Hakeem, once again, is being a little brat. He wants to his father to book him more performances, but Lucious tells him that won’t happen until he does some studio work.
Lucious is faced with a serious dilemma when a detective shows up at Empire. A homeless man came forward and told the cops that he saw Bunky’s murder. After the detective leaves, Lucious tells Andre that he wants to know the eyewitness’ name so that “he can make sure justice is served.”
Right.
Cookie is looking for a songwriter to pen Jamal’s first hit and take him to the top of the charts. However, she can’t find anyone decent and she lacks the connections that would lead her to a famous name.
Jamal insists that he wants to write his own songs anyway, although Cookie maintains that a lot of the greats have performed songs written by someone else. They also need an edge over Hakeem. Jamal still doesn’t want to be pitted against his brother.
Annika hired a private detective to spy on Cookie (God help Annika if the two are ever in a room alone). The PI shows Lucious surveillance photos of Cookie talking to the Feds on the night of Leviticus’ opening.
Lucious accuses Cookie of snitching on him, but she denies it. He says that despite everything, she’s the mother of his children and he loves her.
Oh please. The reality is, he doesn’t want anything getting in the way of Empire and the lifestyle it brought him.
He delivers the eulogy at Bunky’s funeral and, magically, he isn’t struck down by lightning.
Andre steps out on his wife with Deputy Mayor Alvarez so he can get the name of the witness. Major plot twist, though…Rhonda knew what he was going to do and it apparently spices up their sex life?
*shudder* Match made in hell, these two.
Hakeem is having a fling with one of Empire’s hottest stars, Tianna. She played hard-to-get initially in the last episode, but ended up sleeping with him after his performance. Lucious decides that their pairing makes for great publicity.
Cookie meets with her FBI contact, who tells her that a PI has been following her. The FBI got rid of him, and Annika’s cover has effectively been blown. Lucious could end up jeopardizing the investigation if he remains suspicious, so the women need a plan.
The contact pretends to be Cookie’s parole officer, Officer Judy Carter, making sure that Lucious walks in on a fake argument about Cookie failing her sobriety test. Once that charade is successful, Carter hands over information Cookie asked for–the whereabouts of a songwriter named Puma that Cookie and Lucious once knew.
Lucious apologizes to Cookie about his accusations and invited her to dinner, where the Lyons are “welcoming Tianna to the family.”
God help her, Tianna should run if she has any sense.
Puma goes by Dwayne now, but he still holds a torch for Cookie. He agrees to send her a song.
The song is one he’d written and given to Lucious years ago, but Lucious was never really a fan. It’s also clearly about Dwayne’s unrequited love for Cookie.
The witness to Bunky’s murder is a drunk prone to rambling, but the detective manages to decipher what he’s saying and realizes that Lucious shot Bunky.
At the dinner, Cookie not-so-subtly announces to the room that she knows about Annika’s detective. They glare at each other some, but it doesn’t come to blows.
Jamal performs the new song, and Lucious is assaulted by early memories of him and Cookie. However, true to form, he compliments Jamal while musing about how good the song might sound on John Legend’s new album.
Cookie’s mad, but Lucious originally bought the song from Puma and can actually do whatever he wants with it.
Jamal walks out, but not without making it clear that Lucious is going to regret doubting him.
Andre tries to get under Hakeem’s skin by hinting that Jamal is a better artist and, the moron, Hakeem is probably gonna fall for it.
The youngest Lyon wastes no time forgetting Tianna with Camilla, a cougar he’s been seeing in secret for awhile. And Camilla is positive Hakeem is next in line for the throne. That’s probably why she’s with him, but he’s incapable of thinking with his first brain.
Lucious goes to visit Jamal, trying to convince him to “toughen up.” Jamal stands up for himself, though, which is nice to see. Lucious reminds him that he pays for his apartment, so Jamal tells his boyfriend Michael that they’re moving out.
Jamal is ready to steal Empire from dear old Daddy, and you know what?
*Kesha voice* IT’S GOIN’ DOWN. I’M YELLIN’ TIMBERRR.
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