BWW Recap: Lucious in the Skye with Lyons on EMPIRE

Quite the trick, EMPIRE creators, to save that power duet between Jamal and Skye for the last few minutes of the show. It was worth the wait. I can listen to Alicia belt it out all night!

In Philly, Cookie and Candace (Guest Star, Vivica A. Fox) are still on the hunt for their sister, Carol. Cookie decides to look up an old pal from prison, Pepper (Guest Star, Rosie O'Donnell) to help her locate Carol. They are successful and as Candace and Cookie argue over who will watch Carol, they decide that Carol's kids will stay with Candace and Carol will go with Cookie back to New York.

Cookie is stressed out about the upcoming Cookout Concert, which is now sold out thanks to Hakeem's public victory at the rap battle. They want to add a second night, but Laz is dragging his feet as he is in deep with the gang/security team. Hakeem decides to trust him, literally, a moment too soon as Lucious is delighted to arrive with proof that Laz is one of the gang that kidnapped Hakeem. A heartbroken Cookie threatens Carol to go to rehab as she cannot lose another person she loves.

Lucious, meanwhile, is showering Dre and Ronda with love, in the form of a mansion, to support their impending family and the fact that he is loyal. Even so, he still asks Hakeem, again, to sign with Empire. Hakeem declines and says he can't be bought and returns to rehearse his duet with Laura for the Cookout. Psycho Anika shows up and throws her weight around as she finally shows her cards that she truly believes Hakeem is in love with her.

Dre suggests to Lucious to offer his music as collateral for the deal with Swiftstream, but since Cookie owns half the rights, they can't do it and she has no desire to sign away her rights as she knows the deal is bad. Instead, Dre convinces Lucious to sell off pieces of the Empire.

Lastly, Jamal is collaborating with superstar, Skye Summers (Guest Star, Alicia Keys). The two are mutual fans of each other. Skye wants to record something edgy and out of her comfort zone. She flirts with the idea of signing with Empire and abandoning her good girl image. Admiring how Jamal has created his own image and stuck to being himself, they create a power ballad, "I Matter" and belt it out together at episode's close capping it all off with a kiss? Um... what the what?

EMPIRE got back to its celebrity cameo parade this week even including one of it's creator, Academy Award Nominated, Lee Daniels in a small role as a director. But as predicted, Ms. Keyes stole the show. It's just hard to beat her vocals, unless they throw an Adele cameo in there, this duet will rank right up there with the Estelle track from last season for me.

I honestly do not know why Lucious doesn't trust Cookie's instincts when it comes to business. She always has a good feeling about things and if she senses this is a bad deal, why would he not defer to her? This can only end badly. And I'm glad Laz was finally discovered so he can get back to being Jane's advisor down in Miami. (#janethevirgin) Is this the last we'll see of him or is the gang going to destroy the Cookout as planned?

And Psycho Anika is back, which I still don't buy the intense turnaround for the character, but we'll go with it because we kind of need a villain at this point since Ronda is turning into a soccer mom. I fear for Laura's safety because if anyone is going to be a casualty in this situation, it's her. No sign of Freda this week. Did Lucious lose interest in her after the rap battle?

Well, it's all going to come to a head next week as we head into the Fall Finale. I can't imagine them not leaving us with some form of a cliffhanger to sit with over the next few months until its return in the spring. Any predictions? Please, oh please, make Anika's baby not Hakeem's. Too easy. I think someone is gonna die. Carol? Laura? Laz? All expendable, I guess we'll see.

Here's a preview for next week's fall finale:

Photo Credit: FOX

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