On last week’s episode of Empire, we saw Hakeem take the reins as the new CEO of Empire. While he’s still being controlled by his puppeteer, Camilla, it seems that Hakeem is willing to keep the business in the family. He’s allowed for Cookie to be the head of A&R, Andre to be the chief financial officer of Empire and president of Gutter Life Records, and for Jamal to focus on his music with Empire. I’m sure Camilla has a few words to say about all these decisions.
Lucious is giving Hakeem three months as CEO before he’ll come crawling back to him; however, we all know Hakeem. After unveiling the new Empire logo with Hakeem’s face instead of Lucious’ face — oh boy — I’m not sure Hakeem is going to give up so easily. It’s just not the same without seeing Lucious’ face on the logo.
I guess Jamal needs to worry about his relationship with Skye more than he thought. As he’s leaving Empire, a flash mob circles him with flip flops. They think they’re creative by singing a parody of “Drip Drop” by replacing the words with “flip flop” as a representation of Jamal’s sexual orientation. I’m with Becky on this one — it’s not even Jamal’s song! That was a failed attempt in my book, but it clearly got under Jamal’s skin.
I’m convinced that Camilla doesn’t have a heart. It’s just an empty cavity where her heart should be. She’s angry at Hakeem for keeping Laura around after she told him to get rid of her. When Hakeem brings up the valid point that she’s married, she tells Hakeem that she’s waiting for her wife to die. Mimi has cancer and Camilla seems to only be interested in when her wife will take her last breath so she can have her Empire shares. Camilla tries to convince Hakeem to stay with her for this reason but I don’t think Hakeem is that cold.
Camilla has been a giant ball of fun lately! Everything Cookie has planned is promptly shut down by Camilla because of expenses. When Camilla shuts down Tiana’s tour because of the cost, Cookie has had it. You did it now, Yoko! Since Cookie is always thinking ahead, she presents Camilla with a two-for-one deal she can’t turn down. Ménage a Trois could open for Tiana in order to get a deal on two concerts — and get Laura away from Hakeem. Camilla can’t resist the bait and takes it. That’s my girl, Cookie!
Jameson realizes he’s been played by Lucious. The only reason Lucious told Jameson about Jamal and Skye was because he and Jamal were against each other in the ASA awards. To help gain Jamal’s gay fan base back, Jameson holds an event where Jamal sings a brand-new song describing how he’s not like his father. After his performance, Jamal is recorded saying Lucious Lyon isn’t even Lucious’ real name.
Jamal has just declared war.
Lucious wasn’t happy that Jamal revealed a family secret to the public, but he’s using it to his advantage. He calls in a reporter and tells her that he’s willing to give her the story about how he became Lucious Lyon. Everyone know the story about Lucious Lyon but no one knows the Dwight Walker story. Who could resist that story?!
Andre thinks God has sent him a message by giving him a vision that Rhonda’s accident wasn’t an accident at all. All Rhonda can do is say Andre is going through a bipolar episode and needs to seek medical help again. We saw Rhonda remember being pushed down the stairs when she came home from the hospital, so she knows it wasn’t an accident, too. She must be in denial.
The couple see Andre’s Reverend for help but Rhonda heads into it with negative attitude. Andre asks Rhonda if she’s cheating on him because she wasn’t at work like she told him. She denies that she’s cheating on Andre and thinks the idea behind seeing the Reverend was a set up. She thinks the only answer to their problems is a doctor, while Andre believes it’s God.
That’s a tricky situation. She should just tell Andre that she saw something too!
Turns out Rhonda actually was with Cookie instead of at work. She was telling Cookie that she overheard Camilla talking to Mimi on the phone. The two were going to be in New York over the weekend. Andre’s plan was to catch Camilla and Mimi admitting that they stole Empire illegally. It would be hard to do, but they were determined to do so.
Hakeem took it upon himself to hide a camera in the air duct while he and Camilla did their business. The important part that was caught on tape was Camilla talking about taking everyone out of Empire for her and Hakeem, and that Mimi wasn’t dying soon enough. Now that’s how you incriminate someone Lyon style!
After Hakeem sent the video to Mimi to get her jealous, she dumped all of her Empire stocks. It actually worked! Andre makes a call to buy as many shares as they can legally own to get back in. The Lyons are back in business.
I knew it! Camilla is heartless! Lucious walks in as Camilla is wiping away fingerprints on the bathtub containing Mimi’s lifeless body in the water. I’m not sure how long he was spying on them, but he saw Camilla put something in Mimi’s drink and knows she killed her. It also appears that Lucious caught everything on his phone. I guess he took a tip from his son.
Camilla thinks Lucious was the one who sent Mimi the video. You can feel the joy it brought Lucious when he told Camilla that it was actually Hakeem who sent the video to Mimi. Lucious pulls out a gun and tells Camilla to kill herself by drinking whatever it was she made Mimi drink. She asks for Lucious to just shoot her but he says he won’t be doing any favors for her. Before he leaves, Camilla empties a bottle of prescription pills in her mouth.
What were your thoughts on this episode of Empire? Now that the Lyons are back in Empire, do you think things will run smoothly? Who will run Empire? I have no doubt that Lucious will want his company back. Hakeem also seems comfortable in his new position. Do you think Andre is slipping again or is Rhonda just in denial? What do you think we’ll find out with Lucious’ new Dwight Walker story? Does this mean he’s changing his name? Will Lucious go to the police with his evidence on Camilla? Leave your thoughts in the comment section below.
New episodes of Empire premiere Wednesday nights at 9/8CT on FOX.
Photos: Chuck Hodes/FOX
