Empire – Light In Darkness

A Death and A Birth

When the episode begins, Rhonda (Kaitlin Doubleday) takes a dive off the wedding reception’s roof, landing on a parked car, courtesy of new Mrs. Lyon, Anika (Grace Gealey). Rhonda is dead and Andre (Trai Byers) was a split second too late to save his wife. He did however see the fight that led up to her fall and he immediately goes for Anika’s throat. Andre is distraught and strangles his new step mother when her water breaks. It looks like this baby’s got great timing because instead of Andre ending Anika, he scoops her up, carries her off the balcony and gets her to the hospital.

It seems nobody has time to mourn Rhonda, with the feds on Lucious’ tail and a new baby who’s about to be born – a baby that Hakim (Bryshere Y. Gray) seems less than thrilled about. Drunk and depressed, the newly dumped Hakim shows up at Tiana’s (Serayah Ranee McNeill) house looking for love, while his father’s at the hospital tormenting Anika through her labor. Lucius (Terrence Howard) slides into the delivery room as the surrogate daddy and whispers into his new bride’s ear that the hospital is crawling with cops thanks to Rhonda’s “accident.” He goes on to say that she better tell them Rhonda tried to jump and take Anika with her. Lucius married Anika to keep her quiet and Rhonda’s death is a heat he does not need.

After a few pushes and a whole lot of Lyon style threats, Anika gives birth to a little girl and Lucius is livid! Anika swore the baby was a male Lyon heir and it’s most likely what kept Lucius from murdering her last season. Besides being a criminal, homophobe and questionable father, Lucius is also a raging misogynist. So, a granddaughter is beyond disappointing. So disappointing that I wondered if Rhonda would be the only Lyon wife to take a dive off a roof this episode.

Empire Extreme

Lucius has a new Empire baby, a streaming service called Empire Extreme. To get Extreme up and running he needs content and what better way to get music then to buy your rival’s entire music catalogue. Lucius needs streaming content, but he also has plans for a big event to show his competitors how hot Extreme will be. Jamal (Jussie Smollett), who’s still recovering from his gunshot wound courtesy of Freda (Bre-Z), is set to perform at the event while his brother Hakim is in the studio about to get a new protégé. Nessa (Sierra McClain) is the sister of Shyne (Xzibit), the drunken wedding crasher from last season’s finale. Shyne interrupts Hakim’s recording session to violently demand Lucius give his sister a recording contract. To keep the peace, (because quite honestly how many people can you have gunning for you at the same time) Lucius agrees to let Nessa sing with an artist of his choice. The young singer winds up recording a song with the youngest Lyon son called “Blossed Up.” Hakim seems more than interested in Nessa and not just from a musical standpoint, but Shyne warns him to keep his hands off his sister. Afer seeing Shyne smash and break the hands of Hakim’s studio producer, he backs off.

One Big Happy and Sometimes Homocidal Family

With Anika and Lucious pretending to be a happy couple, the logical solution is for her and her new baby (who she named Bella) to move into the Lyon mansion in order to protect her from the feds. Little did the new Mom know that Lucius’ homicidal and knife wielding mother Leah (Leslie Uggams) is also staying at the house and she’s as crazy as ever! The minute the two meet, Leah does what she does best and accuses Anika of trying to poison her while aiming the pointed end of a rather large kitchen knife at the new mom and her baby. Something tells me that Anika won’t be asking Great Granny to babysit anytime soon.

Bella’s not the only new family member under the Lyon roof, FBI agent and Lucius’ half-brother Tariq (Morocco Omari) has been desperately trying to gather evidence against his brother. Armed with a plate of scrapple (which maybe more deadly than a bullet to the head), Lucius catches Tariq staking out the mansion. Instead of his usual thinly veiled threats, Lucius invites him to a family dinner. Now, Lucius isn’t one to forget a grudge so this dinner is more of a chance for Tariq to choose a side – be a part of the family or expect the wrath of the Lyon! Tariq, who has quite possibly the worst table manners I’ve seen, shoves handfuls of asparagus in his mouth while trying to pit Lucius’ children and Cookie (Taraji P. Henson) against him. One by one he brings up instances where Lucius betrayed them and then asks Cookie why she is “playing second fiddle to this mulatto bitch?” After a few more threats and a probe into the cleanliness of Lucius and Anika’s fake marriage sheets, Cookie rather politely offers Tariq a doggie bag for his “finger food, and reminds him that this family is strong so no outsider is going to break them. Cookie is playing the part of the cordial ex-wife, but in reality she’s done with Lucius. She’s done with his marriage to Boo-Boo Kitty and she’s done with his poor choices that come back to bite them all in the backside. At first, she sounds ready to walk out of Lucius and Empire’s life altogether, but instead she asks him for a business separation. Lucius will handle the business and she will handle the talent. They will keep Empire going, but remain separate in their own departments.

A Lyon Falls

Jamal has been struggling with lingering pain from his ordeal with Freda. The middle Lyon son can’t seem to get past it, but is using his experience for not only musical inspiration but also to put a voice to gun violence. He’s been working on a song called “Need Freedom” about freeing Freda. Jamal doesn’t blame Freda for her shooting him. He blames his father and a society that left her no choices. “Need Freedom” is a political anthem and definitely not the song Jamal agreed to sing at Extreme’s event. Cookie tells Jamal if he sings this he’s just asking for a fight with his father, but Jamal thinks this song and its message is important so he plans on singing it with or without Lucius’ approval. Unfortunately, things don’t go as planned when Jamal has a panic attack on stage and can’t perform. The lights and crowd trigger his PTSD and he is paralyzed with fear. He runs off stage and Nessa grabs the mic and preforms the song for him. She brings down the house with her performance, but Lucius isn’t pleased and lets Jamal know by pointing a finger gun to the back of his son’s head. Again, Lucius sees his son as a disappointment and weak. Jamal heads home only to find his brother Andre talking to Rhonda. No, Rhonda’s not alive. Well, at least not in the literal sense, but she is alive in Andre’s mind and clad in her bloody dress she blames Andre for her death. It looks like Jamal isn’t the only Lyon son overcome with emotional problems.

After the Extreme event, Lucius is back home rocking Bella who he’s calling “Daddy’s girl.” Lucius must be warming up to his granddaughter or he’s trying to hurt his son Hakim by assuming the father role. You can never be sure with him because he’s always looking out for himself. After endless failed attempts at convincing Cookie to come back to him and all but alienating the rest of his family, Bella seems like his last chance. Unfortunately for Lucius, his brother Tariq is as single minded as he is and he wants Lucius behind bars. While Tariq was at the mansion for dinner, he snuck a hidden nanny cam in one of Bella’s teddy bears. Now, the FBI has full surveillance on the nursery and any conversations Lucius and Anika have. That includes admissions of guilt, which he eludes to while rocking Bella to sleep.

Will the nanny cam be Lucius’ undoing? Can Hakim step into the role of Bella’s father while Lucius and Anika are pretending to be a happy couple? Will Shyne continue to be a problem for the Lyon family? Can Jamal and Andre overcome their issues? Will Cookie’s resolve crumble, forcing her back into Lucius’ Lyon den? All these questions and more will be answered on next week’s “Empire.”