High Potential Recap for 1/27/2026

 

High Potential on ABC opens with someone on the run, asking for help and then being killed after being hit by a car.

 

Adam runs into Lucia, an old friend? Girlfriend? Colleague?  There is tension, but he decides to spend a few minutes catching up.

 

The guy who was killed is barefoot and described as being disoriented prior to his death.

 

Morgan makes fun of Adam for being late as they look into the case with Daphne and Oz. The black barf in the scene makes them wonder if the victim was poisoned.

 

Adam and Morgan track the bloody footprints from the victim as he tells her that meeting with Lucia (his ex-fiancée) was just coffee.

They find the victim’s apartment and learn that he is Declan Harker, renowned gamer. As they look deeper into his apartment, his ex-girlfriend Aditi comes in with a weird voicemail where he says someone is trying to kill him.

 

Adam talks to Selena, who wants to be debriefed on the situation. He doesn’t think Aditi was involved but wants to figure out if Declan’s food was poisoned prior to being delivered.

 

Aditi talks about the online gaming world she shared with Declan to Adam and Daphne. She says he stopped playing Battle Dynasty but then started playing again using an old laptop a month ago. They go to find the laptop, which was missing from the apartment.

 

The team searches for the laptop in a parking garage. They see a car with tires that have asphalt on it, which proves it was in the area where Declan was killed.

 

Morgan sets off the alarm, and they find the car owner, along with the laptop. The owner tells them about Declan’s gaming addiction and how he got him into Gamers Anonymous, even though he was working for the gaming company. He admits to being at the house at 2am, prior to the food arriving to try and talk to Declan but denies killing him.

 

As they look deeper into it, they realize Declan was killing the same orc over and over, thinking this led to him being killed. There is a mad search for the player…..even though Selena tells Adam he can take time to be with Lucia.

 

They actually have a sweet bonding moment over how the job can get in the way of relationships.

 

Morgan catches Elliott playing Battle Dynasty. She says she doesn’t have to hide it, leading to them talking about the game and him explaining how it works.  She takes his tablet out of the room and has him go to sleep.

 

At work the next day, Morgan tells the team about this and how the word teppo, used in the game, translates to gun and puffer fish, the latter of which has a toxin that killed Declan. She explains how sushi chefs are trained extensively to remove the poison from the fish, which narrows down who could have killed Declan.

 

Adam and Morgan question a sushi chef with two sons who could have had access to the puffer fish toxin. He also explains how it works and the proper way to dispose of the toxin. The sushi chef denies his sons being involved but wants them to help Ryo, the one who is a gamer.

Adam and Morgan say they need to question him and ask his twin brother Jin for help. However, Jin doesn’t have the answers they need to find him.

 

Adam wonders if the sushi chef favors Jin based on pictures they see, and if it causes tension with the brothers. Meanwhile, Oz and Daphne stake out a cyber cafe, where they find Ryo and take him down to the station.

 

Ryo denies knowing Declan in real life, while the sushi chef, who is there with him, stands firm that his son is innocent.  It turns out that good ole’ dad was the one who knew Declan and was using him to help break Ryo of his gaming addiction. They take Ryo’s DNA to see if he was connected to the murder.

 

The DNA shows that Ryo didn’t kill Declan, but Jin did. Ryo gets Jin on the phone, who admits to messing up badly. Selena says that they will help him, while Jin says he left the poison and says he loves Ryo and to asks them to tell his dad to forgive him.

 

There is a mad dash to the Hollywood Reservoir, where the boys used to go to escape their dad. Morgan helps Ryo get some food and talks to him like a mom. He admits this is his fault and how the game let him feel like he belonged somewhere. He freaks out as he spills his drink, so Morgan tries to calm him down.

 

Selena says Adam called, saying they only found Jin’s bike. When they go to find Ryo, they find out he is gone. As Morgan wonders where he is, she realizes that Jin and Ryo are the same person….or more accurately, a twin that absorbed the other.

 

The sushi chef is questioned, and it is revealed he poisoned Declan and Ryo helped him with his plan by posing as Jin, the nonexistent twin. They are offered a deal so Ryo can still have a life.

 

Aditi staged a funeral for Declan through the game.

 

Adam is going to give Lucia another shot, much to Morgan’s delight….or is she jealous?