Empire – Rise By Sin

By: Kelly Kearney

This week’s episode of “Empire” was the episode fans have been waiting for. All season long there’s been this feeling that something big was coming and it wasn’t the anticipation for the American Sound Awards. Secrets, crimes and cover-ups came to a head on the ASA’s red carpet and Lucious’ past misdeeds may have cost one of his son’s their life.

Carol’s “Crack-ing” and Cookie’s Ready to Crumble…

Cookie (Taraji P. Henson) is the queen of shade and nobody gets the receiving end of that more than her sister Carol. This week, Carol (Tasha Smith) decided to throw caution to the wind and date ex-cop and current FBI agent Tariq (Morocco Omari). With her sketchy murderous past with Lucious (Terrence Howard) hanging over all their heads, Cookie is less than pleased. She intercepts their date and threatens Tariq, warning him to not cross the Lyon family. Cookie is no amateur when it comes to undercover law enforcement, as she’s s been around the block with them enough times. She could sniff out a fed in a crowded bar better than a drug dog could find a stash in the Miami airport. The FBI, agent had enough of Cookie and he drops the bomb. He knows Lucious killed her cousin Bunky. Cookie who always leaves a conversation with the upper hand, ignores the Bunky comment and casually tells Tariq that her sister Carol has herpes and she hopes it’s not too late for him. Typical Cookie, loosely veiled threats followed by hilarious insults. When Carol finds out Cookie talked to Tariq, the two sisters have it out. Cookie thinks Carol’s back drinking and she’s had enough of her lies. With all the dirt Carol has on Lucious and Cookie, dating a federal agent cannot end well, for any of them. Cookie is beyond angry and throws Carol out of her apartment and out of her life when Carol pushes Cookie to her limits by claiming she could have been in her shoes if Lucious wasn’t stolen from her by her sister years ago.

On the DL with D-Major

Jamal (Jussie Smollett) and music director Derek D-Major (Tobias Truvillion) are still hot and heavy this week, regardless of Jamal’s feelings about Derek being publicly in the closet. Now that the two are involved, Derek proposes mixing business with pleasure. He wants to produce Jamal’s next album, but Cookie is set to produce it. Derek is hoping to persuade Jamal with a little nookie to dump Cookie and give him a shot. Jamal seems smitten with Derek until he [pretends] to explode when Lucious walks in on their pre-make out session. After telling Lucious to check his son, Lucious remarks, ” I see D-Major’s still on the DL.” I guess Derek isn’t as closeted as he thinks or maybe Lucious has been in the business so long he’s privy to all kinds of secrets. Either way, the conversation only gets worse from there. Lucious tells Jamal that Derek has a reputation for turning rich boys into his little bitches. Lucious is cruder than ever and reminds Jamal that he’s a little bitch already and that he’ll celebrate the day Jamal dies of AIDS. Apparently no one clued Lucious into the fact that this isn’t the 80’s and everybody knows AIDS isn’t a gay only disease. Harsh words for a father to tell his son and it only goes to show what kind of sociopath Lucious is. I hope by the outcome of the episode, Lucious is choking on those words.

Thirsty Puts the Lockdown on Mama

Lucious’ mother is still seething from her sons lies about her suicide. She wants to out him where it will hurt the most, at the American Sound Awards. There’s just one problem…Thirsty Rawlings (Andre Royo), Lucious’ part time lawyer slash all time goon, imprisons her and Andre (Trai Byers) in a safe room at Lucious’ mansion. Lucious knows his mother is a huge liability and crazy to boot so he’s not taking any chances. Leah (Leslie Uggams) spends the night trying to convince Andre to sneak her into the awards ceremony because she just wants to be a part of her family’s success a/k/a she wants to destroy any success they might have. I guess that old adage about fruit not falling far from the tree is spot on when it comes to Leah and Lucious.

Boom-Boom-Boom-Boom Blood Flows on the Red Carpet

Jamal is still furious with his father and, thanks to Cookie, he is now armed with the truth about Lucious killing Frank (Freda’s father) while Cookie snitched her way out of the “clink.” Jamal has had enough of Empire and his family. He announces to the media that he’s shelving his long awaited Black and White album and the ASA performance of “Chasing the Sky,” will be the last time he performs with his family. I guess Jamal didn’t stop and think about Freda (Bre-Z) and how both he and Lucious keep professionally disappointing her or how incredibly dangerous she can be. But he goes ahead and breaks the news to her anyway. He tells Freda to get away from Empire and all things Lucious and he will help her get recording deal with another label. Freda, understandably, doesn’t seem thrilled but all that goes south the minute she talks to Carol. Carol’s still salty over the way Cookie threw her out and drunkly shows up to the ASA’s where she decides to run her mouth to Freda about Lucious killing her father in prison. Freda snaps, grabs a gun from the red carpet security and BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM shoots at Lucious, missing and hitting Jamal instead. Chaos ensues as the Lyon family scrambles to help Jamal while they’re waiting for an ambulance. Out of all the family members, Cookie is effected most. Jamal was her baby boy. The boy she protected from his father. The son who always had her back. She’s devastated and rightly so. She knew Carol couldn’t be trusted and she fought to keep Freda from finding out the truth, but it all came crashing down and now Jamal is fighting for his life.

Revenge, Despair and Red Heeled Shoes

Jamal is in surgery and things do not look good. Lucious is dealing the only way he knows how, by deflecting Cookie’s anger at him with come-ons and flirtation. After what Lucious said to Jamal, Cookie is livid with him. She knows he cares about his son, but with Lucious (who thinks love is weakness) he covers his pain with a little sweet talking and memories of their past. He’s so enamored with Cookie he doesn’t notice that his mother has left the safe room and is about to talk to the press. Jamal’s fighting for his life, but if Leah has her way, Lucious will be fighting to salvage what’s left of his career. Speaking of family knock downs, Rhonda (Kaitlin Doubleday) flat out asks Anika (Grace Gealey) if she owns a pair of red heeled Louboutins when they run into each other at the Empire offices. Anika plays dumb and avoids Rhonda’s pointed questions. Later, Anika is hauled in for questioning by FBI agent Tariq. He’s hoping she’ll spill the family dirt and give him enough evidence to take down Lucious. Now that she’s pregnant with the Lyon heir, will she turn on her baby’s family?

Things are at a breaking point with all of the Lyon family members and next week we’ll find out who makes it out of this alive, prison free and with careers intact. With Carol, Freda, Leah and now the feds looking to take down Lucious, there’s no telling who will make it through the finale.