High Potential Episode 10 dials up the comedy in a new high-stakes mission led by Kaitlin Olson's Morgan Gillory and Daniel Sunjata's Detective Adam Karadec.
The new episode of the ABC crime series (a series that was recently renewed for Season 2) dives into a nanny's murder whose body is left in a random playground.
Elsewhere, Morgan protects her son, Elliot, by meddling with school affairs after he is not invited to the classroom party.
High Potential Episode 10, "Chutes and Murders," premiered on ABC on January 22.
High Potential Episode 10 Cast Guide: Every Guest Star Who Appears
Kayvon Esmaili - Darius Farzan
Kayvon Esmaili appears as Darius Farzan, a medical examiner working for the LAPD who is tasked to learn more about the nature of Tara Foley's death.
Esmaili previously starred in The Flight Attendant, Terminal List, and The Lincoln Lawyer.
Hudson Macready - Ryder
Hudson Macready returns in the ABC series as Ryder after his debut in High Potential Episode 3 (read more about the episode's full cast here).
Ryder is Ava's boyfriend who helps Elliot find a gift for his classmate, Finn.
High Potential is Macready's lone major acting credit.
S. Zylan Brooks - Cynthia Flemmings
S. Zylan Brooks portrays Cynthia Flemmings, one of the nannies who tells Morgan about the fact that Tara is not a joiner in their group.
Brooks also starred in Matlock, Law & Order, and For All Mankind.
Luna Tieu - Binh Pham
Another nanny from the Spice Girls friend group is Luna Tieu as Binh Pham.
Tieu is a former NCAA Tennis player turned actress known for her roles in Stargirl, Blue Bloods, and Elementary.
Alejandra Flores - Manuela Torres
Alejandra Flores plays Manuela Torres, another Spice Girl member of the nanny exclusive group.
Some of Flores' TV credits include ER, Station 19, and American Gigolo.
Lurie Poston - Brian Schlotzky
Lurie Poston plays Brian Schlotzky, a poetry slam enthusiast who harbors romantic feelings for Tara.
He believes that a guy named Mark is the one who killed Tara.
Poston has credits in Workaholics, Step Brothers, and Kickin' It.
Rory O’Malley - Brett Lewis
Rory O'Malley stars as Brett Lewis, Tara's obnoxious boss who thinks that his adopted son's nanny is doing bad things to him after reading a series of posts in a Brentwood parenting Facebook group.
O'Malley can be seen in NCIS, Frasier, and Not Dead Yet.
Jai Rodriguez - Jeff
Jai Rodriguez plays Jeff, Brett Lewis' husband who is surprised to learn that his partner is doing things behind his back, such as hiring a private investigator and installing nanny cams throughout their house to spy on Tara.
Rodriguez is known for appearing in Awkwafina is Nora from Queens, Fantasy Island, and Uncoupled.
Amir Talai - Mark
Amir Talai's Mark is Tara's only friend who proves that he has no romantic relationship with her since he is clearly devoted to his wife, Carina Wilson.
Talai has over 100 credits, with roles in The Circle, Wizards Beyond Waverly Place, and The Shrink Next Door.
Eliza Coupe - Carina Wilson
Eliza Coupe guest stars as Carina Wilson, a top executive who insists that she has nothing to do with Tara's murder. She thinks that someone else is using her name to badmouth Tara in Brentwood's online parenting Facebook group.
Coupe's most recognizable role is playing Jane Kerkovich-Williams in Happy Endings. The actress also appeared in Future Man, Casual, and Benched.
Irina Dubova - Oksana Petrov
Irina Dubova brings Oksana Petrov to life in High Potential Episode 10.
Oksana is a nanny who is passionate about being the glue of the Spice Girls friend group. She badmouths Tara after she rejects her to become Rosa's replacement in their group.
Dubova most recently appeared as Gosia in The Perfect Couple. The actress can also be seen in For All Mankind, Chad, and Hunters.
Ken Marino - Charles Lavoie
Ken Marino joins High Potential Episode 10's guest star line up as Charles Lavoie, a former LAPD detective who now works as a private investigator.
He is the "stalker" that the nannies identified, but it turns out that he was hired by Brett Lewis to keep an eye on Tara.
Marino is a comedian who previously appeared as part of the cast of Candy Cane Lane. The actor also starred in Brooklyn Nine Nine, Agent Carter, and Children's Hospital.
Here are the main actors who appeared in High Potential Episode 10:
- Kaitlin Olson - Morgan
- Daniel Sunjata - Adam Karadec
- Javicia Leslie - Daphne
- Deniz Akdeniz - Lev “Oz” Osman
- Judy Reyes - Captain Selena
- Amirah J - Ava
- Matthew Lamb - Elliott
High Potential Episode 10 Plot Recap & Ending Explained
A Dead Nanny in the Playground
High Potential Episode 10, "Chutes and Murders," begins with two kids discovering a dead body inside a slide in the playground.
The body is identified as Tara Foley, a young nanny who was hit on the head by a heavy object, causing epidural hematoma.
LAPD detective Adam Karadec and consultant Morgan Gillory arrive on the scene to learn more about the victim while Oz and Daphne ask the other nannies around to see if they know Tara.
As Morgan goes through the victim's phone, she discovers disgruntled several texts from someone named Brett Lewis who appears to be her employer.
