‘Because she’s our sister, stupid’
Somewhere in Philadelphia, Cookie and Candace’s search for their estranged sister Carol leads them to a crack house. Carol has graduated from being a functioning crack user to a full-blown destitute addict, leaving her kids with Candace and surrendering to living on streets. Candace and Cookie manage to navigate their quest without strangling each other, but they test one another’s patience and lace every statement with insults.
While they’re away, Hakeem holds the fort. Publicity has spiked since he won the rap battle days before, and now the business and artistic preparation for Cookie’s Cookout show rests on his lithe shoulders. He calls his mom to cajole her back to the office, but she reassures him that he’s running things well. Candace is impressed by how well Cookie’s sons have turned out to which Cookie quips, “Sometimes bad dudes make decent fathers.”
Meanwhile, Laz quickly realises that he’s got to cut ties with his old crew. They roll up on Lyon Dynasty headquarters hoping to terrorise and shake them down for some quick cash. Laz’s attachment to Lyon Dynasty has shifted; he’s grown real feelings for Cookie and the company. When he pulls a gun on the Big Heavy, Laz knows that it’s the beginning of the end of this double-cross with Lyon Dynasty. He’s got to come clean, or worse, find another venue for the Cookout concert because Rock Steady Park is a security risk with the 125th Street Bulls armed, pissed off, greedy and familiar with the security plan of the park.
‘I’m through testing you, Dre’
At the Empire offices, a press conference announcing Jamal’s new album Black and White is galvanised by the introduction of superstar Skye Summers (Alicia Keys), with whom he’s making a single. Jamal tells the gaggle of reporters of his immense excitement, that he’s an “OG super fan” of Summers. The scene is a window into the workings of the industry. Summers will elevate his profile, but what does she get in return? Summers’ manager proclaims that they are happy that their label has allowed them to work with the “legendary Lucious Lyon” and Lucious bristles, “What’s up with this legendary stuff? Make me sound neolithic.”
Lucious is still processing Hakeem’s public disavowal of his father’s name. This manifests itself in his obsession with Rhonda’s very real pregnancy: “I have to look to the next generation,” he says. Lucious buys a mansion, in Long Island for Rhonda and Dre. Rhonda is immediately smitten with the new digs. Lucious and Dre have a heart to heart, and Dre tells his father of a way to raise capital with his existing music catalogue to buy Swiftstream. However, the older works retain the highest value and, of course, Cookie owns half those works. He’s got to talk to Cookie, but when she blows off his phone call, he tries to intimidate Hakeem into coming back. It’s a dumb move: Hakeem is done.
‘Yeah, they were like true sisters to me’
Cookie enlists the help of Pepper (Rosie O’Donnell), a former cellmate, to help her find Carol. Pepper tells Cookie that Carol’s hanging with some dude called Boz who’s bad news and she accompanies Candace and Cookie to scoop up their sister. Carol is reluctant to go with them, but after vomiting on her big sister Candace’s shoes, they go all go to a local restaurant.
The three sisters are together for a moment and here the audience gets to see the complexity of black families, and class, in particular. Candace is a very particular archetype, one who came from a poor community, only to reinvent herself as a stodgy member of the upper class, dripping with disdain and condescension. Cookie is another, flashy and nouveau riche, entrepreneurial but never forgetting where she came from; Cookie is real. Her power is her fluidity: it can take on both the boardroom or the gutter (and some boardrooms are just cleaner gutters).
Carol is the sister who couldn’t quite escape the pitfalls of poor, urban life, that threadbare line where self-medication and addiction intersect. The show misses the opportunity to render this in dialogue but the optics are all there. Carol agrees to go back to New York and stay with Cookie. Candace will keep her kids while she gets it together.
‘All we had was the music’
Lucious tries to appeal to Cookie in person to sign her rights over for the Swiftstream buy, and Cookie shuts him down. “I’m the only one who sees the bigger picture,” she tells him. Lucious meets Laz in the process, and of course, Lucious is jealous – and petty too, when he knocks a bottle of wine on Cookie’s office rug. Lucious looks into Laz’s background. He comes back to Cookie’s offices, with his guards, exposing Laz as party of the dirty squad – the 125th Street Bulls, who snatched Hakeem earlier, breaking Cookie’s heart. That’s the end of Laz Delgado: Cookie and Hakeem leave him to Lucious and his goons.
Filming Jamal’s commercial for Pepsi gets even more meta when Empire showrunner Lee Daniels makes his cameo as the commercial’s director. Daniels gives himself one of the funnier bits in the show, ignoring Lucious’s insistence that he be part of the commercial, sharing the stage with Jamal. Daniels zings him, reminding Lucious that Jamal “is the future”. That zing makes Lucious quietly snap and he tells Andre to sell other Empire assets to raise enough cash to buy Swiftstream.
Later, Jamal and Skye work on a new song, Powerful, at Jamal’s place and things heat up. The chemistry between Jamal and Skye as they work is more than musical. They kiss. Jamal unlocks an achievement of which some superfans may only dream, and Empire challenges its audience to consider the fluidity of identitiy, sexual attraction and identity.
Reading list
Notes and observations
- Goodbye Laz Delgado, it was a nice fantasy while we had it.
- When Cookie and Carol confront each other about Carol’s addiction and relapse is a really powerful moment and the most authentic moment in this melodrama. Single White Female/Fatal Attraction Anika is really grating.
- Lucious’s obsession with legacy and bonds may bankrupt the Empire. Andre is so much smarter than Lucious is giving him credit for. His business mind and his gut may prove to be more than right.
