Empire Watch: Paranoia, Poison & Petty Flip Flops


Last week's return of Empire was actually a pretty good episode, offering TV watchers hope that maybe, just maybe, the back half of the season would rectify the wayward direction of the first half. Our girl Camilla wasted no time kicking up dust after her rather hostile takeover of Empire Entertainment, and she also wasted no time seemingly wrapping Hakeem around her little finger. Meanwhile, Cookie, Jamal and Andre also hopped to it to devise a plan of ridding themselves of one snake in the grass while the other snake in their lives, Lucious, is hell-bent on filicide after Hakeem flipped the script. And, speaking of Hakeem, the youngest Lyon brother was riding high on his newfound power (not to mention the good lovin' of his girl Laura), only to realize that he had some tough decisions to make in regards to Empire, Camilla and his family. Heavy is the head that wears the crown, indeed.

What fresh, new drama does this week's episode bring?

Episode 212: A Rose By Any Other Name

This week, it seems the writers went back to the overstuffed model that plagued the season's first half. It starts simply enough with Hakeem talking to the press about the new regime at Empire, though this happens so often that we can't really fathom why the press is even interested at this point. Although he's feeling himself something awful, he's actually handling his reign as CEO quite well. That is until a nosy reporter questions why he didn't mention his daddy. After he gives a diplomatic enough answer and the press leaves, Mama Cookie makes sure to give young Keemie a slap in the right direction, letting him know he'd better do what he promised.

Meanwhile, at Lyon Dynasty offices, Lucious is planning his video for "Boom Boom Boom Boom" (sidenote: this song has been out for months and is award nominated and they're just now planning out the video?!) and, wouldn't you know it, that same curly-haired inquisitive reporter is grilling LuLu about the video and the state of things between he, his family and his company, specifically mentioning Hakeem, Camilla and Mimi Whiteman. This of course gets Lucious' goat. What's sure to add more insult to that injury, though, is Hakeem replacing LuLu's face with his on the new Empire logo.

Cookie meets with Lucious once again to go over his video and hear a sappy ass piano riff that is somehow hot fiyah in Empire-land when an erratic Andre storms into the office to let them know that Camilla's cut the video's budget (because why would a company want a nice-looking video for an award-nominated song?). Lucious is irate, but not as irate as Jamal is after he and Becky are accosted by an angry flash mob of gays who cleverly change "Drip Drop" to "Flip Flop" after rumors spread that he might also be into vajayjay (though why they give enough of a f**k to coordinate an entire routine to a song that's not even Jamal's — word to Becky — is beyond us...or any logical explanation). Still, it rightfully pisses off Jamal, who goes running to his publicist Jamison, who lets Jamal know that Lucious is flapping his gums about his night with Sky. Jamal automatically assumes that Lucious did it to sabotage his chances of winning an ASA.

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