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‘High Potential’ Finally Spotlights a Fan-Favorite Character in This Must-Watch Episode
Last week’s episode of High Potential left off with the major cliffhanger reveal that the man (John Pyper-Ferguson) who’s been following Arthur (Mekhi Phifer) was the person who abducted Roman 16 years ago. In this episode, it’s revealed that his name is Eric Hayworth, and that he was previously in Special Forces for the military. Not much else is revealed about Hayworth yet, except that he was hired to abduct Roman by an extremely dangerous woman named Willa Quinn. Meanwhile, this episode sees the return of Dottie (Michael Hyatt), Morgan’s (Kaitlin Olson) instructor from the training academy. The episode starts with a murder attempt being made on Dottie’s life, and Major Crimes working to solve the case while she’s unconscious in the hospital.
This episode, titled “If You Come For the Queen,” focuses primarily on Dottie’s case, which later connects to another case that Major Crimes is investigating. Daphne (Javicia Leslie) finally gets her first solo storyline this episode, as it’s revealed that Dottie was her training officer, and they used to be very close. Daphne takes the lead on Dottie’s case in what is an excellent, character-centered episode with a number of powerful storylines.
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Daphne and Morgan are assigned to Dottie’s case, while Karadec (Daniel Sunjata) and Oz (Deniz Akdeniz) investigate a murder. While working on Dottie’s case, Daphne tells Morgan that she and Dottie were very close during the five years they worked together, even after Daphne made detective and Dottie became a full-time instructor at the academy. Dottie pushed Daphne to take the sergeant’s exam and move forward in her career, but Daphne was hesitant to try to get a promotion after watching the discrimination that Selena (Judy Reyes) and Dottie have had to deal with for years as women of color in the police force. Daphne and Dottie got into an awful fight over this, and they haven’t spoken since.
Dottie was getting a massage at her regular spa during the attempt on her life, so Morgan and Daphne check out the spa and ask around. This takes them to Dottie’s classroom, where Morgan and Daphne catch their first suspect: one of Dottie’s students, Officer Hoff. Hoff broke into Dottie’s classroom to keep her from reporting him for a mistake, but he didn’t hurt her. Dottie wakes up, and she starts consulting with Morgan and Daphne on the case. Morgan looks at Karadec and Oz’s case, and she figures out that their victim, Luke Knight, went to the same spa as Dottie. Dottie checks herself out of the hospital early, and she joins Major Crimes to work on her and Luke’s cases.
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Daphne and Dottie go to the spa to ask around, while Karadec and Oz question people from Luke’s gym. Karadec speaks with Luke’s boss, Phyllis, who tells them that Luke was new, but that he had already landed some major clients. Karadec and Oz suspect Luke’s work rival, Voz, from whom Luke poached a high-profile client. Daphne and Dottie speak to Kirk Hartwood, the owner of the spa, who tells them that Luke has never been a guest at the spa – and that everyone working at the spa has an alibi placing them there during Luke’s death. Dottie collapses and has to go back to the hospital, where she and Daphne finally talk things through. They’re still at a standstill, though, because Dottie has a lot of hope for Daphne’s future, and Daphne thinks that there’s no point in taking the exam after Selena was unfairly passed over for her promotion.
Later, Morgan realizes that both Dottie and Luke’s cases are connected through a Strangers on a Train-type murder. Two people got together and agreed to kill the target that the other wanted dead, so it couldn’t be traced back to them. The Major Crimes team suspects that Voz was on one end of the pact, and that he got someone at the spa to kill Luke. As it turns out, Kirk has been using a black market supplier for the IVs to save money, and he has been giving them spa sensors in return. The supplier is Phyllis, who made a murder pact with Voz: Phyllis would kill Luke for stealing Voz’s client, and Luke would kill Dottie for Phyllis. Dottie reveals that she joined a sorority in college, and Phyllis was supposed to be her Big Sister. Phyllis went overboard on the hazing, so Dottie turned her in. Phyllis was charged with a felony, and her whole life fell apart after that. As a Black woman, she never got a second chance, and she blames Dottie for reporting her back then.
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Recently, Phyllis was turned down when trying to remove her felony record, reminding her of everything she lost. Phyllis is already on the run by the time Major Crimes realizes that she put the hit out on Dottie, but the Major Crimes team finds her. Daphne talks to Phyllis one-on-one, and she empathizes with her, saying she knows what it’s like to always have to prove herself. She encourages Phyllis to accept her arrest, and she does. Later, Daphne and Dottie have a touching conversation at the station. Dottie tells Daphne that she pushed her to keep her from letting outside pressure get her down, and Daphne tells her that she understands.
‘High Potential’ Season 2, Episode 14 Parallels Daphne and Ava’s Storylines
At the start of the episode, Ava (Amirah J) tells Morgan that she got into the design class that she applied to. Ava is very excited, until she sees a post online from a classmate that says she only got it because of her race. Morgan supports Ava as best as she can, but she acknowledges that she can’t fully understand what Ava is going through. Later, Ava goes to the station to talk to Daphne. They get derailed by Dottie’s collapse, but at the hospital, Ava tells Daphne what happened. Daphne empathizes with Ava and relates to her, and when Ava asks whether she should stick with the class, Daphne tells her to follow her heart.
Daphne doesn’t feel content with the advice that she gave Ava. Later, after solving Dottie’s case, she talks to Ava again from a new perspective. Daphne had been feeling disheartened since watching Selena get passed over for a promotion that she deserved, which only further convinced her not to even bother taking the sergeant’s exam, even though Dottie wanted her to. After reconciling with Dottie, though, Daphne decides that she wants to lean more into Dottie’s advice. Daphne tells Ava that they can’t control what other people say about them, and that she needs to do what feels right for her, no matter what people think. This encourages Ava, making it seem like she will likely continue with the class. It also bodes well for the possibility of Daphne taking the sergeant’s Exam in the remainder of Season 2.
High Potential airs Tuesdays at 9:00 p.m. ET on ABC.