The road not taken is an extremely sobering place to be. Lucious Lyon has never put much thought into it, but Cookie certainly has. This week on Empire as her children putter along on their own journeys, Cookie gets the chance to enter an environment which she could have been apart of once upon a time. Cookie can’t go back, nor would she want to. This doesn’t mean that she can’t take the best of the world she knows and the world she never had the chance to know to put her Cookie-esque spin on the next chapter of her life.
Empire is in a mad dash to sign Nessa after the Shyne entertains other labels. Lucious is extremely angry with Becky and Cookie to have been blindsided with that. Andre comes up with a good strategy to placate Shyne, but Hakeem makes the mistake of playing his hand too early, thereby tipping off the competition. Hakeem may have his eye on Nessa, but her music speaks to Andre. Andre has a much more realistic view of the world after losing his wife and having his dignity taken away. He’s finally embracing his roots. He uses that history to connect with Nessa on a very specific level, commenting that the only difference between them is that Nessa has the musical talent. Thus a romance is born between Andre and Nessa. Just to hedge their bets, Lucious and Andre team up to forcibly make Shyne sign over Nessa. Shyne’s going to retaliate for this.
Jamal needs to face Freda if he’s going to get better. Last time didn’t exactly go that well, so he needs to prepare. His PTSD Counselor helps him get there, but seeing Freda changes Jamal’s perspective. Once he sees the beating that Freda took, his attitude changes. Freda is truly sorry for what she has done, and cares more about how Jamal is than about herself. Since the lawyer Lucious sent only cares about keeping her quiet regarding some illegal activities, Jamal takes it upon himself to get her out. With Angelo’s help, Jamal works up a defense for Freda to get bail, which requires him to pay off a doctor to say Freda suffers from psychological issues. Jamal played right into Lucious’s hands. Lucious had Freda beaten so that Jamal would be compelled to get her out, and Freda went along with it to get out. What’s in it for Lucious? A record of Freda’s mental incompetence means she’ll never be able to be a credible witness against Lucious. After all of this, Jamal’s PTSD may be getting better, but those painkillers have a dangerous growing presence in his life.
Angelo asks Cookie on a date to the opera, which is definitely not the scene she’s used to. We’re just beginning to realize just how different Cookie’s life could have been had she never met Lucious. Her family meant for her to lift herself up in the community, marry well, have a good career. At the very least her life was supposed to have some semblance of calm. What fun would that be? It was never the life Cookie felt passionate about as a young girl. Now as a grown woman who’s learned life’s lessons the hard way, exploring the road that could have been might not be a bad thing. However Cookie feels completely out of her depth in Angelo’s world. Opera, snobby ladies in white, and mediocre conversation don’t make for a welcoming or interesting enough environment for the quality woman Cookie is. The next day when Cookie won’t answer Angelo’s calls, he goes to Jamal for help. Jamal advises Angelo to get to know his mother’s world, and wear something other than a suit all the time. The opera did give Cookie an idea of how to deal with the clap-back battle going on between Tiana, her boyfriend, and Hakeem. She uses the opera singer in Tiana’s live stream response to everyone who wants this ridiculous feud to continue. Tiana is her own woman, as is Cookie. Lucious doesn’t think that. He claimed Cookie as his own a long time ago, though Angelo could be a strong opponent.
Can the unlikely coupling of Andre and Nessa, Cookie and Angelo, make it works?
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