Aside from that, the fellow nannies also point out that Tara may have a creepy stalker who has been following her in the playground.
Morgan and Karadec head over to Brett and her husband's place to break the news about Tara's death. This is also where they learned about the stalker who's been following the nanny: a guy with a limp who loves to read French newspapers.
A Stakeout Leads to a Reunion
Morgan and Karadec's stakeout of the stalker leads them to an unexpected reunion between Karadec and his former co-worker and retired detective, Charles Lavoie.
It turns out that Charles is a private investigator hired by Brett Lewis to keep an eye on Tara to see if whether or not he is hurting his adopted son, Ward. He gets fired though from the job since Brett thinks that he isn't doing enough.
Charles even willingly shares all of his photos of Tara (a total of 1500 images) to help the pair with their investigation.
The pair of LAPD's finest then decides to return to the Lewis residence to learn more about the reason why they hired Charles. It is revealed that Brett is the only one who hired the private investigator, and his husband, Jeff, has no idea.
Brett confesses that he has a bad perception toward Tara after a mom named Carina Wilson posted something bad about her in their exclusive Brentwood Facebook group. Other mothers then also starts to post bad things about Tara in that same group, which confuses Morgan.
Morgan Sorts Out Elliot's Bullying Issue
Back at Morgan's home, she learns from Elliot that everyone of his classmates but him was invited to Finn's 11th birthday party. Morgan thinks that Elliot and Ford needs to get closer so she scheduled a playdate between the boys.
Meanwhile, Morgan is disappointed with her daughter, Ava (played by High Potential star Amirah J), since she always spends time on her phone and boyfriend, Ryder, instead of choosing to be with her family.
While Morgan ends up scheduling Elliot and Finn's playdate, it does not end well after Ford bullies her son inside her own house, pointing out how much he talks so much about random things. Morgan lashes out at Finn to protect her son and sends him packing.
The episode resolves this issue by making Ava realize that quality time spent with family is her top priority, and she ends up spending a good chunk of it with her brother, Elliot. She decides to ditch her phone for a while to be with Elliot, with Morgan looking pleased in the background.
More Nanny Issues Come to Light
Back at the case, Morgan and Karadec pay a visit to Carina Wilson, who turns out to be a high-ranking and workhalic executive of a commercial real estate company in Los Angeles.
Carina insists that she did not post all the badmouthing against Tara Foley, indicating that a catfish posing as her on Facebook may be in the cards.
Still, it is revealed that Carina is the one who got Rosa (Brett and Jeff's former nanny) fired after exposing her negligence in that same exclusive Facebook group. However, she ends up deleting that post after receiving harsh messages from some of the community's nannies.
In the precinct, Daphne tells Morgan and Karadec that she find someone named "Little Sketchy" on Tara's phone, and this mystery person has been sending texts to Tara by way of poetry.
The lead pair end up looking for clues in Tara's apartment, and they find a bunch of things: a rosary and a bible, a printed version of Carina's Facebook posts, a number of an immigration law firm, a calendar with a circled date on the Exaltation of the Cross on the 27th, and a poster for a poetry slam happening that night.
Morgan and Karadec deduce the fact that they can find "Little Sketchy" in the poetry slam event. They end up interrogating a guy named Brian Schlotzky who accused Carina Wilson's husband, Mark, as the one who killed Tara.
So Who Killed the Nanny?
After Brian's wild accusation, Oz thinks he is up to something because a good chunk of Charlie's photos of Tara includes Mark, and the pair appear to be more than close friends.
Daphne ends up visiting Mark, but he insists that he and Tara are just friends. His alibi also checks out during the night of the murder.
Back to square one, Morgan, Karadec and Oz interview the four nannies in the playground to ask about Tara and Mark's relationship, but they believe Mark is Tara's only friend and she does not want to be part of their playground nanny exclusive group.
The nannies then inform the detectives about Carina's shouting incident in the park after she yelled at Mark regarding an unknown issue.
Meanwhile, Daphne manages to unearth that Carina had a poser on the Facebook group and the other moms who badmouthed Tara are all fake profiles.
As the trio of LAPD detectives learn from Carina that the shouting match has nothing to do with Tara, Morgan uses her classic reveal explanation to inform everyone (and the audience) that the killer is none other than one of the nannies, Oksana.
Morgan points out that the nannies have an exclusive friend group known as Spice Girls due to the stickers on their lunch boxes, and they don't like Tara because she replaced their original member, Rosa, after getting fired due to Carina's post.
The brilliant LAPD consultant reveals that Tara discovers that Oksana is the one badmouthing her on Facebook after some context clues tied to her religion and Russian background brought it to light.
Tara eventually confronts Oksana, and she threatens that she will report her actions to an immigration lawyer (the same number that was found by Morgan and Karadec earlier in Tara's apartment) to have her visa revoked.
An enraged Oksana ends up killing Tara to save herself from being deported.
The other three nannies end up revealing the truth to Karadec after he makes them believe that there are nanny cams in their boss' houses that would prove that they are lying and trying to cover up Oksana's actions. Oksana ends up getting arrested.
The episode ends with Morgan giving Jeff a picture of Tara and Ward having a good time in the playground, cementing the idea that the late nanny truly loved their adopted son.
The next episode of High Potential will premiere on ABC on Tuesday, January 28, at 9 p.m. ET and can be streamed on Hulu the next day.
