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S01.E10: Chutes and Murders

chitowngirl

By chitowngirl
in High Potential

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Annber03

Annber03

(edited)

Oh, my god, that entire conversation where Morgan was explaining who the killer was was freaking hysterical. I lost count of how many times I  burst out laughing. I think my favorite bit was Morgan talking about the Spice Girls and describing them as a "thirty year old band", and Oz responding with, "...band...?" XD.

(Also, damn, Morgan, as someone who loved the Spice Girls back in the day - and who still enjoys their music even now - way to make me feel old :p.)

This whole episode in general had some really funny moments in it. I also liked this exchange between Karadec and Morgan:

"I can't see you being the type to anthropomorphize vegetables." 

"That is the kindest thing you've ever said to me." 

And then Morgan's "pull a Meg and fake an orgasm/impersonating Karadec having an orgasm" ibit ad the dinner, and her saying, "As if things weren't bad enough, I have to go to a poetry reading."... Just so funny. 

On a more serious note, awwwwwwww, poor Elliot :(. My heart broke for him when Finn was so rude, I wanted to hug him. Was Morgan's response to that the best way to handle that? Maybe not, I dunno. Did it make me laugh and actually clap at my TV anyway? Oh, yes :D. Yay for Ava setting aside her phone and having some fun with him at the end. I have to say though, I do like her boyfriend, he seems like a good kid. His bit about his crush on Jesse from Toy Story was cute. 

And man, poor Tara. What a awful way to die. And those kids coming across her as they did - that actually had me gasping. I loved the way the nanny group's faces all fell when Karadec mentioned nanny cams. 

Also loved Daphne's whole look during the scene where Chuck came to the precinct and sat with Oz, with the white shirt and the black over it. That whole outfit was really cute on her. 

Edited by Annber03
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possibilities

possibilities

Ken Marino, the actor who played the PI, had a role on Veronica Mars-- very similar to this one, actually. He's the quintessential slimeball. His character name was "Vinnie Van Lowe"-- just saying it makes me laugh. 

I like Morgan's son. The other kid was horrible and I didn't actually mind when Morgan called him out on it. His mom didn't seem so terrible, which makes me wonder why her kid is horrible. At first, when he was locked into the game and then wanted no sugar, I thought he might be on the autism spectrum or that he has some other neurodivergent quality. I was hoping that Elliot would crack the code to bonding with him. But then when he went off on Elliot, he seemed like just a regular issue sullen brat. I guess I should have known he would be, since he invited all the toher kids to his party.

I do think Morgan was wrong to intervene like that and try to get the invitation. That could only end badly. And it's humiliating for Elliot.

If Tara was working for a lot less money than the other nannies, it would have been better for both her and them if they had worked it out. She'd have been able to get a raise and they would not feel so threatened by her. I wonder if she was too much of a racist to be open to it, or if they never tried with her because they were too loyal to Rosa. It does sound like Rosa fucked up, and it bothered me that they didn't seem to understand that.

I liked that Morgan and the real estate mom got along. That was fun.

It's so weird that they hired Judy Reyes but are still giving her so little to do. What a waste!

 

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kathyk2

kathyk2

49 minutes ago, possibilities said:

Ken Marino, the actor who played the PI, had a role on Veronica Mars-- very similar to this one, actually. He's the quintessential slimeball. His character name was "Vinnie Van Lowe"-- just saying it makes me laugh. 

I like Morgan's son. The other kid was horrible and I didn't actually mind when Morgan called him out on it. His mom didn't seem so terrible, which makes me wonder why her kid is horrible. At first, when he was locked into the game and then wanted no sugar, I thought he might be on the autism spectrum or that he has some other neurodivergent quality. I was hoping that Elliot would crack the code to bonding with him. But then when he went off on Elliot, he seemed like just a regular issue sullen brat. I guess I should have known he would be, since he invited all the toher kids to his party.

I do think Morgan was wrong to intervene like that and try to get the invitation. That could only end badly. And it's humiliating for Elliot.

