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| Lucious Empire Gun Gif |
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| Mallory Carra | Entertainment |
This week’s episode wastes no time getting started — Cookie and Laz are gettin’ busy in bed for three days. Get it, girl. In between love making sessions, Cookie decides to throw a cook out for Lyon Dynasty artists. In the studio, Lucious pushes Freda as they record “Boom Boom Boom Boom,” the track they bonded over last week. Elsewhere, Jamal secretly consults Cookie — the competition — for music advice under Lucious’ nose.
And if you thought there was something fishy about Laz keeping Cookie in bed, you were right. He emerges from the mattress to update a suspicious man about how he’s “handling things.” Laz suggests a park for the event — which would need to be negotiated through Hakeem’s kidnappers. Now, Hakeem doesn’t trust this Laz fellow.
Mirage a Trois singers Laura and Carmen passive aggressively fight over being lead, causing Cookie to tell Hakeem that Carmen should be lead instead. Hakeem enlists Tiana to help Laura act like a pop star queen, but Cookie suggests that Hakeem is blinded by his affection for Laura. Eventually, Laura becomes the Beyonce that Hakeem has been looking for and Cookie approves.
In the boardroom, Lucious considers Mimi’s idea of merging with Swiftstream, a music streaming company owned by Jago, and he literally throws himself into the (boxing) ring for the company. Lucious punches Jago when he calls Empire’s lyrics shallow, but talks him into the merger while Jago is hopped up on painkillers in the hospital. To celebrate the deal, Lucious and Mimi attempt to have a drunken threesome with a woman they picked up at the club, but Lucious gets inspired by the girl’s gun tattoo.
Lucious’ flashbacks throughout the episode lead us to know that his mother once uttered the words “Boom Boom Boom Boom” while pointing a gun at her head. During a late-night studio session, Lucious channels that energy into recording with Freda and bringing a gun.
For what feels like the first time in ages, Cookie and Jamal bond over music at dinner and they end up at Lyon Dynasty to record together, just like old times (a.k.a. Season 1). They sneak around to make music together without the rest of the family knowing and it’s too cute. When Jamal debuts the track, Lucious can hear the Cookie of it all.
Lucious orders Andre to sleep with the Deputy Mayor again to clear charges for Freda and Andre’s reverend surprisingly says he can do, ahem, other things than sex to accomplish it. Get your mind out of the gutter — Andre blackmails her! And then he goes home to Rhonda, who still doesn’t have a visible baby bump.