Thanks a lot, sports!
We last left off with Shyne and his crew preparing for war.
This week opens with a long, scattered montage showing them on their way to kill some Lyons.
Credit: Jean Whiteside/Fox
But when Shyne pulls the trigger on an empty gun and stops to grab a second really?
all that prep and you were carrying an unloaded gun?
Nessa jumps in front of it to save Andre and ask Shyne what the hell hes doing.
That small crisis averted, its time for a Lyon family meeting.
Jamal breaks in with some truth about his father: Am I the only one seeing this?
He loves this jot down of drama!
They see it, but cant do anything.
Lucious has his own plan and part of that plan involves Hakeem doing his Empire XStream performance as planned.
(Great Becky line this week: Do not mansplain to me, andespeciallydo not white-mansplain to me!)
She tells Tiana that Cookies cool with it, and Tiana records a catchy, smooth song called Starlight.
So much for trying to have Tianas back.
If Becky wasnt going to follow J. Poppa to the other label before, I bet shes ready now.
Howd you get so corrupt?
Theres no way you were born this way.
In the real world, I think America has the same question.
Genes arentexactlya cloning coin-flip, but sure, Lucious.
Theyre getting close and telling each other things, but soon Cookie wonders if shes said too much.
Something is definitely up but who said something?
Mayoral candidate Angelo, whose constituents might be wary of him dating an ex-con?
FBI agent Tariq, who could definitely pull some strings in other government agencies?
Or was it Lucious, who wants control over everything especially his family?
A switch flicks on in Hakeems brain.
He goes to rehearse with Jamal, but feels the performance is way too soft, way too Jamal.
It has none of Hakeems hard edges, though it was supposed to be Hakeems show.
It needs to command respect, he says.
But Jamal tells him hes going to end up spending his whole career doing clap-back songs.
If you had enough followers, youd be doing this on your own channel, Hakeem says.
Everybody knows this concert is life or death for you, he says.
Again, harsh but true.
Without this show, Jamal will keep fading away into obscurity.
Fame is a fire that needs to be stoked, constantly.
And for his part, Hakeem is turning a corner.
The war theyve been preparing for in the three weeksEmpirewas on hiatus is over, just like that?
Maybe its not over, but its shifting into an intra-family battle.
They start arguing: Youre the baby!
Jamals part of the song goes off without a hitch.
Its our smooth, peaceful, Marvin Gaye version of Jamal.
But he doesnt stop there.
Its a far cry from the way the brothers were sticking together at the beginning of the season.
This really does mean war.
No one is going to let this go easily.
Dear old dad, Lucious.
Well, I wouldnt want to be at their house for the holidays!
Theres one bright spot, for Cookie at least.
Apparently there was a misunderstanding, and the officer was too harsh.
Cookie can go back to her once-every-three-months visits and Angelo confesses he realizes the Lyons are fighters.
(Just now?)
And hes going to prove that hes a fighter, too…by fighting for her.
And by the way, Shyne does know about Frank Gathers.
Hes more than happy to hint as much to Tariq before walking away.
Remember at the beginning when Lucious said Shyne would die before he snitched?
Impressed with her showing earlier that day, Lucious says hell think about it.
Then Hakeem comes in, and father and son bond as Lucious teaches Hakeem how to hold his child.
Hakeem tells him he was right about the concert.
I wasnt going to let you get punked like that, Lucious says.
If that means you have to go to war with your brothers, then so be it.
Ill turn you into a destroyer of souls, he says.
So, in addition to making Hakeem some sort of Marvel villain…
The Lyons are once again a house deeply, deeply divided.
On one side, theres Hakeem, Lucious, Anika; on the other side, Jamal and Cookie.
Is Andre with Lucious or with Cookie?
Is Ghost Rhonda with Andre, or is she going to haunt Anika for a change?
Guess well have to stay tuned to find out.
