Courtesy of ABC
Did High Potential just introduce who we think it just introduced?
Tuesday’s long-awaited Season 2 premiere ended with Oz and Daphne arriving at the last known address for Morgan’s estranged ex Roman, and who did we see in that Nevada motel room? Why, none other than Mekhi Phifer, looking very nervous to have two LAPD investigators at his doorstep.
But is that really Roman, or is the ABC mystery show throwing viewers a red herring? Showrunner Todd Harthan isn’t ready to say one way or the other (he previously told TVLine that Phifer playing Roman is “100% a possibility”), but he does reveal that Phifer plays a “hugely important” role in coming events.
“The more time I spend with Mekhi talking about his role and how he’s used throughout the fabric of the season, the more good ideas spark for the blanks we want to fill in about that Roman story,” Harthan tells TVLine.
Of course, Roman is hardly the only man on Morgan’s mind at the moment. She spent most of the hour chasing down (and fully obsessing over) David Giuntoli‘s mysterious Game Master, whom she believed was pulling the strings behind the team’s latest missing person’s case. And while Morgan certainly earned some good will with her co-workers after the events of Season 1, the premiere found Karadec & Co. questioning whether she might be in over her head this time.
“With this case in particular, she’s in a different place emotionally,” Harthan explains. “She’s more vulnerable than she usually is, because a really sadistic person got close to her children. So that’s the only reason they were like, ‘Yes, you’re right almost all of the time, but in this one instance, I don’t know, Morgan, your emotions are getting the best of you.’”
Morgan’s suspicions were validated (at least partially) at the end of the hour when Giuntoli’s character showed up at the police station. “Apparently you’re looking for me,” he announced, leaving Morgan and Soto stunned, and setting the stage for an explosive showdown between himself and Morgan in next week’s episode.
“I love what he brought to the party,” Harthan says of Giuntoli’s performance as the mysterious baddie. “He and Kaitlin [Olson] are such fantastic scene partners, and I’d just say you should expect the unexpected on this show.”