Clifford calls Autumn. “We need to talk. Now.”

Clifford, watching from the booth, whispers: “Some love got to be encoded just to survive.” Big Bone (Megan Thee Stallion cameo appearance) returns from Atlanta with a proposition: she wants to open a “mobile Pynk” — a tricked-out party bus for private events, no walls, no city permits. Clifford is intrigued but wary. Big Bone: “You scared of what? Growth?” Clifford: “I’m scared of who sees what when you ain’t got doors.”

Murda drops a mop. “You avoidin’ me.” Clifford, adjusting a wig stand: “Baby, I’m avoidin’ everybody. Even my own reflection.”

She touches her locket. “You don’t know me.” Mercedes (Brandee Evans) is in a new gym — not Terrence’s. She’s training a raw but talented young fighter, Kiana (guest star). Mid-pad work, Mercedes’s knee buckles. She hides it. Later, at her mom’s house, Patrice (Harriett D. Foy) ambushes her with a church flyer: “Healing from Sexual Trauma in the Strip Club Industry.”