Get Well Lucious ... I Think
Lucious suffers a health crisis (remember, he has Myasthenia Gravis) but doesn't want to go to the hospital for fear someone will bring harm to him or make moves behind his back.
He instead remains bedridden at home, incubated by a doctor. Lucious asks Thirsty to watch his family because they're all snakes ... the apples don't fall far from the tree I guess.
Anika, who still hasn't made any attempt to trap Tariq as per her original plan with Lucious and Cookie, visits the sick Lucious and reminds him that in his haste to marry her so that she couldn't testify against him, they neglected to sign a prenup. This means that if Lucious dies, Anika will get everything. Anika disconnects Lucious' breathing tube but Lucious shakily pulls a pistol on Anika and she backs away. Anika then goes to see Cookie and asks her to promise that if anything happens to Anika, she'll take care of Bella, which Cookie agrees to do.
When Lucious catches wind of Andre's Vegas plans, he calls an emergency board meeting hoping that the board will shut down Andre's plan. However, everyone, even Hakeem, thinks that Andre's idea is a smart one and backs him. Lucious attempts to fire Andre but the board doesn't approve the firing citing 1) Andre's brilliant move into Vegas and 2) the fact that now that Empire is a publicly traded company, investors will look for stability. An angry Lucious then kicks everyone out of his bedroom.
Angelo Doesn't Want to Know What Happened When Cookie Met Lucious
Cookie wants to release a teaser of the video for Jamal's song "Dangerous" off of his When Cookie Met Lucious album. Jamal and Delphine (Estelle) portray Cookie and Lucious during the early years of their courtship and Cookie emotionally discusses her love for Lucious and his music when they were younger. The teaser is a smash but it has the unintended effect of causing Empire fans to root for team "Coocius," which is officially the most awful sounding super-couple name in history.
Angelo isn't pleased with this new development in Cookie and Lucious' non-relationship, especially since the mayoral primaries are drawing to a close and he needs Cookie to be there for him. Cookie assures Angelo once again that there is nothing between her and Lucious. Lucious even "graciously" allows Angelo to use Leviticus to host his primaries celebration. The results come in and Angelo wins the primary but Lucious, finally up and about after his earlier health crisis, steals the show stating how his endorsement of Angelo's opponent made him a stronger contender for the mayoral spot and playing a piano-rendition of "You're So Beautiful." Remember, the song he wrote FOR COOKIE.
Hakeem gets Woke
After the incident at Hakeem's birthday bash at Leviticus, Kennedy is suing Empire for $50 million. She's also demanding a public apology from Hakeem and asking that he cancel all of his upcoming club appearances. Thirsty and Andre discourage Hakeem from just apologizing saying that it would make Empire look like they're taking responsibility for the incident. Thirsty instead decides to dig up dirt on Kennedy to use during a deposition. Jamal says that this is victim blaming but Hakeem initially goes along with it. Thirsty humiliates Kennedy by asking her about her drinking habits, a picture that shows her with her arm around her assailant and a previous incident where she got violent with a club employee she had slept with. Hakeem is appalled and decides to perform a song apologizing to Kennedy and uplifting women everywhere on Jamal's Xtream account since his got shut down. The song goes over well and Jamal and Tiana both praise Hakeem's efforts, but Andre is furious saying that Hakeem has just admitted to being responsible for Kennedy's attack.
Speaking of Andre ...
Giuliana informs Nessa of Andre and her "business arrangement" assuming (or attempting to stir up trouble. You can never tell with Giuliana) that Nessa has agreed to it. However, Ms. Nessa hasn't agreed to anything and reminds Andre that even though that may have been how he and Rhonda did business, she isn't Rhonda.
Andre continues to push towards a deal in Vegas and finally brings in the big guns, a.k.a. Shine and his men, to convince one of Giuliana's business associates to sign off on the deal.
Other things we learned this episode:
- Most of Hakeem's fanbase is (shockingly) female
- Rhonda's special guest appearance in that ghostly threesome from last fall did nothing for Nessa
- Lucious Lyon is the ultimate party crasher
- Cookie isn't the only woman Lucious has written a song for
Tune in Wednesday night to learn more about the song Lucious wrote for Giuliana,