Empire – Fair Terms

By: Gladys Luna

Cookie (Taraji P. Henson) is standing face to face with her estranged mother Renee (Alfre Woodard). The mother gasps in surprise at seeing her daughter there. She welcomes her in and after a weird and overwhelming small talk, they finally give in and join in a sweet embrace. Right on cue, the kettle whistles making them break apart. Renee offers her daughter a cup of tea that she gladly accepts. Cookie brings her mother up to date about what happened to Poundcake (Da’Vine Joy Randolph), which in a way was the turning point that has her today sharing a table with the woman she never thought she would ever want to see again. Cookie spots some pictures resting on a table near her and recognizes herself and her sisters from a time they didn’t know anything about their mother. Renee confesses that she has always been close to them, only at a lens length. They both decide to start all over and, even though they know it won´t be an easy to take, they are willing to give it a shot.

In the meantime, Thirsty (Andre Royo) and his team are taking care of Shine´s (Xzibit) dead body. Later that night, the lawyer meets with Lucious (Terrence Howard) to inform him what they´ve done with the body and the gun. That moment Andre (Trai Byers) bursts into the office and tells his father about what Anika (Grace Byers) has been planning against Empire. He lets Lucious know that she is trying to convince the board members to deny Eddie’s (Forest Whitaker) resignation but is confident that with Shine’s vote that they will win. Thirsty and Lucious advise Andre about what they did to the other man, so they start to come up with a different plan to stop Eddie from coming back to the company.

Jamal (Jussie Smollett), Tory (Rumer Willis) and the other artists they have teamed up with have finally finished the project they’ve been working on and upload it to a music platform in order for the world to see.

TWO WEEKS LATER

Everything seems to be going just fine between Cookie and her mother, whom by Lucious’ opinion have become practically inseparable. The couple is getting ready to attend Shine’s memorial that they have set up themselves as a cover up. According to the most recent news, the police have his body and as he had countless enemies they don’t even know who to blame first. Once they arrive to Leviticus, we can see everyone gathered to pay respect to the late producer.

Lucious and Cookie have made sure to keep an eye on Tiffany (Tiffany Oglesby), Shine´s ex-wife, since it will be best for them to have her on their good side when the votes for Eddie’s reinstatement will come. After a moment, Lucious stands up and gives a thoughtful speech about his “friend” that everyone seems to be content with.

Andre spots Anika while she takes advantage of the situation and approaches to the board members in order to make sure they support Eddie’s return to Empire. He turns his step and finds himself a spot on an isolated bench. Jamal shows up and expresses his condolences to Andre. He also confesses that he misses him and loves him, making Andre confess he loves him back and they ending up hugging each other.

Hakeem (Bryshere Y. Gray) is drinking silently at the bar, apart from his family and looking sad. Becky (Gabourey Sidibe) approaches him and lets him know that she´s been contacted to ask him if he might be interested in taking over a role on a movie that´s been filming in the city. The young man doesn’t seem to be all interested in it, but when Becky mentions that one of the actress he seems to be a fan of, Haven Quinn (Cassie Ventura), is part of the cast. He immediately agrees.

Lucious has taken Tiffany to a secluded area of the club where he can discuss with her about their plans. Suddenly, they are interrupted by Eddie who is making use of his charm, as always. He introduces himself to the woman offering his help. Tiffany is called to from the other side of the room so she excuses herself, leaving the two old friends alone. After sharing a heated conversation that is interrupted by the woman’s return, Eddie says his goodbyes and leaves. When Tiffany and Lucious are left alone, she informs him that the woman responsible for taking over Shine´s business will be Nessa (Sierra Aylina McClain) and not her.

Hakeem has finally arrived to the set where the movie Down By Day is currently filming. The PA (Alex Levy) takes him to where the director Beekman Poser (David Pasquesi) is already waiting for him. After a brief introduction, he is asked to sit on one of the chairs just behind Haven, where she is being taken care of by the hair and makeup team. Hakeem attempts to start a polite conversation with her, but the girl doesn’t seem to be as friendly as he imagined.

