Empire – The Fool

By: Gladys Luna

Cookie (Taraji P. Henson), Hakeem (Bryshere Y. Gray), Tiana (Serayah), Thirsty (Andre Royo) and the family lawyer are gathered at Hakeem´s place in order to determine the path they will follow in order to win baby Bella´s custody. Hakeem explains to the lawyer that Anika (Grace Byers) was his father´s wife first and then he got involved with her and got her pregnant. While they all are in the middle of the discussion, Cookie is interrupted by a call from Porsha (Ta’Rhonda Jones) who asks her to turn on the tv and watch TMZ. When they do, they realize that Lucious’ (Terrence Howard) real medical condition has been discovered, something that may cause them a lot of trouble.

In the other side of town, Pamela (Teyonah Parris) wakes up in the arms of Andre (Trai Byers) after spending the night together. They are about to share another intimate moment when Pamela´s phone starts ringing and she suddenly has to leave. Andre questions her about his father´s case, but she is not willing to give anything away. Claudia (Demi Moore) apologizes to Lucious since she is aware that she has crossed a line with him. She doesn’t know how to handle her feelings towards him and believes that is utterly unprofessional to act according to them. She confesses that she wants to help him to become “Dwight,” but she should not allow  her feelings for him to get in the way or let somebody else find out. They are suddenly interrupted by Cookie, who informs Lucious about what the press have been saying and hands him a paper with the full report on it. The man tells her that maybe this is their chance to tell the truth, but she doesn’t allow him to do that. Instead, she wants him to go and talk to the Empire board in order to calm them down and tell them that everything that has been said about his medical condition are fakes news. When the family arrives to Empire, the reporters are already there throwing questions at Lucious. Of course, all the members of the board are gathered there and as soon as he steps in, he is questioned by Leonard (Will Kinnear), Edna (Sara Sevigny) and Shine (Charles D. Clark), but he lies to them and tells them that he is fine and to prove it Cookie suggests to invite the reporters to follow Lucious for 48 hours so they know that noting is wrong. The board approves and so does Lucious.

Jamal (Jussie Smollett) and Warren (Terrell Carter) are on their way to work when Jamal is suddenly stopped by Angelo (Taye Diggs) who asks him if he´ll be seeing him at Bella´s custody trial. Warren tries to defend Jamal from Angelo´s mockery and then the lawyer throws back by asking Jamal if he knows how the press knew about his father’s condition. He throws a very suspicious look at Warren, then walks away.

Cookie and Andre are trying hard to convince Becky (Gabourey Sidibe) to help them and teach Lucious how to produce music. He tells her that she doesn’t need to teach him anything just to guide him through it, but the girl doesn’t seem to be convinced to do it.

Hakeem and Thirsty are still discussing their lawyer about all the details of his relationship with Anika. All the young man wants is to make sure that his baby won’t be taken away from him and the lawyer gives him his word about it.

Just as planned Cookie, Porsha and Becky are leading the reporters to where Lucious is so they can follow him and witness how it is that he produces his music. On their first stop, they see Veronica (Veronika Bozeman) to whom Lucious gives very specific instructions to think about to when she is singing and everyone seems to be delighted by his work.

Pamela asks Andre to meet her outside of Empire where she tells him that Metro Vegas has some footage that shows Shine near the garage where Lucious limousine was getting detailed off the night of the accident. Even though Andre attempts to defend him, the woman doesn’t seem to rely so much on his words and asks him if there is anything he wants to tell her, but he says that he has already made his confession.

Back to Empire, the reporters follow Lucious to the second studio where Jamal and Tony (Bryan Terrell Clark) can be seen working together. Jamal asks them to give them some privacy since there are still some details they need to work on. Becky suggests moving on to studio three where Shine is working on some other songs. Claudia steps in and asks them to give Lucious a break since she knows the impact it caused on Lucious the last time. The reporters start to question if the rumors about Lucious are true, but Cookie tells them they are not. On the next studio they see Shine (Alvin ‘Xzibit’ Joiner) surrounded by some other people. As soon as the man starts to sing, all Lucious can see is red in front of him. When Claudia notices Lucious’ discomfort, she goes next to him and tries to soothe him. He tries to keep his feeling under control until she couldn’t take it anymore and then asks the other man to stop and keep working on the song since he believes that it sounds just like violence with no purpose. When they leave the studio, Lucious decides to take a break from it all. A while later, Andre and Thirsty talk to Cookie and inform her that the members of the board had threatened asking her to step down if the first album is not released on schedule so, Cookie decides to finally send Lucious home. When Andre walks towards the press to make the announcement, Lucious returns with Claudia and Eddie Barker (Forest Whitaker) and everyone is just surprised. They all go to another studio and meet Tiana who is about to record another song.

