S01.E13: Let’s Play

[Irlandesa]

12 minutes ago, possibilities said:

I thought Tom got the invitation to the gala because Morgan sent it to him. Didn't they say that ? If so, I don't think it implies he "resurfaced" so much as that she called for him.

I'm glad you brought this up because this is how I remember it too but then I wondered if I had tricked myself.

I think Tom is just Tom. 

Edited February 13 by Irlandesa

[shapeshifter]

16 minutes ago, possibilities said:

I do kind of want Roman to be a good guy, because if he's a bad guy, that makes Morgan's judgement bad, and I like her being smarter than that. Ditto re Tom. I hate it when a show sets up a female character only to tear her down as a dummy wrt romance.

Regarding Tom, if he turns out to be FBI or something similar, wouldn't that make Morgan's missing his fakery forgivable, since his being fake would be his profession? Or not really? 

[Yeah No]

18 minutes ago, possibilities said:

I do kind of want Roman to be a good guy, because if he's a bad guy, that makes Morgan's judgement bad, and I like her being smarter than that. Ditto re Tom. I hate it when a show sets up a female character only to tear her down as a dummy wrt romance.

What I don't understand is why Morgan hasn't looked into Tom's background just to be on the safe side. I mean, people run background checks on new dating prospects all the time these days so why wouldn't she? I would think that her of all people would be a little suspicious. If we are then why isn't she? I don't believe that she's so confident in her judgment that she wouldn't feel the need to dig a little deeper with him.

[kathyk2]

13 minutes ago, possibilities said:

I thought Tom got the invitation to the gala because Morgan sent it to him. Didn't they say that ? If so, I don't think it implies he "resurfaced" so much as that she called for him.

I have no theories about deeper meanings or where any of the plots are going, though. I see all the usual TV tropes as possible, but am hoping the show decides not to be that formulaic/predictable, and thus boring. However, like I said, I don't particularly expect it of them. I'm just staying neutral on predictions.

I would love to see Karadec and his ex-partner get together, but I don['t expect that, either.

I do kind of want Roman to be a good guy, because if he's a bad guy, that makes Morgan's judgement bad, and I like her being smarter than that. Ditto re Tom. I hate it when a show sets up a female character only to tear her down as a dummy wrt romance.

I don't want Roman to be a bad guy because Ava would be devastated. She already feels left out because she has a different dad than her younger siblings. I think Ludo and Morgan should reunite since it's obvious that they still care for each other. We don't know if  Karadec is good with kids especially one who is just like his mother.

[incandescent]

59 minutes ago, Yeah No said:

What I don't understand is why Morgan hasn't looked into Tom's background just to be on the safe side. I mean, people run background checks on new dating prospects all the time these days so why wouldn't she? I would think that her of all people would be a little suspicious. If we are then why isn't she? I don't believe that she's so confident in her judgment that she wouldn't feel the need to dig a little deeper with him.

We are suspicious of Tom primarily because he is a recurring character in a police procedural who does not yet have obvious involvement in any plot lines outside his romance with the main character.

Morgan met Tom when he was a janitor at a police station and therefore likely passed some sort of background check already. He also hasn't actually done anything suspicious in-universe.

[Yeah No]

17 minutes ago, incandescent said:

We are suspicious of Tom primarily because he is a recurring character in a police procedural who does not yet have obvious involvement in any plot lines outside his romance with the main character.

Morgan met Tom when he was a janitor at a police station and therefore likely passed some sort of background check already. He also hasn't actually done anything suspicious in-universe.

It's not because of what you say above that I would do a background check on a guy I was thinking of dating. I know a lot of women do it routinely, even friends of mine. The guy doesn't have to have given them reason to suspect them first for them to do it, either. I don't blame them. You can't be too careful these days.