If Tara was working for a lot less money than the other nannies, it would have been better for both her and them if they had worked it out. She'd have been able to get a raise and they would not feel so threatened by her. I wonder if she was too much of a racist to be open to it, or if they never tried with her because they were too loyal to Rosa. It does sound like Rosa fucked up, and it bothered me that they didn't seem to understand that.

I liked that Morgan and the real estate mom got along. That was fun.

It's so weird that they hired Judy Reyes but are still giving her so little to do. What a waste!

 

That's why I didn't like this episode the killer's motive was stupid. I thought the executive would have made a better murderer she could have thought her husband and Tara were having an affair.

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agathapenny

agathapenny

1 hour ago, possibilities said:

I like Morgan's son. The other kid was horrible.

Yeah, oof, I felt for Eliot. The only one not invited? That's being deliberately mean.

I liked that Ava smartened up in the end and put her phone away long enough to be there for her brother. (Phone addiction drives me nuts.) But the boyfriend seemed like a keeper, actually taking the time to answer the question about what an 11-year-old boy would like.

1 hour ago, possibilities said:

I do think Morgan was wrong to intervene like that and try to get the invitation. That could only end badly. And it's humiliating for Elliot.

I get where she was coming from, but yeah, that was never going to go well.

1 hour ago, possibilities said:

I wonder if she was too much of a racist to be open to it, or if they never tried with her because they were too loyal to Rosa.

I didn't get the sense she was racist. I got the sense that she was young, beautiful, and replaced their friend, so they never had any intention of giving her a chance, so they turned into a bunch of mean girls.

I wonder if we'll see the PI again. It was a bit weird how he was utilized throughout the whole episode if not.

  • Like 8
babyrambo

babyrambo

(edited)
7 hours ago, Night Cheese said:

Eliza Coupe! I don't know what character she's playing, but I already hope she becomes recurring or even a part of the main cast. 

I thought she was going to have a bigger role, but it was nice to see her guest in this. I really liked her in the short lived Pivoting, which was better than expected. She’s great at playing cool & high strung even if it is typecasting. Her and Morgan’s little back and forth as Morgan connected the dots was fun. Would be nice to see her back as a mom friend or something. 

Also really liked the kids bonding at the end. Ava’s actress is solid but she’s older so that’s expected. The kid who plays Elliott surprised me because he’s so natural for being so young. His dynamic with Morgan is super sweet, I love that they don’t go overboard with his being a mini adult/savant and show realistic moments of his childishness. 

The case was okay. I figured it was a nanny halfway through and hoped they’d get Judy Reyes in there doing something about it somehow. Still feels like she’s a figurehead who only pops up to give Morgan updates. Now that the show has been renewed, I hope she gets a bit more to do in s2.

And Morgan’s sweater at the end was super cute. I tend to like her extra little outfits (& nails, the cow print from a few weeks ago were amazing) impractical as they are, but this was one of the few that I would actually wear. Daphne’s outfits are the most fitting and aesthetically appealing to me, I also took note of her black & white outfit, and will be copying it. Javicia Leslie is costumed so well on this show. 

Edited by babyrambo
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shura

shura

8 hours ago, kathyk2 said:

That's why I didn't like this episode the killer's motive was stupid. I thought the executive would have made a better murderer she could have thought her husband and Tara were having an affair.

The motive was getting scared on the spot when Tara told her that she was going to get her deported.  The rest were the reasons the nannies bullied Tara, they were not planning to kill her over it.  I don’t buy that Tara would hire or even consult with an immigration lawyer though.  What was she, planning a legal case against the Russian nanny?  Google the ICE number and report all you want, for free.  I guess they needed something to tell Morgan that immigration issues were involved.

Another case where Morgan’s conjectures were presented as the truth that she just divined without real evidence rather than a theory to be checked out.  For example, not capitalizing the day of the week doesn’t mean the author has to be Russian - most languages don’t capitalize that, only Germanic ones do.  In fact, even English speakers sometimes don’t capitalize things properly when they are texting.  But they made it sound like it was the centerpiece of Morgan figuring everything out.

11 hours ago, Annber03 said:

This whole episode in general had some really funny moments in it. I also liked this exchange between Karadec and Morgan:

"I can't see you being the type to anthropomorphize vegetables." 

