The Lyon family is further divided in this week’s EMPIRE when Cookie and her allies splinter off to create their own company. In prison, Lucious meets a guard drunk on his own power and secures some interesting new legal representation. After having screened the episode, we have some spoilers to share with you.
A New Company. After getting the boot for trying to take over Empire in last week’s episode, Cookie, Hakeem and Andre decide to start their own company. They head over to the crummy recording studio Cookie worked in with Jamal last season and Andre is less than impressed. But Cookie is determined to turn their new enterprise into a company to rival Empire and with a few artists on their side — including Tiana — they may be able to do it. Meanwhile, Cookie, Hakeem and Andre are in total disagreement as to whether Anika should join the new company, with both men feeling that she can bring something valuable to the table. But Cookie just hates her on principle and couldn’t care less about her skills.
The Next Destiny’s Child. While Cookie and Andre try to set up the new business, Hakeen gets it into his head that he wants to create the next big girl group. Andre feels that he should be focusing on his music, but Hakeem is determined to become a producer as well as a musician. While he’s trying to work out the branding for the group, we meet Valentina, a hot new singer who is very self-confident about her talent and might be a match for Hakeem.
Family Maneuvering. Jamal heads to visit Lucious in prison to tell him about the new company, but Lucious tells him that Hakeem belongs at Empire and he wants him to get his brother back. Jamal makes an overture, but will Hakeem return? What he does do is release his album online for free (watch a preview), which doesn’t exactly please Jamal. Meanwhile, Rhonda approaches Jamal to ask him to offer Andre his job back, telling him that his brother is deeply unhappy with starting from the bottom in this new company after working for so long at Empire.
A Power-Tripping Prison Guard. Ludacris guest stars as Officer Mcknight in this week’s episode, a man who clearly has a beef against Lucious and the other prisoners. He likes flexing his power and even helps the prosecutor deny Lucious his medication so that he’ll be more likely to plead guilty.
A New Lawyer. Enter Thirsty Rawlings, a slick attorney who approaches Lucious about representing him. And while his credentials don’t seem impressive (he went to law school in Guam), his tactics are. He manages to get Lucious his medication and recording equipment so he can record a single behind bars. And he starts pushing for a bail hearing after Lucious spends three months in jail. But can Lucious trust this shady new character?
Check out photos from the episode below and don’t miss an all new episode of EMPIRE on September 30 at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT on Fox.
