagner, and although I think he has displayed glimmers of a good guy wanting to do the right thing behind his selfishness, inevitably he has proven that at the end of the day that most of the time the selfishness wins out and he's going to take what he wants anyway, whether it complicates things anyway. Does he like Morgan, probably as a friend, and he’s probably attracted to her, but does he truly love her or want to start a relationship with her? Probably not. And that just made her life a hell of a lot more complicated. And guess who will likely pay the price for that since he’s her superior? Ill give you one guess-and it’s not Nick Wagner.

Also, there were a couple moments when they were down under the sewers and thought it was probably far too dangerous for Morgan, a single mom, who was unarmed to be down there, but he’s pulling her with him, running after the bad guys who are armed and firing at random. He cared more about getting his vendetta more than he cared about Morgan’s safety. Again, selfish.

Sighs, anyway. I like his dog. Although he should think about having someone watching that dog like a walker or doggy daycare, cause if you’re a captain and away from home for 12 hours or more, that’s waaaay too long for a puppy to be alone, not only for companionship, but to relieve itself.

Now onto Morgan: And honestly, I don’t know where to begin with her. Some are giving her props in their reviews, saying she deserves to get some, yada yada. I have no problem with Morgan having a new relationship and even hooking up from time to time if it benefits her. It could be years if and when anything happens with Adam, and there are never any guarantees. I’ve always liked Morgan, but boy does she seem mixed up this season in the relationship department. What happened to good old solid Tom? I don’t understand her, or get where she’s coming from. Maybe that’s me. Or maybe she’s so good at compartmentalizing and internalizing everything that it’s just hard to get a good read on her. Or they are trying to let her kiss a lot of frogs. Personally, I get a vibe of self-destructiveness. Since she seems to be attracted to tortured souls who want to be saved. I’ve always admired her wit and bravery, but sometimes I think she falls short on common sense. I mean everyone is flawed don’t get me wrong, but she’s kind of like a moth to flame with these dudes. Now don’t get mad but I feel like since the hug, she and Adam have cooled off quite a bit and there’s been a bit of a draught. (Even the explosion episode IMO was a little lacking. There could have been a few ways to really pad some of those scenes from a writing angle and they didn’t take the bait. Instead TPTB decided to keep it lukewarm and keep things mostly neutral between them, which fans could interpret one way or another, but not beyond a reasonable doubt. Perhaps this has to do with the announcement of the renewal of S3 and then the writers were told to bench any Morgan/Karadec development and stretch out other relationships, but for instance she hasn’t called him Adam for a long time. Paired with the shoulder touching just before her kiss with Wagner, it just felt disjointed and as a viewer left me wondering what the heck is going on and who are we supposed to root for? You got Morgan with Wagner, and Karadec with Lucia, but then Morgan and Karadec are staring eachother down, and who knows you could even toss Roman in for good measure and start a polycule. Definitely is dizzying like heads are starting to spin, and not in a good way.

And poor Adam and Lucia. Yes, they had a little honeymoon in the intro, but at the end, I was a little embarrassed for Adam because it felt like Lucia swooped in and was talking to him like he was some five-year-old child. I mean he’s a cop who’s probably seen a lot of gruesome stuff. Lucia is nice and all, but please stop babying him, he’s a grown man! And then he’s making googly eyes at Morgan. Even as someone who has rooted for Gillodec/Morgadec/Karagan, or whatever the preferred ship name is, I could see the way Morgan and Adam were touching each other in front of everyone was inappropriate. Unfortunately, if we were supposed to take away anything other than they are just close partners who happen to get a little handsy from time to time, that was diminished (aside from the die hard fans) since they turned Morgan into a ping pong ball, who wound up ending her night making out with the captain instead.  IMO it didn’t really make sense organically for Morgan’s character to pair up with Nick Wagner seeing as an episode ago she was barely talking openly to Wagner, and is likely a plot twist, to drive the suspension for the finale so the A team has to save unknowing Morgan from Wagner, his dad, and Willa Quin.

I do miss the days when it was just Morgan and Karadec. Hoping they can get back to more of the crime stories next season and less of the soap opera stuff, even if it means everyone just stays single for awhile haha. but honestly at this point I may actually be thankful for the hiatus.

