BWW Recap: EMPIRE, The Lyons' King

A multitude of guest stars, a concert, a cage and a cannibal, yes, all those things were in the Season Two premiere of EMPIRE. If you were worried about this season easing you into the action, rest assured, there is no rest for the wicked.

At a #freelucious concert beginning with a performance from Sean Cross and Swizz Beatz featuring Hakeem and Jamal, we jump right into the action. Cookie is forcing Hakeem and Andre to play nice so she can work millionaire, Mimi Whiteman (Marisa Tomei) into investing in their hostile takeover of Lucious. But even after they throw Mimi an all girl party (she likes the ladies) and Cookie forces Anika to sleep with her ("You can't even dyke right...), Mimi heads to the prison and makes a deal with Lucious. See, EMPIRE is Lucious Lyons, so there was no WAY she was going to aid in his takeover. Jamal is infuriated that they all tried to go behind his back and take him down. I will wager that this is not the last we have seen of Mimi Whiteman. (LOVE that her last name is Whiteman).

Jamal isn't handling the pressure of running the company too well. He's back with his first beau, after his little tryst with Ryan at the end of last season, and boyfriend wants Jamal to make friendly with the LGBT community by inviting "Miss Lawrence" to his office. Jamal declines to perform a duet and offers a large donation instead. I'm thinking Jamal is still a bit tentative to merge his LGBT and the Hip Hop community worlds. Meanwhile, he's in a huge feud with Hakeem, mostly in the realm of, "My album is gonna sell more," "No, mine is!" Boys, boys, boys, you're best when you perform together. Please rewatch the first five minutes of this episode, you'll see!

Cookie has her own set of problems as she finds out that Frank Gathers (Chris Rock) has discovered that she was the one who snitched on him that got him locked up in prison with Lucious. Lucious makes nice with him, especially after he overhears Frank's daughter rapping on visitors day. But at the end of the day, he has an undeniable, albeit twisted, loyalty and love for Cookie. And when Cookie shows up and tells Lucious she received a severed head from Frank, Lucious takes care of it. Cookie tells the family they are now safe because Daddy handled it and all are relieved, but Jamal won't forgive any of them and kicks them out of the house.

We're certainly wasting no time with the guest star parade. In addition to those previously mentioned, we also got cameos from Al Sharpton, Don Lemon and Andre Leon Talley. And this is just episode one! I'm sad that Frank the Cannibal (he was eating a body part, was he not?) aka Chris Rock died so soon. I enjoyed his little time on EMPIRE. It was a fantastic moment when he ordered his men to kill Lucious only to slowly realize they all work for Lucious and he was going to die. Kudos, to you, Mr. Rock. #rippookie (Please do another stand up special soon!)

Carol still seems to be a bit of a hot mess, almost comedically so, as I had to laugh when it the midst of complete danger, Cookie is still just plain old annoyed at her sister. Looking forward to Vivica A. Fox showing up soon as the other sister. I can only imagine that dynamic. But I do greatly enjoy the dynamic of Cookie and Anika forced to work together. Their disdain for each other hasn't diminished in the slightest which is great for us.

Lastly, sweet Jamal. If you're going to separate yourself from your family (justifiably), I'd be a bit nicer to your boyfriend as he may be the only friend you have. And even though Lucious has your back now, you should probably know better than to put all your eggs in his basket. Did Cookie really expect that he would just shrug and all would be forgiven? She literally tried to take over Empire. And poor Andre, he's just so sad. His wife is crazy and he is just so lost. He follows Cookie around like a puppy dog. I sure hope he finds his way this year and stands up for what he deserves.

Regardless, this Lyons family has way more stories and tension for us this year. It was an action-packed premiere with some great music to boast as well. (When does the Season 2 Soundtrack drop?)

Here's a preview for next week's all new episode of EMPIRE:

Photo Credit: FOX

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