Diksha Sundriyal
The second season of ABC’s ‘High Potential‘ ends on a shocking note as the revelations about some major characters change the way we’ve seen them so far. The finale, titled ‘Family Tree,’ begins as a regular murder mystery. A woman is found dead by a pool in a hotel where her husband had been staying and partying. As usual, Morgan and Karadec are called on the scene to investigate, but the twist, this time, is that the hotel where the murder took place is the same one where Karadec’s girlfriend, Lucia, works. Still, it doesn’t necessarily mean that she was involved in it, but slowly, as the facts surrounding the case start to come to light, Morgan begins to wonder what Lucia is hiding and why. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Who Killed Vera Hensley?
The victim of this week’s case is a woman named Vera Hensley. She is a well-known personality, along with her husband, Frank, with whom she hosted a home renovation show called ‘The Big Fix.’ Her body is found by the pool, but clearly, she was not killed there. Her husband, Frank, had been staying at the hotel and was partying the night his wife was murdered, but he claims he has no idea she was ever there. Vera’s bloody fingerprint on the elevator button suggests that she did go to her husband’s penthouse, but that doesn’t mean he is lying. When the pictures of his parties come out, Morgan notices a man in the photos whom Frank did not mention in his interrogation.
This man, named Charles Hale, becomes a prime suspect, and what is more concerning is that Morgan saw him talking to Lucia the morning the murder was reported. At first, Lucia claims that he is just another guest who was trying to cozy up to her, even though she refused his advances. But then, as Karadec and his team start to look into Hale, they discover that he is a conman. His plan was to party with Frank and get evidence of his indiscretions, which he could use to blackmail him. Since Frank and Vera’s public image depended entirely on them being the perfect couple, Charles knew that Frank would pay any sum to shut him up and save his reputation.
That night, Charles sneaked into Frank’s penthouse and was planting a bug when Vera walked in. She realized what he was doing, and Charles realized that his plan was at risk. In an attempt to stop her from escaping, he hit her in the head with a heavy bookend. She collapsed, and he, thinking he’d killed her, ran away from the scene. At that time, Vera was still alive. Worried that her attacker would come back to finish the job, she took the elevator down (accounting for the bloody fingerprint) and ended up by the poolside. At the time, there was no one around, and she fell unconscious there. Since she didn’t get any help in time, she bled out and died.
Does Lucia Go to Prison? Do She and Karadec Break Up?
While it is clear that Charles Hale is the murderer here, there are still several other questions about the case. To begin with, how did Charles know where to find his mark? Earlier, Lucia had mentioned that since Frank was a high-profile guest, he was on the “Do Not Announce” list. This means that only select people knew about his presence at the hotel, which suggests someone on the hotel staff tipped off his location. Morgan also can’t shake off the interaction she witnessed between Lucia and Charles, convinced that they were too friendly to be just a guest trying to make a move on a staff member. A look into Charles’ past reveals that he and Lucia were in the same place for a while, where they likely met. This also means Lucia is the one who tipped him off, and the CCTV footage shows that she cleaned up the mess in the hotel room after Charles and Vera’s encounter.
The question now is, why did she do all that? With all the facts in front of her, Lucia comes clean. She confesses that she did meet Charles after leaving LA following her breakup with Karadec. She fell for Charles, but it wasn’t until later that she found out he was a conman. He told her he needed just a couple more jobs to retire for good and manipulated her into helping him. So, she found his targets for him, risking her own job in the process. Eventually, however, it became clear to her that he wasn’t going to give up his ways. So, she broke off with him and came back to LA. Charles, however, did not seem to be in the mood to let her go. He followed her to LA and forced her to keep finding new targets for her.
He threatened to tell Karadec everything she had done so far if she didn’t do as asked. So, Lucia complied. Of course, she didn’t expect that Charles would murder someone, and that’s where everything went wrong. While she may not have helped murder Vera, she did help with the cleanup. There’s also the fact that she was an accessory to Charles’ cons, and for that, she has to do her time. In the end, she is arrested for her crimes and goes to prison. Her actions also serve as a defining moment for her and Karadec’s relationship. This isn’t something that they can get over so easily. She has broken the law and his trust, and even when she gets out of prison, she and Karadec are not getting back together. They have broken up for good.
What Happened to Roman? Did He Kill Lila Flynn?
Parallel to the case, the investigation into Roman’s disappearance continues. Willa Quinn continues to make things more difficult, especially since Eric Hayworth’s suspicious death in prison. Soto also discovers that Willa has connections to Nick Wagner’s father, which makes her question the Captain’s involvement as well. However, he denies it, and Morgan believes him. The question of their kiss remains unresolved, but as Roman’s mystery deepens, it is decided to leave their romantic interaction on the back burner. Things heat up when Willa calls Morgan to warn her to stay away from the case, prompting Morgan to take bolder steps. Through Wagner, she reaches out to his father, who then brings her face-to-face with Willa.
At first, Willa tries to keep her secrets, but when she mentions Morgan’s kids, Morgan rear-ends her car, forcing her to come clean. At least, partially. It turns out that Roman was a prime suspect in the murder of a corrupt FBI agent named Lyla Flynn. The agency knew the story would cause a scandal, so they decided to bury it, which is where Willa came into the picture. In the photos, Roman’s car and a hooded figure are seen leaving the crime scene, which makes Morgan wonder if her ex-husband was not as innocent as she thought him to be. For a minute, she decides to leave the case there, worried that digging any deeper will make Roman look like a bad guy, which isn’t how Morgan wants her daughter to remember him. Still, Soto tells her that there is no option but to see the investigation through, as they still don’t have all the facts.
Does Wagner Die?
At the end of the episode, Wagner calls Morgan and tells her that he is on the way to meet a guy his father told him about. While Morgan insists on joining him, he says he wants to size up the man first. He doesn’t want to put her in any danger, so even as he agrees to let her come along, he tells her to come about a half an hour later. By the time Morgan arrives at the rendezvous point, the mysterious man is nowhere to be seen. Instead, she finds Wagner sitting on a bench. It turns out he has a wound on his back, suggesting that he was right in believing the man would be dangerous. A shaken-up Morgan calls for help, and soon, we see the paramedics arrive in the background while she holds on to a now-unconscious Wagner.
Meanwhile, Morgan’s daughter, Ava, has an art contest, which is where Morgan was when she received the call from Wagner. A mysterious figure is seen looking at Ava from a distance. His identity is not confirmed, but it could be Roman, watching over his daughter from a distance. Or worse, it could be some nefarious person involved in what happened to Roman all those years ago, and now to Wagner. This person could be keeping an eye on Morgan’s family, which explains why Willa warned her earlier about her other two kids and how they will be put in danger if Morgan continues her investigation into the case to get answers for Ava. As for Wagner, the attack on him is shocking, especially considering that his father was the one to put him in touch with the guy.
It is possible that the man he was supposed to meet didn’t show up for some reason, and instead, Wagner came face to face with someone invested in keeping Roman’s mystery a secret. Or, he did meet the right man and came too close to figuring out what exactly Roman was involved in, but their meeting was crashed by a third party who did not hesitate to attack a captain of the LAPD. In any case, Wagner paid the price for his search for truth, but there’s still hope for him. The fact that Morgan showed up on time means that he received the help he needed and will most likely be back next season, though he will need some time to recuperate. It will also be interesting to find out what he discovered in his meeting and where it leads Morgan in her search for Roman.
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