Empire – Noble Memory

By: Gladys Luna

“Empire”´s new episode opens with the Lyon Family making a TV special to celebrate Empire´s 20^th Anniversary. A big event has been prepared so we can see the whole family doing their best in order to make it a success. The emce (Michael Issac) has announced that Lucious Lyon (Terrence Howard) will be joining them for the night for the very first time after what happened to him in Vegas. On the other side of the room, Cookie (Taraji P. Henson) is standing next to Lucious, waiting for the man to be ready to go on the stage. As they are on their way, they are stopped by Carlotta (Queen Latifah) who greets Lucious and is pretty evident that the woman and Cookie don’t get along pretty well. Carlotta tells Lucious that she is now managing Mary Davis daughters’ music careers and she wants to ask for his help and borrow some of his producers to help them make some good music. Cookie says that their producers are very busy, but Lucious asks her to help them. Cookie asks Carlotta to call their office and they will schedule an appointment. The couple walks away from her and on their way to the stage Lucious gets overwhelmed by all the greetings and flashes surrounding him so he just can´t take it anymore and starts to scream at Cookie to take him out of there.

24 HOURS AGO

Thirsty (Andre Royo) informs Andre (Trai Byers) that Las Vegas PD will interview him again about what happened to Lucious. They have planned to set Giuliana (Nia Long) up. Andre´s statement was that he overheard the woman saying that she will get revenge on Lucious since he betrayed her. As they are talking, Cookie walks in with her entourage planning on Lucious comeback.

Hakeem (Bryshere Y. Gray) is getting ready to leave with his little baby Bella and when he opens the door he is found with Diana (Phylicia Rashad) who is there to question him on why he didn’t bring Bella to visit her as they agreed. He excuses himself and attempts to end their agreement, but Diana threatens him with showing his mother Cookie the pictures where the young man is seen with her. She assumes that his mother won’t be so happy to find out that her son betrayed her.

The Lyon family welcome Lucious back to the mansion. Jamal (Jussie Smollett), Hakeem and Andre look in awe at how their father has changed. He has decided not to wear his prosthetic leg and does not respond to the name of Lucious, but Dwight instead. His nurse Claudia (Demi Moore) is avidly defending him and taking care of his well-being, something that doesn’t seem to please Cookie very much. As they enter the mansion, Cookie tells the man that they need him to be ready for Empire´s 20^th Anniversary, but he confesses that he has decided not to attend. The woman is shocked by the confession and tells him that she promised the press and fans that he will be there so they are waiting for him to show up but he just doesn’t give in.

The family try to make Lucious remember by making him to listen to some of his music but all he can find is violence in it so, Claudia decides to take the cds away from him. She suggests to bring his granddaughter Bella over as she believes it will be soothing for the man. Also, Cookie shows Lucious some pictures in order to help him remember, but he questions her why she isn’t in most of the pictures and the man seems to be shocked when Cookie confesses that they were separated for almost seventeen years and that´s why she is not in those pictures.

Becky (Gabourey Sidibe) is asked by Shine (Alvin ‘Xzibit’ Joiner) about the cops and the questions they asked her about Lucious’ incident. So, she lets him know about it. After that, Shine calls Andre and tells him that the cops are digging deeper into the explosion.

Cookie is talking over the phone with Becky when she sees from afar that Lucious is flirting with Claudia and how he tries to kiss her. When the nurse is alone, Cookie asks her to take her stuff and leave. The woman explains to Cookie how this is all part of the process he has to go through in order to recover his memory and how is very common for the patients to react the way Lucious has in order to make sense of their feelings but Cookie doesn’t buy it.

Later that day, Cookie is at the kitchen when Lucious walks in and apologizes for disappointing her. She confesses that she is not disappointed but sad because of what happened that night. The man asks her to tell him about and she does. she explains how he sang for her and how he made her feel special. How he confessed his love to their sons and that he decided to give the company to Andre. Lucious questions about what happened to him and if that was the consequence of something he did, but Cookie assures him that he saved her life when he could have chosen to save his own.  And that is all what he needs to know.

Warren (Terrell Carter) meets his mother Diana at her mansion and updates her on the situation with Jamal. The woman makes very clear that she wants Cookie Lyon to fall since she destroyed her business and her other son career.

Cookie, Lucious, Hakeem, Jamal and Andre are enjoying of a family dinner. Claudia is sitting at a close distance just in case Lucious may need her. The man begins to ask one by one of his sons about their love life making Andre to confess that he had a wife but she died a while ago. Plus, Jamal tells him that he is seeing a guy but taking the relationship slowly. Lucious advises him to just enjoy it as life is too short to waste it so he suggests him to embrace his feelings and go for it. Cookie asks him if he had listened to any of his music in order to make his memories back, but he tells them that it only gives him a headache to listen to his lyrics. However, there was a song he loved so he asks to play the track and asks the family to tell them when he wrote the song. They all look at each other not knowing what to say and Cookie goes down on her memory lane to when she was in jail writing that same song. Jamal confesses that as he was going through a writer’s block phase, Cookie wrote the song for him and turned into a love song. Lucious is looking for her name on the booklet credits but she doesn’t seem to be there making the woman to confess that they thought it was reasonable back then to say he was the one who wrote it, but he doesn’t agree with it. He wants to know how she felt to be used like that but the woman refuses to answer.

Claudia notices how unsettled Lucious seems and the hustle begins. Hakeem wants the family to tell the truth to him, but they refuse it. So, they start to offend each other until Lucious breaks his glass and yells at them to stop. He takes his crutches and walks away from them. The whole family runs after him and his sons stop him when he attempts to jump in the lake. The whole family hug each other as Cookie assures him that they have his back.

BACK TO THE PRESENT

Lucious keeps screaming to help him and get him out of there. Cookie takes him to another room and tries to calm him down. Claudia walks in and helps him to relax. Slowly Lucious is recovering his peace while Claudia reminds him all the way he´s been through. Cookie gets jealous of Claudia and tells him that they have survived it all.

In the meantime, Hakeem and Jamal are being a blast on the stage. When their song ends, Jamal announces his father´s name and when it seems that Lucious won’t come out, he shows up before the crowd´s astonished look. He tells them that he has changed and he shows them his prosthetic leg, then he confesses that the song “Love Me” it wasn’t written by him but by Cookie so the crowd cheers before his confession. He announces that Jamal and Hakeem will be singing said song and the duo hit the stage along with Tiana (Serayah) as he goes next to Cookie and watch their sons performing. Lucious takes Cookie´s hand and they smile happily at each other as Claudia watches them from behind.

Cookie congratulates Lucious on the song, but he confesses that the person wasn’t him but Cookie assures him that he is still in there somewhere. He calls for Claudia and tells her that he is ready to go home and Cookie promises him that he will remember her, she is Cookie Lyon and she is unforgettable.

The Lyon family do know how to make a comeback! Let´s find out together what lies ahead on the road for them on the next episode on Wednesday at 8/7c on Fox.