(Fox)
On Wednesday’s “Empire,” Andre struggled to rebound from his mental breakdown as the Empire Entertainment IPO signing was rocked by bombshells before becoming downright deadly. Here are the most important things to know about “Sins Of The Father,” the 10th episode of season 1.
1. It was revealed in flashbacks that Andre had his first breakdown in college, but Lucious demanded his bipolar disorder never become public. Now everyone encouraged him to get well enough to come home from treatment so the IPO plans could be finalized, and while Cookie was devastated to see how far gone Andre seemed to be, Lucious would not visit him. Still in the hospital, Andre refused to go to the IPO signing, and roughly rejected Rhonda, angry that she put him under a psychiatric hold. With Rhonda gone, Andre had an emotional musical therapy session with his music therapist, Michelle (Jennifer Hudson), who led him in song and prayer.
2. Malcolm told Cookie he couldn’t stop thinking about her, but would be keeping his distance so as not to risk his job. That didn’t last long, however, as Cookie went in for a sensual kiss that led to a passionate makeout. Shortly after, Lucious named her head of A&R (since Anika left) and basically offered himself up to her (since Anika left), but she instead urged him to be a better father, and also said she wanted to produce the Lyon family tribute album.
3. Jamal was thinking of bringing his supposed daughter Lola to live with him full-time instead of with Lucious, but new beau Ryan was turned off, saying it wasn’t something he wanted to take on. Lucious wasn’t keen on the idea, either, saying she shouldn’t be raised in that “lifestyle.” Jamal naturally disregarded his father, and he and Hakeem later adorably performed for the tot. Meanwhile, Lola’s mother Olivia, Jamal’s ex-wife whom he slept with once, was confronted by an abusive ex-lover, Reg, who demanded they go get the little girl back. Together they went to see Vernon for help.
4. Hakeem was upset over the situation with Andre, but cougar girlfriend Camilla urged him to keep his “eye on that prize” and focus on his career, as guided by her. When they went to see Lucious and Cookie on the night of the IPO signing, Camilla asked them to be “civil,” which, of course, wasn’t going to happen. Together they debuted a new song, with the refrain “Age ain’t nothin’ but a number,” and included the line, “The older the berry, the sweeter the juice.” Lucious praised the track to Camilla… and then offered to pay her off to get out of Hakeem’s life, revealing that he knew she was broke and in debt. She refused the overture, but when Lucious used Malcom to force her on to a one-way flight to London, she wished Lucious a miserable death and vowed to return after he died. Lucious, of course, made Hakeem think Camilla took the money.
5. Lucious surprisingly planned to give Cookie a large amount of Empire stock shares, hinting at his affections for her, but rejected longtime business partner Vernon in the wake of his coup attempt with Andre. At the signing, Rhonda showed up as Andre’s proxy, enraging Lucious, but Rhonda became the angry one when she saw Lucious had reduced all the sons’ shares in order to give Cookie more. Rhonda called Lucious out for “stealing” from his kids to “buy” Cookie’s loyalty,” but the argument was interrupted when Vernon, seemingly high on drugs, showed up with Olivia and Reg. Lucious basically tried to throw Vernon out, only angering him further.
When it was revealed Reg had a bird tattoo, Jamal realized that he was the source of Lola’s bird nightmares. As Jamal went to confront him, Reg pulled a gun on the family, and as he came close to pulling the trigger and shooting Jamal in the head, Lucious dropped a bombshell: HE is the father of Lola, and HE “put the baby” in Olivia. As everyone reeled from Lucious’ statement, Cookie tried to steal the gun, but ended up in a headlock with the firearm at her head. Lucious again explained that it was all his fault: he forced Olivia to marry to Jamal and promised to make her a star. He then demanded Reg shoot him, saying how everyone in the room hates him, and killing him would make Reg the hero. Instead… Reg shot HIMSELF.
Olivia later apologized to Jamal for disappearing, saying she brought the girl to the Lyons to keep her safe. Cookie identified with Olivia leaving her child in order to keep her safe, and Lola had a too-cute-for-words goodbye with the family, leaving with Olivia now that Reg was dead.
Cookie later met with Lucious, and he said he never wanted to risk losing her again before her to be his “one” again. Cookie admitted her fantasy of getting back together post-prison was “stupid,” and Lucious vowed to spend the rest of his life fixing his mistakes. “You just don’t want to die alone,” she told him before walking out… and right into the arms of Malcolm, asking him to take her away so they could be alone. And now Gossip Cop can hardly wait for the 2-hour season finale next week!
