Goodbye Felicia and hello FaLucious! On this week’s Empire, “Sin That Amends,” Lucious continued (and failed) to try to win Cookie back by sending gifts and reminding his ex-wife of the good ol’ days. Elsewhere in the Lyon family, Jamal and Andre continued to deal with the recent trauma in their lives and Hakeem spent time in the recording studio with Nessa.
Lions, Jewelry and Guns, Oh My!
The second episode of the season opened up with Lucious sending presents to Cookie to try and win her back. In true Lucious fashion, all of the gifts were over the top, but the highlights include a gold handgun and a giant lion statue. (Can you imagine what Christmas must be like in the Lyon household?) While Cookie was uninterested in being bought by Lucious, his actual wife Anika was desperate for a nanny, but Lucious refused at the risk of a stranger being in their house that is working for the feds.
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Cookie and Jamal meet activist Angelo Dubious (played by guest-star Taye Diggs) at a radio interview. Angelo was promoting his charity, Woke, which helps with violence in the black youth community. Jamal, who is still recovering from being shot by Freda, wants to help with the event, but Cookie tries to convince him by simply saying, “I don’t trust polite people, stupid.”
Stop Mixing Business with Pleasure
The First Lady of hip-hop had another great one-liner after she returned her presents to Lucious– “Bye FaLucious!” she said to her ex after explaining to him (for the millionth time) that she does not want to mix business with pleasure anymore. Shortly after, Lucious appears to be taking a break from winning back his love by offering to host, pay and live-stream the Woke event, but in actuality, he thought Cookie wanted to be involved with the charity and is only trying to impress her. Meanwhile, Hakeem and Nessa are making music in the studio together. While talking about their relationship, the pair is inspired by the line, “First you hate me then you love me,” and write a hit. I think it’s safe to say this working relationship could follow in the footsteps of Cookie and Lucious in no time.
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You’ve Got What I Need
The next trick Lucious has up his sleeve? Inviting Biz Markie to Cookie’s house to surprise her by singing “Just A Friend” – the song that was playing when they met. Cookie was overjoyed, singing and dancing along (Does anyone else want Cookie to be the next Lyon to release an album?) but it was still not enough to win her back. We also learn that Lucious actually saw Cookie before Cookie saw him. In another flashback to young Lucious and young Cookie, we see Lucious watching Cookie with her “nerd” (Lucious’ words) boyfriend at the time, Barry. And seriously, is the casting of young Cookie and Lucious perfect or what? Another flashback highlight includes Young Cookie and Barry at Red Lobster talking about future plans. He wants to have a family, and she wants to pursue music. And despite what the wise Beyoncé once said, “He f*** me good, I take his ass to Red Lobster,” Cookie and Barry go their separate ways.
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It’s a Jungle Out There
At the Woke event, Lucious puts the pressure on Jamal to perform, but his PTSD takes over again. The middle Lyon sibling walks out of the room hyperventilating and grabbing the part of his chest that was shot. While Cookie tries to comfort her son, Lucious continues to try to get him to get back on stage until Jamal admits he’s scared and is not getting back on stage anytime soon. While Lucious continues to keep hope alive with Cookie (“You said the magic word: we”) Cookies seems more interested in flirting with Angelo. Elsewhere, Becky’s boyfriend wants her to leave Empire with him to go to a rival label, and Becky (with the good hair) is seriously considering after Cookie ignored her earlier when she asked for a promotion.
My Brother’s Keeper
Andre, Jamal and Hakeem meet up to try and solve their respective problems. Andre, who is still hearing Rhonda’s voice, inspires Jamal to beat his PTSD and reminds Hakeem he’s a father (and he definitely needs to be reminded). The three bros cheer to Baby Bella, and Andre plans to clean out his apartment with Rhonda where he is later attacked by cops for presumably being a black man in a nice area. In addition to seeing Tarqi watch the baby monitor he has hidden in Lucious’ house, we learn in the flashback that as a child he wanted to bond with Lucious, but his mother wouldn’t let him. Anika also figures out there is a camera in Bella’s teddy bear and Lucious destroys it.
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Contributing Writer, BuddyTV