"That is the kindest thing you've ever said to me." 

And then Morgan's "pull a Meg and fake an orgasm/impersonating Karadec having an orgasm" ibit ad the dinner, and her saying, "As if things weren't bad enough, I have to go to a poetry reading."... Just so funny.

My favorite was in the beginning, nanny to a kid: “… we don’t eat grass! Come have some seaweed!” :)

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iMonrey

iMonrey

This was a fairly good case, if only because I would have been willing to bet Eliza Coupe was the killer since she's such a recognizable actress. Then again, Steve Guttenberg wasn't the killer last week, so the show does red herrings that way pretty well. However, the resolution came in the form of one long exposition dump by Morgan, and that was a bit much, even for this show. 

Quote

JEFFREY VINCENT PARISE

Who was this? This was either from a different episode or else his scenes were cut. 

  • Like 3
Chicago Redshirt

Chicago Redshirt

(edited)

The motive for the murder I can get. The motive for the cyberbullying that led to the murder, not so much. 

Tara replaced Rosa and was young and beautiful and not a joiner, sure. All plausible causes for friction and resentment. But impersonating someone online and making up a bunch of fake accounts to drag Tara is a long way to go for those things. Most importantly, it doesn't seem worth it. It isn't going to get Rosa her job back. If Tara's employer was less of a douche, it wouldn't even put Tara's job at risk because they would ask Tara and their kid about the made up allegations and find out that they were made up. 

Which I guess raises the question if Karadec and Morgan should at least have asked about Rosa or interviewed her. Saltiness about being replaced seems like a potential motive. (Or was the Latina nanny Rosa? I am terrible with catching people's names. If it was, it seems like they should have questioned her harder).

I hate to stereotype, but it doesn't seem likely to me that Oksana could create all the fake accounts all that easily. The group sniffed out Morgan -- maybe be cause she used her real info. But I would think that there's some level of gatekeeping.

Also, why would Tara choose to confront Oksana after a church service specifically? It sounds like the various nannies see each other regularly during the day at the park. Why not just take her to the side then? Do young people even use paper calendars to keep track of dates when they have phones? Why would she refer to the appointment as "[religious holiday]" rather than "Confront Oksana at St. Whatever's, 7 p.m." or any number of other things.

I also don't get the other Spice Girls Nannies keeping Oksana's secret. Like if most friends or acquaintances told me, "hey, you have to tell people we were hanging out on the 3rd between 7 and 11 p.m." and then detectives were like, "We're investigating a murder that happened on the 3rd between 7 and 11 p.m." I'd be "Uh, so and so told me to cover for them for that time, but that's totally not true. Don't know where they were, but my name's Bennett, and I ain't in it." 

Morgan's IQ (both intellectual and emotional) is high enough that she should read the room and know that if Elliott was singled out as not being invited, it wasn't a "mistake" and it wasn't something a playdate would fix. I wish she had just taught him that hey, it's OK that he got left out, he's a cool kid, etc. 

There were as always stuff that make the show awesome. The roast of Karadec's "orgasm" was excellent. The one downside is that it is one step closer to the near-mandatory leads sleeping together. 

It was great seeing Ken Marino's character, which is pretty much his character from Veronica Mars, except less sexually sleazy and more French. I assume that one of the writers/producers here, Diane Ruggiero-Wright, was also on VM, she decided to do Ken a solid. I will let it slide that in the year of Our Lord 2025, it is unlikely that anyone buys a paper foreign language newspaper as a daily habit rather than reads it online. 

I don't know if anyone here also watches the Kathy Bates Matlock that premiered this season. But it too had an episode that revolved around a fake complaint to a online forum about misbehavior from a nanny. 

I was just thinking while watching this episode how much I wish there could be a cross-over between this show and Psych, which featured a detective with a photographic memory pretending that he's a psychic. It turns out that the actor who played the lead in that, James Roday Rodriguez, is listed on IMDB as having directed an episode of High Potential! Hopefully the show makes it happen! 

