TL;DR: Morgan outsmarts the Game Maker and rescues Maya in an episode that’s clever and tense, but rushes through its best villain’s exit.

There are two kinds of television villains: the ones who show up, cause trouble, and exit on cue, and the ones who sneak under your skin and make you wish the writers would keep them around forever. In High Potential’s “Checkmate,” we got the second kind — and then we lost him way too soon.

Coming off the first half of the two-part Season 2 premiere, the stakes are already sky-high. Roman Sinquerra’s shadow lingers over everything, Derek Price is ready to pull a trigger, and David Giuntoli’s Game Maker has all but declared himself the puppet master of Major Crimes. Kaitlin Olson’s Morgan, as usual, is caught between comic exasperation and razor-sharp deduction. She’s the kind of detective who looks like she’s making it up as she goes along, but in “Checkmate,” every half-formed joke, every impatient eye roll, hides the fact that she’s actually the only one keeping pace with a villain who’s turned the city into a chessboard.

The episode opens with the Game Maker smugly checking himself into the station, daring the LAPD to keep up. This is where High Potential flexes its procedural muscles: interrogation scenes that play like tennis volleys, not monologues. Karadec tries the steady approach, Selena the empathetic one, but the Game Maker has answers that feel more like riddles. His “Pillsbury variation” — telling them they need to release Jason Howard if they want Maya Price alive — is classic High Potential: absurd in setup, thrilling in consequence. The choice forces the team to weigh morality against practicality, and it forces Morgan into her favorite (and most dangerous) position: trusting people when everyone else expects the worst.

It’s that trust that keeps this episode moving. Jason’s freedom makes him an open target for Derek, who still believes Jason took Maya. A bombed-out car at Jason’s house raises the tension to peak levels, and for a while it feels like the Game Maker really does have every angle covered. But what makes the episode work is not the fireworks — it’s the quieter moments when Morgan is alone with him, staring through that glass, recognizing that this isn’t just about clues. It’s about control. When he offers her a personal bargain — surrender yourself, and Maya goes free — you can see Olson play the calculation in real time.

If the mechanics of the plot are tight, the emotional rhythms are messier. And that’s by design. Morgan spends much of the episode running on fumes, balancing the Game Maker’s mind games with the chaos of her personal life. At home, Elliot is gearing up for a school talent show with Ludo as his unlikely sidekick, and Morgan’s fear that he’ll be humiliated bleeds into every other decision she makes. Her refusal to give up on Elliot mirrors her refusal to give up on Jason, Derek, or Maya. That’s what makes her different from the Game Maker. He sees pawns and pieces; she sees people, each with the potential to make a better move if given the chance.

Still, “Checkmate” isn’t flawless. The wrap-up of the Game Maker’s storyline feels rushed, especially given how much the premiere set up the conflict between him and the team. In Part 1, Morgan’s coworkers doubted her instincts, nearly costing Maya her life. Here, that doubt is never addressed. No one apologizes, no one reflects, and the show skips right past an opportunity for the unit to own their mistakes. Even Morgan’s reading of the Game Maker’s backstory — his childhood trauma of losing his mother after a wrongful accusation — lacks the nuance the character usually brings to villains. Maybe it’s because this case put her kids and Oz in danger, maybe it’s because the writers wanted a neat bow, but it leaves the impression of an emotional shortcut.

That’s frustrating, because Giuntoli’s performance is rich enough to deserve more. The Game Maker is sinister without being cartoonish, and the motive behind his crimes — punishing the wealthy as revenge for a system that broke his family — is both compelling and chilling. It’s exactly the kind of gray-zone villain High Potential thrives on. Which is why it’s disappointing that he’s taken off the board so quickly. He doesn’t need to stick around every week, but as a recurring adversary, he could challenge Morgan in ways few others can. Locking him up feels right in the moment, but the show would be smart to crack that door open again down the line.

Meanwhile, the Roman Sinquerra subplot gets an intriguing twist: the man Daphne and Oz thought was Roman turns out to be someone else entirely — Arthur, who’s been helping Roman stay hidden because the real threat might come from inside law enforcement. This is a classic High Potential pivot, widening the conspiracy while grounding it in a kitchen-table conversation. If the Game Maker plot is the flashy fireworks, the Roman story is the slow burn, and it’s starting to feel like the season’s true backbone.

And then there’s Elliot’s talent show. On paper, it’s fluff. On screen, it’s the heartbeat of the episode. Watching Morgan panic that her son will be ridiculed, then watching him pull off a performance that’s imperfect but genuine, reminds us why she fights so hard in the interrogation room. She’s not playing for abstract justice; she’s playing for the kids waiting at home. When Elliot wobbles but keeps dancing, when Morgan exhales in relief, the show earns its softer moments.

“Checkmate” is a strong hour of television, funny in spots, tense in others, and anchored by Olson’s ability to sell Morgan as both brilliant and deeply human. But it’s also an episode that plays its biggest card too early. The Game Maker is too good a villain to leave behind in just two episodes. If the show wants to reach its full potential, it needs to recognize when it has a piece worth keeping on the board.

Verdict: 

A sharp, tense follow-up to the Season 2 premiere, “Checkmate” gives Morgan her most satisfying win yet — but at the cost of a villain who deserved a longer run. Olson remains the show’s MVP, juggling humor, heart, and high-stakes deduction with ease. The Game Maker’s takedown works, but let’s hope it’s only temporary.