The roar was definitely heard in last night’s episode of Empire, but compared to his family, Lucious was more of a hyena swallowing up the carcasses of his victims. Not that he didn’t already do that, but his cruelty seemed to reach new lows this week. Let’s recap the madness.
The episode begins with a flashback to Cookie’s final moments with her family before she was sent to prison 17 years earlier. It’s a poignant moment that really is the last piece of genuine purity this family gets. Because Lucious is fixed on selling his company as family-run, Cookie has the idea to produce a Legacy album with Hakeem, Jamal, and Lucious. This album will be the center of Cookie’s Legacy campaign to help Empire’s IPO launch, not to mention celebrate the family bond in light of Lucious’s condition. Sounds like a brilliant plan, right? Well let me just list Lucious’s grievances that lead to that plan’s death.
After Lucious and Cookie’s romp last week, Lucious tells Cookie he’ll ditch Anika…then tells Anika the same about Cookie not a few hours later. Cookie is completely into Lucious, but he ultimately chooses Anika and rubs it in further by saying they will never be together, and he doesn’t have a family. Lucious is going to get his for this particular move at least, since by the end of the episode Anika is seen going to Lucious’s rival with a smile on her face.
Luckily, Hakeem and Jamal seem to be on more solid ground after learning about their father’s diagnosis. They agree to bury the hatchet for good and focus on making music and supporting each other. This actually works out well during the recording of the Legacy album, and they both start to open up in other parts of their lives.
Hakeem is finally able to be honest with his mother about how he feels, which is that he thinks she loves Jamal more than him. Cookie makes it clear that she loves all her children equally, and that she just knows Jamal better because he gave her a chance. From this point Hakeem shows more respect for Cookie, despite a pathetic attempt from Camilla to create a rift between them so she can become Hakeem’s “queen.” When Cookie meets Camilla, she calls her out on who she really is quickly, and I get the feeling Hakeem still respected Cookie for wanting to fight for him.
Jamal deals with his father’s diagnosis by realizing he should appreciate his newfound daughter. He bonds with her by teaching her “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” and letting her know that she is a Lyon now and he will protect her. Later, when he meets up with Lucious’s new videographer Ryan (who conveniently forgot to mention his gay status to Lucious), Ryan tells Jamal that he has nothing to be ashamed of, and he should come out for himself as well as for his daughter. So later at the White Party, when Lucious tells Jamal how important music is for speaking your own truth, Jamal takes the initiative (seriously, Lucious should’ve seen this coming with that word choice). Jamal performs one of Lucious’s hit songs, and then changes the lyrics to formally come out. Hakeem, Cookie, Andre and Vernon are all shown to be incredibly proud of him, but Lucious makes it clear to Cookie later that he hates what his son is.
The drama that really surprised me was that which surrounded Andre. After trying to pimp his wife out to an old, wheelchair confined backer, Rhonda becomes physically ill and asks Andre to stop the games. Later Andre moves to appoint himself Lucious’s successor should Lucious be out of commission, and Lucious vetoes that move. He later tells his son that Andre will never have the keys to the kingdom since he brought a white girl home, and I actually want to kick Lucious in the stomach. Andre knows that this is only part of the reason he’s being struck down, that the real reason is he is not as musically gifted as the rest of his family. So in the episode’s true OMG moment, Andre puts a gun to his head in the studio and pulls the trigger. Luckily the gun isn’t loaded, but you can see Andre was actually ready enough to commit the action.
So in the end Lucious has spit venom on everyone he cares about, and has let it interfere with business as well by killing the Legacy album. The last scene is of a jailed, but still hopeful Cookie years earlier, who still believed that one day she would reunite with Lucious and have the life they both wanted. Though it is our dreams that get us through the difficult times, eventually we have to let reality have its way.
What a mess. Were you appalled at how low Lucious sank this week?
Cookie’s Quotables:
-“No nookie from Cookie until you do so.”–telling Lucious how it will be until he dumps Anika
-“Did he tell you about the big reunion with had on the studio sound board? No, of course not. Must’ve been after he promised he’d never do it again. Congratulations, you look pretty.”–rubbing Anika’s face in Lucious’s betrayal
-“So Yoko Ono here wants to play on the song too. Well what can you do Yoko, can you play the tambourine?”–calling Camilla out on taking advantage of Hakeem’s mommy issues
-“Nothing good can come from loving you.”–letting Lucious know how toxic he is
[Photo via FOX]
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