Empire – The Empire Unpossess’d

By: Gladys Luna

We pick up where we left off last week with Eddie (Forest Whitaker) trying to make Lucious (Terrence Howard) to withdraw his bid for Empire or he will just take the scarf he was wearing the night he killed Shine (Alvin ‘Xzibit’ Joiner) to the police and that would be it for him. As expected, Lucious doesn’t give in and both men argue about the reasons why Empire was built. Eddie expresses that he was the one opening every single door for Lucious in order to get where he is right now but, obviously, Lucious believes otherwise. Finally, the men are face to face when Lucious attempts to stab Eddie with a knife. But he has come prepared and brings out a gun and points it at Lucious. Cookie (Taraji P. Henson) manages to stop the arguing and asks Eddie to leave her house.

In the meantime, Hakeem (Bryshere Y. Gray) and Blake (Chet Hanks) are creating and recording some new tunes while we see Cookie, Lucious, Thirsty (Andre Royo) and Andre (Trai Byers) trying to find a way to solve the problem they have at hand and stop Lucious from going to jail. Cookie says that she has an idea of what they could do but is not really pleasant.

Tory (Rumer Willis) is singing while playing piano when Jamal (Jussie Smollett) walks in asking for the other members of the band, but the girl tells him that they are attending some interviews. She also seems to be still annoyed by the fact that Jamal was willing to risk everything they had created as a band and break the promise they had made to remain “Anonymous” just because of his family. He tries to calm her down and asks her to take some rest, but then agrees to meet her at Laviticus later that day.

Cookie meets with Anika (Grace Byers) and attempts to make a juicy deal with her in exchange for her help. She asks her to bring her the scarf that Eddie possesses, and she will have everything she had always wanted, but the woman refuses to help her saying that she isn’t afraid of the Lyons anymore and she already is on the path where she wants to be.

Jamal arrives to Leviticus, but Tory is nowhere to be seen. He calls her and hears a phone buzzing very close to him. That’s when he realizes that the girl has been lying on the floor with some cocaine spread around. He immediately calls for help and the next thing we see is Jamal sitting on a chair next to Tory’s hospital bed humming a song. She slowly wakes up and believes they are back in rehab and that everything that’s been happening was just a dream, but he confesses it isn’t. The girl comes clean to him and makes him understand that she can’t be in the spotlight anymore since it only brings pain to her.

Renee (Alfre Woodard) is in Empire’s lobby waiting for her daughter to have lunch together when Lucious appears behind her to inform that, unfortunately, something came up last minute and Cookie can´t do lunch after all. However, she has sent him to keep her company instead. There is an obvious tension between the two of them and a hint of despise for each other. Lucious expresses that he believes there is a very good chance to finally meet each other but, as expected, the woman is not really interested as she expresses she already knows him quite well. Both start to throw some snarky comments at each other about their pasts until Renee decides to put an end to it asking for him to let her daughter know that they will reschedule their meeting.

Later that day, Lucious advises Cookie that he has made his choice – he will turn himself in and end up with all the mess once and for all. However, the woman won’t agree. Thirsty and Andre arrive as requested and Lucious lets them know his decision. He asks to talk to Andre in private about what’s to come. Once they are left alone, he makes his son to promise him that he will take good care of Cookie and make a bid in his name to get Empire back and Andre unwillingly agrees. The younger Lyon is sure that he is the one that must be in prison since he believes he is the reason why Shine ended up killed and assumes himself as a mere disappointment to his father, but Lucious makes sure to let him know that, on the contrary, he is the one alike to him who also helped him to build Empire. His father apologizes for suppressing the Lyon living within Andre and lets him know that if there’s anyone ready to take his place that must be him.

The next day, the Lyon family is having breakfast as any other regular day. Lucious asks Andre if he has prepared the bid on Empire and advises the other two Lyons’ what Eddie has been trying to do against him and ends up confessing that he killed Shine, much to Jamal’s discomfort and evident anger in Hakeem. Jamal suggests beginning to analyze everything they have sacrificed so far just keep the company running, but Lucious also asks them to think of all of the things Empire had given them.

