Adam Lenhardt
Senior HTF Member
Drew Goddard (The Cabin in the Woods, The Martian, Bad Times at the El Royale) tries his hand at a police procedural with this American adaptation of the French series "HPI: Haut potentiel intellectuel", which also counted Rob Thomas ("Veronica Mars", "Party Down", "iZombie") among its executive producers for its initial run of episodes, with Todd Harthan ("The Resident") taking over for the remainder of the first season.
Morgan is a cleaning lady with three children ranging from infant to early teens from two exes, series issues with authority, and no car. Her life is a mess. But she also has an IQ of 160, a Sherlock Holmes-like aptitude for observation, and a photographic memory full of obscure information.
One night, working her night shifty cleaning the police station, she accidentally knocks a box of evidence off of a detective's desk. While putting it back together, she notices a key piece of evidence that the investigators missed. With a prominent lawyer missing and a killer on the loose, the lieutenant in charge of homicides (Judy Reyes from "Scrubs") entices her to consult on the case.
Along with "Elsbeth" and "Will Trent", this feels like a throwback to the character-driven procedurals like "Columbo" and the shows that USA Network used to excel at like "Monk" and "Psych", only edgier.
It's nice to see Kaitlin Olson get a role that utilizes her full range of talents, getting to be as crass like Sweet Dee in "Always Sunny" at times while also being plausible as a genius-level intellect.
The lead detective makes for a nice foil; while he misses things that Morgan catches, he also reins her in a bit and better understands that building a criminal case requires following proper procedures. Some of the most compelling scenes in the pilot come where Morgan and the detective leverage each other's strengths to make breakthroughs.
Her home life is eventful enough to have its own story lines. She has recently split up with the father of her youngest two children, an unambitious driving instructor with the patience of a saint. Her son, the middle child, shares her intellectual prowess and the quirks that come with them. Her oldest daughter is smart too, but much more of a conventional thinker.
While the structure is built around the case of the week that gets solved by the end of the hour, there's also a through line with the father of Morgan's eldest daughter, who vanished without a trace years earlier. Morgan only agrees to consult with the police going forward in exchange for help solving his disappearance. One gets the sense that he was the love of her life. But her compulsive personality also makes the lack of answers unbearable, and she hates that her eldest thinks her father abandoned her.
Morgan is a cleaning lady with three children ranging from infant to early teens from two exes, series issues with authority, and no car. Her life is a mess. But she also has an IQ of 160, a Sherlock Holmes-like aptitude for observation, and a photographic memory full of obscure information.
One night, working her night shifty cleaning the police station, she accidentally knocks a box of evidence off of a detective's desk. While putting it back together, she notices a key piece of evidence that the investigators missed. With a prominent lawyer missing and a killer on the loose, the lieutenant in charge of homicides (Judy Reyes from "Scrubs") entices her to consult on the case.
Along with "Elsbeth" and "Will Trent", this feels like a throwback to the character-driven procedurals like "Columbo" and the shows that USA Network used to excel at like "Monk" and "Psych", only edgier.
It's nice to see Kaitlin Olson get a role that utilizes her full range of talents, getting to be as crass like Sweet Dee in "Always Sunny" at times while also being plausible as a genius-level intellect.
The lead detective makes for a nice foil; while he misses things that Morgan catches, he also reins her in a bit and better understands that building a criminal case requires following proper procedures. Some of the most compelling scenes in the pilot come where Morgan and the detective leverage each other's strengths to make breakthroughs.
Her home life is eventful enough to have its own story lines. She has recently split up with the father of her youngest two children, an unambitious driving instructor with the patience of a saint. Her son, the middle child, shares her intellectual prowess and the quirks that come with them. Her oldest daughter is smart too, but much more of a conventional thinker.
While the structure is built around the case of the week that gets solved by the end of the hour, there's also a through line with the father of Morgan's eldest daughter, who vanished without a trace years earlier. Morgan only agrees to consult with the police going forward in exchange for help solving his disappearance. One gets the sense that he was the love of her life. But her compulsive personality also makes the lack of answers unbearable, and she hates that her eldest thinks her father abandoned her.