And it wouldn't have to be done just to find anything illegal or shady about him in the criminal sense but other information that would confirm whether or not he's been honest with her about himself. Like if he was ever married or divorced and didn't disclose that, or if he has a child he doesn't live with and didn't disclose that, if he is where he told her he's from, or worked where he told her he worked, etc. There's a whole lot that may come out on something like that that he may have been honest about with his employer but not with her. It would prove whether or not he's telling her the truth about himself or potentially hiding something.

[Rickster]

18 hours ago, chaifan said:

I loved the family interaction with the dress shopping.  This is a rare show that has kids that don't annoy the crap out of me.  The other problem with this being a cliffhanger is that they can't time jump to keep pace with the kid actor's aging.  Ava and Elliot are at the ages where 6-12 months makes a lot of difference in their appearance.  They can always recast Chloe.  

 

Chloe has already been recast. It's a different baby in the last two episodes than at the beginning of the season.

[shapeshifter]

54 minutes ago, Rickster said:

Chloe has already been recast. It's a different baby in the last two episodes than at the beginning of the season.

Yes. I was wondering if the casting director had specified a brown-eyed baby, which, IRL, would imply Ludo is not Chloe’s father, since he and Morgan are both blue/gray-eyed.

Edited February 13 by shapeshifter

[Paloma]

12 hours ago, chaifan said:

I did a partial re-watch, mostly because I just can't figure out how Morgan was able to piece everything together at the end.  And I'm still a bit confused on that. 

I am similarly confused but don't have the patience for a rewatch. Can anyone explain how Morgan realized that the guy at the supermarket was the villain? She was having a bunch of visual memories that went too fast for me to see how they connected and led to supermarket guy. 

I don't like season-ending cliffhangers, especially if it will be a year or more until the new season. They should have made this a 2-part season ender and solved the case. Not sure I will be back next season.

[Percysowner]

6 minutes ago, Paloma said:

I am similarly confused but don't have the patience for a rewatch. Can anyone explain how Morgan realized that the guy at the supermarket was the villain? She was having a bunch of visual memories that went too fast for me to see how they connected and led to supermarket guy.

He dropped a small box with a game into her bag. Since she notices everything she knows she didn't put it there.

[ams1001]

5 minutes ago, Paloma said:

I am similarly confused but don't have the patience for a rewatch. Can anyone explain how Morgan realized that the guy at the supermarket was the villain? She was having a bunch of visual memories that went too fast for me to see how they connected and led to supermarket guy. 

Her son found the card game in with the groceries, and assumed she had bought it for them (even though they're too old for it), and she realized the guy must have slipped it into one of her bags when he returned the item that fell and rolled away when they were loading the groceries into the car.

[agathapenny]

12 hours ago, Yeah No said:

Yes - I think perhaps Roman went in hiding to avoid game guy who was after him years ago. Now that game guy is feeling in the wind that Morgan, etc. are closing in on Roman he is targeting them to throw them off the scent.

I also like the theory that Tom is FBI better than him being a bad guy, although I am still a little suspicious of him.

I don't think the Roman plot has anything to do with the game guy plot. I think they're totally separate.

[Yeah No]

1 hour ago, Paloma said:

I don't like season-ending cliffhangers, especially if it will be a year or more until the new season. They should have made this a 2-part season ender and solved the case. Not sure I will be back next season.

Will it be a year or more? I was hoping it would come back in the Fall.

9 minutes ago, agathapenny said:

I don't think the Roman plot has anything to do with the game guy plot. I think they're totally separate.

You have your theory and I have mine. 😉

[Chicago Redshirt]

1 hour ago, Paloma said:

I am similarly confused but don't have the patience for a rewatch. Can anyone explain how Morgan realized that the guy at the supermarket was the villain? She was having a bunch of visual memories that went too fast for me to see how they connected and led to supermarket guy. 

I don't think they all were supposed to represent Morgan's memories. because at least some of them were things she absolutely had not seen. such as Player shaving/taking off his beard/mustache (forget which). 

Rather, it was either supposed to represent her puzzling through what happened or was supposed to be a hat tip to the viewers that Player is the Big Bad, or at least a Medium Bad, a la the end of The Usual Suspects.

