Empire is back and moving forward despite the controversy. We pick up tonight’s episode at the party just after Lucious and Cookie found out that Kingsley was Lucious’ son. Cookie is pissed so she kicks everyone one out of a room so she can confront Lucious about this. Lucious’ says he didn’t know about Kingsley, which is true and he that he was 16 and dumb when that happened, also true.
Cookie puts that to the side for now because they have another problem. Lucious skimmed some info from people’s phones for his own gain in earlier Empire digital days and Kingsley found out about this so he plans to use this info in a scheme to pin the entire data mining scandal on Lucious. Obviously, it’s time to go to town and get Kingsley outta here!
Next, we find Cookie and Lucious telling their sons that Patel is willing to sell shares of Empire to reduce his risk after all of the controversy so Cookie and Lucious are buying. But the catch is that they’re going in on Empire with Giselle. Andre is not trying to share with Giselle and voices that, but he has to roll with the punches for now. All three Lyon brothers have their parents’ backs. But Andre is especially itching to get Kingsley out of here!
Jamal plays his part in taking Kingsley down. He has to convince Kai to give up the source who gave him leaked emails from Lucious. Kai is not happy about this but Jamal reminds him that Becky is caught up in this too and she doesn’t deserve it.
And just like that things get even worse. Thirsty tells Lucious and Cookie that victims of the data mining scheme are filing a $100 million dollar lawsuit against Lucious and Becky. Obviously, that amount of money would crush Lucious and especially Becky for good. But then Kai comes in with info they need from that person who is basically like wikileaks. As a result, Lucious and Dre take Kai to meet the guy and, ahem, talk. Kai tries the civilized route first but dude ain’t giving up the goods. So then Dre dangles him out a window, Suge Knight-style. Kai is obviously freaked out, but Andre is effective in getting the information he needs. Turns out, Kingsley is behind this and those emails are fake. As far as Kai, this is his first time actually seeing the Lyon gangsta in person so it’s only right that Lucious says, “Welcome to the family.”
But Kai is just looking like…
Lucious confronts Kingsley and tells him about his meeting with the hacker and tells him that either he sign a press release absolving himself and Becky or get the breaks beat off of him. The only reason he’s getting a choice is because he’s Lucious’ son. Gee, thanks. Anyway, Kingsley signs the paper but then balls it up, tosses it on the ground and tells Lucious this ain’t over.
Cookie heads to the hospital to visit Kingsley’s mother, Tracy. They have a tense conversation about their respective journeys but Cookie is there just to get Tracy’s side of the story. It pretty much matches up with what Lucious said.
At Empire, we see Kingsley being escorted out by security. He runs into Jamal and Andre on his way out and still threatens them. He says, “Let’s see which one wins out of nature vs. nurture.”
Things are still rocky for Jamal and Kai. Kai wants Jamal to go back to London with him, where they’re happy and far away from the Lyon Clan. But Jamal wants to stay and support his family. Kai gets pissed and walks out on his man. This isn’t over, but given Jussie Smollett’s real-life drama, writers might just take that route and have Jussie go to London as a way to write him off the show…if the show even comes back because it hasn’t been renewed for season six just yet.
Let’s fast forward about. There’s another confrontation between Kingsley and Lucious. This time it’s at Empire’s recording studio and Kingsley informs Lucious that he has software going through Empire’s servers and backup servers erasing all of the label’s classic music. Lucious tries to talk sense into him and tells him that his mom had been on drugs long before he met her and that he would have sought to raise him had he known about him. Lucious goes on to tell Kingsley that he sees the same fire in Kingsley that he had in himself. They both pulled themselves up through the struggle because they’re Lyon’s. Lucious starts crying. Kingsley starts crying too and says that he’s not a Lyon, he’s nothing and stops the program from doing further damage. It’s actually kind of sad because all Kingsley ever really wanted was a family and a hug.
The episode winds down with Dre driving with his new girlfriend. Everything is fine one minute but then the next, Dre’s nose starts bleeding he starts convulsing a bit and then he passes out. Luckily he was able to stop the car and avoid a crash beforehand but obviously, this ain’t good.
Then Lucious goes home and tells Cookie that Kingsley won’t be bothering them anymore. Yeah right. Cookie tells him she saw Tracey, which doesn’t sit well with him but she needed answers from the other side of the story too. Cookie said when she first saw Lucious back in the day she thought he was a king who had everything but the luster has faded. Lucious said he’s not going to justify what he did as a kid to feed his family in an unfair world. Cookie reminds him that they did terrible things and that Kingsley is their karma. Lucious reminds her that they’re still standing and asks if she’s with him. Cookie replies with a lackluster, “Sure” and walks away. Things are obviously tense. Lucious may be losing his ride or die.
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