High Potential’s mysterious mastermind just got a little less mysterious.
Warning: Spoilers ahead for season 2, episode 2 of “High Potential.”
During episode 2 of High Potential’s second season, which aired on Tuesday, Sept. 23, the villainous Game Maker (David Giuntoli), a.k.a. Matthew Clark, voluntarily submitted to police questioning after waltzing right into the LAPD station.
Clark denied having anything to do with the Game Maker’s twisted puzzles and serial kidnappings. Morgan Gillory (Kaitlin Olson) knew he was just toying with her, but with no concrete evidence tying Clark to the Game Maker’s crimes, he walked out of the station a free man.
Later in the episode, Morgan discovered the latest kidnapping victim, Maya Price (Kate Miner), locked in an empty room in Clark’s apartment building. Despite the LAPD finding Maya’s blood at the scene of her kidnapping, Maya didn’t have a scratch on her. That led Morgan to theorize that Clark had stolen Maya’s blood from the hospital where she was a donor. Camera footage from the hospital proved it, and Morgan went to confront the Game Maker at his apartment.
After being caught redhanded, the Game Maker opened up about his motive. His mom was framed for theft while working as a hotel maid and died in prion when he was just a kid.
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“She was a good mom. She worked so hard. She always made time for me,” Clark told Morgan. “The rich are all the same. They rig the game so that they always win, and we always lose. We’re just pawns to them, Morgan. Disposable. Like my mom, [she was] just a convenient scapegoat for fraudulent insurance claims. Some rich jacka– destroyed my life, turned her into a criminal. And the police helped them do it.”
The true target of Maya’s kidnapping was her boss, a nepo baby named Jason who’d been sending her lavish gifts. The Game Maker wanted to frame him for Maya’s death, so that Maya’s ex, Derek, would kill Jason.
After his confession, the Game Maker told Morgan that while his mom died in prison, he wasn’t going to. He climbed over the balcony of his apartment and let go of the railing without looking back, attempting to take his own life. What he didn’t know was that Morgan’s buddies from the LAPD — Adam Karadec (Daniel Sunjata), Daphne Forrester (Javicia Leslie), and Lev “Oz” Özdil (Deniz Akdeniz) — were waiting below to arrest him, with a giant inflatable pad to break his fall.
The episode also revealed new information about Morgan’s first husband Roman, who went missing when their now-teenage daughter, Ava (Amirah J), was a baby. Daphne and Oz tracked down a man who assumed Roman’s identity (Mekhi Phifer), but he refused to speak to them. The man then paid a visit to Morgan when she was attending her son Elliot’s (Matthew Lamb) school talent show.
The man identified himself as Arthur, and revealed that he’s in touch with Roman.
“I’m here because [Roman] told me that you were the one person he could trust. But he also told me that he can’t trust law enforcement,” Arthur told Morgan. “So, if you want to tell me why the one person he’s looking out for is actually hanging out with the people he’s running from, then please, don’t hesitate to call. … Roman asked me to put eyes on you and Ava just to make sure you two were okay.”
Arthur gave Morgan his phone number, but he walked away before she could get any more information about Roman. Why Morgan chose to grill Arthur about a backpack that Daphne and Oz saw him carrying rather than ask any questions about Roman’s whereabouts is a true mystery to me, but I guess we’ll find out more next week.
“High Potential” airs on Tuesdays at 10 p.m. ET on ABC. Episodes are available to stream on Hulu the day after they air.