If the latter, it appears TPTB failed on that front as it was more confusing than it should have been. 

[ams1001]

8 minutes ago, Yeah No said:

Will it be a year or more? I was hoping it would come back in the Fall.

 

According to Decider:

Quote

Will There Be a High Potential Season 2?

Yes! On January 21, ABC announced they renewed High Potential for a second season. Per Deadline, “the size of High Potential‘s Season 2 order is TBD but is expected to be larger than Season 1.”

No official release date has been announced, but we expect the second season to debut on ABC in September 2025.

[shura]

5 hours ago, Rickster said:

Chloe has already been recast. It's a different baby in the last two episodes than at the beginning of the season.

Ah, now Eliott’s (Ava’s?) comment about Chloe starting to look like a jellyfish makes sense…  Surely it can’t be for lack of sunlight in LA, it’s a different baby 😁!

[chaifan]

Back to Morgan's "realization", yeah, still confused...  I get that the pack of cards triggered everything, and that at that moment she realized it was the guy in the parking lot that is behind it all.  That's plain and clear.

What doesn't make sense are her "flashbacks", seeing a long haired bearded guy at the storage facility and the art gallery.  Those images did not actually appear (on our tvs) in those scenes.  Did Morgan actually see the long haired bearded guy there, as the flashbacks show, or is she just imagining that he was there, watching them?  And if so, why would she imagine clean cut parking lot guy with long hair and a beard?  Were those "flashback" clips intended to be in the episode, but end up on the cutting room floor?  That's the part that doesn't track for me at all.  

This show has been very good about showing us how Morgan gets from point A to Z.  It's weird in that in the season finale, and otherwise a really really good episode, they completely failed at that.

[Chicago Redshirt]

When I first saw it, I thought the flashes were solely for the viewers benefit, as we were supposed to see how Player was doing these things.

It may be that TPTB meant them to be Morgan reconstructing what had happened, but I think it is the former.

[ams1001]

12 minutes ago, chaifan said:

What doesn't make sense are her "flashbacks", seeing a long haired bearded guy at the storage facility and the art gallery.  Those images did not actually appear (on our tvs) in those scenes.  Did Morgan actually see the long haired bearded guy there, as the flashbacks show, or is she just imagining that he was there, watching them?  And if so, why would she imagine clean cut parking lot guy with long hair and a beard?  Were those "flashback" clips intended to be in the episode, but end up on the cutting room floor?  That's the part that doesn't track for me at all.  

Didn't they have a sketch of a guy with long hair and beard? Maybe she was just imagining that he must have shaved it off and cut his hair short.

[Raja]

17 minutes ago, ams1001 said:

Didn't they have a sketch of a guy with long hair and beard? Maybe she was just imagining that he must have shaved it off and cut his hair short.

You would think a cop wouldn't need to be high potential to do that. But then it's always the show's star who thinks of looking at what if the hair changed 

[ams1001]

16 minutes ago, Raja said:

You would think a cop wouldn't need to be high potential to do that. But then it's always the show's star who thinks of looking at what if the hair changed 

True. But she's the only one who's seen him so far (that they know of, at least) and knows what he looks like now.

[shura]

Just for the fun of it - neither we nor Morgan actually know that it was the parking lot guy who dropped the card game into her grocery bag.  Maybe it was the cashier and this is the first case of Morgan jumping to conclusions without solid evidence and being wrong.

Fine, if David Giuntoli wants a recurring role instead of a cameo, he can be the Big Bad and have had someone pay the cashier to put the game into the bag.  The police find and question the parking lot guy based on Morgan’s hunch and description, but he has an alibi since he really didn’t do it, and he continues to toy with Morgan who knows that he is Moriarty but cannot do anything about it.

 

[Chicago Redshirt]

Any Westworld alums get flashbacks to Teddy picking up Doris's stray can as it escaped her?

