Dancers In The Dark – Episode 2 begins in the middle of the night with 2 young males riding in complete silence. Other than the flashy car, everything suggests they are up to something shady. This is proven untrue when seconds later they’ve changed into tap shoes and used a fire escape to climb onto the rooftop of a three-story building. They still haven’t broken their silence and won’t until one of the men begins scrutinizing the other, rather harshly. Their routine will continue as the camera pans to the car now parked in the alleyway. One of the men will soon come crashing down onto the roof of the car, giving the appearance of having fallen or being pushed.
The next morning, Morgan Gillory (Kaitlin Olson) is taken by complete surprise when she discovers that Ava (Amirah J) and Elliot (Matthew Lamb) have gotten up early and made her an entire breakfast in honor of the new job. A short while later, Morgan will be on the public bus speaking with Samson (Harrison White). This continues until she arrives at the alley that has now been designated as the crime scene.
It doesn’t take Detective Adam Karadec (Daniel Sunjata) to get her up to speed. Surprisingly enough, Damian Ross (Alaman Diadjiou) is the young man who crashed into the car and is still alive but in emergency surgery at County General. Karadec suspects that Morgan is holding back and this turns out to be true when he mentions wanting to get on the roof. Seconds later they are on the roof where she discovers a knocked-over tripod that leads to the discovery of a mobile phone. It will be a brief few minutes later when they will have learned that the phone doesn’t belong to Damian and being that he loved his car, it is far more unlikely that he would have leaped to his death using the car as a landing pad.
At the station, Selena Soto (Judy Reyes) is approached by a robbery/homicide Lieutenant, Melon (Garret Dillahunt) for assistance. Despite everyone wanting to steer clear of the guy, Lev ‘Oz’ Osman (Deniz Akdeniz) will eventually be the one to volunteer his time. Shortly after this, Daphne Forrester (Javicia Leslie) will learn that Damian has recovered from surgery. After making plans to question him, Morgan excuses herself for a private conversation with Selena to remind her about their arrangement and provide more information.
As they arrive at the hospital, Karadec warns Morgan about the stark realities of the job but she appears unfazed. A brief conversation with Winnie Ross (Shelley Robertson) will reveal that Damian has a long road to recovery if he is lucky enough to survive the night. It will also be learned that Damian worked at a local body shop and according to Winnie, managed to stay away from gang life. This conversation will be cut short when a group of men from the shop show up to consult with Winnie. Morgan will note their Catholic necklaces and tattoos. Roland (C.J. Salvador) will be pulled in for further questioning when Morgan notes an old Tommy John scar on his elbow.
There will be a bit of back and forth and denial during the interrogation, but Roland will eventually own up to being on the roof with Damian. He’ll claim whoever pushed Damian off the room came out of nowhere and knocked him to the ground beforehand. Being that it was so dark and happened so quickly, he apparently didn’t notice anything unusual. Both Karadec and Daphne are reluctant to believe his story but can’t otherwise hold him. After learning that the surrounding security cameras don’t reveal a third man, Morgan will lead the detective to Damian’s car at the impound lot. Once there, Morgan will reveal her theory about the third man, also a coworker from the body shop, riding to the scene in the trunk.
Despite Karadec’s brash approach with the body shop employees, Morgan will play on their empathy and the return of Damian’s car to share their alibis for the time of the murder. Later that evening at the station, it will appear that most of them have believable alibis that will have to be verified, of course.
Even later that evening, Morgan shares some of Roman murals with Ava after learning that she not only has an interest in sketching but proves to be quite good. Ava enjoys the graffiti-styled mural until she learns they belong to Roman. The murals will also lead to a major discovery in the case that Morgan will explain on the rooftop once she drags the begrudging Karadec out of bed. She’ll spend several minutes explaining the opposition effect of the moon, but the ultimate reveal is that the positioning of the moon could have caused the killer to push the wrong person off the roof.
Karadec frantically arranges a protective detail for Roland while Morgan briefly checks in with Ludo Radovic (Taran Killam) to tell him that she will be later than expected. Karadec will eventually reach Roland but he’s at a party and cannot hear anything he says. After overhearing the song in the background, Morgan will eventually pinpoint the likely location of the warehouse party. Morgan and Karadec will briefly encounter Knox (Rafael Castillo) and Dane (Brennan Keel Cook) at the party but they can’t shine any light on Roland’s location. They do volunteer to help look which turns out to be useful since Knox is the one to find him. It, however, is too late.
Karadec attempts to comfort Morgan while simultaneously pointing out the amazing work she’s done. Daphne will soon interrupt with the discovery of footage of the murder. The footage will later be reviewed at the station and although it clearly shows the murder, the attacker had his face hidden. As if overwhelmed, Morgan will excuse herself when something about the evidence from Melon’s robbery case draws her attention.
Seconds after reviewing the security footage of the heist, the muzzle flash pattern will lead will to Morgan suspecting that the robber and murderer are one and the same. A further study of the evidence will reveal that the last two jewelry robberies were within one block of the Red Line, the public bus route, indicating that the robber likely lost his wheelman (Roland). In addition to that, the last two robberies coincide with the time Roland and Damian started dancing together. In light of all the evidence, Morgan does not know the identity of the murderer but has a plan to lure him/her out with a fake Code 3 call over the police radio.
Once Griff (Carlin James) is arrested, Karadec will personally congratulate Morgan, with the delivery of her first paycheck. She will eventually use the money to get her car back. Despite all the empathy and politeness during the case, Karadec will encourage Morgan to go out on top. A very brief visit with Damian reveals that he’s recovering nicely.
The episode will end with Selena visiting Morgan at home to tell her that Roman’s car was found in a police impound 3 days after he went missing. There was a box of diapers, suggesting that he didn’t abandon it by choice. Ava will overhear all this.
High Potential Review
Not a horrible episode but far from great. I certainly cannot say that it wasn’t engaged, almost too much so. As was true with the first episode, the show puts too much emphasis on the fine obscure details. I appreciate the research it likely took to discover these obscure facts and the even greater task of assembling them, but they are too much. The waning of the moon, the muzzle flash pattern of older guns, and etcetera, it’s just all a bit too much. It goes from interesting to boring quickly.
Despite the performances not being great, they aren’t horrible. Either way, the episode deserves a 5 out of 10. Get more High Potential recaps here. Join our newly established forum to see what others are saying. Support our site by donating. Learn about our advertising packages here.
