Nessa, Nessa, Nessa. So much of this episode was about Nessa. Lucious and Andre went to Shyne's studio to sign Nessa, but Shyne (who apparently isn't Nessa's biological brother, but rather someone entrusted to care for her by her deceased brother) had different plans. Several other labels were also at the studio, as Shyne was planning a bidding war for Nessa. When Dre offers to let Hakeem help him sign Nessa, Hakeem decides to live stream Shyne and Nessa at his home to announce she was signing to Empire. And of course Shyne says only if the number is right, adding if the number is right he'll sign right there. He convinces Hakeem to write down the amount Empire is offering on a napkin, but then he just takes the napkin and puts it up in front of the camera to tell the other labels they have to beat the $2.5 million Empire was offering for Nessa. Womp, womp!
Later, Dre goes to see Nessa alone, where they discuss how she manages all of Shyne's money and is similar to Dre. This is also the scene where Dre discusses Nessa actual brother and her knowing her own value, which convinces her to sign. But they still need Shyne's signature. Having learned what Dre did, Shyne busts into Lucious' office and punches Dre. Dre stands back up and throws a few good punches of his own. But then Shyne goes for his gun and aims it at Dre, and then Lucious takes his bat to the back of Shyne's knee. He then throws the contract down to Shyne on the floor for him to sign, but Shyne just spits (a bloody spit) on the contract. Then Lucious pulls a gun on him to get him to sign it. And no, Dre did not try to talk sense into Lucious like season 1 Dre would have. Rather, he stomps on Shyne after he signs. This of course leads to Shyne gathering up a number of men with very large guns to go after Lucious and Dre (guess we will see that next episode). And while Shyne is suiting up with those men, Nessa is visiting Dre without Shyne knowing. And as some of you probably know from social media, she and Dre hook-up (though she is unaware she's actually part of a threesome with Dre's hallucination of his deceased wife, Rhonda!).
Meanwhile, after waiting to hear from Angelo, Cookie is surprised by an elementary school musical trio. Angelo then appears to invite her to hear a friend of his sing. Unfortunately, Porsha confused the location with The Compound in Atlanta somehow, convincing Cookie it was a hip hop spot. After trying on everything, as any woman might do on her first date with a guy she really likes, Cookie finally chose what she thought was the perfect outfit. Unfortunately, Angelo had actually invited her to the opera, and all the other women were dressed in gowns. Cookie tried to leave, but Angelo told her she looked good and told her to stay. He introduced her to two Black women he grew up with (one a family friend, one from Jack and Jill growing up). They asked Cookie where she lived on the Vineyard (as in Martha's Vineyard), and though Angelo tried to do what he probably felt was the nice thing to do and try to help Cookie save face by saying she spends her summer working for her family's business, Cookie told them she stayed at the prison up there! Later, after being amazed by the singer (who was singing about loving two men), and jumping up and shouting about the singing (more r&b concert than opera), Cookie retreated to the bathroom after the performance. While in the stall, she overheard Angelo's friends talking about her being a hoodrat and him not staying with her for long. Cookie being Cookie, she came out of the stall to confront them before leaving without telling Angelo good bye.
Cookie ignored all of Angelo's attempts to contact her, but Jamal invites him to the live stream of Tiana performing her new song. Since Tiana wasn't feeling the idea of putting out a diss track that essentially just made her the pawn two guys were fighting over, Cookie convinced her to use a new concept utilizing the opera singer she went to see with Angelo. Angelo tells Cookie he thinks they can make it work, and Cookie seems willing to give it a try despite Lucious' best efforts to not see it work. Earlier in the episode Lucious told Cookie Angelo put in a bid to be mayor and asked her if she thought he could do that with an ex-convict on his arm. At Tiana's performance, Lucious told Angelo the story about how Cookie got her name (which included Lucious telling her she was his Cookie from now on and then shortly thereafter beating up Cookie's then boyfriend Barry and telling him Cookie was his girl now). After the flashback scene, Lucious then told Angelo that's how it always works with them. He and Cookie always get back together. But Angelo tells him it may be different this time! And he could be right, especially with Cookie sharing flashbacks of her own. She told Porsha about how her father told her to stay away from Lucious and wanted her to go to college, become a doctor, and marry Barry who would lift her up instead of bring her down. She told Porsha that Angelo reminded her of Barry.
While all of this is going on, Jamal is still meeting up with the guy he met at the PTSD support group in the last episode. He actually went with Jamal to see Freda again. Freda had been beaten up and her face looked really bad. She told Jamal he had some fans in there, implying she was beat up in retaliation for shooting Jamal. Jamal asked if her lawyer could help her get out, and she told him the lawyer Lucious sent was only concerned with her staying quiet about Lucious killing her father. So after speaking with Angelo about it, and Angelo pointing out if she had a history of mental issues she could possibly get out if she said she was having a mental break when she shot Jamal, Jamal paid off a doctor to say Freda had a history of mental issues. Her attorney said she was on meds and alcohol the night of the shooting, which caused her to be paranoid and not in her right state of mind. And sure enough it worked, and Freda got out on bail. Jamal later learns the entire thing was part of Lucious' plan, and that Freda was in on it (including letting someone beat her up)!! Lucious told Jamal he reminded him of himself by paying the doctor off without Lucious even having to ask him to. Also, with her mental stability now in question, Lucious said he will no longer have to worry about her trying to reveal he had anything to do with her father's death. SMH!
It should also be noted, after being warned it was a bad combo and pretending to change his mind, Jamal continued to take his meds with alcohol. Also, Becky didn't get the Senior A&R position at Empire. Cookie hired someone else who she described as being a Hip Hop encyclopedia (Becky described him as a Jewish guy, and Lucious described him as pretending to be Black). And though he did show he was knowledgeable on Hip Hop, he didn't seem to be knowledgeable on Empire artists, specifically Tiana. He was thinking about steering her more Nicki for her performance, but Cookie agreed with Becky's correction that she was more Rihanna.