Empire – Death Will Have His Way

By: Kelly Kearney

When Fox’s behemoth musical drama “Empire” ended last year, the Lyon family was facing some serious obstacles. Lucious lost Empire when Mimi (played by Marissa Tomei) organized a hostile takeover with the help of her wife Camilla (played by Naomi Campbell) and Hakeem. Anika found out she was pregnant with Hakeem’s baby and Rhonda, who’s also pregnant, was attacked and thrown down the stairs of her and Andre’s new home.

When the mid-season premiere begins, we find Rhonda (Kaitlin Doubleday) battered and bleeding at the bottom of the staircase. Things don’t look good for the Lyon heir and her red high heel wearing assailant, (who is most likely Anika) slips out unnoticed. At the same time Rhonda is fighting for her life, Andre (Trai Byers) and Lucious (Terrence Howard) are preparing to go to war over Empire. Andre thinks there’s a way to block the takeover and it’s in Empire’s business charter. While Andre is off trying to save his family’s legacy, Rhonda is still laying on the floor pleading for someone to find her. She’s desperate and bleeding and prays to God to save her baby. She takes her phone and hurls it through the window, setting off the house alarm.

Hakeem (Bryshere Gray) comes back to his apartment after selling out his entire family to his ex-girlfriend to find Cookie waiting for him. Cookie (Taraji P. Henson) is mad – very mad – lethal even and demands to know why Hakeem gave their family legacy to Camilla. She questions his family loyalty and demands he reverse this takeover and give the company back to his father. Hakeem refuses and Cookie smacks him around with a broom and rants about him taking his vote back. If she’s trying to knock some sense into him, a pissed off ex-con mother wailing a broom like a samari might be just the persuasion Hakeem needs.

The family is in crisis mode and everyone is doing what they do best. Jamal (Jussie Smollett) is publically supporting his father on stage, Lucious is still plotting to take back his company and Camilla is using her new found power as head of Empire to toss Lucious out of his now former office. Becky (Gabourey Sidibe) interrupts them to tell Lucious Rhonda was in the hospital. He takes off to go be with his family.

At the hospital, Cookie and Lucious break the news to Andre that his baby didn’t make it. Rhonda will be fine, but the child was gone. Andre loses it. He falls to the floor in a mix of anger and pain. Hakeem, who’s presence at the hospital is unwanted, looks on in horror and I’m assuming guilt. His actions with Camilla have put him on the outside of his family’s tragedy and anyone who knows Lucious Lyon and Cookie should not be too surprised.

Rhonda is trying desperately to make sense of the accident. She assumes she slipped and tells Andre that for the first time in a long time she prayed for their baby. Andre is seemingly happy that Rhonda might be more open to his faith and turning to God when Rhonda assures him that’s not the case. She said she pleaded for god to save her baby and they lost it anyway. She is distraught and tells Andre there is no God and their baby is proof. This declaration on top of losing their child is going to be a hard blow for Andre.

Cookie goes to Lucious’ house to grieve together. He’s in bed and looking like he’s filled with a mix of emotions. Cookie holds him and tries to comfort him, winding up falling asleep in his bed. When she wakes up, Lucious is in his walk in closet holding a gun. With the loss of Rhonda and Andre’s child and the Empire takeover, Lucious feels like his family’s dynasty has been stolen from him. He’s ready to take it back with any means necessary. Cookie tries to diffuse the Lucious bomb by telling him that, “I guess the rotten son [Hakeem] apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.” Lucious says that if he has to take Hakeem out to save the family’s company, he will do it. Cookie tells him to hold his murder-revenge plot as she’s got her own way to fix this. She’s going to take Camilla down from the inside. Lucious agrees to hold off on the family warfare for another forty-eight hours while Cookie does what she does best, infiltration and conquer.

Back at Empire, Camilla is manipulating Hakeem into breaking up with his rising star girlfriend, Laura (Jamila Velazquez). She tells him she’s been plotting to steal Empire from Lucious ever since he banished her from Hakeem’s life. She makes it clear that if Hakeem ends things with Laura, she will make him CEO. There’s plenty of board members vying for that spot and if Hakeem wants it he has to do it Camilla’s way.

Cookie, Camilla and Hakeem meet at the Empire offices about Hakeem’s contract with Lyon Dynasty. Cookie wants Empire to acquire Lyon Dynasty since she owns the rights to Hakeem’s album and if they don’t agree to the twenty million dollar buyout she’s offering then she will release the music any way she can. Camilla threatens legal action if they try to leak the album.

Meanwhile, Lucious holds a meeting at his club to decide how he can persuade the board to withhold their vote in choosing a new CEO. Since Lucious is one-part music mogul and all parts mob boss, he sends his employees out to intimidate the board into withholding their votes. Lucious is the King and he sees this as an act of war, so take no prisoners is how he plans on dealing with it.

While Lucious is getting in touch with his inner Tony Soprano, Anika (Grace Gealey) visits Rhonda to give her condolences with a side of manipulation. She assures Rhonda that there will be another Empire heir. Of course, Rhonda thinks she means she and Andre will have another baby, but Anika is referring to her secret pregnancy with Hakeem. The evidence is stacking up against Anika being Rhonda’s assailant.

