Honestly, this weeks episode of Empire was TEW MURCH for so many reasons. It had the perfect balance of attitude, manipulation, passion, and humor! Keep reading to find out what happened!
Make sure you check out the Empire tag here to catch up on all the episodes since the pilot!
Drip Drop – Takeem are on the red carpet at some event where an interviewer refers to him as ‘Luscious Lyon’s son’. Tiana stands up for her man, Hakeem promotes his new video and the two walk off. That night, Hakeem and his crew drop Tiana off at her apartment. Soon as she gets inside, she starts slobbing down another WOMAN! Chile. At the Lyon household, Luscious surprises Anika with an in house performance by Anthony Hamilton and proposes to her and she says yes. Meanwhile, Cookie accompanies Jamal to a recording studio filled with loiters and bullet holes. She gets a text from Agent Carter telling her that she is outside. Cookie tells Jamal she has to handle some business and tells Tyree, the ‘engineer’ to keep an eye out on Jamal.
Outside, Agent Carter tells Cookie that they’re following her to protect her but Cookie knows it’s only to make sure that she doesn’t run from her testimony date. Agent Carter tries to reassure Cookie that no one will know that she testified, but Cookie tells her that something about the situation doesn’t feel right and something bad will happen to her if she goes through with it. The next day at Empire, Hakeem is playing his new song ‘Drip Drop‘ for Luscious and Anika. He presents them with his idea of the music video and tells Luscious that he wants to reinvent himself. At this moment, the proud papa approves Hakeem’s plan and gives him a million dollar budget for the video. Andre tells Luscious that Hakeem can’t have that big of a budget and Luscious says, “Dre if you can’t find the money for this, I really don’t know what purpose you serve.” Later on, Andre goes to his wife’s job where she shows him Tiana and her new girl cuddled up on the couch, kissing and giggling. She records the two and plans to use it against Hakeem.
Cookie is at her testimony hearing where she has a flashback of a man getting killed in front of her before her arrest. When asked if she knows who the killer is, she confirms that it was Frank Gathers. She later learns that the man killed was a federal agent, a piece of information Agent Carter withheld from her. Upset, Cookie tells Agent Carter that because of her, she’s a “dead bitch walking.”
Rich Gang – Andre suggests to Luscious to put Tiana in Hakeem’s video to allow him to have the budget he needs. Luscious agrees but tells Andre that he’s going to have to get to Cookie [since she’s Tiana’s manager] to make that happen. After Andre leaves, Vernon tells Luscious that unless he can get a doctor to sign off and say Luscious is in good health, he can’t take the company public. Luscious tells Vernon that he proposed to Anika and reminds him that Anika’s father is a respected doctor, which reveals his future plans and motive of marrying her.
Cookie is at her apartment getting ready to meet Jamal at the studio, when she finds a red rose on her doorstep. She immediately links it to Frank Gathers and calls Agent Carter who doesn’t answer. To be safe, she puts a gun and a wad of cash in her purse and leaves, where she finds Andre on her doorstep. Andre asks Cookie for Tiana and Cookie will only let him have her if she gets a seat on the financial advisory board of Empire.
Jamal is at the studio laying verses down when he gets a call from Cookie. Instead of being at the studio with him, Cookie is getting ready to go to Philly. All Jamal wants is for Cookie to pay attention to him but she seems too worried about getting killed and puts him on the back burner. Tiana is hard at rehersal when Porsha comes in. Porsha tells her that she’s there standing in for Cookie and Tiana tells her to worry about Hakeem and his crew instead of worrying about her. On the other side of the wall, Hakeem is with his crew recording videos, calling out all the rappers:
“When this video drops, it’s gon’ put Drake, Kendrick Lamar, J. Cole and all them cats on notice!”
Oh Hakeem!
Plain Evil – While Hakeem is on set filming his music video, Andre calls his wife and tells her to upload the video of Tiana and her girlfriend to all the blogs and gossip sites. Who’s the first person to see the news? Yep you guessed it! Porsha! Hakeem sees the video and runs up on Tiana telling her that she’s out of line and everything she does reflects on him because they’re a team. Clearly unbothered, Tiana just looks at him and says “You got a side piece too” and walks off. Hakeem cancels the video shoot and Andre comes up with another plan to send Hakeem’s crew to Jamal’s recording studio to throw off his session. He tells his wife about it and at first she’s concerned about Jamal’s safety, but Andre blows her off becuase ‘they’re nothing but petty thieves and not murderers.’ He then walks by them pretending that he’s on the phone, and tells Casper that Jamal has like $2000 on him. Once they hear him, the posse gets up and leaves and heads to Jamal. At Jamal’s studio, they try to rob Jamal and the studio crew. Jamal thinks that Hakeem sent them to rob him and the war is on!
My Girl Got a Girl – Cookie goes to her sisters house and informs her of what’s been going on since she testified. Carol asks Cookie what she wants to do to handle the situation and the two roll out. Meanwhile, Jamal is about to get kicked out of the studio, but he begs Tyree to let him stay so he can finish the song. After talking to Cookie, Tyree agrees to let Hakeem stay. En route, Tiana calls Cookie to tell her Hakeem found out about her girlfriend. Cookie tells her to get back on set and finish the video. At the Lyon home, Luscious is talking to Anika’s father about his ALS and asks her father to sign off on the policy. Luscious convinces Mr. Calhoun that if he signs off on it, Anika will be a billionaire and he agrees so long Anika never find out about their deal.
Cookie and Carol are at their friend Jamel’s house. Cookie tells Jamel that she wants the roses to stop and he agrees he’ll handle her situation for her by taking Teddy McNally [the one sending the roses] out. Jamal gets the crew that he needs to finish recording his song, making his plan go along smoother. Meanwhile at the video shoot, everything is on pause as Vernon tries to calm Hakeem down. Luscious takes over and tells Hakeem that the situation between Tiana, him and her girlfriend can benefit him and that he needs to continue the video and handle Tiana later. The two go ahead with the video which turns out pretty good. Meanwhile at the studio, Jamal and his new musical crew recreate the song and reconstruct it into perfection.
Calm Before the Storm – Later that night, Jamal is at Hakeem’s place waiting on him to return. When he does, Jamal questions him about the shooting at the studio. Of course, Hakeem has no idea what he’s talking about so he denies it and Jamal hits him with that:
“You’re too dumb to play stupid Hakeem!”
.GOODNESS! Not believing him, Jamal gets up and the two tussle a little bit before Jamal punches Hakeem in the stomach and leaves. Over at Cookies’, Luscious is there to give Cookie her ‘anniversary’ present. The two take a troll down memory lane and Cookie realizes that Luscious is the one who gave her the rose and not Teddy. Cookie calls Carol to tell her to tell Jamel to stop the shooting but Carol says it’s too late. All of a sudden, Mel and his crew pull up next to Teddy at a stoplight and shoot him dead. LAWD.
First off:
- Andre and his trashy wife have to go NOW. Enough is enough. Andre is willing to stoop so low to undermine his father, that he put his little brother’s life at risk. SHAME.
- I’m always here for Porsha.
- Tiana is playing the game and I am here for it!!!! I really thought her and Hakeem would be a thing, but I think she’s just enough challenge for him to make him shape up regardless.
- Cookie is EVERYTHING. She knows business. Bottom line! I really think Hakeem messed up by not paying attention to her advice.
- This here:
- Also: #askaboutme
Check out whats going down next week below:
