This finale though! Sooo much happened! Though some, if not all, of the major twists were predictable...or at the very least foreshadowed earlier in the episode.
The episode takes place over the span of one day and opens with Jason DeRulo announcing the beginning of the American Sound Awards (ASA) nominations taking place throughout the day. He begins with the R&B nominees, and Jamal is one of the nominees. Throughout the day, Jamal receives several nominations (over 5). Towards the beginning of the episode, Sky (Alicia Keys) comes to see Jamal before their performance, and Lucious overhears her call him babe. Jamal begins to tell her they need to talk about what happened until he sees Lucious. When she leaves, Lucious asks if the two of them hooked up, and Jamal doesn't deny it. Lucious tells Jamal that Sky fixed him, and Jamal tells him he's still gay. Later at a concert related to ASA, and hosted by Charlamagne Tha God, Jamal and Sky perform their new song. In the audience Jameson is talking to Lucious about Jamal's R&B nomination and why Jamal isn't performing the song he received the nomination for, and Lucious tells him the R&B award is just to placate Black people and that the prestigious award is Record of the Year. To which Jameson points out, despite several nominations, Record of the Year is one Lucious never received. After the performance, Charlamagne asks Sky when she started being Black, and when Jamal tries to chime in Charlamagne says it would be like Jamal dating a woman after telling the world he's gay (hits close to home in the moment). Later, Sky's manager is upset that she even performed and is worried about the trolling going on on social media by people who agree with Charlamagne. At one point Sky even asks Jamal why he didn't defend her (but he did try, and why couldn't she defend herself...she was being called out her out for what was perceived as her own actions and choices). Later in the episode, Sky sees Jamal talking to a guy while she's performing. Afterwards she asks him about it, and in the nicest way possible they discuss the fact that he is indeed gay (though they confirm they did hook up one time) and wouldn't have feelings for a woman like he had with Michael.
Other nominations...Tiana performs and then announces the rap artist nominees. She gets to the last nominee, clearly thinking it's going to be Hakeem, but in a voice of disbelief announces Freda Gatz is the final nominee! Hakeem and Jamal did get a nomination for their video, and Jamal got a 2 in 1 when his video for "Heavy" was also nominated. And though they didn't show this nomination, but rather had it come up in conversation, Jamal also received a nomination in the Pop category (which speaks to the conversation about Black artists often being relegated to Hip Hop and R&B categories even when their sound really suits another genre...like the recent win by The Weekend for R&B/Soul at the AMA awards). Jameson mentions the pop nomination at Jamal's screening of his new Pepsi commercial in a conversation with Lucious, where he belittles Lucious' excitement about announcing his venture into streaming music by saying Lucious set a high standard and Jamal surpassed it. Lucious puts on a thin front, but it's kinda clear he's not a fan of the idea that Jamal is surpassing him (something that has been a theme throughout the season). This slight animosity is also present at the end of the episode when the final ASA nomination is announced, Record of the Year. Jamal receives the second to last nomination, and the final nomination...Lucious for "Boom Boom Boom." Jamal looks at Lucious with a slight smile, and what's Lucious' response? "Ain't that a bitch." And then Jamal's smile goes away. SMH.
Meanwhile, over at Lyon's Dynasty, they can't find a venue for Cookie's Cookout, because everyone thinks they are a security risk. Cookie asks Lucious to let them have it at Leviticus, but Lucious says no pointing out she didn't help him with getting the streaming music company by signing over her royalty rights. They did put on another show though. Keeping her promise to Pepper for helping her find her sister, Cookie takes Hakeem and Laura to the prison she was in for 17 years to put on a show for the prisoners and their families. When she first walks in she keeps trying to turn around and leave, having a change of heart about returning to that place. But Porsha convinces her to go in. She catches up with a couple of the prisoners she knew and the warden. She gives a brief speech, as did Hakeem who mentions Lucious not letting him come visit Cookie when she was in there and that he's had her back in her life for a year and the best moment of his life was starting Lyons Dynasty with her. Then he and Laura perform. Earlier in the episode Cookie told Hakeem about Jezzy (played by Da Brat), a prisoner Cookie always planned to put on the label when she got out. But at the prison Cookie finds out Jezzy received a life sentence for killing her bunk mate over toothpaste. When Cookie is able to meet with Jezzy after the performance, because she didn't go to the performance, she tells Cookie she doesn't rap anymore, she's innocent, and is upset she hasn't heard from Cookie since she left (over a year ago) when they were like family.
Back at Empire, Lucious tells Mimi he doesn't care about the Board members. He says it's his company and he doesn't need their approval to get into the music streaming business. He also says anyone who goes against him will eventually be removed from Empire. Mimi just points her pen towards him (hello foreshadowing) and indicates her feeling that the Board should have been part of the decision. Then she signs the papers. She also mentions her wife is flying in from Milan (more foreshadowing) and that she's going to be continuing treatment. Later in the episode, at Empire's screening of Jamal's Pepsi commercial, Lucious invites Mimi up on the stage to discuss where Empire is heading after his announcement about their venture into music streaming. He refers to her as his business partner in crime, which she then tells the audience she's never been called before. She then mentions the fact that she's been battling breast cancer and then invites her wife, Camilla, to the stage.
For those of you who may be as slow as Lucious was in that moment until he saw her face, Mimi's wife Camilla is Hakeem's Camilla (Naomi Campbell)! Who didn't see that coming after she said her wife was flying in from Milan...I mean we knew Camilla was coming back from the previews! Camilla later goes to pay Hakeem a visit. When he sees her his face is like a mix of a baby and a lost puppy (made me think of how she had him calling her mama last season). She comes in and he doesn't stop her. She tells him she didn't take the money from Lucious and that Cookie knows that. And when he sees her wedding ring she tells him it's not what it looks like and that she's doing it all for him. She tells him she still believes him and can take him to the next level.