Hakeem has more women problems than all the Lyon men combined and makes the decision to break up with Laura to take the CEO position. He’s verbally abusing Laura and her other girl group members and they’ve had enough of him. They leave practice and he continues to push Laura until she breaks up with him. Camilla’s plan seems to be falling into place.

With his brother’s loss and his family at war with his other brother, Jamal is having professional disappointments of his own. He’s up for an American Sound Award for Song of the year (coincidently so is Lucious) when his manager Jameson (William Fichtner) tells him he’s conflicted about Jamal’s short lived relationship with Skye (played by Alicia Keys). Jameson says Jamal was sold to the public as a gay artist and his “dip in the lady pool of love” conflicts with that. Jamal worked so hard to be recognized as a gay musician and Jameson feels his decision will be a disservice to that and his fans. Jamal makes it clear that he is gay and that two sexual experiences with women over a lifetime doesn’t change that. Sexuality is fluid, but Jamal still identifies as a gay man and he doesn’t feel Sky changed that. No one can tell Jamal who he can sleep with or how he identifies his sexuality. Jameson is not budging on this and drops Jamal as a client calling him a liability.

Lucious’ plan plays out like a scene from a 70’s mobster movie. A board member’s car explodes, another finds her cat hanging from the ceiling, another is beaten and battered. It’s full on intimidation Lucious Lyon style and the board members are realizing you don’t cross the King.

While Lucious is enacting his form of justice, Jamal tells Cookie about what went down with Jameson. Cookie jokes with him and asks him if he’s bisexual now. Jamal tells her what he told Jameson that his relationship with Sky doesn’t mean he’s not gay and then he asks Cookie if she ever slept with a woman. She quickly changes the subject and tells Jamal he has to win this ASA so he better “go get his gay back,” so he can beat his father for Song of the year. That’s the difference between Cookie and Lucious, she wants her children to succeed past what she and Lucious accomplished and Lucious would step on his children for his own success. She wants Jamal to be recognized for all his hard work and Lucious wants Jamal in his shadow.

Over at Empire, Lucious’ intimidation tactics worked. All the board members withdrew their votes for “personal reasons” (a/k/a survival) and now it’s an open run for CEO. Hakeem steps up and grabs it. He wants the CEO position as he wants to bring Empire to the top and show everyone that he can make Empire better than when his father was at the helm. Camilla has created an ego monster and Empire could pay the price.

While his family is plotting an Empire come back, Jamal is planning his own sort of comeback. He’s written a new song titled “Freedom” and performs if in front of a room full of people including Jameson. The song is a one/two punch to the haters who are trying to pigeon hole him as only a gay artist. He’s Jamal and he will do what he wants and sleep with who he wants. No one but him can define his sexuality. This becomes fairly evident when he flaunts his sexy moves with a few scantily clad female dancers. Jamal might be gay, but no one tells him what he can and can’t do.

Rhonda is well enough to leave the hospital and Andre, Cookie and Jamal are there to bring her home. Andre tells her that Rhonda is still devastated and losing hope about their chances of having another child and Cookie eases his mind by confessing she had miscarried a little girl before they were born so Rhonda can bounce back from this, too.

Back at Empire, Cookie, Jamal and Andre are trying to push Camilla and Hakeem to take the deal with Lyon Dynasty. They threaten to release Hakeem’s album if Camilla doesn’t agree to their terms. She refuses. They counter with leaking Hakeem’s album which looks pretty bad since he’s Empire’s new CEO and artist which could result in Empire’s stocks plummeting. Hakeem, feeling guilty about all of his choices and distant from the family he loves, agrees to Cookie’s offer. He says he wants his family back in the fold. Cookie drops the bomb that she also wants to be Empire’s head of A&R, a job she fought Lucious for, and Hakeem agrees. Cookie’s plan works and Hakeem has no idea he just let a “Lyon” into his brand new den.

It’s hard for Hakeem to bask in his Empire glory when he’s missing the girl he thinks he loves. He’s regretting the break up with Laura and goes to find her and apologize. He explains he pushed her away for the company but now he wants her back. She accepts his apology with a little convincing and they wind up sleeping together. This is a big deal for Laura since she’s giving Hakeem her virginity. Hopefully, Hakeem doesn’t just see her as a conquest and sees this as a gift from the woman he claims to love.

The episode ends with Lucious calling a meeting with Hakeem under the same bridge Lucious killed his best friend Bunkie. Lucious has his back turned to Hakeem and a gun in his hand. He tells his son the story of Bunkie’s murder – how Bunkie was a loyal friend to Lucious and an Uncle to his children, but he had no loyalty and Lucious demands loyalty from his family so he murdered him. Hakeem doesn’t seem surprised at all and that’s when Lucious issues his warning. If Hakeem continues to run Empire with Camilla, Lucious will remove him like he did Bunkie. Then, Lucious hands Hakeem his gun and tells him to be the King he has to kill the existing King, prodding Hakeem to kill him. He turns his back and harasses him into shooting him in the back like the backstabber he is. Hakeem holds the gun to the back of his father’s head, pauses and drops the gun saying, “I don’t have to do what you want.” As he walks away, Lucious calls out to him to, “Watch your back boy. I keep my promises.” The show “Empire” is certainly back and it looks like it’s going to be one crazy ride!