Empire – A Furnace For Your Foe

By: Kelly Kearney

The People’s Ball

The mid-season finale “A Furnace for Your Foe” begins in Queens, where Angelo (Taye Diggs) is holding a press conference and struggling to sway the working-class voters who showed up to hear their mayoral candidate speak. Luckily, Cookie (Taraji P. Henson) is by his side and takes over the mic to talk to the people in a way they will understand. She tells them why she stands by Angelo and how she was just like them at one time, struggling and feeling like she didn’t have a voice. Angelo is here to work for them and she can prove it. She promises the voters that his Captain’s Ball will be changed to the People’s Ball and the concert, headlined by Jamal (Jussie Smollett), will take to the streets of Queens. Angelo’s mother Diana (Phylicia Rashad) isn’t pleased with this change of venue and tells Angelo and Cookie that donors have already paid for the show that was planned not this block party Cookie wants to organize. Cookie tries to put her mind at ease by saying she will produce it and if there is one thing Empire is great at is putting on a good show.

While Cookie is promising a party to catapult Angelo into the Mayor’s mansion, Jamal is trying to overcome his demons to deliver a killer performance. He is nervous he will flop once his anxiety kick in and Lucious (Terrance Howard) questions if maybe he should try performing on a smaller venue before going all out in Queens. Jamal ignores his father’s concerns and in typical Lucious form he gets in his son’s face, threating him over if he’s planning to sing that family trash song he’s been working on. Lucious Lyon is always one part concerned family man, one part only concerned for himself. Which begs the question, why is Lucious so invested in Angelo winning the mayor’s seat? He tells Cookie he hopes she can pull off this Ball because it’s about time his city has a black mayor. He is worried Jamal can’t hack it and Cookie is worried why Lucious suddenly wants to be the caring father. He tells her that he hopes she isn’t pushing Jamal to please her new boo and his mother because if Jamal crashes and burns on stage, she will never forgive herself.

Diana and Lucious make a deal

Tariq (Morocco Omar) and Shyne’s (Xzibit) lowkey partnership to take down Lucious pays off. After watching the video of Freda’s (Bre-Z) performance from the tribute party, Tariq ties enough clues together to freeze Empire’s assets while he gathers evidence for a capital murder conviction. The judge (Jason Singer) on the case questions why he is so invested in this and warns him that he better not find out that Tariq has a personal beef with Lucious because that would compromise the validity of this whole thing. Of course, the FBI and judge have no clue that Tariq is Lucious’ half and very angry brother. Later, Lucious puts on a show at the FBI offices when he outs Tariq for being family and tells him he would’ve taken care of his little brother if their father ever told him who he was. Lucious makes a big display of handing Tariq their father’s police badge and leaves saying brothers don’t come after each other like this. Of course, all of Tariq’s coworkers hear this and now the case and his career could be in jeopardy.

While Tariq is trying to ruin his brother’s life, Lucious is doing a little plotting of his own. He meets with Diana Dubois to discuss a problem and Lucious assumes the problem is his ex-wife causing issues for Angelo’s campaign, but it turns out Cookie has done nothing other than help the voters see Angelo as “real.” Diana wants Lucious to strong arm a journalist who’s about to out Angelo’s shady past in an article. Lucious finds it ironic that the classy Dubois family looks down on the Lyons until they need them to do their dirty work. He agrees to stop the journalist if she agrees to break up her son’s new relationship. The deal is struck between the two unlikeliest of partners and later Lucious makes good on his promise when he successfully threatens the reporter to squash the story.

With the People’s Ball only days away, Cookie goes to Jamal and asks him if he thinks he’s ready. He says he is and that he is off the pills. Cookie doesn’t believe him and demands he hand them over, which turns into a process because they’re hidden all over the house. Cookie dumps the pills down the sink and hopes her son can pull this off.

Now that the tell all article isn’t a problem Lucious wants Diana to pay up, but the Dubois matriarch has changed her mind thanks to Cookie boosting her son’s polling numbers. Diana backs out of her deal and oddly enough, Lucious doesn’t threaten Diana with payback. He just wants a black mayor so he tells Diana to consider this a contribution to Angelo’s campaign.

With Empire’s assets frozen, Lucious and Cookie talk about who could’ve snitched to the feds about Frank Gathers (Chris Rock). Lucious promises to protect her and their family and warns that whoever snitched will get a Columbian necktie. The conversation turns to Angelo when Lucious, feeling like his ex-wife’s protector, lets her know that her new boyfriend isn’t as squeaky clean as she thinks. He has skeletons in his closet just like the rest of them and he promises to have her back when they come out.

The Stage Is Set, Where Is Jamal?

The People’s Ball is a great success thanks to Cookie. The crowd is hyped up, but where is Jamal? Cookie leaves to find her son at home and dope sick from withdrawal. He begs her to give him just one pill to get through the show. Torn between giving in and letting her son her prove his father wrong, Cookie digs a pill out from the pipes under the sink and gives Jamal one to get him up and going.

High but sounding great, Jamal rocks the streets of Queens almost like his stage fright never happened. When the show is over an elated Jamal walks off the stage to the applause of his mother and father who seem proud that their son overcame his anxiety. Things quickly change when they inform him that Phillip (Juan Antonio) is there to take Jamal to rehab. It’s time they say and Jamal reluctantly goes to get sober.

As Jamal leaves, Lucious shows his true colors when a camera crew shows up to out Angelo’s past. It seems Angelo drove drunk into a lake and a young girl was killed. The Dubois family paid to cover up for their son’s crimes and keep it out of the news. Lucious uses this to push Cookie away from her perfect boyfriend as well as to show Diana what happens when you back out of a deal with him.

Cookie isn’t the only one having relationship issues, Andre (Trai Byers) is at the beach struggling to let go of his dead wife Rhonda (Kaitlin Doubleday). He has a final moment with the ghost and she tells him she loves him and to fight for what is his. She tells him to make her proud and to make sure Anika (Grace Gealey) pays for murdering her. With that said, Rhonda walks off into the ocean leaving Andre broken but ready to move on.

To steal an EMPIRE, you must remove it’s king

Shyne (Xzibit) offers to save Empire from its frozen assets problem by selling his business holdings to cover the 50 million dollars the company needs to keep things up and running. That is if Lucious gives Shyne a seat on the board. Lucious agrees to what Thirsty (Andre Royo) calls “letting the wolf into the hen’s house” and Shyne could not be happier. He goes off to celebrate and runs into Tariq who questions what Shyne has against Lucious. Shyne says he wants Empire and to do that Lucious needs to be out of the way.

After saying goodbye to Rhonda, Andre finds Shyne partying it up his over getting a seat on the board. Andre confronts Shyne over the deal to save Empire because he has evidence that Shyne sold off his business holdings weeks before the asset freeze took place. He knew it was coming because he was behind the FBI leaks! Shyne is busted, but Andre has no intention of living by the “snitches get stitches” rule. In fact, it is just the opposite. The two strike up a deal where Andre will cover Shyne’s tracks and keep pushing Nessa (Sierra Aylina McClain) forward as Empire’s premiere artist until the time is right. Shyne says right for what? Andre grimly replies, “The right time to kill my father and take Empire for ourselves!”