Kaitlin Olson in the ABC crime dramedy

Note to writers: If your main character feels the need to announce their IQ completely unprompted, it will take me at least 30 minutes before I'm willing to take them seriously as a likable person again. If you're willing to take that risk, go ahead, otherwise it might be wise to just let your character prove their intelligence.

Maybe a third of the pilot for ABC's new crime dramedy High potentialthere's a revelation as outrageous as any I've ever seen. Not only does Kaitlin Olson's Morgan give a high-ranking LAPD officer her IQ – 160, if you care about such things, which you really shouldn't – but the conversation continues.

“The technical term is 'high-potential intellectual,'” Morgan says of her own virtuosity. “It means you have advanced cognitive abilities. Intellectual creativity, photographic memory. Things like that.”

Sounds great, right? WRONG!

“No, not a gift,” says Morgan, who has an IQ of 160. “I obsess over every little problem I see. My mind is constantly spiraling out of control, making it impossible for me to hold a job, a relationship, or have a conversation. Not a gift.”

It's a bad scene, but it's short and it at least sets the premise for High potentialwhich shouldn't be as difficult as this series makes it look. Viewers are already familiar with Hunting for good will (or Abbott Elementary School) and hence the not-so-shocking idea that someone can be both highly intelligent AND work on a janitorial team. Even more familiar to viewers is the idea that police departments often employ civilian consultants to lend their expertise to helpless investigators.

But although the three episodes went to the critics, High potential is still struggling to figure out the most basic parts of what should be the clearest of concepts. It's a laborious process that I'm willing to endure a little longer for one reason: Kaitlin Olson.

As mentioned above, Olson plays Morgan, single mother to sulky teenager Ava (Amirah J), ultra-nerdy Elliot (Matthew Lamb), and baby Chloe (some babies). Morgan arrives at the LAPD early in the morning when the offices are completely empty—crime in the city of Los Angeles is apparently asleep—plugging in her headphones and dancing around as she cleans. One day, in the middle of dancing, she knocks over a case box, stares at the clues, and then makes a crucial change to a crime board that records a mystery involving a murder and a missing woman.

Detective Adam Karadec (Daniel Sunjata) isn't happy that someone is tampering with his crime scene, and he orders a search of the security feed to determine the culprit — because there are hours when the LAPD offices are simply closed and no one has any idea who might be there. Morgan is summoned and arrested for tampering with evidence, until she uses one of those fun parlor tricks where you can say, “Let me explain everything in the most contemptible way possible!” and almost everyone realizes she has a brilliant mind. No. Wait. That's the title of another TV series premiering this month.

Anyway, this is about the time Morgan gives her credentials, by which I mean “her IQ.” She adds that she watches a lot of TV documentaries, which means she knows the history of European church building, naming conventions in Madagascar, the speed at which candles burn, and literally anything else that might be needed to solve a case as part of the LAPD's Major Crimes Division, which I think seems to be tasked with some pretty mid-level crimes in the first few episodes.

Karadec remains skeptical, but he and Morgan joke around in the way detectives and civilian contractors always joke. Karadec's boss, Selena (Judy Reyes), is simply grateful to have someone who can boost the department's clearance rate, while her other colleagues – Oz (Deniz Akdeniz) and Daphne (Javicia Leslie) – welcome her with understated candor.

High potential was created by Drew Goddard and adapted from a French format, which is confusing because “genius single mother police consultant” feels like the kind of premise that could easily be called “original” without much risk, but what do I know? If there are any distinctive elements of the French formula, they float loosely through this American counterpart, which looks and feels like a work in progress. Goddard immediately handed the show over to original showrunner Rob Thomas and half of the creative team of iZombie (another “civilian advisor” dramedy), who then quickly passed the show on to new showrunner Todd Harthan. His credits include Rosewoodwhere the civilian consultant was a private pathologist.

That's a lot of creative people – a lot of TALENTED creative people – unable to solve a big puzzle: How much can Morgan actually know, given her “high potential”?

If Morgan knew a lot about one subject, you'd need other characters, even if she's trying to steer the investigation toward the one subject she does know. If she knew a little about everything, you'd at least need someone in the office at the computer, Googling the high-sounding concepts she knows but can't fully explain. As it stands, she knows everything about everything, which makes everyone else redundant.

So what narrative purpose do you let everyone else serve? Well, Selena is the understanding boss, and the always great Garret Dillahunt joins the cast in the second episode as an additional, more incredulous authority figure. Oz and Daphne, both currently between specializations, are there to smile appreciatively.

And Karadec? He's just stern, disapproving, and always wrong except when it comes to very basic police procedure. Morgan watches between 10 and 12 hours of TV and YouTube every night, but she doesn't watch true crime documentaries or Dick Wolf dramas (I assume, although that problem could have been solved with a single line of dialogue). So Karadec's main job is to get Morgan to understand things like “chain of evidence” and “gloves.” So Morgan makes all the other detectives look stupid, and Karadec is there to make the LAPD look ethically strict. Which, let's be completely honest, is funnier than any dialogue so far.

The process of finding out what Morgan knows and when she knows it is probably the biggest concern in the first three episodes – definitely bigger than the cases of the week, which are completely dispensable. So far High potential does a better job of visualizing Morgan's various waves of inspiration with cheeky cuts and the like, some of which actually made me laugh out loud. More of that, and more unusual locations in Los Angeles, please. Focus on what makes your series distinctive!

For now, the specialness is largely limited to Olson. It took a while for the industry to realize how often even Olson's wildest comedic work was It's always sunny in Philadelphia was rooted in dramatic plausibility (see “Hundred Dollar Baby” and “Dennis and Dee Leave the Welfare Office”), but The Mick and her Emmy nomination Hacking Work have proven their versatility. This is hardly a “serious” performance – the costumes and dusting while dancing would jeopardize that hope – but Olson is strong enough to ground even the ridiculous beats and silly enough to make it clear that High potential recognizes the absurdity of some of these moments.

On the domestic side of the story, she has believably sweet moments with Lamb and Amirah J and even the babies, though the show hasn't yet taken full advantage of Taran Killam as her lazy ex, whose character is best described as “Named Ludo.” Olson and Sunjata are still figuring out their chemistry – in the pilot episode, he seems to be reading cue cards off-screen, but he's getting better – though thankfully there's no indication we're supposed to look forward to a future romance here.

With her ability to go to whatever tonal extreme the narrative ultimately lands on—the problem with placing Morgan in a major crimes unit is that she might be a character better suited to solving, well, frivolous crimes—Olson represents the great potential of this show. Everything else has to keep up with her.

(Final note: Unless your main character is the bouncer of a Mensa strip club, there is no reason for ANYONE in your movie or TV show to reveal their IQ. But I would definitely watch your show about the bouncer of a Mensa strip club.)