Evil CEO Elaine Barton
Elaine Barton (Katie Ryan) was the main villainess from "Hangover," episode 1.06 of High Potential (airdate October 29, 2024). She was the founder and CEO of Metkair Corp.
Elaine had gained fame for devising her new product, the "KanAIRy," a homeopathic device for children, and in a presentation, she mentioned her niece having panic attacks, which led inspired her to create the device. In actuality, Elaine didn't have a niece, and the story she used was actually about the daughter of her former assistant, Nina, with Elaine buying Nina's story. As the episode also revealed, the KanAIRy was toxic, giving off forever chemicals that damaged the health of Nico Jimenez, the son of Carmen Jimenez, who was featured in a promo photo for the product.
Elaine sent payouts to Carmen for her silence, but she ended up being confronted by Carmen afterwards. Carmen was suspected of killing Elaine, though the main suspect was Elaine's current assistant, Samantha Wozniak, who was revealed to be the attempted recipient of a check worth $45,623, which was the exact amount of Sam's school loans. After Morgan Guillory and detective Adam Karadec found a hidden camera in a mirror in Elaine's office, the video was played and revealed what actually happened on the night in question.
As the video revealed, Elaine attempted to buy Sam's silence with the aforementioned check in response to Sam's plan to quit, only for Sam to refuse and voice her plan to reveal the truth about the KanAIRy being toxic. Elaine turned heel in response by attempting to kill Sam, with the maniacal villainess grabbing a pair of scissors as her weapon of choice. A scuffle took place, and it ended with the evil Elaine fought off by Sam and accidentally stabbed to death with her own trophy, with Elaine's death officially labeled as self-defense.