After seeing Anika at Shine’s memorial, Andre seemed to have been shaken up by his old hatred feelings towards the woman. So, he calls Reverend L.C. Pryce (Charles Malik Whitfield) for help. The reverend tells him that he needs to forgive her even if he doesn’t believe she deserves it, just as he had been forgiven by those who love him.

At Empire, Nessa has arrived to Shine´s studio to pick up her things. Lucious, Andre and Cookie enter the room and try to talk to her, but the woman advises that Anika has already reached out to her and asked for her support on casting a vote on Eddie’s favor. Andre intends to apologize to her for the damage he caused in the past, but Nessa doesn’t buy it. It is not until Lucious walks towards her and delivers a kind speech about the last time he saw Shine recording in that booth and a two full albums offer that Nessa finally gives in and agrees to support them instead.

Anika meets Eddie at a restaurant to inform him that Nessa has decided to team up with the Lyons, but Eddie is not planning to give up on this war anytime soon. So, he suggests they any dirt they can on each of the 20/20 artists and take the project down.

Hakeem is trying hard to play his role right, but he doesn’t seem to get it. The director keeps saying things that only insult him, so he decides to not to continue with the movie and gets himself fired. After a while, Haven goes to see him to tell him she admires his braveness for standing up to himself in the way he that he did and she hasn’t dared to. Hakeem invites her to go see him perform and she agrees.

Cookie, Renee, Candace (Vivica A. Fox) and Carol (Tasha Smith) meet for lunch at the Lyons’ house. They start to talk and Cookie begins to feel uneasy when she realizes that her mother and sisters have been sharing some moments that she wasn’t part of and feels that her mother gave up on her but not on her sisters. Somewhere along the conversation Cookie decides to stand up and leave the room followed by her mother, who tries to assure her that she looked for her but she was the one who decided not to see her. It suddenly seems like they have gone back to square one.

Cookie and Lucious are giving an interview where they’re explaining what the 20/20 Empire project and event will be all about. The 20/20 launch party has arrived and as expected everyone is there. Cookie and Lucious enter the place putting all the attention on them as they wave people on their way in. The members of the board are there too, and everything appears to be flowing as planned. The first artist is announced and Tiana (Serayah) takes the stage all dressed in white and surrounded by different screens that show multiple photos of herself in the background. Hakeem walks in with Haven and when the girl asks him if Tiana is the girlfriend that dumped him, he replies with a “maybe.” When Haven sees that the other girl is looking at them, she kisses Hakeem making the photographers to turn at them and capture the moment.

Porsha (Ta’Rhonda Jones) shows up with Renee by her side and leading her to where her daughter is. Cookie gives her a tour around the place and tells her that everything she sees around is what she truly is, and she thanks her for that as she believes all her strength has come from her mother. The hole Renee left in her with her absence, she managed to fill it with music. Cookie takes the woman to another room where Jamal, Andre and Hakeem are gathered, and she introduces her mother as G-ma to the astounding looks of the boys. Cookie leaves the four of them alone in order to get to meet her and one by one they reach out and hug her.

Cookie and Lucious are showing the press how they have built up the project. The man takes a place on his throne that has been set in the middle of the room while he is surrounded by floor to ceiling screens. He orders to start the show and the first picture we see is the one where a young Blake (Chet Hanks) sending a racist message. This is something that surprises everyone in the room. Hakeem and Becky meet Blake and he tries to explain where the picture came from and the reason behind it, but they don’t believe him and Hakeem asks him to go away. Cookie and Lucious are trying to do damage control, but nobody believes in them anymore. Right that instant Eddie walks in asking if they need his help. As it is expected, Lucious asks him to leave, but one of the board members named Leonard (Will Kinnear) asks him to stay. Minutes later Eddie takes the stage to apologize for the current situation and announces that Blake is no longer connected to Empire. Lucious and Cookie walk up to the stage and stare deeply at Eddie. Not being able to hold it anymore, Lucious takes the other man by the lapels of his jacket and shakes him off while Eddie whispers on his ears that this is all he was and will ever be. Lucious releases his grip on the man and Eddie announce, “Lucious Lyon,” while he claps at him in front of everyone.

Will the Lyons’ survive another hit? Make sure to find out next Wednesday at 8/7 c on Fox. ¡Hasta la próxima!