It was certainly lucky for Player that Morgan is less adept and wrangling groceries with her family in tow than she is solving puzzles. Like how was he planning on getting the game in her bag if she hadn't dropped part of her order?

[ams1001]

5 minutes ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

It was certainly lucky for Player that Morgan is less adept and wrangling groceries with her family in tow than she is solving puzzles. Like how was he planning on getting the game in her bag if she hadn't dropped part of her order?

Well, he did then take her empty cart, saying he was on his way into the store, so she wouldn't have put it away, so maybe he was just intending to do that and the dropped item was a convenient extra distraction.

[Night Cheese]

On 2/12/2025 at 9:27 AM, iMonrey said:

What exactly did Karadec learn from Gio to uncover what happened to Roman? And the way his call to Morgan overlapped her realization that Parking Lot guy was Puzzle guy did make it seem like maybe he was Roman. So it was confusing

This was my only gripe with the episode. It was obvious that the random parking lot guy was going to be puzzle guy. But how the scene overlapped with the Roman info, I was like, "holy crap, Roman is puzzle guy!!" And then went, "wait, no, that doesn't make sense. Roman is not a psychopath, he was getting diapers when he disappeared." I'll have to go back and watch when I have the chance, but I didn't think they executed the  last couple minutes very well. 

Aside from that, I did kind of side-eye the gala time frame. It looked like when Morgan showed up it was mid-afternoon, but the next scene it was dark dark. Daphne said Oz hadn't been answering his phone for an hour, so even if it this was happening in mid-summer when the days are long, it takes a couple hours to go from bright and sunny to dark dark. Then it looked like it was basically dawn when Oz was recovering in the back of the ambulance? I dunno...

I liked the episode a lot though. 

[seacliffsal]

When I saw that James Roday Rodriquez directed this episode I immediately thought what a great match as he certainly understands the character of a highly intelligent, observant character having played Shawn on Psych.  He would totally get Morgan and her abilities. And, this episode reminded me of the ying/yang (?) episodes on Psych.  Where's Gus?

So, it took an elegant event and fashion on Morgan to get her police partner to be taken aback by how beautiful she looks?  The extremely short skirts never did it?

I never cared about cliffhanger season finales as I usually forget everything by the time the next season starts.

[shapeshifter]

3 hours ago, Night Cheese said:

It was obvious that the random parking lot guy was going to be puzzle guy. But how the scene overlapped with the Roman info, I was like, "holy crap, Roman is puzzle guy!!"

Hmmm... Maybe this is a joke on the audience? Parking Lot Guy in disguise is Roman. And maybe the puzzle was not intended to be threatening?

BTW. David Giuntoli has blue eyes:

as does Kaitlin Olson:

Ava's eyes are very dark.
Maybe David Giuntoli will wear dark contact lenses?

Edited February 14 by shapeshifter

[possibilities]

Gio provided the name of the FBI agent who was somehow connected to Roman. Karadec's former partner, who is now in the FBI, looked her up and that is how Karadec got more info about Roman.

I can't remember the ex-partner's name, but he showed up at K's apartment before the gala, and gave him a folder and the info. 

[Yeah No]

1 hour ago, shapeshifter said:

Hmmm... Maybe this is a joke on the audience? Parking Lot Guy in disguise is Roman. And maybe the puzzle was not intended to be threatening?

BTW. David Giuntoli has blue eyes:

as does Kaitlin Olson:

Ava's eyes are very dark.
Maybe David Giuntoli will wear dark contact lenses?

But Amirah J, who plays Ava is (at least to me) very obviously not white. According to online sources she is at least part black. So I'd have a hard time seeing her as the child of both of these people not even factoring in eye color. And I'd have a hard time believing that Morgan wouldn't recognize Roman, disguise or no disguise.

Edited February 14 by Yeah No

[Yeah No]

I found this photo online of Amirah with her parents. At first glance I thought her father resembled Karadec a little! Daniel Sunjata is of mixed race so it makes sense.

