Empire – False Face

By: Gladys Luna

Lucious (Terrence Howard) brings breakfast to Cookie (Taraji P. Henson) in order for her to keep resting until she gets completely well. He is followed by Thirsty (Andre Royo) who advises Lucious that they need to go. When they are about to leave, Cookie asks Thirsty to stay behind so he can update her on the Poundcake’s (Da’Vine Joy Randolph) daughter investigation and he tells her that the girl’s name is Maya, 19 years old, she is studying classical ballet at NYU and that she was adopted by a white family living upstate New York. Lucious returns to the room as he sees that the other man hasn’t followed him and asks him about the reason why. Thirsty lies saying that he was just looking for the bathroom and got lost instead.

Lucious and Thirsty have a meeting with Eddie (Forest Whitaker) where they offer him a deal so he can leave Empire with no major fuss, but the man dares to reject it.

On the other side of town, Cookie pays a visit to Maya (Rhyon Nicole Brown). While she waits for the girl to finish her ballet class, she thinks of the possible ways she could give her the news about her birth mother’s current situation. The thoughts evoke some memories of her time in prison and how her sister Carol (Tasha Smith) tried to convince her back then of seeing her mother who had abandoned them, but once again, Cookie refuses to do it. Once the class is over, Cookie approaches the girl and praises her on her skills. She then introduces herself and the girl is utterly surprised when she finally realizes of who the woman is. Cookie is about to tell her the truth but then regrets it and instead invites her to visit Empire the next day to a casting for Tiana´s new video.

Lucious and Thirsty call Hakeem (Bryshere Y. Gray) and Jamal (Jussie Smollett) to a meeting where they advise the guys about what just happened with Eddie. As they are discussing the possible ways to kick him out of the company, Thirsty announces that something has happened at Laviticus and they need to leave. As they arrive to the place, they see Eddie standing on the stage. Suddenly, Tiana (Serayah) walks in and everyone cheers. Then, Eddie announces that her new single has become number one in the R&B and Pop Charts as well as Tory´s (Rumer Willis) new album with both of them breaking new records for Empire.

As they are celebrating Edna (Sara Sevigny), another member of the board that is standing next to Lucious, lets him know that she won’t be letting Eddie out of Empire after all – much to Lucious’ dismay. As he looks over, Lucious sees Eddie raising his glass at him from the other side of the room.

Lucious walks into his office followed by Hakeem and Jamal where he shows them how low they are on the Empire 20/20 chart. He demands they create something that will make them go to the top of the list. Hakeem assures him he has a single he is ready to release while Jamal reminds him that he put him on the bench making Lucious have to approve him getting back in the game. The young man tells him that if he´s going back it only will be with his new music, but his father doesn’t agree with it so Jamal asks to be removed from the project then.

Andre (Trai Byers) meets with Reverend L.C. (Charles Malik Whitfield) and tells him about the confession he made to his father, but also expresses that he doesn’t know where to start to do things right. The Reverend replies that he already has, once he decided to confess.

Later that day, Jamal and Tory are discussing about how to make some new music under a different concept from what they been doing it so far. They decide to do some collective creations without even telling anyone at Empire.

Blake (Chet Hanks) takes Hakeem to an abandoned basement where he suggests they should do an “old school” party where he can release his single and make it number one, just in the way his parents use to do it. Hakeem seems a little reluctant to the idea at first, but then Andre enters the place and encourages him to do it. He apologizes to him for what he did and lets him know that if he wants to he will help him to what Hakeem finally agrees.

Edna and Eddie finally meet. As they are talking about Eddie´s future at Empire, they stumble into Giselle (Nicole Ari Parker) who tells Eddie that his receptionist asked her to meet him there. He apologizes to Edna for the “scheduling mix up” and then Celeste (Ryan Michelle Bathe) walks out of nowhere, yelling at Eddie. The whole scene is already a mess when Monique (Kelly Owens) arrives and the real fuss begins, making Edna to turn on her heels and leave Eddie alone with the other three women. Right that moment, a Cocktail waitress (Sarah Lo) intercepts Eddie while carrying a champagne bottle and a glass and sending “compliments of the boss.” Eddie turns around and sees Lucious from the other side, smiling and raising a glass at him. Later that day, Eddie meets with Shine (Xzibit) and after a while, he convinces him to become his ally.

Jamal and Tory arrive at Azal’s (Kade Wise) place where he is tattooing someone.  He asks them to check on the design book and pick something from it. Jamal tells him that they just want to talk to him, so Azal tells them that as “time is money” and that someone should be getting a tattoo and another one should be doing the talking. Jamal tries to explain to him about the project he and Tory want to start, but the tattoo artist refuses to join.

Back at Empire, Maya is dancing for Cookie to the rhythm of Tiana´s music. Tiana walks in and turns the music off. Maya runs towards her completely surprised seeing the girl in there. She extends her hand to her and tells her she is one of her biggest fans, but Tiana ignores her. Cookie asks Maya to give them some time and when the girl leaves she scolds Tiana saying that the only real bitch there is her and assures the girl that she can unmake her as easily as she just made. Cookie follows Maya and tells her not to get discouraged by what just happened and ends up confessing everything she knows about her birth mother. She tells her that Poundcake wants to see her, but Maya says that said woman was dead to her since the moment she gave her up. Cookie remembers when her mother Renee (Alfre Woodard) visited in prison and how she reacted in a similar way to Maya towards her.

Eddie meets with Shine and asks him to introduce him to one of his new artists as he promised. Just then, Lucious walks into the studio revealing that Shine just played Eddie and decided to stay on the Lyons instead. Lucious threatens Eddie, but the other man says that he is just as lethal as him.

Hakeem’s party is on full blast. Jamal shows up and the press asks for the three brothers to pose for a picture and they do. Andre asks Jamal to give him the chance to talk to him later, but he refuses. Hakeem presents his new single and before the song finishes, Tiana walks in and gets on the stage and dances with Hakeem. When their performance is done, they move to an isolated space where they share a very heated encounter.

The party is still on and Becky (Gabourey Sidibe) seems to be having a good time. Jamal walks through the crowd until he sees Azal standing at the bar. The man confesses that he wants to join to his new project and also jokes that Tory threatened him with blowing up his shop if he didn’t.

Tiana and Hakeem have a small argument once the young man expresses his disagreement on what Eddie is doing to her. Cookie sees Thirsty at Empire’s elevator and he blurts out that Lucious is planning on killing Eddie. When the woman arrives home, she talks to her husband and tells him that together they will find a way to get Eddie out of the company without killing him. The next day, Eddie is called to the Lyon’s house where they threaten him with telling to the press what he did to the other artists he represented and how they ended up either dead or in a very bad state. He has no other choice but to sign the offer they just made them and leave.

Cookie visits Poundcake (Da’Vine Joy Randolph) again and lies to her about not finding her daughter. She recalls the last time she saw her mother and the heated argument they shared while she was still in prison. She asks her friend to tell her everything she wants to tell her daughter and she will deliver the message to her once she finds her.

At last, it is revealed that Eddie has joined Anika (Grace Byers) and together they are creating a plan to steal Empire from the Lyons.

Betrayal and troubles seem to be every day´s meal for the Lyon family. Please catch up with the Lyon’s weekly journey on Starry Constelaltion Magazine and make sure to watch Empire every Wednesday at 8/7 c on Fox. ¡Hasta la próxima!