Much of the focus following Cookie’s Lemonade moment with Lucious was trying to pull back the curtain on what Cookie first felt making a family with Lucious. You can see how that thinking trickled down to her children, in terms of thinking about what they want versus what they need. No need is greater than the one to survive, which is what Empire was built on. If the Lyons expect to keep their empire together, they’re going to have to watch out for their most dangerous adversary, who makes her appearance in this episode’s last few minutes.
I know Lucious must have a good clean-up crew on standby, but cleaning up the Empire offices is much easier than cleaning up the emotional wreckage laid bare between him and Cookie. The flashbacks to Cookie and Lucious as teenagers have been great. We’ve gotten to see how these two connected so immediately at such a young age. It wasn’t just that they loved each other. As we see it from Cookie’s perspective, she clung to Lucious because he was all she had when her father kicked her out. Almost immediately she was pregnant with Andre and they were married. Her relationship with Angelo is much more adult than that. She can think about what wants, and what’s good for her.
We know where Lucious gets his twisted from. Granny Leah is all kinds of crazy, and God help her target. Anika is happily settling back into her old job, and she even mends fences with Becky. Little does she know that Leah has a target on her back, and Tariq is only too happy to help if it means getting to Lucious. He decides to use the feud between Anika and Cookie against everyone. Once Tariq serves Anika with a subpeona, she really is stuck in an impossible situation. She does what she has to do-runs for her life.
To his credit, Hakeem does step up. He takes Bella when Anika asks him to, not knowing just how big a responsibility she is handing him. It seems like he really wants to make it work with Tiana considering he pushes her to build a relationship with Bella. The dynamics of this family are already messed up, so why not tack on another stepmother? At least this one isn’t a murderer.
We have to talk about how underutilized Rumer Willis is in this industry! Putting aside the fact that this woman is the daughter of Hollywood icons, she is a star in her own right. We know she can sing from her stint on Broadway, but Rumer needs her own platform immediately! As Jamal’s new collaborator/sobriety friend Tory, she is phenomenal. In between cracking drug jokes, she has a hell of a strong vibe with Jamal. Even Cookie warms up to her. Unfortunately, she becomes another pawn in Lucious’s endless game with his son. Giving Lucious her music over Jamal is going to come back to bite her.
Despite Nessa’s warnings, Andre is getting deeper into his business with Shyne. It’s not as if Andre doesn’t know how to navigate the streets like his parents. He really didn’t leave that life until he was a preteen, so he remembers a lot more than his siblings do. He isn’t put off or scared by the blood or shade anyone throws his way. He wants to get into the more illegal side of the business to get enough profit to overthrow Lucious, then kill him. To do so, Andre and Shyne have to take their business in a new direction: Vegas. They set up a meet with Rafael Green, a Las Vegas club owner looking for legitimate talent for his clubs. Right off the bat you question if this guy has the temperament to run a diner, much less an entire string of clubs. Considering the show he makes of hitting his wife in front of Shyne and Andre, probably not. But the Mrs. (played by new recurring guest star Nia Long) is not so innocent, since she shoots her husband in the head and makes an alliance with Andre in the same minute.
Let’s not underestimate Nia Long’s appearance. Given the previews, and the subtle hints Lee Daniels has been giving about a Las Vegas-centered spin-off, the real action is just getting started.
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