Empire – A Rose By Any Other Name

By Kelly Kearney

Flip, flop, flip, flippity, flop… wasn’t just a song that fans sang to Jamal (Jussie Smollett) to express their anger with his flip flopping sexuality; it’s also a pretty good description of this week’s plot for the episode. When last week’s episode ended, the Lyon family was embroiled in a family war for their company. Lucious Lyon (Terrence Howard) was out as CEO and thanks to Hakeem, Camilla was in. All the drama from last week was swiftly snuffed out along with Camilla (Naomi Campbell) and her wife Mimi (see Bury Your Gays TV tropes) while the focus of the episode was seemingly bogged down with pointless subplots and fillers.

The episode begins with Hakeem (Bryshere Gray) holding a type of King’s court, scepter included, to announce his new plans for Empire. Cookie (Taraji P. Henson) is the new head of A&R, Jamal will continue to work on his Black and White album and Andre (Trai Byers) is staying Empire’s Chief Financial Officer and head of Gutter Life Records. When asked if Empire will continue to support Lucious, Hakeem and Cookie confirmed they fully intend to support his video for “Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom,” and his path to win the coveted American Sound Award. Hakeem is in a precarious situation with his family and his position at Empire. Lucious is threatening to kill him for handing his company over to Camilla and Cookie is trying to keep him safe while digging up dirt on Camilla to blackmail her into giving the company back.

As Hakeem is playing King of the Empire, Lucious is talking to the reporter, Harper Scott, while prepping for his video and getting fitted for a King’s costume. The fact that he’s chosen to resemble Shakespeare’s King Richard the Lionhearted is ironic and over the top, even for Lucious. The reporter hits a nerve with questions about Camilla and Hakeem’s take over and Lucious has his shady lawyer Thirsty (Andre Royo) drag her out.

Over at Empire’s club, Hakeem is flaunting his role as CEO with a new song entitled “Power” and a new company logo with his face replacing his father’s. If this wasn’t an act of “shove it in Dad’s face” rebellion I don’t know what is. Regardless of the fact Lucious wants to kill him, Hakeem appears to be on cloud nine. He’s got his new girlfriend Laura (Jamila Velazquez), the CEO spot at Empire, a fabulous music career and his mother and brothers support. But this is Empire and King Lucious will stop at nothing to regain his throne.

As his brother and father are set for war over the company, Andre is having troubles of his own. Rhonda (Kaitlin Doubleday) is recovering from her fall and miscarriage and Andre confesses that he’s had visions from God that lead him to believe her fall was no accident. Rhonda isn’t hearing any of it and tells him he needs to see his doctor to reconfigure his meds because she thinks he’s on the brink of another manic episode. He assures her he’s taking his meds, but asks her to come to counseling with Reverend Price (Charles Malik Whitfield). She tells him she doesn’t need counseling, she needs a distraction and wants to go back to work. Rhonda asks Andre to talk to Camilla and see if she will give her a job working on Empire’s new fashion line. Andre agrees to ask as long as she agrees to a session with the Reverend. Rhonda halfheartedly agrees.

While Andre and Rhonda are having trouble seeing eye to eye, Cookie and Lucious are finding a way to work together again. She’s helping him with his video and he’s writing what Cookie’s calling a “fire” song. The chemistry between Cookie and Lucious was always hot, even when they were trying to ruin each other. Now that she’s vowed to help him get Empire back, those fires are being stoked. The new music he’s writing is vastly different from his past work and Cookie’s impressed. She tells Lucious that maybe Hakeem did him a favor by taking the company from him because this is the best work he’s done. The sparks don’t last long when Andre walks in with bad news. Camilla cut the budget on Lucious’ video. Lucious wants blood, but Cookie is the voice of reason (yeah, let that sink in for a minute) tells him to wait until Andre can get dirt on Mimi (Marissa Tomei) and then they can move in for the kill. Cookie notices Andre seems stressed and she tells him she’s worried. He shrugs it off, but Cookie has those maternal instincts and knows something isn’t right.

Jamal, like his brothers, is having issues of his own. He’s walking with Becky (Gabourey Sidibe) when he’s confronted by a group of seemingly excited fans. The fans are actually a LGBT flash mob who’s decided to show their anger over his sexual relationship with Sky (played by Alicia Keys). They sing,” Flip, flop, flip, flippity, flop…” mocking his flip flopping gay to straight bed mates. He’s hurt and angry and goes to his manager Jameson (William Fichtner) to find out what he what he can do to regain his gay musician image. Jameson tells him that Lucious is the one spreading the “straight news” because he’s always been a bigot that sees being gay as a career liability. He’s hoping the news about Sky hurts Jamal’s chances at winning the ASA Award and will clear the path for Lucious to take home the gold. Jamal is livid with his father’s ploy to sabotage his career and his shot as a gay ASA winner.

Over at Empire, Hakeem is juggling two women at once: his new girlfriend Laura and his ex-girlfriend/current owner of Empire, Camilla. Hakeem introduces the two and after a chilly greeting Laura leaves and Camilla reminds Hakeem that she told him to break up with Laura. Hakeem tells Camilla she has no right to tell him who he can see since she’s married to Mimi. Camilla says that Mimi is sick and will probably die soon, but if he ends things with Laura they can be together and rule Empire like the King and Queen she promised they’d be.