[Sarah 103]

On 2/11/2025 at 10:10 PM, Annber03 said:

But man, for me, this episode just really further fueled my Daphne/Oz shipping interests :D. They realy do have a good dynamic with each other and I like the way they banter and look out for each other. No idea if the show will go there with those two, but I'm fully on board if they do.

Same here. They make a cute couple and I'm rooting for them. Not as hard I've rooted for other couples (Peggy and Stan on Mad Men as well as Murphy and Peter on Murphy Brown were probably the hardest I ever rooted for a fictional couples to get together). 

On 2/12/2025 at 1:21 AM, agathapenny said:

I get the criticism about Karadec insisting he go to the meet, but I don't think he was being unreasonable. Morgan is not a trained officer and the informant was introduced as a very, very shady and dangerous person. Now they know there's a murdered FBI agent in the mix. Morgan meeting him alone at a hotel room would have been crazy dangerous. And she does have three children she needs to think about.

I agree. The compromise would have been Karadec drops her off and waits outside the hotel room, while she wears a secret hidden listening device (because TV Land and this is how Karadec learns the information he needs to make the plot work)

On 2/12/2025 at 2:06 AM, Chicago Redshirt said:

When Karadec referred to their adversary as this joker, I wondered if they were intentionally referencing the Batman villain, in which case it's a bad reference. He'd be closer to the Riddler.

Unless it's a subtle clue that Karadec is not into comic books/superheroes and that part of popular culture, or the writers somehow know that very few people in their audience are serious comic book/super hero fans. 

On 2/12/2025 at 10:17 AM, AnimeMania said:

Not a horrible episode. I don't like two-parters when there is a week gap between them, so this was a negative reaction for me. I hope they catch the guy as soon as the show comes back because long term villains suck all the fun and light heartedness out of a TV Series.

Normally, I would agree with you. It sucks all of the oxygen out of the show. I hated the serial killer episodes of Blue Bloods. However, I am watching The Mentalist  for the first time (never watched it first run, but loving it on Hulu), which is a series that managed to balance long term villain and case of the week incredibly well. I think it can be done, it's just incredibly hard to do. 

On 2/12/2025 at 11:53 AM, luna1122again said:

When I saw that the clue to save Oz was Marco Polo, I immediately said "Is there a pool here? Find the pool." I know that the game isn't always played in water, but it's where my mind immediately went. 

I think it of a game played in pools as well. 

On 2/12/2025 at 12:27 PM, iMonrey said:

There's a big problem with the premise. It would make more sense if Morgan were being called in to examine cold cases they had given up on. She is supposed to be a consultant, after all. Instead, she is just unofficially Karadec's partner and is sent out on every single new case he is assigned to investigate, like she's a regular detective. That makes is seem like Karadec/the police can't do their jobs without her.

Welcome to TV Land. This has been a standard operating procedure of the genre since the early 2000s. 

@tennisgurl I thought the scenarios weren't Morgan imagining Ava driving but instead was Morgan having flashbacks remembering what Morgan did when she was a young driver. 

 

[incandescent]

I agree that Ava is visibly a POC — and I'd add that it probably contributes to her feeling like an outsider in her family when her parent figures and siblings are all very white.

[Chicago Redshirt]

4 hours ago, seacliffsal said:

So, it took an elegant event and fashion on Morgan to get her police partner to be taken aback by how beautiful she looks?  The extremely short skirts never did it?

For me personally, I find Morgan looking tacky in her normal attire. I know it's the same person regardless, and she's objectively attractive by normal-person's-standards. But the main times I found her hot were when she was in her cleaning-lady gear in the pilot and now the fancy dress.

Maybe Karadec is similar. I would guess that he is conservative in his tastes and sees Morgan's typical fashion much as I do. His only ex that we know of is the D.A., and the one date that we caught, the woman dressed conservatively.

[CeeBeeGee]

 

On 2/12/2025 at 4:57 PM, tennisgurl said:

Morgan's imaginary scenarios about Ava driving, including her being on the run from the cops, were hilarious. 

