Still angry with Lucious
for paying off his cougar-love Camilla to leave town (he doesn’t know she
didn’t take the money), Hakeem disses him in a rap at the press conference for
the big concert and announces that he is going with Anika to Beretti’s label.
Lucious punches him.
Lucious turns to Jamal
for help on a new song, his swan song. Jamal helps him but refuses to perform
at the concert without Cookie running it so Lucious asks her
back. Newly bonded with
Dad, Jamal dangles Beretti over a balcony so he’ll sign over Lucious’ master
recordings. Lucious told Jamal he had to
get those masters if he wants to take over Empire. At Beretti’s, Lucious finds Hakeem
in bed with Anika (ex-fiancee)! They wanted to hurt him, which they did.
Turns out Lucious has MG
(serious but treatable) rather than ALS, so he’s not dying. In a drug stupor,
he confesses to killing Bunky. Cookie overhears
and starts to smother him but he wakes up and stops her.
Lucious tells the family that
he’s not dying and apologizes for everything.
Hakeem gets a private jet, and Dre gets a well-funded foundation he can
use for religious purposes. He names Jamal as the new head of Empire, pissing
off everyone else. He also outs Cookie for trying to kill him, showing the
video to Jamal. She tries to explain that Lucious killed Bunky, but Jamal
doesn’t seem to be listening. They make up later though.
The feds want Cookie to help
get Lucious for Bunky’s murder, but she refuses in spite of her anger.
Andre wants to quit Empire,
having been passed over; he’s more interested in hanging out at church with
Jennifer Hudson. His wife almost leaves him. Lucious makes J.Hud an offer she
can’t refuse, and much to Dre’s dismay, she sells out. Later, Dre hooks up with
Cookie, Hakeem and Anika to launch a takeover of Empire (Anika’s idea).
Lucious mends fences with
Vernon (Malik Yoba),
who then tries to placate Dre to keep him at Empire. They fight, and Rhonda hits Vernon over the head defending Dre. Vernon
dies, they cover it up, and she reveals she is pregnant.
Empire starts public
trading. Dre is there with his face all bruised; Lucious is wondering where Vernon is. At the big concert,
Lucious is arrested for murder. He thinks Cookie rolled on him but she denies
it. It looks like it’s part of the hostile
takeover. The takeover investor said they needed to catch Lucious in a scandal
to sink the stock prices, so they could swoop in to buy it up cheap.
The feds are upset that Vernon is missing b/c
he’s supposed to be their star witness. In the end, Lucious is behind bars, but
is he in jail awaiting arraignment/trial? Or have we jumped forward in time,
and he’s already serving a prison sentence? It looks like the takeover has gone
through, and everyone is moving ahead with their lives. Dre and Rhonda have an
ultrasound; Hakeem is recording with Anika; Jamal is running meetings at
Empire; Cookie looks like she moved into the mansion. And Lucious vows revenge
in a voiceover.
