So the episode starts with Cookie in bed with Laz. He convinces Cookie to work from bed for 3 whole days! The whole time he's getting text messages from Big Heavy asking where he's at. Cookie asks him if he has a wife (due to the number of text notifications, she doesn't actually see the texts), and he says it's a girl he used to talk to who stopped talking to him and is now messaging him again (adding enough details to keep Cookie from being concerned that he's interested in this made up girl). Later, while still working from bed, he tells Cookie about the Summer Jam he's helping to promote, and suggests some of Lyons Dynasty's acts participate. But Cookie comes up with an idea for her own version of Summer Jam, Cookie's Cookout. Then, when Cookie begins getting texts from Jamal asking for help on a song, Laz tells her helping her son trumps her concern about Lucious and Hakeem being upset about it. Then he says he's going to get a paper, but he's actually going outside to meet with Big Heavy. Big Heavy is frustrated that it seems like Laz is more concerned with messing around with Cookie than handling their business, but Laz tells him they'll get more money with Cookie's idea for Cookie's Cookout. Laz will get money for helping her set it up and doing promotion, on top of money he'll get them by getting her to use Big Heavy for protection. So Big Heavy agrees to go for it.
Later, while Laz and Cookie discuss the location for Cookie's Cookout, Laz throws out a few places, but Cookie wants it to be hood and old school. So he offers another location, that she thinks is perfect. To which he throws in that it's Big Heavy's territory so she'll have to sit down with him. Cookie isn't a fan of sitting down with the man who kidnapped her son, but Laz tells her she's just sitting down with him. He tells her to let Big Heavy feel like he won, and then get her revenge later. So Cookie agrees to sit down with him. She and Laz meet with Big Heavy and his two guys in her office, and while they are talking Hakeem comes in and says he's Cookies partner and there's no negotiating without him. He then makes Laz move out of his "negotiating seat." They negotiate terms with Big Heavy, with Hakeem saying they could do the perimeter only. Big Heavy pushes back, but Laz tells him Hakeem is right because the park requires bonded security on the inside. Small detail from the episode, but I wonder if it'll come back up if Big Heavy took it the wrong way. Big Heavy and Laz definitely have different feelings about Laz and Cookie messing around, in fact when he met with Laz outside his place earlier in the episode he seemed to be upset that Laz had Cookie up in his place and that's where Laz had been the whole time. But Big Heavy isn't the only one who isn't a fan of Laz and Cookie. While Laz escorts Big Heavy out of the office, Hakeem tells Cookie he doesn't trust Laz and she should be careful.
Meanwhile, Hakeem's girl group is having a small issue. When they perform after Cookie's Cookout is announced, Carmen keeps bumping Laura out of her position as the lead singer. Cookie tells Hakeem to make Carmen the lead singer. Hakeem says Laura has a better voice, but Cookie says Carmen has a better personality. So Hakeem calls in Tiana to help Laura. He also coaches her and gets her to start singing randomly outside until a crowd forms. The next time they performe, Laura holds her own and pushes Carmen around this time. And it seems Cookie is convinced that Laura can now handle being the lead.
Back at Empire, Lucious is recording the Boom, Boom, Boom track with Freda Gatz. He takes the song to Huey Jarvis with the hope of getting on Huey's Living Room Session show, where most performers end up winning awards. But while Huey thinks Lucious found something with Freda Gatz, he doesn't think the song is ready and suggests Lucious dig deeper (he also notes that Lucious has been nominated for several awards despite not winning any, when Lucious admires all of Huey's awards).
Later in the episode, Jamal informs Cookie that Jameson, who has taken on a mentor role with him, got him on Huey's Living Room Session to perform the song Cookie had been helping him on! She takes a listen to the most recent version of the song and continues to provide great feedback, and then she suggests they go to Lyons Den to work on it. Jamal agrees, but while they are working on it Hakeem comes in to meet with Laura for a coaching session. Cookie distracts him while Jamal sneaks out. Jamal then goes and shares the news about being on the Living Room Session with Lucious, who does a good job of looking excited for and proud of his son, but when Jamal can't see his face it is clear he's bothered that he was turned down. When Jamal performs the song at the Living Room Session, Huey is very impressed and tells Lucious he really elevated his son's sound. But Lucious' face shows he knows it isn't his work, and knowing how well he knows Cookie, I'm guessing he also knows that it's actually her work!