I love the imaginary scenarios! They're always so funny.

 

On 2/12/2025 at 11:23 PM, kathyk2 said:

I don't want Roman to be a bad guy because Ava would be devastated. She already feels left out because she has a different dad than her younger siblings. I think Ludo and Morgan should reunite since it's obvious that they still care for each other. We don't know if  Karadec is good with kids especially one who is just like his mother.

I really don't think the show is going there--yes, that would be devastating for Ava.

 

19 hours ago, Rickster said:

Chloe has already been recast. It's a different baby in the last two episodes than at the beginning of the season.

I thought she looked different!

 

[LisaM]

I really enjoyed the finale - and wish next season was here already! 

The perp seems to always be a step ahead of the Team. How was he able to find out Morgan's name and address? 

I actually thought that they were going to kill off Oz. 

Morgan looked stunning in the pink gown. I do think TPTB is moving towards Morgan/Karadec but prefer to keep them platonic. I think that Tom is just Tom but do appreciate all of the ideas thrown out in this thread! 

[Raja]

2 minutes ago, LisaM said:

The perp seems to always be a step ahead of the Team. How was he able to find out Morgan's name and address? 

Supervillain versus super detective a plot older than Sherlock Holmes being in the public domain.

[Chicago Redshirt]

1 hour ago, LisaM said:

The perp seems to always be a step ahead of the Team. How was he able to find out Morgan's name and address? 

It is fairly easy to believe that Morgan, who has helped solve a dozen murders, has gotten some public credit for that. Once you have her name and likeness, it would be fairly easy to surveil her incognito, learn her habits, etc. Player could have simply followed her from her house to the grocery store and set up his meet-not-so-cute. Rewatching the one bit, he deliberately bumped into Elliot's bag to give himself the opportunity to plant the game.

Note: Gio, who is presumably not with HPI and is just a run-of-the-mill clever opportunist, was able to discern that Morgan routinely gets the same order from the same restaurant every Thursday and was able to use that information to pay for the family meal. That is something that would take a lot more observation and deduction than Player might have had to do. Hopefully, Morgan can quietly shore up this vulnerability.  

It can't be just coincidence that he picked Oz's support group to terrorize. My hunch is going into this episode, he had picked it specifically because Oz was a member to test out not how worthy Major Crimes was, but Morgan specifically.

It is pretty inevitable that Player will go after Morgan's family in one of his games, and as curmudgeonly as I normally am towards kids, I will leap through the screen and beat his pretty boy ass if I have to to protect those precious babies.

[chaifan]

4 hours ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

It can't be just coincidence that he picked Oz's support group to terrorize. My hunch is going into this episode, he had picked it specifically because Oz was a member to test out not how worthy Major Crimes was, but Morgan specifically.

That's not a bad theory.  We know that the actual Rich Kid (whose parents used to own the house with the pool that Oz was in) isn't actually the guy who has been in the support group.   Big Bad Guy has been impersonating him.  Which is why the sketch that they had from talking to the support group people was different from the picture of Rich Kid they got from some prior arrest.  Then they find out Rich Kid has been locked up in rehab for the last 4 months.  

So now I'm (once again) confused...  If Big Bad Guy has been impersonating Rich Kid all this time, then why was the "no one showed up for game night" the trigger for all these games and targeting of Morgan?  Oz said his dad died "last year", how long has Big Bad been going to the support group?  Why would he bother impersonating some rich kid in rehab?  Why not just make a fake name and leave it at that - it's a confidential group, no one would care if you used a fake name.  It's all a little convoluted for me.

[shapeshifter]

18 hours ago, Sarah 103 said:

I am watching The Mentalist  for the first time (never watched it first run, but loving it on Hulu), which is a series that managed to balance long term villain and case of the week incredibly well. I think it can be done, it's just incredibly hard to do. 

