Empire – What We May Be

 By: Kelly Kearney

Cookie Lyon, Meet Diana Dubois

Last time we saw Angelo Dubois (Taye Diggs) he was stripping off his clothes in solidarity with his then girlfriend Cookie (Taraji P. Henson) over her nude photo leaks. This week, Angelo convinces Cookie to give their relationship another try by inviting her to a campaign party to meet his mother Diana (Phylicia Rashad). Unfortunately, Cookie gets held up with Jamal and misses the party, embarrassing Angelo and leaving a bad impression with Diana. To fix the situation with her new boo’s mother, Cookie decides to throw a dinner party and invites her sons, Angelo and his mother to show the Dubois that the Lyons can assimilate to their political aspirations. With no idea how to impress such a highly-educated woman, Cookie asks her sister Candace (Vivica A. Fox) for some tips which include plagiarizing Maya Angelou to impress Diana.

Like most things involving her family, the party is a disaster. Jamal (Jussie Smollett) is high, Hakeem (Bryshere Y. Gray) is complaining about his daddy woes and Lucious (Terrence Howard) uses this as an opportunity to turn the Dubois’ off Cookie by dumping all their family scandals in Diana’s lap! Lucious is jealous and hoping the bougie Dubois will think twice before allowing Cookie and the Lyon drama near their family. On top of her family crashing her party, Diana is allergic to seafood and the whole meal is from the sea. Luckily, Diana sees how hard Cookie tried as well as what dedicated mother she is and how easily she can round up her family full of lunatics. She tells Cookie she can see why Angelo likes her, she has fire and lets her in on a Dubois family secret. They weren’t always this high class, the Dubois’ worked their way up from bootlegging to politics and Cookie reminds Diana of herself in a lot of ways. While impressed with her mothering skills, Diana warns her son’s new girlfriend that she respects her fire, but warns her to not let that fire burn her only son. It is a warning that sounds more like a threat or maybe even a promise. Diana Dubois loves her son and if the Lyons hurt him in anyway Cookie will see just what kind of mama lion Diana Dubois is.

Jamal’s Musical and Visual Dedication

Since Jamal’s shooting his father has been pushing him to get back on stage. An artist that doesn’t perform loses fans and Empire is losing money on Jamal. The board holds a meeting to try and convince Jamal to get back out there and give the fans what they want. Jamal rudely shuts them down by saying he has been working on an all-encompassing art project they wouldn’t understand since they’re not artists. Lucious isn’t impressed as he wants streaming numbers and continues to push Jamal until he gets mad and storms out.

After the meeting, Cookie finds Jamal and he shows her what he’s been working on. n introspective video inside Cookie’s past, accompanied by a song dedicated to his mother. Cookie is floored and all smiles as she listens to her son sing about his love for her, that is until her father appears in the video. Cookie freaks out, yells at Jamal and tells him he had no right digging around in her past and then storms out. Later, Cookie confides in Jamal that Lucious and his gang banging ways forced her father (Ray Austin) to kick her and the distress of that choice led to a heart attack and his death.

On top of the pressure to get back to performing, Jamal’s still battling his drug demons with no help from his producer/lover D-Major (Tobias Truvillion). At Jamal’s house, D-Major and Phillip (Juan Antonio) argue over D enabling Jamal’s addiction, especially after his blackout last week. D shrugs off the accusations and turns around and on the DL hands Jamal pills to take the edge off. Take the edge off is an understatement when he shows up high as a kite to his mother’s party. Cookie is ready to throttle her beloved son for embarrassing her but changes her tune when he performs the song he wrote about his mother. The lyrics are a heartfelt look at the sacrifices Cookie has given for her family.

A Tribute Party Brings Freda Into The Spotlight

Nessa (Sierra Aylina McClain) finds Andre (Trai Byers) and tells him she has good and bad news. The good news is she is inviting him to a tribute party for her deceased brother and Shyne’s (Xzibit) business partner Stone. The bad news is Shyne is outside Andre’s office and he is mad he was promised in his deal with Lucious to work with Freda Gatz (Bre-Z), but she wants nothing to do with the Lyon family. Andre is in a bind because not only is this tribute party the same night as his mother’s party to impress the Dubois’ so he has to play it cool with Freda. Freda is a loose cannon and could be the Lyon family’s undoing if word got out about how her father Frank (Chris Rock) was murdered. Andre promises to make an appearance at the party and fix this thing with Freda to keep Shyne happy.

At the party, Andre is late and Shyne tells Nessa this is more proof he’s not one of them. Andre proves him wrong when he shows up and with Freda Gatz! Freda performs a scathing clapback to the Lyon family on the tribute party’s make shift stage alongside Nessa. While spitting rhymes about her father and her contempt for Empire, Shyne is in the crowd secretly recording her performance. Thanks to his partnership with Tariq (Morocco Omar) and his in with Empire, there is no doubt who this video with incriminating lyrics will be sent to.