TV Recap: "High Potential" — “Eleven Minutes” Puts a Price on Life

High Potential shifts gears in “Eleven Minutes," delivering one of its most unsettling cases yet. What begins as a mysterious collapse at a Venice Beach café soon unravels into a high-stakes investigation involving gambling debts, stolen identities, and a shocking scheme to harvest a man’s heart. As Morgan balances the case with family tensions at home, she discovers how far people will go when life — and death — can be measured in minutes.

Season 2, Episode 3: “Eleven Minutes" - Written by Bob Goodman & Eric I. Lu

It’s breakfast time at Dudley Market in Venice Beach, where a well-dressed man, Nathan Gould (Daniel Passer), fusses with a velvet red jewelry box, inside of which sits a cloisonné ladybug pin. A hostess (Anjelika Washington) compliments him, saying he looks dashing. She seats him on the patio in a somewhat undesirable spot because, to her dismay, it looks like some people used the patio tables after hours, leaving spilled drinks and food trash to be cleaned up. She goes inside the restaurant. Moments later, Nathan is ambushed — a plastic bag is forced over his head from behind, suffocating him.

At her home, Morgan Gillory (Kaitlin Olson) makes toaster waffles for her kids. Elliot (Matthew Lamb) teases her about the printed résumés for part-time nanny applicants, while Ava (Amirah J) recognizes one name — a former high school senior she remembers. The mood shifts when Ava asks if there’s news about her father. Morgan hasn’t told her about Arthur yet, but she promises, “I’m definitely going to look into it." Before she can say more, Morgan is called to a new crime scene.

At the beachside restaurant, Morgan and Karadec (Daniel Sunjata) meet Oz (Dennis Akdeniz), who fills them in: Nathan, 46, went into cardiac arrest but was resuscitated. He hasn’t regained consciousness, and Morgan fears he may be brain-dead. EMTs note he’s had suspicious injuries in the past, always brushed off as “clumsiness."

Morgan studies the ladybug pin and questions the hostess, who got distracted by other customers inside and forgot about Nathan and the messy tables on the patio. She went back out when she heard ducks quacking in the alley, finding Nathan unconscious. Morgan notices the tables’ slats and the way the spilled drinks landed on the floor without evidence of a lap being in their way — the scene was staged. And as for the “ducks"? Morgan points out there’s no droppings, no evidence. Something else was making that sound.

Morgan and Karadec search Nathan’s place. His counters and shelves are cluttered with books of sports stats, but there’s no other sports paraphernalia around, no sign he was actually a fan. Instead, Morgan suspects gambling debts. They find overdue bills and a slip of paper with a strange numerical code.

When someone starts picking the lock, Karadec prepares his gun and confronts the intruder — Marco DeLeon (Charlit Dae). After a brief chase, Karadec takes him down. A syringe in Marco’s pocket suggests he was sent to finish Nathan off, but Morgan believes Marco was a hired goon who could lead them to the real mastermind.

Marco brings them to a backroom barbershop, where Rey (Paul McCarthy-Boyington) runs an underground gambling den. He’s reluctant to talk, but when Morgan starts to tell Karadec about the electric card shuffler in use, hinting she knows all about them, Rey gets nervous and kicks out his patrons before Morgan can let them all know that the odds are stacked against them by manipulated shuffles. Rey admits Nathan had made him the beneficiary of his life insurance. Morgan realizes Nathan’s mysterious code was Rey’s social security number, which used to embed state-of-issue information. But why would Nathan willingly make his loan shark his beneficiary? Rey claims it was Nathan’s idea to settle his debts. Karadec wonders who was on Nathan’s life insurance policy before the recent change.

At LAPD, Jessica Gould (Olivia Sandoval) is stunned to learn her father had life insurance. She didn’t even know her name was once on the policy. Her parents divorced when she was 8, and she only recently reconnected with her father. Daphne (Javicia Leslie) asks about the significance of ladybugs to Nathan — his nickname for her. She says they were meant to meet at a Toluca Lake Café, but he never showed.

Morgan pulled security footage from the hotel across the street from Dudley Market, and there’s nothing useful on it. Meanwhile, Daphne fills her in about the café mix-up — Nathan never showed because his meeting place had been switched. Jessica told investigators that her father said he was “planning to go away for a while," but Oz found nothing in his credit card or bank records to suggest any kind of trip. Going back over Nathan’s bills, Morgan spots a subscription for specialty dog food but finds no sign of a dog at his apartment. She wonders aloud if he gave the animal away. More telling to her is the pattern: this didn’t look like a man preparing to move — it looked like a man preparing to end his life.

At the hospital, Jessica meets with a transplant coordinator (Andi Chapman) about organ donation. Her father has been declared officially brain-dead. Morgan tells Karadec that she still hasn’t told Ava about Arthur, but Karadec urges her to treat her daughter like an adult and let her in. Morgan and Karadec follow up with Jessica, asking about Nathan’s dog. She explains that she kept Emmet whenever her father was away. They assure her that Nathan seemed intent on protecting her from his debts, then probe for other connections. Morgan notices Jessica sipping ginger tea and crinkling her nose at smells, realizing she’s pregnant. Jessica admits she told Nathan the last time they saw each other, and that he had been excited, even joking about her doctor visits compared to his own frequent cardiology checkups.