Warren shows up at his mother’s mansion and confronts Angelo about almost revealing his façade to Jamal. Angelo accuses him of seeming too real when defending Jamal for someone who claims to pretend to be in love. They start an argument when Hakeem shows up, banging at their door wanting to see Diana (Phylicia Rashad). Angelo asks his bother to go and hide while he finds out what Hakeem truly wants. When he opens the door, the young man asks to see Diana, but apparently she is unavailable at the time. When the lawyer questions him if the reason he wants to see her is because of Bella´s custody trial, he starts to say some hurtful things to Hakeem which makes the guy punch the lawyer in the face, something that Angelo will use in court against him. Andre faces Shine about Lucious accident and tells him that he is not going down for what he did, but Shine makes sure to let him know that he was not alone in it. Andre seems to be so tired of running around so he tells Shine that if he wants to tell his family about what he did, he can do it.

Chicken (AzMarie Livingston) gives Hakeem some plane tickets for him to go to Cuba and hide there with Bella. He meets with Tiana at the back of Empire building and tells her about his plans and he also asks her to go with him. The girl thinks he is just messing with her, but then she realizes is not like that. She is asked to go back inside and keep working yet promises to him that after she finishes she will meet him at the airport.

Eddie and Lucious are listening to Veronica´s recording. Eddie suggests Lucious to take a break so he does. He goes to another room of the building where he meets with Claudia who has placed some paper and different cups of painting over the table. He asks her how that is whenever he hears music he sees colors. She explains to him about it and plays some music then asks him to tell her what color he sees. She hands him a glove and lets him paint on the paper. Lucious starts mixing colors as the music plays. A little later, he has moved from the paper to one of the glass walls of the room. Cookie walks in and is surprised at what she is seeing. Claudia explains to her that Lucious is painting according to the music he listens in his head. Cookie calls him, but the man seems to be too caught up in his own world and then she remembers, some other times where he was found creating music and paying no attention at what was happening around him so she confesses to Claudia that Lucious is not listening but making music.

Jamal is recording some music while Eddie watches him. When he finishes, Eddie gives Jamal some advice on what to do with song and how to improve his performance about it. Cookie, Andre and Jamal meet with the Empire board and present them the paint that Lucious created. She also announces them that what Lucious painted will be the official cover of the first of the 20 albums of Empire, which was released through Empire XStream and was successfully accepted and they believe it will break all sort of records. Regardless the good news, Edna suggests to bring someone from outside on board in order to support them and, as always, Cookie has gone one step ahead and tells them that Eddie Barker will be joining them and he presents himself as a Special Advisor for Cookie, something that makes everyone in the room to clap out of excitement.

At the mansion, Lucious is still painting, mixing colors while listening to some music in his head. Claudia is there with him, helping him through it. Suddenly, Lucious starts to remember and then, he takes the woman´s hand and dances with her, but as he does he sees Cookie. He confesses his lover for her and calls her, “her muse” (while still imagining that Cookie is there with him).

In the meantime, Hakeem is waiting for Tiana so they can go to Cuba. The girl arrives, but before she can say anything Cookie walks in behind her and stops her son from leaving. She lets him know that she will be there to support him and fight for Bella.

At the Lyons’ mansion, Claudia wakes up and is greeted by Lucious who is sitting there. Claudia thanks him for loving her and confesses her love for him. She also tells him how happy she is to be his muse, but then the man corrects her and tells her that his only muse is Cookie. Claudia tries to convince him of his confusion, but he won´t let her. He reassures her that he is in love with Cookie. Right in that moment, Cookie arrives and she is asked by Claudia to leave the two of them alone but she won’t accept it. Lucious says to Claudia that he will send her a paycheck and he won’t need her services anymore. Cookie gives her thanks to the woman and asks her to leave. She calls for Webb (Kevin Wigfall) and Juanita (Audrey Morgan) and asks him to help Claudia out. Lucious wants to tell her what she remembers but the woman is in a hurry as they have to go to the court. She asks him to clean himself and leave. When Lucious is all on his own, he smiles and confesses that he wants to tell her that he is back.

What will Lucious return mean now for the Lyon family? Let´s find out next Wednesday at 8/7 c on Fox. ¡Hasta la próxima!