TV Recap: High Potential — “The Faust and the Furious” Brings Tech, Trauma, and Turning Points
A Silicon Valley-style wellness guru winds up dead inside his locked meditation room, launching Morgan and Karadec into a case filled with gene-hacking, corporate infighting, and a digital copy of the victim who might—or might not—hold the answers. But even as the team traces the truth behind the tech, Morgan and Karadec face emotional breakthroughs of their own, testing their partnership at a moment when they need each other most. Here is a recap of this week’s episode of High Potential.
Season 2, Episode 12: “The Faust and the Furious” - Written by Katie McElhenney
A wealthy wellness-obsessed tech mogul, Gabe Rafferty (Brad Raider), begins his morning in the same ritualistic loop he follows every day—smoothies, supplements, meditation, a rotating schedule of cutting-edge health routines. But the next time his housekeeper (Leeann DeMarco) arrives, the kitchen is empty. After searching the minimalist, high-tech home, she finally finds him in the yoga room, stabbed through the chest with a ceremonial object.
Adam Karadec (Daniel Sunjata) is getting ready for work when Morgan Gillory (Kaitlin Olson) calls—asking for a ride and revealing she’s already in the hallway of his apartment building. Ludo dropped the kids at school and deposited her there. She’s brought coffee and muffins as leverage, but Karadec keeps her at the threshold—until Lucia (Susan Kelechi Watson) walks by. Morgan lights up with mischievous delight as Karadec snatches the food and tells her to wait outside.
On the road, he allows her three questions. She learns this isn’t Lucia’s first sleepover, things feel both “comfortable and strange,” and he’s happy. Before Morgan can pry further, Selena Soto (Judy Reyes) texts—there’s a body in Crestwood Hills.
At the ultra-modern home, the victim is identified as Gabe Rafferty, 55, though Morgan marvels that he looks much younger. He’s been dead since the night before, a Tibetan phurba dagger driven straight into his chest—traditionally a symbol of health and protection. Morgan notes signs of Samadhi meditation, and there’s no forced entry, no struggle, and the alarm remained armed.
Gabe’s phone reveals repeated calls from Renata Carlino (Lyla Porter-Follows), who bursts through the door in a panic. Renata has been Gabe’s assistant for eight years. Every employee has a personalized entry code, and she’d been away on Catalina Island for her sister’s wedding. She checked his GeneGevity biodata—Gabe’s own company’s wellness-tracking app—and panicked when she saw no readings for hours.
Morgan questions their closeness. Renata says Gabe changed her life at a time she needed direction, having a useless degree in nineteenth century art and textiles. GeneGevity, she explains, was a pioneer in gene-hacking and longevity science.
Back at LAPD, Daphne (Javicia Leslie) screens old promo reels of Gabe. She once tried GeneGevity’s juice cleanse—felt great, but refused to give them her biometric data. Soto has discovered multiple lawsuits filed by Siobhan Frazier (Hallie Samuels).
Meanwhile, Oz Osman (Dennis Akdeniz) visits a cemetery to check on the memorial for his father, Kemal Ozdil. A temporary marker is still in place. The groundskeeper (Frederick Dawson) says headstones are installed the day they receive them—Oz’s mother ordered it a month back. Confused and worried, Oz leaves unsettled.
Siobhan arrives at LAPD—very pregnant and very confused about Gabe’s death. She reveals Gabe was not the father, but his company caused her pregnancy. GeneGevity reformulated her medication without alerting her, adding St. John’s Wort, which weakened her birth control. The company ghosted her, so she sued to force them into court. Morgan is furious: Gabe knew the risks of St. John’s Wort. Why take such a gamble unless the company was hemorrhaging money?
At GeneGevity HQ, a receptionist (Piper Dodds Lewis) informs them the company is closed for the day, but a shouting match behind the glass conference-room wall tells a different story. Morgan and Karadec enter to find Leona Meyers (Jenica Bergere) and Carter Zassick (Bardia Salimi) arguing over budgets. Morgan realizes Gabe had been siloing departments and stringing them along, promising costly equipment to both—equipment that never arrived.