As Hakeem is working or maybe being worked by Camilla, Cookie is having a board meeting with the shareholders. The meeting gets interrupted by an arguing Porsha (Ta’Rhonda Jones) and Carol (Tasha Smith) followed by Jamal announcing his father is one foul piece of work. He’s obviously still angry about Lucious trying to trash his career and chances for the ASA and Cookie responds by saying, “Lucious has always been a tampon.” Cookie’s always supported Jamal and his sexuality as well as the rest of her children’s lives and isn’t surprised Lucious is pulling tricks to win his first ASA. In comes Andre, who in this episode seems to be the harbinger of bad news. He tells the board that Camilla just cut the funding for their big star Tiana’s (Seraya) tour. Camilla says Tiana isn’t an established artist and can’t bring in the money on her own with the tour. Cookie flips and she’s ranting at Andre to fix this and calls him crazy. Immediately, she realizes that calling her mentally unstable son crazy was probably over the line and she apologizes. Cookie goes and breaks the news Tiana, who says she’s done with Empire. She assumes this is Hakeem’s decision and he’s replacing her tour with his girlfriend’s group Mirage à Trois. Cookie pleads with her to wait before she makes a decision. She promises she’ll fix this.

Cookie goes to talk to Rhonda, who is now working for Camilla’s fashion line. They talk about Rhonda’s fears about the miscarriage affecting Andre. She tells Cookie she thinks he’s having a bipolar relapse and Cookie asks what she can do to help. Rhonda tells her she’s agreed to go to church with Andre to see the reverend, but she’s convinced it won’t help Andre’s delusions. Andre insists God is telling him that Rhonda was pushed down the steps, not fell. Cookie is concerned, but she’s hoping to convince Rhonda that what’s good for Empire is good for Andre. With Rhonda working for Camilla, Cookie wants her to find out anything she can to help them take back the company.

Camilla is still refusing to pay for Tiana’s tour and Cookie, being the master manipulator that she is, convinces her to put Laura and Mirage à Trois on tour with Tiana. That way the tour has two acts bringing in money and Laura will be gone leaving Hakeem free to be with Camilla. Obviously, Camilla jumps at this chance and agrees to the tour as long as Cookie keeps Laura away from Hakeem. When Cookie breaks the news to Hakeem and Laura, they have different reactions. Laura is excited to go on tour while Hakeem wants her by his side. Cookie reminds him that she’s doing all of this to save the company and save him from Lucious so he better play along. Across the office, Rhonda is eavesdropping on a phone conversation between Camilla and her wife Mimi. Things seem heated between the two and phone call ends abruptly.

Jamal, still trying to “get is gay back,” needs some good PR to get the fans and his reputation back. Jameson and Cookie plan a live performance and Jamal is still reeling from being played by his father. Publicly airing his family’s business, he sings a new song he wrote slamming Lucious Lyon. He ends the performance outing his father for being unauthentic. He says Lucious Lyon isn’t even his real name. Welcome to the gun show, indeed. For Lucious, this is total betrayal and an act of war. Lucious built everything on his rags to Lyon dynasty story and Jamal knows that outing his father as a fake will hurt not only him, but his chances at winning the ASA.

Surprisingly, Lucious didn’t seem phased by Jamal’s PR stunt. When reporter Harper Scott (Annie Ilonzeh) asked him if he would retaliate, he said no he wanted to thank Jamal for outing him. He says now he can focus on the real story of how Lucious Lyon came to be. The king and his untold story. He’ll recreate his image and asked Scott if she’d be interested in telling that story. Lucious Lyon: one-part media mogul, one-part artist and all parts charm. Scott seemed interested and Lucious seemed inspired.

Fulfilling her end of the deal, Rhonda goes with Andre to talk to Reverend Price. Andre accuses Rhonda of being unfaithful to him because she wasn’t at the office when she claimed to be working late. She gets angry and blames his paranoia, saying that his visions are a sign he needs to see a doctor and this paranoia proves that. Reverend Price disagrees and says whatever Andre needs he’ll find in God. Rhonda drags Andre to Cookie’s office to prove to him she was working. Cookie tells him she has Rhonda watching Camilla, proving Rhonda wasn’t cheating. Andre’s family is concerned that he’s not getting the proper help after losing the baby. Jamal says he needs more than just God.

Hakeem is getting ready to set up Camilla but he’s questioning his role at Empire if she’s gone. Jamal tells him that he’s already doing a great job as CEO of the company as well as working from the inside to take it back from Camilla. Hakeem agrees, but is worried that once she’s gone no one will let him continue to be CEO. Regardless of the outcome, Hakeem is loyal (now anyway) to his family and their dynasty. He continues with his plan. He takes Camilla to bed and records the entire thing. After she leaves, he sends the video to her wife.

The following day, Andre breaks the big news to his family that Mimi divested all of her shares in Empire. He immediately puts in the call to buy all of her stock. He tells the broker to buy it from the trust he made in his son’s name. Talking about his son is too much and he loses it and throws his phone. He’s happy they’re getting the company back, but he’s still reeling from the loss of his child. Jamal and Hakeem take him to the recording studio (ironically the one he tried to commit suicide in) to cheer him up with a song. Andre goes through a myriad of emotions listening to his brother’s heartfelt tribute. In the end, he seems to be grateful for his supportive family, although his differences with his wife and his faith are still looming.

With Camilla out and the company back up for grabs, Cookie goes to tell Lucious the good news. He’s impressed Cookie came through for him and says he’s going home to celebrate and by going home (he means going to rub it in Camilla face). When he finds her in her hotel room, Mimi is dead and Camilla is dumping evidence down the drain. Unbeknownst to Camilla, Lucious records the whole thing on his cellphone. When she turns around she realizes she’s been caught. She’s poisoned her wife and he has video evidence. Lucious gives her a choice: drink the remainder of the poison or he hands over the evidence to the police. Either way, her life is over and Lucious torments her with the horrible possibilities of prison. Camilla won’t fair well in orange jump suits for twenty-five years to life so she drinks the poison. Lucious got his revenge, his company is back in the family fold and the giant buildup for the Empire takeover is dead in the water (Poor Mimi) in one episode.