At Empire, the members of the board are gathered there, along with Anika, Kelly Patel (Pej Vahdat) and Eddie. They hand Edna (Sara Sevigny) the envelope that contains Kelly’s bid. That moment the Lyons’ walk in and do the same. When Leonard (Will Kinnear) opens the first envelope, it is revealed that a seven million dollars bid has been placed. He proceeds to open the second one and it reveals a handwritten offer for zero dollars. He believes it is all a joke until Cookie stands next to him and lets him know that Empire is what it is today not because of their artists, but for the Lyon family and they are not willing to pay a cent for their own company. They all stare at each other trying to process what has just happened until Eddie breaks the silence asking if the board accepts their offer and they do.

Back at the Lyons’ mansion, Lucious is truly mad at Cookie’s decision of not presenting the bid as planned since that wasn’t her call to make. Jamal tells them that they can always rebuild Empire, but can´t get time back. Cookie expresses to Lucious that she doesn’t want a life without him anymore and reminds them that as long as they are together they can do anything. Later that day, Lucious walks into the studio and plays a melancholic melody while flashes of his past with Cookie begin to strike him. The next day, he and Cookie leave the Empire building and walk towards their car when they see that the vehicle isn’t there. They remember that the car actually belongs to the company, so they ask Webb (Kevin Wigfall), their bodyguard, to get them a cab. Jamal shows up at the hospital to see Tory but is intercepted by a Doctor (Stef Tovar) that lets him know that unfortunately the girl suffered an unusual seizure and they weren’t able to resuscitate her. Jamal goes back to his place and while packing his stuff Cookie walks in to give him her condolences about the girl.

Apparently, Tory´s death has served as a wakeup call to him who had decided to disappear for a while and he knows well that staying in the city won’t help him at all. Cookie doesn’t want to let him go, but he begs for her to do it until she finally agrees meanwhile they hold each other tightly.

Back at Empire, Eddie watches as they maintenance team removes Empire’s old logo. Gisselle (Nicole Ari Parker) and Anika meet to check some last-minute details about the press conference they’ll be having later that day. When Anika is left alone, Andre shows up to congratulate her. The woman seems to be kind of cautious about him, but he presents her his good wishes and by getting to champagne glasses, he offers her a truce and she accepts it.

Renee has paid a visit to Cookie who is still surprised about the decision her daughter has made. Lucious walks in and Renee leaves the place. When the couple is left alone, Lucious gets down on one knee and asks Cookie to marry him again. After a moment of hesitation the woman finally agrees and they are off to see the judge and get married.

Tiana (Serayah) shows up at Hakeem’s apartment while he is playing pool with Blake and announces that she is pregnant with his child. Hakeem’s mood shifts immediately as he walks smiling towards the girl saying that they will figure it all out together.

At Empire’s press conference, Anika is presented as the new CEO while Andre watches her from the back of the room. Midway in her speech, the woman suddenly feels a little dizzy and begin to slur her words. She excuses herself and tries to continue with the Q&A. Suddenly, see imagines that Rhonda Lyon (Kaitlin Doubleday), Andre’s dead ex-wife, starts to ask some questions as well and her discomfort is now more evident. Wherever she looks at, Rhonda seems to be there haunting her. The woman can´t take it anymore so she goes down from the podium and starts to runway. She stumbles with Andre and asks him what he did to her, but he replies with “smile for the cameras.” Among Anika’s vision of Rhonda wherever she goes, it is revealed that Andre had put the same pills in Anika’s drink that were used on him back in the day. The woman’s hallucinations grow wilder until she throws herself from the second floor falling hard against the champagne table in an attempt to escape from Rhonda. Everyone watches in horror how the woman’s blood is now mixed with the golden liquid as her eyes are fixed on the blonde woman (Rhonda) standing next to Andre while both stare down at her.

In the meantime, Cookie and Lucious are already in line waiting to get married while discussing which vows they will say to each other. The judge (Lee Palmer) suggests that he had realized that “simple works best.” Lucious starts to pour his heart out to Cookie and the woman does the same to him. When they are done, the judge begins to say some lovely words to the couple while we see Jamal walking around the street as he listens to a young boy (Phillip Cusic) sing, something that spreads a smile across his face.

While Cookie and Lucious are pronounced “husband and wife” again, we see Hakeem is leaving his building along with his daughter, Tiana and Blake. All of a sudden, Blake’s father shows up and takes out a gun pointing at them. Tiana screams and the screen fades to black and three shots are fired.

Another season that ends in a tremendous cliff hanger. A bittersweet finally that leave us without another two characters; farewell to Tory Ash and Anika Calhoun. Let’s hope for the best for the Lyon family on the next round! ¡Hasta la próxima!