After the hecticness of the past few episodes, this week’s Empire is rather slow moving by the show’s usual standards, heavy on dialogue and songwriting frustrations. I can see why that wouldn’t be to everyone’s liking, but at the very least “True Love Never” has the sense to gradually continue its plot buildups, as bizarre and over-the-top as they can get.
However, I and probably a lot of other fans are seriously questioning Cookie’s judgment lately, not merely because of Laz’s impending betrayal but through how she’s been handling Lyon Dynasty business. After a long makeout session where he somehow manages to avoid exposing his back to her, Cooks and Laz propose putting together a music festival called “Cookie’s Cookout” to make her mark on the summer jam scene.
What the audience knows but she doesn’t is that Laz is clearly using his charisma and sexual energy in order to extort her label, keeping her tethered to the Longhorn gang- much to Hakeem’s chagrin, who clearly has good reason to be suspicious of Laz (“I know abut Pretty Boy!”). It feels to me that Cookie was desperate to have someone, anyone in her corner as a buffer to Lucious, but said desperation led her to avoid “due diligence”, as it were. On a better note, her interactions with Jamal this week make up some of this week’s funnier and more charming moments, trying to hide a hopeful songwriting partnership between them from the Hakster.
Elsewhere, Lucious is neglecting one his weekly rituals (“vacuum the living room, harass Cookie, meet with investors”), preoccupied with his mentorship of Freda Gatz. The two collaborate to make a final version of “Boom Boom Bang Bang”, but Freda is having trouble getting into the spirit of the track. After consulting prominent producer Huey Jarvis, he starts to believe his fledgling new hit single is missing something….
As crazy as it might sound to claim, Hakeem is gradually looking more like the adult in the Lyon Dynasty offices, not merely regarding family and business matters but also musically. Blame it on the pressure getting to her or Laz putting suggestions in her head, but Cookie isn’t too keen on Laura performing as Menage-a Trois’s frontwoman, believing she lacks the necessary charisma. Undaunted, the overzealous young rapper tries to coach a sense of stage presence into his prospect, going so far as to stage an impromptu street performance for her- which actually seems to help boost her confidence. His tensions with Cookie over wanting to make his own decisions has been a notable part of his arc but has yet to have the majority of an episode devoted to it, something I expect to change fairly soon.
Just when Andre finally thinks he’s found some emotional peace, both his status as a Lyon and his job at Empire holds it juuuuuuust out of reach. His father pressures him to meet with the deputy mayor regarding pending charges against Freda Gatz, suggesting he utilizes his more….physical skills in order to convince her to drop them. His pastor isn’t much help during their meeting, offering a rather mixed message on the greater good and getting your hands dirty. At it turns out, he’s better able to sleep at night simply through blackmailing her, but I doubt that’ll help him escape his ongoing cycle of guilt.
The flashbacks of his mentally ill mother that have haunted Lucious throughout this season prove to be surprisingly useful for for him this week. After comforting Mimi Whiteman following an argument with her lover (and of course flirting with her in the process), a painful memory of her playing Russian Roulette inspires him to complete his missing “Boom Boom” verse with Freda, working in clicks from the very same gun she used on the track. From the look in his eyes it’s clear he sees his young prodigy as a far deadlier weapon.
Odds and Ends
– It’s a rap battle next week between Freda and Hakeem. One worse of advice, Hak: don’t use any samples from the Undertaker’s theme song. Otherwise Freda’ll take you out, baaaack to back.
– I like how all of the prominent authority figures on Empire are just cartoonishly corrupt. The sex addict judge, Ludacris’s evil security guard, the brutal D.A and of COURSE the deputy mayor’s got a sex tape.