I watched every episode of The Mentalist, and every time I wished there was no Red John to ruin my quirky crime fighting show. I hope they don't spend 7 or 8 seasons of this show dodging a serial killer, because I really do like the show, but I'm no longer willing to hate watch. There are too many other shows to see.

 

[peachmangosteen]

On 2/12/2025 at 10:07 PM, iMonrey said:

Fans of the actor should check out the 2 episodes of Ghost he appeared in. As a stripper. 😉

I knew I knew him from somewhere!

[Irlandesa]

4 hours ago, peachmangosteen said:

I knew I knew him from somewhere!

I didn't recognize him.  But I do remember shipping him with Isaac. 

[shura]

17 hours ago, chaifan said:

So now I'm (once again) confused...  If Big Bad Guy has been impersonating Rich Kid all this time, then why was the "no one showed up for game night" the trigger for all these games and targeting of Morgan?  Oz said his dad died "last year", how long has Big Bad been going to the support group?  Why would he bother impersonating some rich kid in rehab?  Why not just make a fake name and leave it at that - it's a confidential group, no one would care if you used a fake name.  It's all a little convoluted for me.

That’s because they wrote him as a cartoon, a “muah-ha-ha, sharks with freaking lasers” kind of supervillain.  There is no reason to do things the way he does them, there is no payoff for all the extra effort.  For example, the way he so carefully and dramatically splayed Oz out at the bottom of that pool, with cinder blocks and chains wrapped around his body - why?  The only way for him to enjoy the fruits of this otherwise unnecessary labor was to watch the episode on TV with us and see what Karadec did underwater.

[Yeah No]

1 hour ago, shura said:

That’s because they wrote him as a cartoon, a “muah-ha-ha, sharks with freaking lasers” kind of supervillain.  There is no reason to do things the way he does them, there is no payoff for all the extra effort.  For example, the way he so carefully and dramatically splayed Oz out at the bottom of that pool, with cinder blocks and chains wrapped around his body - why?  The only way for him to enjoy the fruits of this otherwise unnecessary labor was to watch the episode on TV with us and see what Karadec did underwater.

I think this is a guy that's getting off on imagining all the fear and confusion he's instilling in his targets. He doesn't need to see it up close. To what end, though? What's his beef with Morgan, etc.? I still think he might be working for (or IS) the criminal entity Roman is in hiding investigating with the FBI and he may have been assigned to keeping an eye on Oz, etc. He may be giving them disorienting obstacles to grapple with that will focus them elsewhere, hence the pranks. He knows that it will grab Morgan's attention and sidetrack her.

I don't think it's any accident that he suddenly started acting up after they were getting close to finding out about Roman being alive and working for the FBI. I know that's not a popular opinion but it's the only way I can make this make any sense at all right now. Without it the game guy plot is just, forgive me, but stupid. I don't normally watch shows with "big bads" in them so I'm not seeing this through any particular lens. I didn't even know that term until this week. Of course they could find other ways to save this that have nothing to do with Roman, but I can't think of any right now. If they do that, fine, but right now it just looks stupid.

[possibilities]

I guess the guy is supposed to be an artist-- the staging, etc. is his form of creative expression. Psycopaths don't have to make sense to non-psychopaths, and we should be thankful every day that we aren't all thinking the way they do.

But, that said, I don't enjoy stories about serial killers and psychopaths, so I hope they end this one quickly and don't make it a well they keep going back to.

[Percysowner]

1 hour ago, Yeah No said:

I think this is a guy that's getting off on imagining all the fear and confusion he's instilling in his targets. He doesn't need to see it up close. To what end, though? What's his beef with Morgan, etc.? I still think he might be working for (or IS) the criminal entity Roman is in hiding investigating with the FBI and he may have been assigned to keeping an eye on Oz, etc. He may be giving them disorienting obstacles to grapple with that will focus them elsewhere, hence the pranks. He knows that it will grab Morgan's attention and sidetrack her.

