Empire plays around with the tropes and features associated with its name, including the King of the Lyons. The king always tries to keep everything in control, to know everything before everyone, and to punish his children and enemies alike when they won’t fall in line. It’s a rarity that anything catches Lucious off-guard, but a storm has been brewing that he was not prepared for. The man has a serious medical condition for which he spends the majority of this episode in bed, and that’s still nothing compared to the shock on his face when the hurricane that is Giuliana shows her face. There are so many whirlwinds the Lyons don’t see coming, but this one may just be the kicker.
Lucious’s Myasthenia Gravis acts up to the point that he needs emergency medical treatment in his home. That doesn’t stop the king from conducting business with Thirsty’s help from his bed. He even has the foresight to keep his gun close-by in case someone wanted to try anything. He even holds court in his home to his board. He can keep Anika from killing up, but he can’t keep her from doing what she wants in the world. Surprisingly, what she wants is for Cookie to raise Bella if anything happens to her. I’d have to agree that Cookie would make the most stable, protective household out of all the Lyons.
Hakeem has some serious cleaning up to do after the mess he made at the club last week. What happened with Kennedy falls back on Empire hard, complete with a $50 million lawsuit. Yet Hakeem could meet all the demands from Kennedy’s lawyer and still come up short, because he has no real concept of what he did wrong. He can’t understand what it means to be a woman in this world. There is a constant fear that a man is going to violate your personal space, whether it’s emotional, physical, or in the cyber world. Hakeem has only enabled that violence and violation with his music, but that can change. Watching Kennedy fall apart gives him perspective. He can’t take back her experience, but he can publicly apologize through his music, and make it perfectly clear to his fans that he does not approve of violence against women.
While Lucious is laid up, Cookie fast tracks the music video for Jamal’s first song about Cookie and Lucious’s early days. It’s all about the passion they felt in the beginning of their relationship, and its release just happens to coincide with Angelo’s election. Angelo does get a little butt hurt, but more so when Lucious makes Angelo’s party all about him. Cookie knew something like this was coming, but there are a few more surprises in store.
Giuliana is the snake in the Empire garden. She even moves like one, creeping in slowly to dance with her prey. Not that Andre isn’t pretty slinky these days. Once the more reputable member of the Lyon family, Andre is now deeply embedded with the gangster side of himself. Bringing Shyne as his muscle to a meeting proves that. However, he nearly overplays his hand when he introduces the Vegas deal to the Empire board. Lucious tries to fire him on the spot, but that’s the drawback of a public company. Sort of like the difference between a democracy and a monarchy; you don’t get to rule unmonitored when you share the spoils. Even the king and his heir apparent can be surprised. We know Lucious and Giuliana must have history, but we should be worried that Lucious actually looks scared to see her.
How big of a threat do you think Giuliana is to the Lyon family?
Follow Us
