Empire: Cast of “Poor Yorick”

The fourth episode of Empire Season 2 (10/14/2015) was “Poor Yorick,” a Hamlet reference to Vernon, who was show in archive footage getting his lumps. He was also shown in another riveting scene, but we’ll get to that… Here are some of the actors who appeared live in this episode.

Adam Busch played Chase One, the Warhol-esque artist who was doing the art for Jamal’s Rolling Stone cover. He did such a great job of capturing Jamal’s beautiful soul and flattering him, that it made Michael jealous. But not half as jealous as it made Hakeem who stuck a knife in the canvas. Then they went on to do their video and were supposed to “defeat the riot squad with their brotherly love.” They got in a real fight instead. Hakeem stormed out and vowed he was never coming back. Jamal apologized for his brother’s brattiness but the artist was totes cool with it because now the canvas “represents the violence and anger of a racist and homophobic society.”

F. David Roth played the lead FBI Agent. Becky protested that he violated her rights when he told another agent to grab the cell phone she was taking video on. She asked Jamal to give her his. “Take that one, too,” the lead agent directed and Becky ran off with Jamal’s phone.

See Gabourey Sidibe’s recap of “Poor Yorick” here.

Jamila Velazquez played Laura Calleros, a singer who made her debut at a club where Hakeem was nursing his rage at the bar. She was introduced by her cousin Esteban (played by Antonio Duca) after he did a little Frank Sinatra tribute (“The Sunny Side of the Street”), complete with a Frank Sinatra type hat. Laura quietly began to sing “Lago Azul,” the Spanish language version of “Blue Bayou.” When she busted out with the chorus, Hakeem’s ears and eyes perked right up. Forget Valentina. This girl is not only beautiful, she can really sing.

Freda Gatz was nowhere to be seen after her epic rap battle last week. Remember that Big Ooh! called her father “Stank Gathers” and she’s probably out somewhere trying to kill him.

More Notes:

• What was up with all that Andre and Rhonda grave-digging? We mean, is Rhonda really pregnant? Because we can tell you with certainty that type of physical activity will put a pregnant woman on bed rest, even in the first trimester.
• It turned out okay because Lucious and Thirsty showed up. Thirsty happened to have a handy corpse detector that he keeps handy for holidays. It was sort of a holiday for Andre because Lucious was so relieved to find out that Vernon was dead, he welcomed Andre back to Empire. Who knows how long that will last. Andre seems to be, well, a wee bit deranged. He truly believes God is talking to him. Andre, God is too busy to talk to you.
• Evil Lucious lied to Hakeem about whether or not he killed Bunkie. He also lied to Cookie about telling Anika to jack her tracks. Cookie knew it but shut Anika out anyway, claiming she didn’t trust her. Ha! She trusts Lucious?
• Vernon’s last appearance was in the passenger seat of Prosecutor Ford’s car and she almost had a heart attack when she got in her car and saw that corpse. That was some righteous karma.

The Stars of Empire:
Terrence Howard – Lucious Lyon
Taraji P. Henson – Cookie Lyon
Bryshere Y. Gray – Hakeem Lyon
Jussie Smollett – Jamal Lyon
Trai Byers – Andre Lyon

Also in this episode:
Grace Gealey – Anika Calhoun
Kaitlin Doubleday – Rhonda Lyon
Gabourey Sidibe – Becky
Ta’Rhonda Jones – Porsha
Serayah – Tiana Brown
Andre Royo – Thirsty Rawlings
Tyra Ferrell – Roxanne Ford
Kelly Rowland – Leah Walker
Marisa Tomei – Mimi Whiteman
AzMarie Livingston – Chicken
Lihtz Kamraz – Homeboy
Shannon Brown – Little Dwight Walker
Alex Weisman – Simon
Nicholas Bailey – Mitch Mehner
DuShon Monique Brown – Ilene
Jossie Thacker – Video Director
John Gawlik – Police Officer
Toya Turner – FBI Agent
Will Kinnear – Leonard Bernstein
Church Lockett – Prison Guard
Antoine McKay – Bunkie Williams (archive footage)
Malik Yoba – Vernon Turner (archive footage)