Side notes: Daphne and Oz and Soto, as always never get enough screen time. Wish they all had more.

So, this week’s episode certainly wasn’t as character rich and driven as the last-Faust and the Furious, but there were still some entertaining bits.

Daphne/Oz: As usual, I love any time Daphne and Oz get on the screen together or separately. I’m really looking forward to Daphne’s-centric episode next week.

Morgan/Kids/Soto: I also enjoyed the subplot with Morgan dealing with her son Elliot getting into a gifted school and her chatting with Soto, mom to mom about everything.

Arthur/Mystery Stalker Baddie: I’m anxious to see who the mystery stalker baddie is who Arthur whacked, and how he was able to kidnap Roman, or get him to come to the dark side or whatever with him.

Random observations: Oh, and I had to laugh out loud when Morgan had to explain to Karadec about the dominatrix and the judge, haha. That was very funny.

Also glad to have another episode without the chauvinist, Captain Wagner. Hope we stay on that trend for the remainder of the season.

Morgan & Karadec: Now onto my fav topic of discussion, Morgan and Karadec. Obviously since we last saw then in Faust in the Furious things were heating up between them, likely not in an obvious or transparent kind of way, but more murky waters, and I think its clear in this episode that they both have decided to back away from any feelings, whether they are conscious of those feelings or not.

I wanted to say I was surprised by Karadec agreeing to move in with Lucia so soon and them trying to put their relationship on warp speed, but actually it’s not that surprising, because they are both trying to cling to something that may not truly exist. And I do like Lucia btw. I have no beef with her, she seems like a very lovely and is an intelligent woman who has done nothing but be kind and supportive of Adam.

So why am I not convinced that she’s Adam Karadec’s one true love and his end game? The answer is in his smile.

Daniel Sunjata the actor is extremely talented at conveying emotion through facial expression. A couple examples come to mind, the first the most recent when Adam is telling Lucia that Morgan was responsible for helping him change. The smile does not reach his eyes. showing that there is hesitation here, and because it is tight and proper, giving the impression that he may be trying to make the effort-he hasn't quite crossed that bridge yet.

 And when he is in the car with Morgan and Morgan asks him if he’s happy with Lucia, and  he actually looks as if he’s just had to swallow some bad tasting medicine or something before he gives her his answer, as if the thought makes him nauseous or it was painful to admit-this is also quite telling, as to where Adam's subconscious is truly at.

From a psychology perspective, I think Adam needs to feel like he can earn back Lucia’s respect and love and he likely believes that in time he will feel that although in the past he had to let Lucia go because he couldn’t be the man she needed, with this second chance, he wants to try to be that man, even though (albeit with Morgan’s help to free up his time-so he can be there for Lucia more, and the added relationship guidance she has given him), he may still not be able to be that man-because inevitably he’s just not that man.

The problem is whatever made Adam and Lucia not work in the past has not been addressed. Lucia took Adam back rather quickly, so me thinks there hasn’t been much time to truly go over the postmortem of their past. And them fast forwarding to moving in together after just a short time dating again, is truly just putting a band-aid over all that history. Oh, and the big old elephant in the room, sorry to say but Lucia’s not Morgan.

Adam reserves a special smile for his partner. His face seems to always lighten up and relax whenever she is around. Despite their quarreling/bickering like an old married couple, they tend to also have just as much fun together with their ribbing, chatting about everything and anything, giving advice, and engaging in what some might call flirting.

And whether Adam likes it or not, he and Morgan share a deep connection which is fiery, heated, and intense, which unfortunately is not the same kind of relationship he has with Lucia, no matter how hard he tries to force it. Perhaps that scares him, and perhaps he doesn’t want to risk putting his career on the line, or its too complicated, or he doesn’t think Morgan would reciprocate.

My guess is that the remainder of the season will be Karadec trying to go the distance in playing house with Lucia, while denying any feelings for Morgan (however the truth tends to always seep through the cracks), and Lucia, who is an intelligent woman, will likely eventually realize that his heart is split in two, and she will call him on it.

Let’s talk about Morgan and Karadec for a minute

For those who aren’t fans of this pairing, you can just scroll past this post and save yourself a few minutes read if you wish. 😊

It’s interesting when you look at the characters of Morgan and Karadec separately, although personality wise, they may differ.

