Empire: Cast of “Without a Country”

The second episode of Empire Season 2 (9/30/2015) was “Without a Country.” Without my meds (Lucious), without a good label name (Cookie), and without a rainbow girl group (Hakeem) were all states in this “no mans land”, you might say. Oh, yes, and “without forgiveness,” which will not be forthcoming any time soon.

So the opening credit showed Chris Bridges as one of the guest stars and that just didn’t register until we saw Ludacris show up as Officer McKnight, sent by the prosecutor, to make Lucious Lyon’s life miserable. She was already making it breathless by withholding his medication.

Andre Royo stepped into the picture in the prison visiting room to become Lucious’ new counsel: Thurston “Thirsty” Rawlings. He told Lucious and Jamal that a law degree from Guam and a discount suit in no way makes him less of a formidable opponent for Roxanne Ford, the “bitch in cheap shoes.”

Becky G appeared as Valentina, a singer auditioning for a spot on the new label that Cookie and crew were cooking up. She claimed she did not realize they were auditioning for a girl group because she wants to be a legend. Apparently, the way the legend begins is in Hakeem’s hot tub.

Kelly Rowland appeared in a childhood flashback Lucious had as his mother. She sang “Itsy Bitsy Spider” to young Dwight Walker (Lucious’ real name). Shannon Brown was little Dwight. Amazing! We couldn’t help wondering if Terrence Howard really looked like Shannon when he was a boy.

More Notes:

• Andre’s wife, Rhonda, is pregnant. At least that is what she told future “Uncle Jamal” to get him on the side of getting Andre back into Empire. We’ll see if Jamal goes to work on Lucious now that he’s out on bail.
• That Thirsty! He not only managed to get Officer McKnight taken care of (OUCH!), he also got Lucious out on bail by showing the judge some potentially embarrassing photos of his honor’s S&M fetish, and helped Lucious drop “Snitch Bitch” from prison and it’s already on the air.
• Hakeem’s album is out now too. He leaked it online and Jamal threatened to sue his ass off.
• Sharon Carpenter interviewed Jamal at his crib while Michel cooked for a show called “Spilling the Tea.” She was listed in the credits as “Herself.” Bossip has an article about her appearance, although they call the show “Sippin’ the Tea.” Trust us, Sharon said “Spilling.” We turned on the closed captions.

Gabourey Sidibe’s recap of “Without a Country”

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:
Kaitlin Doubleday – Rhonda Lyon
Grace Gealey – Anika Calhoun
Rafael de la Fuente – Michael
Tyra Ferrell – Ford
Serayah – Tiana Brown
Max Beesley – Guy
Azmarie Livingston – Chicken
Tyler Ravelson – Tay-O
James T. Alfred – Tyree
Veronika Bozeman – Veronica
Petey Pablo – Clyde
Stephen Conrad Moore – Bones
Lamar Barnes – Officer Jabaar
Phil Riderelli – Nurse
Montana of 300 – Jamming Priosner #2
Big Il – Jamming Prisoner #3
Torrey Hanson – Judge Robbins
Tim Holmes – Wiry
Shannon Brown – Little Dwight Walker
Dary Wood – Singer #1 (girl in auditions)
Bethany Thomas – Singer #2 (girl in auditions)
Jamaica Craft – Choreographer