Can we talk about last week’s Empire and where do I begin? First off we KNEW from the week before that Anika was meeting up with the enemy.  As the epsiode opened we learned #CookieFast what Anika’s betrayal had done thanks to the combined efforts of Cookie and her assistant Porsha (who’s loyalty Anika thought she had bought a few weeks back). Cookie was #OhSoReady to get in that ass but allowed the treacherous little débutant to leave the house without injury (though her clothes did get tossed and Porsha snatched her cell phone right out her hand while she was on a call).
All hands and Lyons on deck as Empire and Creedmore records are locked in a down and dirty fight. The cost? Empire’s future unless the troops find a way to keep Billy Baretti (special guest star Judd Nelson) and Anika from poaching all their artists. With each artist that jumps ship Empire’s value and profits drop and if they suffer too much of a loss it’ll be the end of an era. So ALL staff and Lyons are called in as the company makes a combined effort to fend off Creedmore.
The Lyon clan decide to divide and conquer proving prosperous with thunderous results. Jamal (now dating filmmaker Ryan) has one idea that will help, signing talented UK singer Delfine (special guest Estelle) who’s not only been working with him but admires for coming out. Lucious, Hakeem and Andre have a meeting with Travie Wild who seemed to be onboard with staying and then pulls a last minute switch and signs with Creedmore. Cookie heads out to Ghetto Ass Studios to convince rapper artist Royale-T to stay with Empire. She then joins up with Hakeem to pull a one two punch keeping Anika at bay while they convincing Tiana to not leave the label.
Andre (once again gone off his meds) starts to unravel, evident by the insane ideas he comes up with. He goes too far off the deep end for even his wife Rhonda to reign him back in so she painfully has him committed. Trai Byers who plays Andre has shown some SERIOUS acting chops and excels with dramatic the way Jussie Smollett and Bryshere Y Gray excel with the music. Come fall I wouldn’t be surprised if Byers recieves a best supporting actor nominations from all the major awards.
I leave you now with the phrase of the night from this episode for me was without a doubt #TakeMyCookies but I’ll leave it there if not only for the 1% of the country that has yet to watch the episode. An all new epsiode of Empire (the second to last of this season) with the first appearance of Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson (as a musical therapist) airs Wednesday at 9pm following an all new episode of American Idol.
#Empire #Fox #TerrenceHoward #TarajiPHenson #JussieSmollett #BryshereYGray #TraiByers #MalikYoba #GraceGealey #KaitlinDoubleday