I don't think it's any accident that he suddenly started acting up after they were getting close to finding out about Roman being alive and working for the FBI. I know that's not a popular opinion but it's the only way I can make this make any sense at all right now. Without it the game guy plot is just, forgive me, but stupid. I don't normally watch shows with "big bads" in them so I'm not seeing this through any particular lens. I didn't even know that term until this week. Of course they could find other ways to save this that have nothing to do with Roman, but I can't think of any right now. If they do that, fine, but right now it just looks stupid.

I'll also say that they drop in the first mention of Morgan's father in this episode. We find out he is/was HPI like Morgan. I think there is a chance that Game Guy is Morgan's half brother, and that is why he is focused on her and the squad. Things were fine when she was a struggling single mother who couldn't hold a job. Now she's working with the police, becoming a success and being a worthy adversary. 

I'm probably off, but all I could think was we suddenly got Chekhov's father and it's interesting that we got him in the episode that introduces Game Guy.

[shura]

4 hours ago, possibilities said:

I guess the guy is supposed to be an artist-- the staging, etc. is his form of creative expression. Psycopaths don't have to make sense to non-psychopaths, and we should be thankful every day that we aren't all thinking the way they do.

But, that said, I don't enjoy stories about serial killers and psychopaths, so I hope they end this one quickly and don't make it a well they keep going back to.

This is a good explanation of what motivates him, the artistry of it.  Simply enjoying thinking of the fear and confusion his actions will cause doesn’t quite explain choosing to be oh so creative, there are much more efficient ways to achieve that.  But yes, being an artist tracks.

Most artists need an appreciating audience though.  If our guy doesn’t care about that, then he is just a psychopath who does random things for no other reason than just wanting it, and, like you said, watching this is going to become boring quickly.  But if he does do this for an audience, then Morgan is it.  Nobody else is going to solve even the first clue and even recognize that there are other ones; nobody will know that they are dealing with an artist.

(That said, was it love that almost made Daphne be the one to solve where Oz was?  She got the different fonts and could have probably googled that what their initials spell is the name of an architect if Morgan hadn’t butted in.)

 

 

[Yeah No]

12 hours ago, Percysowner said:

I'll also say that they drop in the first mention of Morgan's father in this episode. We find out he is/was HPI like Morgan. I think there is a chance that Game Guy is Morgan's half brother, and that is why he is focused on her and the squad. Things were fine when she was a struggling single mother who couldn't hold a job. Now she's working with the police, becoming a success and being a worthy adversary. 

I'm probably off, but all I could think was we suddenly got Chekhov's father and it's interesting that we got him in the episode that introduces Game Guy.

I like that theory.

[CeeBeeGee]

On 2/14/2025 at 3:07 PM, shapeshifter said:

I hope they don't spend 7 or 8 seasons of this show dodging a serial killer, because I really do like the show, but I'm no longer willing to hate watch.

 

On 2/15/2025 at 10:30 AM, possibilities said:

But, that said, I don't enjoy stories about serial killers and psychopaths, so I hope they end this one quickly and don't make it a well they keep going back to.

 

One of my absolute least favorite tropes is the serial killer. They always, always want to romanticize him and make him out to be handsome, super intelligent, charismatic. I absolutely detest that. It's statistically dishonest and it's insulting to victims of serial killers. I love watching Blue Bloods and SVU but as soon as I realize the story is about a serial killer, I change the channel.

[Orbert]

I tried to watch The Mentalist.  I liked the characters and the stories.  But the ongoing arc with Red John always brought my enthusiasm to a screeching halt.  I get that TV nowadays has long arcs, sometimes season-long or series-long arcs, but there doesn't always have to be a recurring bad guy, always seemingly within reach, almost caught, but always eluding them, year after year, season after season.  Ugh.  It's like you get to enjoy 90-95% of the shows and episodes, but to pay for that, you have to indulge their shitty thing of the recurring bad guy who they can never catch.  It's not intriguing; it's not tantalizing.  It's just lame and depressing and spoils an otherwise good show.