At the Empire offices, Hakeem manipulates Cookie's maternal instincts to get the final spot on "You're So Beautiful," and she falls for it. Lucious has her off her game. Ryan and Jamal finally have that drink, where they discuss their fathers' lack of acceptance, with Ryan sarcastically saying, "The joys of being the son of a black man." (And the Side-Eye of the Week Award goes to Lee Daniels and the Empire writers.) Ryan encourages Jamal to come out for himself and his daughter [Sidenote: So are we not gonna have a paternity test to solve this mystery once and for all?]. We then get a sweet, touching moment between Jamal and Lola, which finds them duetting on "The Lion Sleeps Tonight." Cuteness overload. Things aren't so cute for Andre, however, as his plans for corporate domination hit a snag when he doesn't get the one vote he was counting on: Lucious. That's gotta sting.
We fast forward to the infamous white party, and it's every bit as swank and ostentatious as you'd expect, with everyone rocking furs and jewels and Jamal and Lucious trying to bring the nehru collar back. Jamal also sniffs out that Lucious and Cookie are back in the sack and gives her some sage advice: "That man is incapable of loving anybody but himself." Cookie learns this the hard way when Lucious and Anika arrive on the white carpet and she learns that the wedding has been moved up a week. This sets off a double dose of epic reading from Cookie during the night.
Read No. 1: Cookie continues her tradition of cracking Anika's face by letting her know that though she might know about their reunion in Anika's bed, she didn't know about the studio session they had after Lucious promised to move up the wedding. Pick up your jaw, Boo Boo Kitty, you're letting flies in. Read No. 2: After seeing Hakeem walk in with Camilla, she lets her know in no short terms that she needs to get her cougar paws off her son. She also gets Auntie Milla together, letting her know that with her long tongue she would have been Cookie's bitch in the slammer. Oh my. Cookie with the prison stud realness. After that dust up, and a dismissal by Cookie, Lucious convinces Jamal to make an impromptu performance of "You're So Beautiful." But his fatherly smile quickly turns upside down when Jamal uses the moment and song to make his own personal statement and come out to the world. Yep, it was one hell of a party.
The next day, Lucious is dressed in all black like The Omen and heads are definitely going to roll. First up, he takes Andre and Vernon to task for plotting behind his back. He questions Vernon's loyalty and lets Andre know that he hasn't trusted him since "the moment you brought that white woman into my house." Sheesh. Meanwhile, Hakeem and Jamal mend fences in fake Bushwick, and Hakeem lets his brother know that he's proud of him. But Jamal is not the brother who needs a pep talk, as Andre is in a studio playing Russian Roulette. Thankfully there isn't one in the chamber, but we really worry for his mental state as the season draws to a close.
In Fake-Ass Lena Horne news, Anika, obviously hurt over what Cookie said, arranges a clandestine meeting with Billy Berretti. Lucious, in the meantime, talks with Cookie and deads the legacy album as he's not exactly feeling in the family way after recent events. Though he's obviously a bigoted jackass, we kinda don't blame him. We end the show with a Shawshank-like flashback as we see a caged Cookie, dressed in prison orange, singing this episode's theme song, "You're So Beautiful," mournfully, a picture of her fractured family taped on a wall above her shoulder.
My, my, my, so much drama went down in just 60 short minutes. And judging by the previews, the best is yet to come. While we're definitely looking forward to cameos from R&B stars Estelle, Mary J. Blige and Patti LaBelle in the coming weeks, we're far more interested in just how everything is gonna shake out.
- Advertisement -Is the Empire about to fall? Tune in next week at 9 p.m. ET/8 p.m CT to find out and check back in with us for another recap next Thursday.
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