The episode opens with a shocking attack at a spa. Someone has tried to kill Dottie, Morgan’s no-nonsense instructor from the training academy, during a massage in one of the facility’s soundproofed treatment rooms. The timing was deliberate and the execution careful, which tells Morgan and Daphne immediately that this was no random act.
Because of her prior mentorship bond with Dottie, Lieutenant Soto places Daphne in charge of the investigation while Karadec handles a separate and seemingly unconnected case. Their history carries real emotional weight from the start, complicated further by the fact that Dottie and Daphne previously clashed over Daphne’s stubborn refusal to sit the sergeant’s examination.
Back at Dottie’s training facility, Morgan notices details that others have walked right past: unfinished reports and clear signs that someone had been quietly searching through Dottie’s office before the attack.
The investigation builds steadily, and things grow more complicated when Morgan realizes that Daphne’s case and Karadec’s separate investigation may be linked through a man named Luke Knight.
The trail eventually leads to a bizarre and deeply personal murder pact involving gym trainer Vaz Amadi and spa supplier Phyllis Martell, who carries a longstanding personal grudge against Dottie. In a tense and well-staged climax, Daphne talks Phyllis down before the situation spirals into something far worse.
Meanwhile, Morgan handles something quietly significant at home: she helps Ava process a racist comment from a classmate following her acceptance into an art program. When Ava turns to Daphne rather than Morgan for advice, the episode handles that moment with tremendous grace and emotional intelligence.
Javicia Leslie has been one of High Potential’s most underserved performers, and “If You Come for the Queen” corrects that with authority. She plays Daphne’s confidence and barely concealed pressure simultaneously throughout the episode, and it is the best work she has delivered across two seasons. Giving her the case, the emotional stakes, and the closing scene was exactly the right call.
The decision to pair Morgan and Daphne rather than Morgan and Karadec immediately freshens the dynamic. Their pairing works beautifully because they are genuinely different people who bring different instincts to the same problem. It is a combination that the show should return to far more regularly.
The Ava subplot is handled with real sensitivity. The moment where Ava seeks out Daphne instead of Morgan because she recognizes that her mom cannot fully relate to that specific experience is quietly profound and very honestly written. It is also, practically speaking, a lovely way to build the Morgan and Daphne relationship through shared investment rather than just shared work.
On the overarching Roman mystery, the revelation that Eric Hayworth, the man who had been following Arthur, was actually the person who abducted Roman sixteen years ago and was hired by a dangerous woman named Willa Quinn is the season’s most significant plot development in weeks.
