Empire – The Tameness of a Wolf

By: Kelly Kearney

Camilla (Naomi Campbell) is dead and no one seems to be shedding any tears for her, especially the Lyon family. Last week, Hakeem (Bryshere Gray) sparked a chain of events that led to the murder/suicide of Mimi (Marissa Tomei) and Camilla and put Empire back in the Lyon family’s grasp. The victory is short lived for Lucious, when we learn who the real Lucious Lyon (Terrence Howard) is and the past that molded him into the musical icon and the relentless narcissist he is today.

The show kicks off with a memorial for Camilla at Empire. Hakeem is giving her eulogy and the rest of the Lyon family is choking down champagne with an all knowing smirk. During his speech, Hakeem announces that his sister-in-law Rhonda (Kaitlin Doubleday) will take over as head of Camilla’s Empire fashion line Antony and Cleopatra and business will continue as usual. The job is just what Rhonda was hoping for after the miscarriage and troubles with Andre (Trai Byers). As for Andre, he’s still struggling with his mental illness, but he apologizes to Rhonda for accusing her of being unfaithful. Rhonda accepts his apology, but she’s still insisting they move out of their new home. She can’t live in a house with such bad memories.

After the memorial, Cookie, Jamal, Hakeem and Andre run into a gloating Lucious in his former office. He thanks Hakeem for killing Camilla and Hakeem loses it. He yells at his father that he didn’t kill her, he just sent their sex tape to Camilla’s wife. The police have no idea what happened and ruled it a murder/suicide. Lucious, looking like the cat that ate the canary, is never happier than when he’s on top and can make his family miserable. Cookie, who’s been playing referee between Lucious and their sons, stops the fighting and reminds them that Saturday is her birthday. It’s her first birthday as a free woman in seventeen years and she wants a drama free celebration. Lucious makes a crack that he lives for drama and she orders them all back to work. Lucious is still working on his video, Jamal (Jussie Smollett) has his album and the ASA’s to focus on, Hakeem has CEO responsibilities and Andre…Well, Andre is looking pretty rough. Cookie (Taraji P. Henson) notices and tells her son she’s concerned about him. He promises her he’s fine and taking his psych meds. She doesn’t seem convinced, but leaves it alone.

The next day Lucious and Cookie are scouting video locations in Philadelphia. They pull up to a row home with a lion statue out front. Cookie asks what’s so important about this house and Lucious has a flashback of when he was a child, sleeping on under the statue. He tells Cookie he spent three days sleeping next to that lion as a kid and she asks where his mother was. He mumbles he didn’t know, wherever, and totally avoids the obvious question. He tells Cookie the house is virtually the same like it was waiting for him to come back to tell his story. Those three days were the beginning of Lucious Lyon, named for the lion statue he slept next to.

While Cookie is in Philly with Lucious, Tiana (Serayah) is having issues with the Mirage a Trois tour. Laura (Jamila Velazquez) keeps going over her time with her set and interfering with Tiana’s show. Becky (Gabourey Sidibe) and Tiana remind Laura that she’s the opening act and Tiana is the headliner; she needs to respect the set times. These two divas look like they’re about to go head to head and it’s not going to be pretty.

Speaking of musical warfare, Hakeem and Jamal head to the projects to talk to Frida Getz (Bre-Z). They’re hoping to convince her to ditch Lucious and come record with them. They’re searching the basketball courts and a group of young kids start showing off their freestyle rap skills. Jamal and Hakeem join in along with some bucket drummers when Frida shows up and asks Hakeem if he wants a rematch, referring to their freestyle battle they had last season. They explain why they’re there and she tells them she’s loyal to Lucious. He was there for her when her father died and whatever their problems are with their father, they’re not hers. Frida has no clue that Lucious killed her father Frank while in prison and her loyalty is totally misplaced. Cookie is the only person who knows what Lucious did so Jamal and Hakeem leave Frida with her Lucious loyalty.

Over at Empire, Cookie is planning her birthday party while she’s going through head shots to cast Lucious’ video. She’s trying to get approval from a dazed Lucious on the actress that will portray his mother. Lucious is disconnected from this whole thing and stuck in his memories. He tells her he doesn’t care who she casts, she can choose and he wanders off.