Karadec is a bit of a stiff germ freak who likes his world to be organized, likes to be on time (most of the time), is a rule follower, and is a very skilled reader of people.

Where in contrast Morgan’s life is a little more organized chaos, she likes to bend the rules, must compartmentalize things in order to function in her day-to-day life.

And the reason they work so well as partners is because they understand each other and at the heart of it all, fundamentally they are similar. For instance, because Karadec is such a skilled reader of people and Morgan compartmentalizes, he doesn’t let her get away with concealing stuff like she normally may have in the past. (Which could have been a reason her past relationships tanked) Or vice versa, because Morgan has so much empathy, which is forcing Karadec to see his cases through a different lens, thus she brings out his softer side. At the end of the day, they are both dedicated to their jobs and would both travel to the ends of the earth, to the point of pulling all-nighters and losing sleep, to make sure they can get the answers they need and help those that need help. And they continue to challenge one another, stimulating each others emotional growth in a healthy way, which is encouraging. But before we get too far ahead of ourselves...

Lets discuss body language first. Exhibit A: Morgan has always been playful but just look at some of the GIFS by fans right here on Tumblr and watch how she constantly flirts with Karadec. Look at how close they stand to one another. The stealing glances, the teasing, the occasional touching. (AI defines the body language of someone who is attracted to another as ‘involving open postures, increased eye contact often prolonged or to the lips/eyes, leaning in, mirroring movements, and subtle touch, all signaling interest and a desire for closeness, with signs like blushing, lip licking, hair touching, and pointing feet towards their attraction being key indicators of romantic or sexual interest.’ )

Case in point the Halloween episode when Morgan shows up at the house/crime scene and she greets Adam at the door, caresses his arm and remarks with a wistful smile ‘our first Halloween together,’ before opening her purse with the candy inside and telling him to, ‘hop in here buddy.’  Not only is she being suggestive as hell, but this isn’t the way two hetero male partners would behave with one another-ya know. If that wasn’t Morgan and he didn’t know her the way he did, Karadec could have a case of possible sexual harassment.

Whether she would admit it at this point or not, Morgan has repeatedly fantasized about being married to Karadec in a funny teasing way (Exhibit B: When Karadec is on his blind date in S1 she crashes it with her kids and announces she’s, his wife. Exhibit C: At the Sushi restaurant she wants to pretend it’s their anniversary.) So, it’s Morgan who continues to bring up the Mrs. Karadec card. In the most recent episode in that last scene when she has her hand on his chair, standing yet again closer than necessary, and he asks her softly if she was okay, Adam noticing her silence yet again-I swear there was something so intimate about that moment, because they have a kind of short hand with one another that’s effortless, and it felt like we were already looking into a window and seeing future Morgan and Karadec.

I respectfully disagree with those that say they don’t want to see Morgan and Karadec together because it’s predictable and has been done before. The reason I don’t think its predictable is because how often in American primetime TV do you see a Caucasian blonde female lead in a romance with a Black male lead? It would be a refreshing change. Plus, Kaitlyn and Daniel are such amazing actors, they are both incredibly attractive, and I really think they could pull off anything the writers gave them, and they would never let their relationship get boring or stale. I’m glad they are doing the slow burn so they can really give their relationship time to cultivate and mature to peak ripeness before they jump into anything. Any fans of The Rookie who like the Chenford pairing see how it’s worth it in the end when they wait until S4-5 to go there. Since Chenford didn’t have their first kiss until the finale of S4 and didn’t even explore true feelings in a healthy way until mid-season 5.

So, in conclusion after this long rant, pretty much every scene they are in together oozes with chemistry and c’mon they already act like they are married. He asks/refers about her kids quite often; he bails her and her daughter out of jail. Morgan acts like the opinionated wifey who keeps telling Karadec what he needs to do to move forward. Yes, at this point if asked point blank, neither one of them would likely admit they have feelings for the other. Although I think Karadec may be slightly further ahead of Morgan on the ‘self-awareness feelings’ front. But I’m assuming whatever he has felt emotionally for Morgan has been buried deep down under the surface. And now, they will be stuck in this dance until they can both get on the same page, and we are left reading between the lines for a bit. Bottom line, I definitely think they are end game. And it will be worth the wait.