Happy Birthday Hakeem
The bulk of this episode centers around the youngest Lyon in the den celebrating his 21st birthday. This also means numerous restaurants, strip clubs, bars and other establishments have spent the past 2 and 1/2 years knowingly and conspicuously risking their liquor licenses to supply Hakeem with $1,000 bottles of champagne.
Oh the joys of celebrity.
The birthday boy's special day starts the way all celebrations of life should ...
Hakeem has planned a 21-hour club hopping spree that will be broadcast live on his Empire Xtream channel. Unfortunately, none of his loved ones can make it. Tiana is on tour, Cookie has a dinner date with Angelo, Andre is doing business for Empire and Lucious and Jamal are also tied up.
Hakeem's club tour seems to go without incident at first, Tiana even takes a pause from her tour to surprise him at one of the clubs. But one of the club managers attempts to make Hakeem perform a song, even though that wasn't in his original agreement, then tries to shortchange him his payment for the club appearance. After two strangers strong arm the manager into giving Hakeem his money, Hakeem allows them to accompany him as his "bodyguards." How could this possibly go wrong?
Hakeem's last stop is Leviticus where his family surprises him to help him finish out his birthday celebration. But everything goes downhill when one of Hakeem's "bodyguards" hits Tiana's friend, Kennedy, after she repeatedly refuses his advances. Kennedy ends up in the hospital, the club is evacuated and police are called. Andre is furious with Hakeem for opening Empire up to such a huge liability and shuts down his Xtream channel to run damage control. Not wanting the whole day to be a bust, Hakeem decides to spend the last hours of his 21st birthday with his daughter, Bella. Lucious is proud of Hakeem for thinking of his child and finally declares him a man.
Boo Boo Kitty on the Run
After running to escape Tariq in the previous episode, Anika is nowhere to be found. She eventually turns up, with a plan: to ruin Tariq's case against Lucious by becoming romantically involved with him. Cookie says she'll need to wear a wire and Anika is given a week to set her plan into motion.
Speaking of Cookie...
Angelo continues to have issues with Cookie's past (read: Lucious) and is further bothered when he discovers that Cookie still has a gun gifted to her by Lucious. Angelo asks Cookie if she's ever shot anyone and she says no but we learn that's a lie via a flashback where teenage Cookie accidentally shoots a guy who tries to make a pass at her while Lucious is away. Cookie eventually returns the gun to Lucious and once again all is well in Cangeloland ... Angelookieland? I'll figure that one out.
Business As Usual for Andre
Andre is attempting to seal the Vegas deal with Giuliana and has secured Nessa a spot as the headliner for the grand opening of Giuliana's newest club. Andre wants to *ahem* seal the deal with Giuliana just like he and Rhonda used to and insists that he and Nessa have an arrangement. However, Nessa doesn't look pleased when she sees Andre and Giuliana flirting during a performance of hers.
Jamal is Torn Between two Lovers
After his night of passion with Phillip, Jamal is excited over his new boo but is in for a shock when D-Major drops in on him to profess his feelings and come out on a social media livestream. D-Major walks in on Jamal with Phillip and is not pleased, especially since he came out for Jamal. However, Jamal explains that D-Major can't come out for anyone but himself and gently rejects his advances. Things only get worse for D-Major as the hip-hop world begins to turn its back on him. Jamal tries to be sympathetic but after D-Major picks a fight with Phillip, Jamal decides he's done with him too.
Something tells me we haven't seen the last of D-Major ...