Later, at a Board meeting, Mimi speaks poorly of Lucious and then shows the video she recorded (ON THE PEN!) of how he was speaking about the Board. She then calls an emergency meeting to be held later in the evening to remove Lucious as CEO. And all of this is in front of Andre and Lucious! Andre tells Lucious they will have to get some of the other board members to vote with the family, which of course also means they need all of the family votes, including Hakeem and Cookie. We see Andre talking to a board member in his limo. And we see Thirsty getting up from apparently going down on one of the board members in an elevator, but she tells him it was good but not $10 million good. And sure enough, they both voted to remove Lucious.
Now here's the thing, this is all happening on the same day. So after the board meeting where Mimi called for the evening meeting to vote Lucious out as CEO, Andre has to go to the prison to tell Cookie and Hakeem. Cookie hasn't seen Jezzy yet, so she's considering not going. Andre, being the businessman he is, has already drafted paperwork for her to make him or Hakeem her proxy for the vote. When she asks Andre to leave the office I scream. And when she tells Hakeem Lyons Dynasty is theirs but Empire is their Legacy I scream again. I mean Hakeem's initial reaction when Andre told them about the vote was that Lyons Dynasty was theirs, implying Empire is not. Cookie making Hakeem her proxy was both frustrating and made one of the final twists more predictable. Especially given she knew Camilla was involved.
At the vote, Andre informs Lucious they just need one of the board members to vote with the family to prevent his removal as CEO. Despite them all voting aye initially, one votes nay. Then Mimi begins to call on the Lyons for their vote. Lucious, Andre, and Jamal vote nay. Then she asks Hakeem. He pauses and has flashbacks to all the ways Lucious has done him wrong (you know like punching him, sending Camilla away, stealing the leader of his girl group, etc.). Then he sees Camilla outside the window nodding at him. But Cookie runs up next to Camilla outside the window, and when she realizes what is going on screams, "Hakeem no!" Buuut...you know Hakeem...He votes AYE!!!! That's right, Lucious is no longer the CEO of the company he created!! O...and then Mimi announces that Camilla will be her proxy while she continues her breast cancer treatments!!!!!!
O...but this isn't how the episode ends. Let's go back to earlier in the episode, at the home Lucious bought for Andre and Rhonda. Andre is pressing numbers on the security alarm and mentions they need to get it fixed as it's apparently beeping for no reason. Then he helps Rhonda down their spiral staircase, and I'm thinking...she's going to fall down those stairs by the end of this episode. But those platform heels she had on had me thinking she was going to fall down the stairs trying to walk in those heels. After she gets down the stairs there's a buzz at the gate, and she tells Andre it's Anika coming by noting Anika has been lonely. Anika brings a gift for the baby, but she's doing a poorer job than usual hiding her jealousy, especially when Rhonda tells her Lucious calls his grandson, "The Heir." This whole scene is setting the audience up. At this point I'm thinking Anika is going to push her down those stairs! But she doesn't!
The episode goes on. But in the final scenes, after Lucious has been voted out of his CEO position and he, Cookie, Andre, and Jamal are at Lucious' home waiting on the ASA nomination for Record of the Year (mentioned above) where Cookie had to go get Lucious to put a rifle he was shooting down (he even held it aimed at her for a while...and tells her their sons are so ungrateful for what he's done for them and for what she sacrificed for them by spending 17 years in prison)...someone breaks into Andre and Rhonda's home. Rhonda hears the alarm, but recall the alarm had been acting up. So she just turns it off...walks towards the stairs and says, "What keeps setting this thing off?" Then the person who broke in pushes her down the stairs. And these are some long spiral stairs! She tumbles down and then lands right flat on her stomach. Now about this person who came in...they are in all black, including black gloves and black hat. They have a slender build. But honestly, you don't get a good enough view of the person.
The obvious thought is it's Anika, who has been getting crazier and crazier each episode and has seemingly changed her obsession from Laura to Rhonda and the son in her belly. Not to mention she was doing a less than stellar job concealing her jealousy the last time she visited Rhonda. BUT...I would hope Empire would want to keep us on our toes by revealing it was someone else next season. And the fact that they clearly set it up for us to think it was Anika but then went through the trouble of making it hard to truly confirm it was Anika, suggests maybe they will indeed make it someone else. Who else might have a motive to harm Rhonda and her baby? Perhaps the better question is who might have a motive to hurt Lucious through his grandson, or "The Heir" as he refers to him. Then the question is, well who's tried to get at Lucious and Cookie through their descendants...I think you see where I'm going with this. Last we seen of Big Heavy was him being upset that they haven't made their money off the Lyons. And last we seen of Laz he was with Lucious who now knows he was responsible for kidnapping Hakeem. So let me make it plain...Empire can go the predictable route and make Anika all the way crazy and have it be her, or they can bring a less predictable twist and have it be Laz or Big Heavy. Or they can really shock us and make it someone else. We won't know until March (if we're lucky and they don't pull a "How to Get Away with Murder" on us...assuming Rhonda and/or the baby dies...and drag out the revelation of who pushed Rhonda throughout the season....But let us not forget, this is the same show that had Hakeem's kidnapping and release in less than 20 minutes...I'm still giving them side eye on that. LOL.).
See you in March Empire! I heard you Jussie...I'm not going to stop watching.