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Will we truly grow bored of the savant sleuth? I suspect not – the satisfaction of witnessing a remarkably talented person solve incredibly intricate cases is one of fiction’s surest appeals. As always, our screens teem with them: in the past year alone we’ve been introduced to Ludwig, David Mitchell’s riddle-creator turned brilliantly perceptive investigator; seen the return of Natasha Lyonne’s truth-divining Charlie Cale in Poker Face; and encountered once again with brainiac attorney Elsbeth.

A Unique Breed of Brilliant Investigator

Returning for further intellectual feats is Morgan Gillory, the protagonist of lighthearted crime series High Potential, which returns for a new season. With an IQ of 160 – earning her “exceptional mental ability” – Morgan’s talent to unravel exceptionally convoluted sequences of events is downright astonishing. But there’s something a little different about this particular brilliant crimestopper.

Ever since an reclusive drug addict by the name of Sherlock Holmes established the genius detective tone, these types have usually had some flaws. Ludwig is reclusive, his talents paired with intense social anxiety. Cale is a unpredictable, commitment-phobic loner partial to a drink or two, while Elsbeth is a unfiltered eccentric who gives people the creeps.

Morgan – played by Kaitlin Olson – has no comparable weaknesses. Initially, she’s working as a cleaner in the offices of the LAPD. After accidentally knocking over a pile of investigation notes and noticing some critical mistakes, she provides a hint to guide the detectives in the right direction. Before long, she’s recruited to work alongside the police, where she duly solves a series of highly complex crimes with practically no assistance.

A Well-Rounded Lead

Morgan is not only inordinately smart, she’s also a fearless, charismatic, elegant, stunning go-getter with perfect intuition and off-the-charts emotional intelligence. She may be somewhat assertive at times, but given her role in the business of protecting people and catching killers, some persistence isn’t exactly inappropriate.

While Morgan may be almost ideal in every way, that isn't the case for her life – initially. A single mother of three, she struggles to cover expenses, and mostly uses her mind palace to get the most out of her coupon-assisted supermarket shop. Motherhood can, naturally, stymie women’s professional lives, but Morgan’s readiness to put up with the demands and pay of a low-paying job seems unrealistic.

Juggling Realism and Drama

Equally difficult to buy is the show’s longest narrative thread: underpinning all her varied cases is Morgan’s determination to track down the father of her eldest child, who disappeared without a trace a decade and a half back. Despite her remarkable skills of deduction, she hasn’t the foggiest idea where he is.

But High Potential doesn't focus heavily with realism. Made by ABC in the US, this is slick, narcotic network TV. It’s popular and visually appealing, the sort of thing you’d traditionally associate more with ITV than BBC Two. Morgan’s new colleagues are uniformly nice, underdeveloped guys: smooth detective Karadec, investigators Daphne and Oz, plus Lt Selena Soto, perhaps the most reasonable and most approachable police chief in cop drama history. No dark protagonists, no edge: the atmosphere is cosy and touching and somewhat simple.

Suspense and Excitement

Naturally, the crimes are far from cosy or sentimental or straightforward. The season one finale saw Morgan taunted by a kidnapper who forced her to solve extremely challenging puzzles to rescue the victims. He returns in the premiere episodes here, kidnapping a young mother on her way home from a night out – but his real target is clearly Morgan, whom he sees as a worthy opponent in his actual match of chess.

Seeing her get agonizingly near to outwitting this man is nerve-wracking and exciting, but something this extreme requires a watertight ending. The question is: does the show prove as clever as its protagonist?

Final Thoughts

Simply put, no. The show is very good at keeping the suspense going, but it can’t quite stick the landing, and the storyline wraps up with a far-fetched gotcha. Still, there’s always next time. Actually, Morgan’s subsequent case – while equally bizarre – is more coherently plotted, ending with a neat and unexpectedly moving climax. The consistency of the plotting may be a tad inconsistent, but similar to other predecessors and peers, this virtuoso amateur investigator can always be counted on to save the day.