Empire Season 3 Episode 3 Recap: How to be a Lyon

Empire-Season3-EP3-Lucious-Cookie Chuck Hodes/FOX

In tonight’s episode of Empire, Lucious is worried that his new brilliant idea, Empire X Stream, will make him lose money in the end. He needs exclusive songs fast and it doesn’t seem like Jamal is ready for recording any time soon. So what does Lucious do? Go against Jamal and try to release his Black and White album that Jamal didn’t want released.

At least Andre isn’t in jail. With the press swarming around the police department, Andre is coached to hide himself and not “go all Black Lives Matter” on the crowd. What kind of a lawyer/friend says that? One reporter went too far when she asked if Andre is also a gangster now. Rhonda pops up on the side of the crowd and tells Andre that none of this would’ve happened if she were still alive. Someone needs to help this poor man out!

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Chuck Hodes/FOX

Cookie is ready for the battlefield. Now that they’ve messed with her family, she’s bringing out all the big guns. She tells Andre that they need to fight fire with fire but Andre doesn’t see things the same way his mother does. I think he feels that he’s too professional to be associated with fighting this way. Maybe we can find a happy medium and mix Cookie with Andre?

Snap! Who knew someone would have the guts to diss Hakeem in public? Tiana’s performance with a new rapper named Gram had Hakeem blowing steam out of his ears. Not only did he use his lyrics to make Hakeem seem like a little boy versus a man, but Gram also kissed Tiana after their song ended.

OMG! It’s Mariah Carey! Cookie knows that Jamal is still struggling to get over his fear of performing due to his PTSD but had one more trick left up her sleeve. She wants Jamal to perform with Mariah Carey, otherwise known as Kitty. Say yes, Jamal! I’m dying to hear this collaboration.

In the world of music, the battles against each other happen through the lyrics. Now that Gram made a diss track about Hakeem, Hakeem is doing the same thing for Gram. Nessa was supposed to be on the track but after she wasn’t feeling it, her brother grabbed her by the neck and told her to get into the booth. Yeah, I don’t think she’ll want to record that song anytime soon.

Wait a second. Is Andre really being charged for assault against a police officer after what they did to him? Looks like his useless lawyer wants him to take a plea bargain so they don’t have to fight it. What a joke!

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Chuck Hodes/FOX

Lucious takes his sons back to where they used to live. It’s a big difference when comparing it to the mansions that they’re used to now. The streets looked like they’re filled with people who don’t even have a home. Lucious tells his sons that he found out what the real problem is- they don’t know they’re black. Andre tells Lucious that he knows what it’s like to be a Lyon and he’d rather die than be like his father. Ouch.

Hakeem is a mini Lucious. Since Nessa didn’t want to be in Hakeem’s diss track, he found a way to work around that. He took pieces from Tiana’s songs and threw them in with his track to make the ultimate diss track. Way to make a father proud.

On the other hand, I’m so proud of Jamal! He went to visit Freda in jail even though it’s bringing up a lot of triggers with his PTSD. I understand he probably wanted to visit her to make his performing fears go away, but it’s still just too soon. He needs to take baby steps.

There was a little stumble in the beginning but Jamal was able to record a song with Kitty in the studio. These two killed it! Lucious didn’t think Jamal had it in him but his son proved him wrong.

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Chuck Hodes/FOX

Lucious will always be a crook. Instead of being happy with the hit that Jamal and Kitty just recorded for Empire X Stream, he needed to get a little more out of Jamal. Lucious released a different version of Jamal’s album called, The Black Album, which only had the songs that Lucious produced and not the ones that Cookie did. Now that Cookie understands what Lucious is trying to do with splitting the company, she wants war.

What were your thoughts on tonight’s episode of Empire? Do you think Andre should take a plea deal to avoid fighting his case? I can’t believe that his lawyer easily made a conclusion that this would be the best thing to do. What were your thoughts on the two diss tracks that Gram and Hakeem wrote? Let’s hope the fighting stays in the lyrics. Will Jamal ever be able to get over his fear of performing? At least he’s able to record in the studio. Leave your thoughts in the comment section below.

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