High Potential Season 2 Showrunner Explains Game Master’s Identity Reveal

High Potential‘s showrunner and executive producer, Todd Harthan, has explained the significance of the Game Master’s identity reveal in season 2, episode 2, “Checkmate.” High Potential‘s second season has gotten off to an explosive start, as Morgan (Kaitlin Olson), Detective Karadec (Daniel Sunjata), and their colleagues desperately searched for the Game Master‘s (David Giuntoli) latest kidnapping victim.

Of course, he didn’t make the search easy for them, taunting them by turning himself in at the police station at the end of High Potential‘s season 2 premiere, forcing Morgan into a deeper spiral within his game. This finally gave them a chance to uncover his real identity, though: meet Matthew Clark, a deceptive “do-gooder” determined to seek revenge for his mother after she died in prison.

However, during an interview with TVLine, Harthan teased that Matthew’s story may not be as clear-cut as it seems. Is he lying about his identity, or his backstory? What kind of discovery will the team make next? Harthan explained:

“There’s always more to every story in this show. I don’t like to put periods at the end of sentences. There’s a huge possibility that this story has more life in it. It’s something we talk about a lot, and yes, every word coming out of his mouth should be taken with a grain of salt.”

What This Means For High Potential Season 2

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Every civilian consultant in a police procedural needs a recurring nemesis. The Mentalist had Red John; High Potential may have Matthew Clark.

There’s a solid chance Morgan and Matthew haven’t seen the last of each other. Though Matthew was determined to end the game that night on his balcony, Morgan, thankfully, saw right through him. He was rightfully arrested by Oz (Deniz Akdeniz), leaving the door open for future appearances and, indeed, games. During his TVLine interview, Harthan dug into Morgan and Matthew’s twisted dynamic.

“Did Clarice Starling want to see Hannibal Lecter again over the course of The Silence of the Lambs? It’s weird, they almost became, in a sadistic way, each other’s muse, certainly more him to her than her to him. There was something incredibly satisfying about winning that game and getting him, but boy, are the cases that come after going to be easier than that one was.

If you were to really dig deep into her subconscious, would she like to dance with him again? As long as she wins. As long as she could be guaranteed that she was going to win and nobody was going to get hurt, she’d probably do it again.”

Given the intensity of High Potential season 2’s first two episodes, we’ll likely get back to a case-of-the-week structure for the foreseeable future. Even so, it will be interesting to see how Morgan’s experience with the Game Master will influence her work and personal life. He really got under her skin. How will she cope with the stress, especially now that Roman’s story has a new twist, too?

Our Take On The Game Master Reveal In High Potential Season 2

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One of the things I found intriguing about the Game Master was his general unwillingness to get his hands dirty. Yes, he kidnapped victims, but he was never overly violent with them, relishing his tricks rather than the actual act of kidnapping. That’s an interesting thread to pull on in the future, should Matthew Clark return. If he wants to go head-to-head with Morgan again, how will he get her attention?

What I found most interesting, however, were the obvious mistakes made by the Game Master in the episode’s final few minutes. Why would he inadvertently lead Morgan to Maya’s (Kate Miner) location when he didn’t know if Derek (Shaun Sipos) had killed Jason Howard (Nick Wechsler)? Why would someone so brilliant let himself be caught stealing blood from a hospital?

While these mistakes could have been an overly simplistic way for the writers to wrap up the Game Makers’ story in two episodes, making room for the show to pivot to the Roman mystery (which, if true, would be disappointing), Harthan’s comments have me thinking something else might be afoot. What if Matthew Clark wanted to be arrested, but he needed to make Morgan believe she’d won?

This feud between Morgan and Matthew was basically High Potential‘s equivalent of the classic Sherlock Holmes vs. Moriarty dynamic, after all. Anything could happen next.

New episodes of High Potential air weekly on Tuesdays on ABC.