Edited by Chicago Redshirt
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shapeshifter

shapeshifter

(edited)
15 hours ago, Night Cheese said:

Eliza Coupe! I don't know what character she's playing, but I already hope she becomes recurring or even a part of the main cast. 

7 hours ago, babyrambo said:

…little back and forth as Morgan connected the dots was fun. Would be nice to see her back as a mom friend or something. 

I liked the character of the real estate mom as a friend for Tara too because she seemed to another hyper-smart woman of the same age. But I don't see how they would have time to be friends. 

 

24 minutes ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

The motive for the murder I can get. The motive for the cyberbullying that led to the murder, not so much. 

Tara replaced Rosa and was young and beautiful and not a joiner, sure. All plausible causes for friction and resentment. But impersonating someone online and making up a bunch of fake accounts to drag Tara is a long way to go for those things. Most importantly, it doesn't seem worth it. It isn't going to get Rosa her job back. If Tara's employer was less of a douche, it wouldn't even put Tara's job at risk because they would ask Tara and their kid about the made up allegations and find out that they were made up. 

Which I guess raises the question if Karadec and Morgan should at least have asked about Rosa or interviewed her. Saltiness about being replaced seems like a potential motive.

Yeah. Maybe Rosa was the original killer and they decided it was too obvious? Or the actor became unavailable? Or they cut it for time? Regardless, the Facebook part of the plot required too much handwavium. Oh well, I'm still on board, although I did fall asleep at about the 20 minute mark commercial. Twice.

 

Edited by shapeshifter
Sarah 103

Sarah 103

12 hours ago, agathapenny said:

I wonder if we'll see the PI again. It was a bit weird how he was utilized throughout the whole episode if not.

I can see him being the kind of character who pops up once or twice a season for a few laughs. 

8 hours ago, babyrambo said:

Also really liked the kids bonding at the end. Ava’s actress is solid but she’s older so that’s expected. The kid who plays Elliott surprised me because he’s so natural for being so young. His dynamic with Morgan is super sweet, I love that they don’t go overboard with his being a mini adult/savant and show realistic moments of his childishness. 

I really enjoyed this part too. They have the right balance of Elliot having many of Morgan's traits like a photographic memory and a wide range of interests, but he is also still very much a kid. 

1 hour ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

I was just thinking while watching this episode how much I wish there could be a cross-over between this show and Psych, which featured a detective with a photographic memory pretending that he's a psychic. 

High Potential  is ABC and Psych was USA so it's two different parent companies. However, I absolutely love the idea. Since both shows are based in California, it is slightly easier than other shows to make it work. Maybe there's a connection between a case each team is working on and they have to work together to solve it. There would have to be multiple scenes of Shawn and Elliot.  

chaifan

chaifan

Meh, it was an ok episode, but probably at the bottom of the stack for this show.  I agree with the posts above that there was too much that didn't make sense, from the motivation for murder to the mean girl nanny group.  For me, the one sticking point was if Tara was really only making $10/hour.   Based on the house and everything else, it seemed that couple made a lot of money.   And there wasn't any complaint about Rosa working for so cheap.  So why would they pay Tara less than Rosa?  Also, absolutely no way that Tara is getting her own place in/around LA if she makes only $10/hour.  And no way that Tara is hiring an immigration lawyer if she makes only $10/hour.  

My other nit pick is when Karadec and Morgan first interviewed the couple, they're full into the conversation when the one guy is all "oh, yeah, she was complaining about a creepy guy at the park".  Wouldn't that be the first thing out of your mouth to the police when finding out someone was murdered?  And, didn't creepy poetry guy say Tara was his old babysitter?  So wouldn't she know him by name, and not just refer to him as creepy park guy?  

To be honest, the show isn't really doing it for me since it returned from the break.  The first half of the season was strong.  I don't know if that's because they were more closely following the French show plots/scripts, or if it was because it was just new and fresh for me, or what.  Yes, there are some good moments in each episode, but as a whole they're falling a bit flat. 

 

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shura

shura

2 hours ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

I will let it slide that in the year of Our Lord 2025, it is unlikely that anyone buys a paper foreign language newspaper as a daily habit rather than reads it online. 

But if he read it online like normal people, it would make him stick out a bit less and he needed it for plot-related purposes.  Or he just decided that a printed newspaper goes better with his Columbo outfit.

21 minutes ago, chaifan said:

And, didn't creepy poetry guy say Tara was his old babysitter?  So wouldn't she know him by name, and not just refer to him as creepy park guy?

I think the creepy park guy was Chuck, not Little Sleazy or whatever it was.  I liked how Soto was all “What, nobody took a picture of this random person in the park?”  Er, no, that’s not really what people do?

tennisgurl

tennisgurl

First of all, I am so happy to hear about the season two renewal! This show is a lot of fun and I am glad that we will get more of it, plus if we have more seasons we might actually get to figure out the main mystery! I have been burned way too many times on shows that were cancelled before they could reveal their driving questions. 

That was a pretty good episode, it was nice to get some more focus on Elliot, even if he had to deal with mean kid nonsense. Poor little guy, that kid really was going out of his way to be mean, inviting every boy in the class besides him. Morgan could maybe have handled it better, but I cant blame her for being that upset at what a little jerk that kid was. I am also glad that Ava put her phone down to play with her brother, he really needed that. As much as Morgan isn't thrilled about Ava having a boyfriend, he seems like a nice kid, I thought it was sweet that he tried to give Elliot some ideas for toys based on what he liked when he was that age. 

That couple who employed Tara are going to have an even longer zoom talk with their marriage counselor after this. 

I guess nannies are just as catty as elementary school students, that is some next level mean girl stuff they were pulling, even beyond the eventual murder. Morgan making the jump from "the person in the comments didn't capitalize their days of the week" to "I know who the killer is" seems like a leap, but I think its more that Morgan puts together lots of information that is floating around in her head and she needs specific things to connect them. She put together that the nannies were not fans of Tara, she knew that one of the nannies is a native Russian speaker, so it all clicked with that one detail after having all of that floating around. 

It was such a pleasure to see Ken Marino here again, I have seen him in tons of things but he will always be Vinnie the sleazy PI from Veronica Mars to me, so seeing him as a PI again was great, I hope we see him again. So many recognizable TV actors here, it was hard to guess who the killer would be based on how well I know the actors. Is it Jane from Happy Endings? Her husband who I recognize from some comedy that Mr. Tennisgirl watches? The lady from Orange is the New Black doing an accent? 

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Cheese

Cheese

(edited)
1 hour ago, chaifan said:

For me, the one sticking point was if Tara was really only making $10/hour.

I believe Tara made $10 less an hour than the other nannies, not $10/hour. Well I walked away before hitting submit and someone already mentioned this. 

I am glad Eliza Coupe wasn't the killer (hope she's back as a friend to Morgan) and her husband was not having an affair with Tara. That would have been so cliche. 

Jai from Queer Eye for the Straight Guy! 

Edited by Cheese
Shame
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chaifan

chaifan

Even if Tara was making $10/hour LESS than the others I would think that would still result in a pretty low hourly wage.  ($10/hour comes out to just over $20,000/year.)  I still doubt she could afford an LA apartment or to be able to hire attorneys just out of spite on whatever she was making.

It would have made more sense for the nannies to not like her because she was making MORE than Rosa was making and more than what they were making.  An attitude of hey, we've been doing this for years and only make X, and she comes waltzing in and is able to make 2X.

 

 

bunnyface

bunnyface

18 hours ago, ams1001 said:

I had to look up the guy who played Chuck. I'm not really familiar with him as an actor but I came across his Middle Aged Dad Jam Band on youtube a while back. (Specifically, Scenes from an Italian Restaurant featuring Weird Al Yankovic.)

Ken Marino.  I first saw him on Children's Hospital and then a hysterical web series based on The Bachelor called Burning Love.  It is really funny if you can find it.  

6 hours ago, AnimeMania said:

When Morgan sent the kid outside to wait for his mother to pick him up. I was thinking that Morgan is not going to remember to call his mother and the kid will be sitting on her porch forever.

I wanted her to call the mother and say "your child is on my front step and is never allowed in my house again" without any explanation.  Let her try to figure out what her little idiot did.

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