Empire Season 1 Episode 8 Review: The Lyon’s Roar

Well, my love affair with Lucious is fading just as soon as it began. This week’s episode of Empire, “Lyon’s Roar,” changed everything, and I don’t even know what to say. Spoilers ahead.

SO much happened on this episode. Cookie and Lucious wake up together (after reconnecting last week) and make a plan to record a “Lucious Lyons Legacy” song with the boys. They pick one of his most popular songs, “You’re So Beautiful.” Also, Lucious wants to spend more time with Cookie, but she tells him he has to ditch Anika first.

Except whoops, Anika knows that her dad committed fraud for Lucious (when he signed a clean bill of health for him to give to the board) and calls him out on it. She also calls him out on sleeping with Cookie. Instead of ditching her like he promised, Lucious apologizes and agrees to moving up the wedding to next week.

Meanwhile, Andre is fed up with being left out of family stuff so he plots with Vernon to make a play to become temporary CEO (obviously he also has plans to turn that ‘temporary’ part into ‘permanent’). He starts a campaign to secure votes from the board and enlists his wife to, ehem, do some campaigning of her own.

Apparently an important board member’s wife has a thing for blondes. “Do you know any hot blondes who like to use sex for power?” He asks his Rhonda. She’s on board until it turns out that it’s the important board member, not his wife, who is interested in her. He’s old and in a wheelchair so she’s not into it.

She gets super drunk at dinner with them and barfs right onto her salad. Andre doesn’t care because he still gets the board member’s support, but Rhonda’s mad and tells him to start handling his business ‘like a man.’ AKA, leave her out of it.

In happier family news, Hakeem and Cookie seem to be genuinely repairing their relationship. But then Camilla (who Hakeem is inexplicably still dating) convinces him that he has to be last on the family song and Hakeem uses his new relationship with his mom to manipulate her into agreeing. Side note: apparently Hakeem likes to call Camilla ‘mama.’ I just can’t even handle that. Hakeem needs to get it together.

Also happening this episode (I told you there was a lot), a guy named Ryan has been hired to document the Lyons. He and Jamal connect and he ends up helping Jamal feel comfortable coming out. Jamal also has a very sweet interaction with his daughter and they sing together. I love Jamal.

Then it’s time for the board to vote on this whole temporary CEO thing. It’s a room full of no’s (“It’s cold up in here” notes Cookie). Even Lucious votes no on Andre. I guess he and Vernon really miscalculated that one.

Finally it’s time for the big white party. First up, Jamal realizes that his parents are messing around again and he warns his mom “you do not want to love that man… because he’s incapable of loving anyone but himself.” I feel like he’s talking to me here. I know, Jamal, I know.

But then Lucious breaks it to Cookie that he’s still going to marry Anika and she handles it exactly how she should. She marches right over to Anika to tell her congrats and to casually drop into the conversation that she and Lucious have reunited more than just once.

She ends this burn with “you look pretty.” Which is a pretty solid way to end a burn.

It makes Anika’s face look like this:

Cookie is on a role so she takes down Camilla next by calling her out on being old and taking advantage of Hakeem’s mommy issues. When Camilla demands that Hakeem be last on the record, Cookie calls her Yoko and does a pretty fantastic job of dressing her down. Camilla gets in the last word, but I think she knows she messed with the wrong woman.

Hands down the best moment of the party is when Lucious tells Jamal to tell his truth through his music, which he clearly didn’t think through. Jamal takes him up on it and sings a version of “You’re So Beautiful” that allows him to come out to the crowd.

The crowd goes wild and every family member, minus Lucious, shows their support (Hakeem, in a rare selfless moment, even stops by Jamal’s house later to tell him it was the ‘bravest thing he’s seen in his entire life.’ I may have gotten slightly teary eyed). Lucious flashes back to literally throwing his son in the trash to remind us just how awful he is. What did I ever see in this guy?

Well-tailored suits, they get me every time.

After the party, Lucious is a whole new level of mad at pretty much everyone. He tells Vernon he’s questioning his loyalty and then tells Andre he voted against him because he married a white woman and accuses him of not wanting to be part of the family.

Andre shoots back that the reason Lucious hates him is because he isn’t talented, but Lucious tells him that he will never truly be accepted, no matter how many white women he marries. Andre takes this as confirmation that he father doesn’t love him, which is a pretty fair way to take it. We then see Andre sitting alone in a studio with a gun to his head. He pulls the trigger but nothing happens. I really need someone to start looking out for Andre.

Finally, Anika is up to no good (of course) and goes to see Billy Baretti. I can’t wait to see how that turns out.

Luckily we’ve got Cookie, sitting with her Valentinos propped up on the desk, basically ignoring Lucious as he tries to figure out why Anika didn’t meet him with the wedding planner. Lucious tells Cookie that he’s never leaving Anika. Cookie says that’s fine and that ‘nothing good can come from loving you.’

Amen, Cookie. Cookie also reminds Lucious that no one cares that Jamal is gay, but Lucious says he cares and that he doesn’t have a family. “This is not a family. This is a disgrace” he says. Yikes.

We end with a flashback scene of Cookie singing “You’re so beautiful” to herself in her jail cell. Poor Cookie loves Lucious even though she knows she shouldn’t.

It was a bit overwhelming, but this episode took the whole series to a new level. I’m glad to see such big issues being tackled in such a big show. I’m cautiously hopeful that Lucious is going to repent before the season ends (only three episodes left!). At least previews show that next week Anika gets taken down a notch or two in Lucious’ eyes. I can’t wait.

What did you think of this week’s episode of Empire? Let us know in the comments below!

 

Empire airs Wednesdays at 9/8c on Fox.

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