And so the Lyon/Beretti war over artists begins...well after Jamal pulls a D'Angelo "How Does It Feel" video shoot (though definitely not as good as D'Angelo's...Said it's been on my mind...)...
Cookie ends up going to ensure one of their top rappers, Royale-T, doesn't leave the label. Lucious didn't want to send Jamal, because he's gay. SMH @ Lucious. And he didn't want to send Hakeem, because Hakeem wasn't hood enough (being the baby of the family, most of his life taking place after they made it big). Cookie wins a drinking contest to get Royale-T to stay with Empire, and her purse is stolen when she leaves intoxicated. Luckily, Malcolm and another guard were keeping watch and were able to retrieve her and her purse. Cookie makes advances at Malcolm, once again, and Malcolm declines, per the usual. This time however, he adds that he studies people, and he knows that Lucious is in love with her. He says the way Lucious looks at her, there is something intense there. Then came the now infamous "take the cookies" scene. The most interesting part here is that Malcolm doesn't say he's not interested in Cookie. Rather, he implies that he can't be with Cookie, because his boss is in love with her. Hmmmm... something is definitely there...
Back at the label headquarters, Lucious, Andre, and Hakeem meet with an independent rapper. Lucious puts Hakeem in more of an observational role, and Hakeem confronts him about this after the meeting. Lucious points out to him there's a reason he's chosen Hakeem to watch and learn how the business is handled...in other words...he is personally grooming Hakeem to take over.
Meanwhile, Jamal is meeting, and recording with, Delphine (Estelle!!)...a very successful singer...3X Platinum...whose contract is ending. He convinces her to meet with Lucious, someone she idolizes, but Lucious isn't answering Jamal's call. He's not even listening to his voicemail.
Later, Lucious goes out to stop Beretti, and they end up having a standoff in the middle of the street (Beretti even implies he slept with Anika, despite Anika shutting down any chance of that earlier in the episode). Back at the label headquarters, the three brothers get trapped in the elevator after having a fight (mostly instigated by Andre who stopped taking his meds and flushed them down the toilet). Andre is upset that his father doesn't see him...that he was there when life was hard and Jamal and Hakeem were just babies...that he has worked so hard for Empire...and yet his father only seems to see Jamal and Hakeem. They end up calming him down by going back to a tradition from their younger days...singing "Lean on Me." It was a touching moment that ended in a group hug.
They eventually get out, and the whole family and staff are in the conference room. They discover Anika is about to meet with Tiana to try to get her to go to Creedmoor (Beretti's label). When Lucious is heading out, Hakeem follows, until Lucious stops him and tells him to stop following him and do something. Jamal tries to stop Lucious to tell him about their opportunity to get Delphine on the label. Lucious tries to push back on the idea, until Jamal calls him out for just not wanting Jamal to be able to pull in a huge artist. Cookie confirms that Delphine is a way bigger artist than Tiana, and instructs Lucious to go with Jamal to meet with Delphine while she and Hakeem go to talk to Tiana. Before leaving, Lucious tells Malcolm to call Andre's wife and not let him leave.
Hakeem runs into Anika to tell her she should forgive Lucious, but she soon realizes this was just a ploy to get Cookie to Tiana before Anika. Tiana tells Cookie and Hakeem she wants to stay at Empire. She also wants to go back to being Hakeem's girl. But Hakeem tells her he can't be with her, because he is in love with Camilla. I guess he and Camilla really are something serious, because he took the chance of jeopardizing his father's label with that statement. But Tiana agrees to stay at Empire.
Lucious and Jamal's meeting with Delphine goes well, and they go on stage to perform "You're So Beautiful." Then Tiana, Hakeem, and Cookie join them on stage to join in. It was beautiful, and touching...awwwww...Look at the Lyons!
But you know they can't end an episode without Andre being in a scary predicament. This time it's Andre having a breakdown in the conference room, including telling Lucious (in front of everyone) that he should choose the son that knows he's a murderer, and then being sedated and taken away for emergency detention. Lucious was asked to sign the paperwork as Andre's next of kin, but Lucious tells them to have Andre's wife sign it. The fact that the show took the time to put this into the scene suggests this may come back up later. We shall see...
This was a good and insightful episode. I enjoyed seeing the family pull together to fight for the label. It also became more evident that Cookie is the most capable to replace Lucious (just throwing that out there...), Jamal is the most talented (singing wise and with getting Delphine on the label), Hakeem would be a major underdog if not for his father's strong desire to have him be his successor, and Andre has no chance at getting the label (unless one of his Uncle Vernon's plans finally works).