Thursday, October 22, 2015

Empire 2x05 "Be True" (Back Into the Lyon’s Den) [Contributor: Rae Nudson]


"Be True"
Original Airdate: October 21, 2015

The Lyon family is focusing on moving on and forcing their sins into the light. Andre is getting baptized and he is ready to confess his sins to his family and ask for their forgiveness. But Andre’s confessions served another purpose, as well: they gave context to the Lyon family and showed that even though they tend to move at a soap opera’s pace, they also haven’t forgotten the sins of the past.

Andre’s tense baptism was reminiscent of the baptism scene in The Godfather — and we all know what happened there. (And for those who don’t know, like, everyone dies.) But somehow he got his family together all in once place and — so far — everyone is still alive. Let’s check in on what they were doing before they sat down in that church and prepared for lightning to strike.

ANDRE'S BACK, BACK AGAIN


After digging up Vernon’s body last week and letting the devil known as Lucious Lyon in on his worst secret, Andre is welcomed back at Empire with strippers and a lap dance. Which, if you ask me, is not how Andre wanted to celebrate his homecoming.

Now that Andre is back at Empire, he seems much more like his old self, only without all the manipulation. Only a stone cold, confident Andre would be able to shut down Thirsty like he did, and it seems like Andre’s really taking his faith to heart and wants to make his family whole. But he’s also working with Lucious again, whose first order of business was to steal tracks from Cookie and Hakeem, so it doesn’t seem likely that Andre will be able to keep his hands clean while he’s at Empire.

A pole dance in the middle of the conference room wasn’t even the most surprising thing at Empire this week. It was that Lucious actually followed through on what he told Jamal and is producing him. Not surprisingly, Ne-Yo gave better advice to Jamal than Lucious did, but it was nice to see Lucious actually doing work at the company he is running.

“YOU CAN REALLY BLOW”


We were so close to Jamal and Michael breaking up after Jamal caught him messing around with the artist of Jamal’s painting, but doesn’t it seem like Jamal will forgive Michael? That’s fair, I think, since it was Jamal’s waffling that led Michael to melt down. But if Jamal is going to be so wishy-washy about wanting Michael around, maybe Michael should leave. That artist is super skeezy (like, suuuuuuuuper skeezy), and it’s probably a bad plan to break up the couple he’s depending on for business. I don’t think there’s any way Michael would want to buy that painting now.

Tiana is impressed with Laura and heard from Jamal that she "can really blow." After Laura’s stunned face, Tiana cleared up that she meant sing, and that she has great pipes. But Laura’s eyes were opened to Hakeem’s womanizing ways, and she is not remotely about that lifestyle. I respect Laura for standing up for herself and walking away, and shame on Hakeem for hitting on every woman he works with. Luckily, Hakeem got Laura back on his team and promised he would help her career and be a professional about it. Even though he just promised to keep his hands off her, I smell a love in the air for these two.

Rhonda tried to get Andre’s hands on her in his office at Empire, but he said he wasn’t feeling it. Rhonda and Andre started Empire as a ruthless, calculating team who would do whatever it took to get to the top, but their relationship is so much deeper than it first seemed. They really love each other, and Rhonda has shown she will support Andre whether he’s digging up a body or getting baptized. They’ve been through so much — some of it has been pretty twisted — and I actually like them a lot as a couple. The thing that separates them from the rest of the Lyon clan is that they have no secrets from each other, even when they do terrible things.

A NEW SECURITY SYSTEM


Portia’s back after she brought a dog to Dynasty to act as its new security system. Somehow, the dog was a better security system than the human promoter Cookie hired who said he wasn’t afraid to get his hands dirty (lucky for Cookie).

Apparently, Cookie and her team have been marked for extortion because of her association with Lucious and the assumption that, as his ex-wife, she’d have a lot of money as well. Of course, Cookie knows what’s going on and says she’ll handle it. Unfortunately, they have kidnapped Hakeem and it seems like all of the Lyons will be in over their heads next week when they try to get him back.

Cookie Crumbs:
  • Becky, as always, is adorable and kind and funny and the best. How cute was she on Jamal’s couch after the party?
  • Rhonda is so over this family. Her reaction faces to the Lyons’ antics are top notch. Is it just me, or is Rhonda wearing a lot of high-waisted clothing for someone who is pregnant? I’ve never been pregnant, so I don’t know, but it seems uncomfortable?
  • The video from the people who stole Tiana’s purse seemed very similar to the masked videos in Mr. Robot. Only instead of social justice, these criminals just want money. And Hakeem.
  • Andre seems pretty close with the reverend at his church, who knew about Lucious’ mind games with Michelle, Andre’s music therapist. I wish their relationship had been established before now because it seemed to come out of nowhere in an episode that was otherwise grounded in the past. 
  • Where’s Anika?
  • Cookie’s best line: “Let me make space in case lightning strikes.”

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