Review: Empire, “Unto the Breach”

Once again, this week’s episode of Empire, “Unto the Breach”, tackled so much that it’s hard to know where to begin. Spoiler alert!

The episode opens with Cookie busting in on Anika and Lucious wedding planning to reveal that Anika is secretly plotting with Billy Baretti and Creedmore records. This revelation immediately sends all of Empire into a tailspin. Anika makes a run for it, but not before Lucious stops her to warn her, in no uncertain terms, that if she tells anyone about his illness something bad will happen to her. Real bad.

Anika tries to plead her case, but her excuses fall on deaf ears. And just like that, we don’t have to deal with the annoying Anika/Lucious love story anymore.

Apparently all bets (and contracts?) are off once Anika deflects, because suddenly Lucious, Cookie, and the boys have to go into major damage control mode. They have to work to keep every artist they have and start signing new ones ASAP. Empire is at war with Creedmore and they have to win… at any cost.

So Andre and Lucious hatch a sketchy plan to bribe artists while Hakeem tries to prove himself and Jamal fights the good fight.

At this point Jamal is my favorite character on TV. Lucious is still being homophobic and refuses to respond to Jamal even when he has a platinum artist on the hook. Jamal calls Lucious out and tells him he can care about him being gay, or he can care about Empire. This brings Lucious around (because, money!) and he agrees to meet Jamal’s artist.

Meanwhile, Cookie has to participate in a drinking contest to keep another important artist (she wins, obviously), and then talk Tiana into staying. This allows Cookie and Hakeem to continue repairing their relationship.

Most importantly, though, this week finally forced the Lyons to acknowledge that Andre is not okay. Under pressure to keep artists, and still fuming from his anger at his father, Andre stops taking his meds all together. This leads to a complete breakdown that culminates when Jamal, Hakeem, and Andre get stuck in an elevator together. Just when it seems like Andre might do something violent, Jamal begins to sing him a song they used to sing together when they were kids. He talks Andre into joining in, and just like that, all three boys are hugging and singing. Like I said, Jamal is the best.

This isn’t enough, however, to bring Andre back around and Lucious and Rhonda have to call in the paramedics. Rhonda signs a 48-hour psychiatric hold, and the episode ends leaving us wondering what will happen to Andre next.

I’m so glad that Empire finally addressed Andre’s mental illness. I hope next week Lucious can manage to be a human about this and help Andre heal. But I’m not holding my breath.

What did you think of “Unto the Breach?” Be sure to share your thoughts in the comments below!

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Empire airs Wednesdays at 9/8c on FOX.