Empire is also looking into joining the streaming music business. When Mimi says investors are upset with the numbers, Andre shares the idea of Empire going into the streaming music business. Mimi loves the idea, but tells them they should partner with Jago Locke (owner of the 2nd best streaming music business) instead of starting their own. Andre is not completely sold on a merger, but Lucious tells him to set up a meeting with Jago and Lucious. Andre suggests he look into the company first and do due diligence, but Mimi says her people already did it a while back. Then, as if Mimi stepping on his toes isn't bad enough, Lucious tells him Freda Gatz is in some legal trouble and he needs Andre to go "see" Deputy Mayor Alvarez and get rid of it. It poses a moral dilemma for Andre who was recently baptized, and he calls his pastor in to talk about it. His pastor tells him sometimes on the battlefield, God's warriors have to do things that may seem repugnant. Andre asks him if he's saying he should have sex with Alvarez. The pastor says no, but says he may need to do something else if it means he will get where he wants to get in Empire. So when Andre goes to talk with Alvarez and Alvarez seems disappointed and uninterested in helping after Andre refuses to have sex with her, he tells her he and his wife have enjoyed watching a video of him and Alvarez having sex, which he plays for Alvarez. He then says he wonders what the Mayor would think about how she conducts government business! Then he goes home to his wife and tells her what happened, and she seems relieved and happy he didn't go forward with having sex with Alvarez. Guess she didn't actually enjoy it as much as she put on in Season 1.
Later, Mimi and Lucious meet up with Jago Locke at a boxing gym. Mimi tells Lucious to let Jago beat him, and when Jago insists on sparring with Lucious (despite Lucious trying to convince him he didn't want to box with Lucious) everything is going well at first. Lucious let's Jago feel like he's doing good, until he starts talking about Lucious' catalog. After asking if he'd get Lucious' catalog exclusively on his streaming music site, to which Lucious agrees, Jago goes on to say the kids would love it. But then he adds, while he likes the beats, he thinks Lucious' lyrics are shallow! Then Lucious knocks him out! Later, Lucious and Mimi go to see Jago in the hospital, where he's hooked up to morphine. While Lucious is talking to Jago, he looks at Mimi and eyes the morphine pump button. And while Jago is looking at Lucious, Mimi pumps morphine into Jago without him knowing. When he begins slurring his words, Lucious tells Jago Mimi is going to call Jago's attorney and Jago is going to tell his attorney to draft a contract for them to become partners. And sure enough, they do! Later, in celebration of the new partnership (SMH) Mimi meets Lucious at the club with a number of women for him to choose from. He chooses a girl named April, who Mimi says he will have to fight her for. But Lucious tells Mimi they are partners, so they share. And yep, they both take April back with them to have a threesome. However, between Mimi getting a phone call that brings her to tears (presumably from her significant other, or at least Lucious assumes so when he snatches the phone and tells the person on the phone they need to love and respect her) and Lucious telling them to start without him because he has to go handle something that may take a while, they never get farther than Lucious and Mimi kissing and calling April over to them.
And where did Lucious have to go? Well throughout the episode we see Lucious having flashbacks to burying bullets as a child. The flashbacks start when Huey tells Lucious he needs to dig deeper and let out the part of him he keeps locked away. In later flashback scenes we see his mother searching for the bullets. Then she empties a drawer and one bullet falls out. She puts the bullet in the gun and puts it to her temple. She beings pulling the trigger and saying "Boom" repeatedly (like his latest song) in front of Lucious. The last flashback ends with her still pulling the trigger. So, Lucious has left the threesome to go to his closet and get what looks like the same gun and some bullets out of his closet. He takes the gun to the studio and has Freda Gatz come in to record more lyrics on the song (she notes it's 4:00 a.m!). Lucious tells her he's figured out what the song is missing and that she's about to become a part of his life story. The two go back and forth on the new verse (along with some clicking of the empty gun and spins of the barrel), and it sounds like Lucious is beginning to unlock that part of him Huey says he has locked tightly away.