Note: if you haven’t watched the episode, you may want to skip this recap.
After the insanity of last week’s season premiere, it looks like “Empire” has settled right back into the juicy show that we all love.
The episode opens with Cookie, Andre and Hakeem being put out of Empire headquarters. They all look rather pathetic carrying their personal items as the exit the building. Jamal really isn’t playing games with them. The trio engages in various conversations over the phone about what their next move might be. Hakeem suggests looping Anika into the fold, but Cookie is not having it, and Andre is not trying to be in the middle of them. Cookie and the boys meet at Ghetto Ass Studios, the studio where Jamal recorded some of hits last season. Neither Andre nor Hakeem look like they’re about this life, but at the moment it’s their only option. It seems like Hakeem ignored Cookie’s wishes (surprise, surprise) because Anika is already in the studio with former Empire recording Artist V. V is less than impressed with her surroundings because she is NOT feeling Anika or her helpful hints.
In jail, Lucious is attempting to see the doctor for his medication. If you recall, he doesn’t have ALS, but he does have myasthenia gravis, which isn’t fatal but still needs to be monitored and treated. Unfortunately for him, the doctor can’t seem to find his authorization forms, which means no medicines for Mr. Lyon. Something is definitely amiss here.
Back at his fancy loft, Jamal is singing his ass off and giving an interview with a reporter from “Spilling the Tea”. He lets the world know that Michael is his bae and he’s chatting about the delay in his new album, and his father’s imprisonment when Cookie comes bursting in unannounced (In true Cookie fashion.) The duo keep it cute for the cameras, but Cookie is there for Hakeem’s album. She doesn’t want Empire holding it hostage. Jamal is still feeling petty it seems, because he doesn’t seem to care what she wants. Oh, and Cookie also takes this time to tell her middle son that she, Andre and Hakeem are starting their own company.
Back on the prison yard, Lucious is acting like the King of Sheba, rapping and carrying on with his crew. Ludacris appears out of nowhere as one of the prison guards (I believe his name is McKnight). It’s clear immediately that McKnight has it out for Lucious, he snatches the crew up off their bench and then proceeds to call them “boys”. Lucious is wheezing and out of breath and apparently McKnight knows something about his missing medical form. He’s in Prosecutor Roxanne Fuller’s pocket. (You know the lady with the extreme cleavage from last week.) As much as I despise Lucious, McKnight is truly the worst kind of human.
At Ghetto Ass Studios, Hakeem is auditioning female artists for a girl group he randomly came up with. (Apparently he put an ad on Instagram). One particular Latina artist blows him away, but when he tells her he’s looking for a group, not a solo artist, she is over the entire situation. (I’m pretty sure this story line will somehow tie in with Lee Daniels ‘next venture with FOX, “Star”. It’s an “Empire”spin-of about a girl group based in ATL.) Later on, Hakeem tells Andre and Cookie that he found some girls he likes, but they’re all Latina. His idea was to get a Black, a white and a Latina artist to form the girl group. He wants to call “Rainbow Sensation.” Andre is understandably horrified, and it took me a moment here to stop laughing. In the midst of this, Anika comes strolling in and Cookie comes for her immediately! She knows about Boo Boo Kitty’s escapades with Hakeem, and she is PISSED. She tells Anika she knows marketing because, “She’s made a whole career of selling her ass.” WHELP!! Oh and Hakeem is 20 years old, I don’t think we knew that before.
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Image: FOX