Today I bring you a lesson in not judging a book by its cover, or rather, not judging a TV show by its thumbnail. We all have those shows we put on in the background, and I wrongly assumed that Hulu’s (on Disney+ outside of the US) High Potential would be the kind of series I’d half-watch, much like my regular lineup of comforting shows like The Office and The Simpsons.
At face value, High Potential looked like an easy watch, but it’s very gripping indeed. It turns out I got so much wrong about this show, though, and I was very quickly locked-in to the point where all my chores could wait, and I simply had to give this show my full attention, making it worthy of a spot on our best Hulu shows list.
I should have known better really, considering the critics gave it 96% on Rotten Tomatoes and it’s been renewed for season 2, so I’m here to recommend this show for your weekend binge watch and you can thank me later. It’s brilliant stuff, and you can check out the trailer below.
Watch On
Why is High Potential so good?
While High Potential is funny, part of the reason I chose to watch, it’s actually got a lot more substance to it than you might think. Led by It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia‘s Kaitlin Olson, we follow Morgan, a struggling single mother of three who is very intelligent but down on her luck. She is what’s known as a “high potential individual”, someone with a high IQ who is very quick witted and good at spotting the finer details.
With a brain like Morgan’s, you’d think she’d have a high flying job, but when we meet her, she’s making a living as a cleaner and relying on coupons to keep the family fed. But her luck changes after she’s cleaning in a police station and stumbles across some case notes. She decides to leave them a message suggesting they’ve got something wrong after spotting something they missed.
At first, the police aren’t thrilled by this, but she eventually impresses them enough for them to offer her a job and a much higher salary. Far-fetched as this scenario may be, it’s the catalyst for many gripping cases that my partner and I enjoyed trying to solve when we watched it together. Each episode has a different case to crack, a tried and tested formula, and some recurring themes run through each episode too, so it’s familiar, yet it brings something fresh and fun to the table at the same time.
Morgan sticks out like a sore thumb in the precinct and it’s all part of the charm; smart as she is, she’s not a trained officer, and that can land her in heaps of trouble at times, but she’s able to help so many people. I love this character and how the show tackles themes of identity, motherhood, careers, and more.
Give it a chance this weekend, you might find yourself just as sucked in as I am!
