Empire – Love Is a Smoke

By: Gladys Luna

While Lucious (Terrence Howard) is listening to a romantic song he recorded a long time ago when he remembers a moment when he and Giuliana (Nia Long) had a relationship. They memory is broken by Cookie (Taraji P. Henson) who has been contemplating him as he seems to be lost himself in the moment. She confesses him that Angelo (Taye Diggs) had told her that if he won the primary elections he will propose to her and since he was the winner, she assumes he will ask her to marry him anytime soon. She wants to be sure that Lucious would be comfortable if she says yes. The man seems to be disappointed at first, but tells her firmly that what she and Angelo have would never compare to what they had making Cookie to show a small side smile at said confession. In other business, Lucious suggests Cookie that they should talk to Andre about the Vegas deal but the woman assures him that the project is a total go. And that is when Lucious feels compelled to confess that Giuliana is a dangerous woman and it is exactly because of that he wants to stop the project from happening.

Andre (Trai Byers), Shyne (Xzibit) and Giuliana are discussing about Andre´s decision of asking Tory (Rumer Willis) to work as a song writer for Nessa (Sierra Aylina McClain) on her show in Vegas. Shyne doesn’t seem to be quite content with the idea, but Andre and Giuliana assure him that she is very talented. Right that moment Tory shows up and Giuliana takes the chance to introduce herself, but the young girl doesn’t show herself interested. Andre shares the reason why they called her, but she kind of refuses to work with them since she is already doing it for Lucious. Giuliana suggests that maybe they can work together, but Andre protests about it and when Tory sees how the other woman stands up for herself in front of Andre she clearly knows what she´s doing. Tory seems to be suddenly interested in working for her.

Angelo pays a visit to Jamal (Jussie Smollett) and asks for his advice on whether or not to ask Cookie to marry him, earning the young man´s full approval. He even advises him to forget about doing everything one step at a time and do it all at once, that’s what Cookie likes after all.

After the encounter that Shyne, Andre and Giuliana had, they are met with Cookie and Lucious. When Giuliana greets Lucious and throws a comment that shows they have met before, Lucious remembers that moment. It was at a casino when he approached her and gave her some casino chips, something which immediately drew her attention. After winning the bet, she was fully into the man. When Cookie asks him about Giuliana and how they met, he explains that she is the Rafael´s wife, a famous, corrupt despicable player in Vegas. That is also when he learns that said man is no longer alive. When Cookie listens to what Lucious said about the woman, she asks Andre to speak with her for a moment.

Cookie invites Jamal, Andre and Hakeem (Bryshere Y. Gray) for dinner to announce Angelo’s intention of marrying her. The youngest of the Lyons seems to be upset about her mother’s news, but quickly his other two brothers convince him to accept it and be happy for his mother. Andre asks something in return for his consent, he wants his mother to completely support him on moving on with the Vegas deal. He proposes for them to take advantage of the situation and do something that Lucious has been afraid to do and by the look on their faces, they seem to be falling for Andre´s plans.

In the other hand, Thirsty (Andre Royo), Shyne and Lucious are still discussing about Shyne hiding from them that Rafael was dead when they are interrupted by Becky (Gabourey Sidibe). She informs Lucious that Tory is at the studio recording a demo for Nessa and he needs to listen to what she is doing. Lucious follows the girl and is impressed by Tory´s talent. That is when he decides that the demo will no longer be for Nessa, they will release it later that night with the help of Hakeem and Tiana (Serayah) as a little payback for Nessa and Andre.

Anika (Grace Byers) visits Tariq (Morocco Omari) as a part of the plan she made with Lucious. Cookie and Lucious are listening to the whole interaction between the two. That is when they find out that Tariq has been suspended, which means that he won’t be able to pull anything against Cookie. Suddenly, Angelo calls Cookie and asks him to meet him at his place. Lucious convinces her to leave since maybe he will finally propose to her. When she is about to leave, Shyne calls Lucious and tells him he had found out how Rafael died, but he can’t tell him on the phone. Cookie attempts to go with Lucious and meet Shyne, but he encourages her to go and meet with her apparently soon to be fiancée instead.

At Angelo´s home, he welcomes Cookie and seems pretty nervous to even look her in the eye. The two are to attend an interview at The Grant Kelly show. Cookie was expecting a proposal so she has a disappointed look on her face that she attempts to cover with a smile.

Lucious enters his room and is stopped by Giuliana that is pointing a gun at him. She confesses she doesn’t want to shoot him, all he wants just his attention. He recalls a time when he was about to buy a club in Vegas and suddenly gets ambushed by Giuliana and Rafael, who steal all his money. Back to the present, Giuliana tells him that she is aware of what she did to him, but he has no idea what she had been through. So, she tells him that if he really needs for her to pay him back the money she took from him, he has to sign the Vegas deal first.

Hakeem and Tiana present a new live video starring Tory and Tiana. After they´re done, Jamal enters the studio and spots half full bottles of all sorts of kinds of liquor and talks to Tory about it. She´s not supposed to be surrounded by alcohol or anything that may affect her recovery, but she gets mad at him for not being happy for her so she grabs a bottle and leaves the room in the company of another girl.

Tariq arrives at the place where Agent Sweetwater asked him to meet him, but he finds Lucious instead who lets him know that he and Anika set him up and now he is giving him a chance to run away before the FBI knows about the illegal business he´s been pulling against him. So, Tariq has no choice but to take the money and leave the room in a haste.

At The Grant Kelly Show, Grant Rose (Michael Christopher Collins) interviews Angelo and Cookie and when he asks them about the next step of their relationship, Angelo says that as he knows Cookie likes the grand gestures he has decided to propose to her right there live on tv. The man puts the ring on her finger before the astonished look of the woman.

Giuliana and Andre arrived at the Lyon´s club that, apparently, Lucious has turned into a casino. They are surprised to see Charlotte Frost (Eva Longoria) there, the head of the gaming commission gladly talking to Lucious. After greeting the woman, Lucious approaches to his son and tells them that he and Nessa are out of the Vegas deal.

After Angelo´s proposal, Cookie and the man go backstage to an isolated room where she tells him that she wants a moment to think through everything that had just happened. Angelo seems to be surprised at the woman´s confession and believes she is scared of such a commitment. That is when Cookie confesses to him that she and Lucious kissed, something that drives Angelo mad at her making him to start to yell all the things he has done for her. Unfortunately, all of this happens without them realizing that the microphone they had for the interview was on and everyone on set were listening to it. Angelo’s mother, Diana (Phylicia Rashad), realizes it and runs to the room to warn her son about it. Right at that moment Cookie receives a call from Andre and she asks them to give her a moment to answer, but she is dismissed from the room by Diana. When mother and son are left alone in the room, the woman promises that she won’t rest until the Lyons are groveling in the dirt.

Lucious presents Tory and she begins to perform. Nessa and Shyne are watching among the crowd and she is upset that the singer stole her song and took her spot on the stage. Andre joins them and asks Shyne to get their men together as they are taking Lucious down. Cookie arrives at the place and spots Lucious from behind next to Giuliana. Charlotte praises him on the song and he confesses that he wrote it for her. He then kisses Giuliana, something that hurts Cookie who is still watching them. So, she just turns and leaves the place.