The next morning, Morgan drops the kids at school early. With Elliot already out of the car, she asks Ava to stay behind. She finally shares the truth: Arthur may have information that her father is alive in Nevada. She shows Ava his business card and explains she didn’t want to raise false hopes. Ava insists, “I want you to tell me everything." They hug before Morgan rushes off for work.

Back at LAPD, Daphne cracks Nathan’s phone. An email sent the night before, spoofing Jessica’s address, had changed the meeting location. Nathan’s alarm was set for 8:01 a.m. with a duck sound — exactly what the hostess heard. Morgan pieces it together: the killer wanted Nathan found alive, but just on the edge of viability. “I think Nathan Gould was killed for his heart," she declares.

Karadec and Selena Soto (Judy Reyes) speak with the EMTs who transported Nathan, Alexis (Jessica Kemejuk) and Christopher (Ben Edlin), finding them complaining that some drugs have gone missing, including albuterol. They retrace the timeline: call at 8:01, five-minute arrival, three minutes to restart Nathan’s heart. They confirm that to guarantee brain death, a patient needs to be down for roughly eleven minutes. Soto heads to the hospital to dig further. Morgan theorizes Nathan was complicit — he had his heart checked repeatedly, maybe planning to sell it — but the news of a grandchild made him change his mind. She thinks the mystery will be solved when they find out who was to receive Nathan’s heart.

Morgan returns to the hospital, questioning the transplant coordinator she had seen earlier with Jessica. The woman claims not to know where Nathan’s heart went. She presses Morgan and Soto to make a proper appointment. Karadec found the surgeon equally evasive. Meanwhile, Jessica has already consented to end life support tomorrow. Then Morgan gets another call: Ava’s been arrested.

Outside one of Roman’s murals, Ava is handcuffed for painting over it. Officer Brooks (Marsuvio Sánchez) insists they have to take her in. Morgan pleads that her daughter’s father painted it, while Karadec offers to speak with the building’s owner. But the officer refuses, saying Ava already had a chance to clean it up. Morgan loses her cool, splattering paint on the officer, and ends up locked up with her daughter. Ava refuses to talk. Karadec arrives to release them. Morgan, fuming, mutters, “Treat her like a grownup, he said."

At home that night, Ava finally opens up. She admits she lashed out because it feels like her father abandoned them. Morgan counters that he may have had reasons to stay away, but what mattered was that he loved her more than anything. She relates it to her current case — an estranged father trying to make amends before it was too late. Morgan has photos sprawled out of some of the hospital’s biggest donors. Ava points out a photo of Carson Wood (Jon Manfellotti), a Hollywood producer on a hospital fundraiser red carpet. A controversial dress from a year ago is seen behind him, and Ava thinks the photo is a fake. Morgan looks into it and discovers he hasn’t been seen publicly in months. His absence could be explained by illness.

Karadec and Daphne corner Carson Wood (Jon Manfellotti) at his home just as he’s being wheeled out. He insists he doesn’t know Nathan Gould: “I’m literally on my way to get a heart transplant. I’m not running around killing people." His GPS is set for the airport — he’s bound for Utah. St. Clair’s had already rejected Nathan’s heart as a poor match. Then Morgan calls in: Soto learned the heart was stolen in transit to another hospital.

With only six hours to transplant, the suspect must already be hospitalized. Soto calls the transplant coordinator back in for questioning. She crumbles under pressure, admitting she deleted Nathan’s donor directive. If they hadn’t delivered a heart for Carson Wood, the hospital risked losing millions in funding. Nathan had left instructions about where his heart should go, but the committee invalidated it. She insists she never checked the name, not wanting to know. Soto confirms the name would still be on the official transplant waiting list.

Morgan builds a case board of transplant candidates, ruling out names by blood type, body size, and geography. One profile leaps out at her: Rosemary Caferri (Elaine Kagan), an older woman with respiratory issues. Karadec drives while Morgan reviews Rosemary’s chart. Albuterol for asthma. A connection clicks — a paramedic son could have swiped it for her. Christopher, a medic who often treated Nathan’s suspicious injuries, is her son. Morgan theorizes Christopher exploited those injuries to monitor Nathan’s vitals. When Nathan backed out, Christopher forced him into cardiac arrest.

At the hospital, Karadec informs Rosemary of the truth. She breaks down, saying she had no idea. When Christopher is brought into custody, she asks to see him. Karadec allows a brief reunion, even though she will now return to the transplant waitlist. “I don’t really care about that now," Rosemary sobs, embracing her son.

After the case closes, Morgan gives Jessica the ladybug pin. Jessica reveals she already owns one and believes this one was meant for her unborn daughter. Morgan asks how she forgave her father after so many years. Jessica answers simply: “I guess that’s how my mom raised me." Morgan smiles softly, hoping the same will be true for Ava.

Next Episode: “Behind the Music - Airing Tuesday, October 7th, at 10/9c on ABC

An investigation involving the murder of a local singer uncovers details that reopen a strikingly similar decades-old cold case. Later on, the team rallies around Soto after she is passed over for the captain’s chair.

Songs Featured in This Episode: