Empire Season 2 Episode 1 Recap: Justice Has Been Served

Hello, all you wonderful Boo Boo Kitties! That’s right, Empire is back on FOX for another explosive season. Needless to say, I’m excited for the return of my favorite girl Cookie, and to see what she’s done with Empire Entertainment.

• Empire Season 2 recaps: Episode 1 | Episode 2 | Episode 3 | Episode 4 | Episode 5 | Episode 6

The Season 2 premiere starts off three months after Lucious (Terrence Howard) was arrested and incarcerated into federal prison. Cookie (Taraji P. Nelson) is in charge of hosting a #FreeLucious concert to show her support for her ex-lover. Hakeem (Bryshere Y. Gray) doesn’t seem too interested in trying to help out his father by putting on this show because he believes Lucious killed Bunkie (Antoine McKay). Cookie reminds Hakeem that while his father might be a “tampon,” the main person they are trying to impress is a business woman named Mimi Whiteman (Marisa Tomei).

I have no doubt that this Mimi Whiteman won’t be impressed by what Cookie has planned. Cookie starts the concert off by descending from a cage, locked inside and dressed up in a gorilla costume. It’s clear that this concert is not only for Lucious but to gain equality for all in the justice system.

Ah, we finally get to see the man of the hour, Lucious Lyon. Since I’m used to seeing him in such elaborate clothing, this orange jumpsuit isn’t working for me. Where are the crazy patterns and colors? Just goes to show that they don’t care who you are once you’re inside. One thing they do seem to allow is for Lucious to see the good work his family is doing for him on TV. Lucious was loving the scene of the huge crowd there to support him, but a quick camera change turned that around. He saw Cookie speaking with Mimi and knew something wasn’t right. Can the great Lucious Lyon still run his company while in federal lockup?

It looks like Lucious has something — or rather, someone — else to be worried about right now. The drug dealer Cookie testified against, Frank Gathers (Chris Rock), has just become a resident of Lucious’ prison. The two seem to be on good terms after exchanging a handshake but things are never what they seem on Empire.

Jamal (Jussie Smollett) visits his father to discuss how he’s been managing the Empire. I can definitely see a huge change in Jamal. He’s not his cheerful, joyous self anymore. Jamal tells Lucious that it’s been so hard trying to run Empire that he hasn’t been able to go on tour or get into the recording studio like he should be. Lucious wants Jamal to find out who Miss Mimi is, so he tells Jamal to report back as soon as he can. He knows Cookie is trying to take his Empire away from him and now he needs Jamal’s help.

Lucious isn’t wrong about Cookie trying to takeover Empire. She hosts a party for Mimi along with some help from Andre (Trai Byers), Hakeem and Anika (Grace Gealey). They all want Lucious out of the picture and need Mimi’s help by adding some zeros on the end of a big fat check. Once Lucious is completely out of the picture, I’m not sure if Cookie will actually be running Empire, because everyone wants their own piece of the company. But I vote for Cookie.

Porsha, being Porsha, doesn’t listen to Cookie’s sister Carol (Tasha Smith), when she calls. Porsha (Taranda Jones) noticed that Cookie received some “ugly flowers,” but didn’t pay attention to who they were from. That’s usually the first thing anyone would check when they get flowers, Porsha. When Carol calls, she asks if Cookie had received any flowers. Porsha said that Cookie did indeed get flowers but cut Carol off because she had to rush to the bathroom. Now Cookie doesn’t know that the crazy Frank Gathers is after her. Nice one, Porsha!

Andre gets Hakeem to tell him that they closed the deal with Mimi. The stallion group — one that you don’t want to mess with — including Cookie and Anika, step into Jamal’s meeting to interrupt it. They let him know that the four of them made a deal with Mimi to get rid of Lucious. It’s nothing personal against Jamal because they won’t be taking the company from him — just getting rid of Lucious. But oh how the tables have been turned!

Mimi spins her chair around to reveal that she met with Lucious and made a better deal with him. She views Lucious as the face of Empire and without him, there is no Empire. Anika took one for the team by sleeping with Mimi but I guess that didn’t work out too well either. Jermel also tried warning Cookie about Frank Gathers and asked if she would help him gain Lucious’ protection, but Frank has beat Jermel to the point, confessing that Cookie was the one who ratted him out. I’m not trying to sound harsh but Jermel didn’t even seem that bad. Why did he have to rat Cookie out?

Cookie arrives to her house to find a box tied a pretty red bow outside her door. When she walks in, she also finds her sister Carol and kids. Instead of figuring out how they got in or why the kids are brushing Cookie’s wigs, Cookie listens to Carol talk about the roses. She tells her that this time the roses really were from Frank Gathers and she needs to watch out. I already guessed the box was from Frank but had no idea what he really gifted to her — a human head. Whose head is this?!

Cookie tells everyone to immediately go to Lucious’ house for their protection. She then goes to visit Lucious in jail to let him know that Frank has been messing with them. Cookie tells Lucious that she wants him to take care of it and he seems to be pretty upset that Frank has been messing with his family. I love how Lucious will always love Cookie no matter what she does. He’ll do anything for her.

After hearing about what Frank has been up to, Lucious decides to speak with him about it. Frank lets Lucious know that he has nothing against Lucious, but he does have something against Cookie for being a snitch. At first Lucious tells Frank that they’re cool … but then he tells him that if he has something against Cookie, he also has a problem with him. Frank laughs in disbelief that Lucious would say such a thing to him. He then tells his guys to kill Lucious, quickly and quietly. When Frank gets up to leave, it looks like the joke is on him. Lucious paid off all of Frank’s bodyguards in prison so that they are now loyal to him. Now that he’s in control, Lucious tells the guys to kill Frank and to make it “loud and long.” BOOM! Lucious is King!

Cookie arrives at Lucious’ to let the family know that everything has been taken care of. She doesn’t exactly say what went down but the kids know how powerful their father is and what he’s capable of. To my surprise, Jamal kicks everyone out of the house except for his aunt Carol who is upstairs. He doesn’t want any of the people who betrayed his father in his home. Cookie is in shock by what her son is telling her so she disciplines him a bit. Two good smacks across the face for the way he spoke to his mother! I cannot believe the way Jamal has changed in the short three months since he became the leader of Empire.

What were your thoughts on the first episode of Empire Season 2? Were you shocked to see Chris Rock playing a tough inmate? I’m so used to seeing him clean shaven and making jokes that it was hard for me to believe he was playing Frank Gathers. What do you think about Jamal’s new attitude? Do you think he’s wrong for reacting this way after his family tried taking over Empire? I think Jamal is too focused on protecting his father and making him happy with the way he’s now running things in Empire. That doesn’t mean he should treat everyone else like dirt — especially his mother. Any idea as to whose head was in Cookie’s present? Now that it’s clear Lucious runs things at the jailhouse, will he find a way out? Leave your thoughts in the comment section below.

Photos: Chuck Hodes/FOX.

New episodes of Empire premiere Wednesday nights at 9/8C on FOX.