Jamal and Hakeem are working on a song in the studio when Becky comes in with bad news. Twitter is trending a story about Tiana and Laura feuding on tour. Jamal tells his brother he better fix this. Becky reminds him how bad it looks for a brand new CEO to have his ex and current girlfriend causing drama. He decides to go to the next tour stop in D.C. to fix this before it gets out of hand. Jamal continues working on, “The Sun Will Always Shine,” and Cookie is giving him some advice. She asks Jamal if he’s mad that she’s helping his father with his video. She knows the relationship between the two tanked once Lucious tried to sabotage Jamal’s chances for an ASA. He tells her no and she asks if Lucious ever talked about his mother. She’s seen the effects the video is having on Lucious and the missing pieces that explain who she was. Jamal says no, he never spoke about her. Cookie is still puzzled, but she changes the subject to her birthday and Jamal walks out without an answer to whether or not he’s coming to her party.

In D.C. Tiana, Laura and Hakeem are trying to come up with a way to fix the issue with Laura and Mirage a Trois going over during the concert. Hakeem hears them out and decides to let Mirage a Trois do one extra song a night in smaller cities. It’s pretty obvious Hakeem is torn by his CEO position and his girlfriend’s burgeoning career.

After Frida turned down Jamal and Hakeem’s offer to sing on Jamal’s single, she gets up close and personal with the real Lucious Lyon. Lucious is making changes to his video and Frida questions it. He tells her he cut her part of the song because it doesn’t mesh with his new vision. She swore loyalty to Lucious and he did exactly what Jamal and Hakeem told her he would do. She goes to Jamal and tells him she’s in. The two trade father war stories and start recording. Cookie, who’s listening to Jamal and Frida, realizes Frida is Frank Gathers’ (Chris Rock) daughter. The Frank she did time for, the Frank she sent to prison and the same Frank that Lucious murdered in prison. She has a mini freak out and leaves the studio.

Cutting Frida isn’t the only change Lucious makes, he keeps changing his idea of the video. He tells Cookie he doesn’t even care about the ASA now he just wants to tell his true story. After all the pain he caused Jamal and Hakeem, stepping on their careers to make it to the top, he’s willing to throw it all away.

Speaking of Hakeem being disappointed in his father, Hakeem meets his Laura parents and he’s both shocked and envious at their genuine love and support for their daughter. That kind of familial love is what Hakeem wants and will never get from Lucious. Meeting Laura’s parents was a wakeup call for Hakeem and he does the unthinkable. After her concert, he proposes to Laura in front of fans by the stage door. She accepts and the both of them are glowing. What they don’t know is Anika (Grace Gealey) is pregnant with Hakeem’s baby and ready to wreck this happy union as well as the entire Lyon family.

While Hakeem is making a new family for himself, Lucious is battling his memories about his mother. They’re shooting his video for “Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom” and he’s somewhere between artistic impression and psychotic break. We find out that Lucious’ mother was bipolar and tried to wash his sins away by drowning him in the bath tub. Lucious survived and when she realized what she did, she shot herself in front of him. Obviously reliving this traumatic experience is wreaking havoc on Lucious’ mental state as well as the young boy playing him in the video. Cookie notices the boy is frightened and tells the crew to take a break. Like a true mother, she comforts the boy like she would’ve done for her own boys had she not been in jail for seventeen years. Lucious watches her in awe. Maybe because he doesn’t see this side of her, maybe because he wishes his mother would’ve been that loving, regardless he can’t take his eyes off of her.

The episode ends with some huge revelations. Lucious surprises Cookie when her lonely birthday turns out to be a rockin’ party with her entire family. She’s totally surprised because the family hates Lucious and it’s at his mansion. Lucious tells her that apparently their children love her more than hate him. After some food and music, Cookie decides to play the rough cut of Lucious’ video for the family. It’s a gritty and disturbing look into his traumatic childhood. As its playing, Andre starts to put the pieces together of his grandmother’s mental illness. He confronts Lucious and asks him if his grandmother was bipolar. At first, Lucious avoids the question, but Andre and Jamal demand answers. All of Andre’s life he felt different and ashamed about his illness, no thanks to Lucious. They’re screaming at each other until finally Lucious admits that yes, she was bipolar and he never said anything to Andre because he thought Andre was weak and an embarrassment. Andre totally flips out and tells Lucious to screw off and then leaves. Rhonda, Cookie, Jamal and all look worried and shocked. Rhonda doesn’t want to go home to all this drama so Anika offers to let her stay with her for a while. Anika is laying the groundwork to destroy Hakeem and the entire Lyon family and she’s striking while the iron’s hot. With Lucious preoccupied with untangling his past, Jamal busy with his album and the ASA’S and Hakeem focusing on his new life, no one is going to see Anika coming. It should be a bumpy ride for the Lyon family and Empire’s fans.

Next week on Empire… it looks like Anika drops the baby bomb and Hakeem’s new life gets even more complicated.