As he leaves, though, her phone starts doing something strange.
We cut to Jamal in the studio with Derek, and the same thing happens to his phone.
Well, this hacker may know computers, but their vocabulary is a bit lacking, no?
Credit: Chuck Hodes/Fox
Lucious, Thirsty, and Andre make a run at figure out who could have done it.
Vaughn, who tried to buy Empire XStream a few episodes back?
Shyne, who might still be bitter about being forced to sign Nessa to Empire?
Speaking of Nessa, she and Hakeem are in the studio working on a new track.
Dre comes in, Nessa leaves, and Dre hisses to Hakeem, You better fall back, boy.
Looks like Andres position is safe after all!
Youre wack in bed…
Your singings mediocre… You and Empire can kiss my ass, he says.
What did she do to you?
Lucious throws a chair into the screen, while Cookie shouts, What the hell yall lookin at?
(Side note: Why is it hackers on TV always put demonic cartoons on the screen?
Do real hackers actually do this?
Dont they just take your stuff and leave and not bother with the theatrics?
Maybe I dont know what Im talking about.)
I may stomp a hole in somebody, but I aint no Internet thug, he says.
Plus, I have no desire to see Cookies cookies.
Hey, watch it, mister!
They werent for you anyway!
Elsewhere in Empires offices, Xavier is freaking out because everyone hates the Tiana song Cookie made her record.
He swears, but Im 1,000-percent sure he had his fingers crossed behind his back.
That Xavier is a scoundrel and I dont trust him as far as I can throw him.
Becky, you are smarter than this!
This hack feels personal, he confides.
Its like theyre picking off one Lyon at a time.
These hacker graphics are great for TV, but I cant imagine real hackers wasting their time.
Derek says Jamal should get back on his pills because hes losing his mind.
This BREAKS MY HEART!
I love Cookie and Angelo.
She deserves a stand-up guy for once.
They accuse him of the hacking, but he denies it and says he would never be so sloppy.
I TOLD YOU, BECKY!
Becky is understandably furious, but Thirsty holds her back.
Ill teach you a little something about true payback, he says.
Im actually excited to see how Thirsty and Becky put Xavier through the ringer.
The glass in his hand falls to the ground and shatters.
Um, the Lyons have GOOD secrets?
Meanwhile, Cookies alone in bed, watching a beleaguered-looking Angelo surrounded by reporters on TV.
One of the reporters asks, You dont think the invasion of a womans privacy is important?
This sets him off.
Andthenhe proceeds to strip down to his skivvies, live on TV.
Cookie gleefully yells at the TV.
Love you, Angelo, she says to the air and then freaks out when she hears herself.
Everything went more or less exactly as planned, Andre says to him.
Except for that part where you leaked a nude selfie of my mama.
I thought it would add a little layer of plausible deniability, Vaugh says.
Andre seems to agree and hands him a bag of money.
He says hell get Vaughn the next installment once the streaming service brings in its billions.
Always trust a Lyon, he says, and Vaughn says thats why hes there.
WHAT THE HECK?!
Now he just wants to combine Nessas musical strength and his own business acumen to make them powerful together.
If thats the way the world sees him, hes going to meet their expectations.
Did Andre find his true calling?
Also, I feel like we need to acknowledge how quickly hes moved on from Rhonda.
Is Nessa just a rebound, or did he really find his queen so fast?