Privately, Leona and Carter insist they had no idea the company had financial trouble and that they were working the previous night. Then a pre-recorded video message from Gabe appears: “My successor will be in contact soon.” But he names no one.
Oz visits his mother, Dilara Ozdil (Jacqueline Antaramian), and discovers that, after she paid for the tombstone from Italy, the cemetery kept adding on new fees she wasn’t aware of. It ended up costing more than she could afford. She didn’t want to burden Oz financially.
Karadec learns GeneGevity’s missing money went somewhere unexpected: A Santa Clarita nursing home. He and Morgan arrive to find the place nearly abandoned—except for Jesse Lascala (Raymond McAnally), who says Gabe was funding world-class occupational and speech therapy there. Why? “To help him reach his full human potential,” Jesse says.
In the back room, Morgan and Karadec meet the truth: Gabe recreated himself as an AI, stored in a small round device, ready to be installed in a host of robotic bodies still being adjusted. The AI Gabe recognizes Morgan and Karadec through facial-recognition software. They interrogate him. AI Gabe doesn’t know who killed the real Gabe, but he provides a long list of death threats. His nightly routine was strict: meditation at 9 p.m., bed by 10:15 when the house enters Do Not Disturb mode. But DND activated early on the night of his death—at 9:05. AI Gabe tries to identify who changed the code…and abruptly powers down.
At LAPD, Oz argues with the funeral home over predatory fees. Soto calls him into her office. She’s seen scams like this before. She quietly takes charge.
Soto, Daphne, and Oz zero in on Mika Astor (Brandon Engman), whose AI companion company was bought by Gabe. Mika, with his lawyer (Nadine Ellis), claims Gabe pushed him out and ruined his career—but insists he “took out the bot, not the man.”
Back at Gabe’s home, Morgan notices the meditation-room plants withering. When Karadec taps the wall panel, he accidentally triggers DND. The door seals. Air purifiers blast on. Morgan remembers the ME’s note about Gabe’s irritated nasal passages. This was poison—slow and painful. Gabe stabbed himself to die faster. Believing that the room is now filling with gas that will kill them, Morgan has a panic attack. Karadec holds her, grounding her until the doors unlock. Soto calls—they’re free. She pressured Mika into opening the system remotely. But Morgan is now certain: Gabe didn’t trigger the gas. Someone set him up.
Renata is brought to LAPD. Morgan lays it out: She used arsenic-based dye — something a textile expert would know — placing it in Gabe’s meditation candles. When heated, the poison vaporized. She also conspired with Mika to change the DND time and slipped the new candles past the housekeeper. Her motive? Gabe shut down the cancer-related gene work that could have stopped breast cancer, which is how Renata’s mother died, and something her newlywed sister recently survived. Instead, Gabe funneled money into building a robot replica of himself. Renata admits her rage but doesn’t deny her actions.
At his apartment, Karadec finds Lucia studying the rose painting she once gave him. Back then, he stared at it, unsure he deserved such a gift—or her. He tells her he hopes he’s changed enough now. “You’ve always been what I needed,” she says. He admits he never wanted to hurt her. “Then don’t,” she replies, as she steps into his arms.
Oz’s father has his headstone, thanks to Soto’s behind-the-scenes intervention. Oz speaks emotionally: “It takes loss to really know what you have.” Karadec notices Morgan crying.
Afterward, Morgan confesses she’s ashamed of her panic attack during the case. Karadec reassures her: “We’re a team, we count on each other,” Karadec consoles her. “You would’ve done the same for me.” She insists that would never happen—that Karadec never falls down on the job. He gently counters: “If it did, I know you’d know what to do.” It’s enough to make her believe him.
Next Episode: ABC will be re-airing the two-part mid-season finale next Tuesday, February 10th, at 9/8c. Stay tuned to Laughing Place for news about when new episodes of High Potential’s second season will resume.
Songs Featured in This Episode:
- “Carte Postale” by Slove
- “Tell ‘Em You’re Mine” by Alan Vuong
- “Sore Thumb” by Kat Cunning