Pitbull and Bre-Z Murray guest star on tonight’s episode of Empire, airing at 9 p.m. ET/PT on FOX. (Perhaps it has something to do with breaking off her engagement to her boss, Lucious; starting a new label with his ex-wife; and then immediately exiting – partially because she’s sleeping with potential investors and the son of her ex-fiancé.) With her options rapidly narrowing, Anika accepts a meeting with Lucious at his nightclub. After hearing from Lucious during an interview with Sway, Hakeem wants to one-up his father. Becky G heeds this wisdom – she doesn’t want to just be known as Hakeem’s girl, or a member of a girl group, for that matter.
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Lucious is out on bail and back with his family in this week’s Empire. About halfway through the song, the music stops and the lights go out. Cookie appears to introduce the surprise performer and No. 1 artist of Lyon Dynasty: Hakeem Lyon. Pitbull stops Cookie on her way out after he is impressed by Hakeem, and the two could perform together in the near future.
After all that stuntin’ from the other night, Lyon Dynasty office phones ring off the hook. He invites Cookie, Hakeem, Andre, and a pregnant Rhonda to dinner with him and Jamal. Also, Andre and Rhonda hope their baby-on-the-way will be the key that unlocks Lucious’ cold heart and opens the door for Andre to return to the Empire fold. Through a series of flashbacks it’s revealed Lucious’ mother, Leah Walker (Kelly Rowland) suffered from a few sort of mental illness, and that could be why Andre is the way he is. This sucks for Andre, as most things do on this show, but hopefully Empire can use mental health issues constructively and appropriately – using the soap nature for good rather than shock.
Later, Lucious creeps on a rap battle somewhere in maybe Brownsville, Brooklyn, where Young Massachusetts is engaged in a tête-à-tête with a whack MC.
“The Lyons are still split into warring factions, but they all decide to shoot a music video that will capitalize on Hakeem and Jamal’s duet from Hakeem’s leaked album, a collaboration that will benefit both companies”.
With a lot of help from Cookie, Hakeem was able to make his girl group, Ménage a Trois, ready for their radio debut with Sway. In a hilarious twist, he reveals that Empire now has a “controlling interest in every major urban outlet and major market in the country”. “Let it go.” Cookie had an equally good comeback: “I’m always gonna eat, just not with you”.
When Lucious finds out, he reaches into his deck and selects the dog-eared “play one son against the other” card. “He sees a true talent…It’s very meaningful to him because she has a background that is very similar to him, which is completely different than even the background of his own children who grew up very wealthy”.
“And I remember when we got to that moment and Lucious walks in and he’s stolen Valentina”.
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Lucious might have gotten Cookie back tenfold for her party crashing, but he should probably keep an eye on his ambitious new ally.
