Empire Recap: Born with Power

The 11th episode of “Empire” Season 3 (3-29-2017) was called “Play On.” All kinds of thing went on, not only with characters we know but with some we never heard of (and will never see again), and others we forgot about.

At the Empire office, cleanup was underway while Cookie washed blood off in the shower. She felt pretty bad about going “Cookie crazy” and leaned on sister, Candace, for support. Her main issue wasn’t the rampant vandalism or even clobbering Lucious with the bat– it was that kiss and how she was going to explain it to Angelo. Candace said, no, no no. You don’t tell Angelo that you kissed Lucious because you are “addicted to that man.” Cookie reminded her that Lucious was her first and her one and only for 20 years. Just because he was her first, Candace replied, doesn’t mean he has to be her last. She must remember this: a kiss is just a kiss.

The next day, Lucious claimed ignorance to Anika of what happened. He called it a break-in and said Thirsty would know more about it. Thirsty showed up with Marty, a babysitter for Lucious’ mama, Leah Walker, or “Granny Groove,” to Thirsty. She rudely asked Marty if he was a boy or a girl. Lucious told her to behave. Marty answered her question when she noticed his eyes following two dancers’ rear ends strolling by on their way to tryouts for Tiana’s upcoming video that Hakeem is directing. Hakeem was hassling Tiana about getting to know his daughter Bella better when Granny Groove and Marty arrived. Leah noticed Quintana, one of the dancers Marty was eyeballing. Leah gave Quintana a handkerchief, telling her to drop it in front of Marty and bend over real slow to pick it up. When that went down, she slipped out the door.

Jamal continued his collaboration with Tory Ash, who wanted to be a lot more edgy than he did. She played “the devil’s chord” for him. Cookie came along, ready to do battle until she heard Tory play. Music soothed the savage Cookie. She appreciated Tory’s talent and helped them blend their very different styles. Cookie was sure their working together would spell success so she gave instructions to erase the drives every night and make sure Lucious didn’t find out what they were creating.

Andre was discussing living quarters with Nessa when Shine showed up with some of his crew. Nessa expressed reservations about the one named Dain-Ja, who refused to shake hands with Andre and spit on the floor. So gross. Shine told Dain-Ja that he was gonna clean it up.

Back in town, a scandal-free Angelo dropped in on Cookie. He noticed bruises on her arm but she brushed it off. She didn’t try too hard to tell him her secret as he swept her off to the bedroom. Later she showed up at Empire, and swept leopard-like into the office. Anika and Lucious emerged from the bathroom adjusting their clothes. “Disgusting,” Cookie remarked and instructed Lucious not to say anything about what happened. Lucious correctly divined that she did not want Angelo to know she turned into the “Tasmanian Devil.” Cookie said she didn’t know what got into her. “It’s simple,” Lucious explained, “You love me. You will always love me but you’re not ready to deal with that kind of truth.” They traded a few barbs over albums and she sashayed off with a “just don’t say nothing.”

While Anika made peace with Becky, Leah Walker turned up at Tariq’s where she informed him that “Boo Boo Kitty knows things.” The next thing you know, Tariq served Anika with a subpoena to testify against Cookie, we think. We thought Tariq was off the case but he’s claiming he will put Anika and Bella in Witness Protection and scares her into thinking she’s a dead pigeon once Lucious finds out that she’s been served. Anika put baby Bella in Hakeem’s care and split on a bus.

Jamal told Tory not to erase the drives so he could tweak them later. So of course, Lucious got there first and got an earful. He took over the studio. Cookie and Jamal left in disgust. As Tory exited, Lucious dropped a casual “Um, sweetie, I really liked your stuff” on her and the next time Jamal saw her, Tory was playing the devil’s chord for Lucious.

Shine and Andre talked about a Las Vegas deal with one Rafael Green. Shine worried about Andre’s mood stablilizers and whether that would cause him to go postal on Nessa and/or be a stable business partner. Rafael Green, Shine said, only agreed to meet if he can meet Lucious. Andre said anyone who wants to meet Lucious has to deal with him first, and if Andre can get a Vegas deal going, the Empire board will back him in ousting Lucious. That is before Andre gets around to killing Lucious, something he has no problem openly talking about with Shine. That in itself should tell Shine that Andre isn’t right in the head, nevermind the pills.

Jamal arranged a meeting at his place with D-Major only to break all ties with him, professionally and personally. Really, Jamal? You couldn’t do that over the phone. Because you didn’t, we had to watch D-Major get all up in your comfort zone to try to reignite the sparks. A “major” hissy fit would have been more entertaining than that. Later, after Tory’s betrayal, Jamal fell into Philip’s arms.

Officials showed up at Empire to arrest Cookie for parole violation. She got Angelo to pick her up and squash the warrant. Angelo was so sure Lucious was behind the violation, he insisted on confronting him to teach him how to “fall back.” Lucious claimed he had nothing to do with it and it was likely the handiwork of Tariq, trying to get her in lockup so she would roll over on someone. Cookie objected that she wasn’t going back to jail to protect him. Lucious said “You know, I like the way you blame me for stuff that you did. I didn’t kick this thing off. You’re the one that ordered everything on the damn menu.” He said he was the one who had to pay and clean up after her. “I cleaned up after all y’all.” Cookie said “You better had.” Now what could that mean?

Angelo said while Lucious may have scratched his way to power, he was born with it and he warned Lucious that things could get very painful for him if he didn’t leave Cookie alone. Cookie was loving the two men fighting over her. She didn’t see Lucious smiling. You could almost hear his “bring it on” thoughts.

The real crazy in this episode came when Shine and Dain-Ja brought Andre to meet Rafael Green at a warehouse. He came out acting all looney and accused his wife, Giuliana, of “setting him up.” If you had any idea what was going on in this scene, good for you, because we didn’t. Rafael knocked Guiliana around, she shot him, Dain-Ja was going to shoot her but Shine shot him. At least that’s what we think happened. Then Giuliana announced that despite this messy start, she was still prepared to do business with them.

So Giuliana will be back, but Rafael and Dain-Ja won’t. Marty will probably get fired for letting an old lady outwit him. The previews showed Mama Walker training a gun on Boo Boo Kitty, so we know Anika will be back.