To be very honest, I'm still processing how I feel about this season finale, part of me is satisfied, part of me is annoyed, part of me is sad and part of me is relieved. Maybe by the time I finish writing this recap I'll have sorted my feelings out. Okay, let's begin.
The episode opens three weeks after the ASAs shooting at Jamal's welcome home party (phew so Jamal didn't die and Jussie Smollett is not leaving Empire, good to know). V. Bozeman sings a song for Jamal as he is wheeled into the party that is also meant to be sung at Hakeem's wedding. Jamal says he will be at Hakeem's wedding but won't be performing since he is giving up music. Jamal says that he feels they are part of a vicious cycle and he is tired and won't sing until the cycle is broken. Leah butts in to say that they are all paying for the crimes of Lucious' father. A confused Hakeem says that Lucious always told them his father was a cop. When Lucious takes Leah upstairs for her nap we learn that Thirsty intercepted her before she could spill the beans to the press in the last episode. Lucious tells Leah that in his house, he is the only person who talks to his children about his past. Leah implores him to tell them the truth.
Cookie is worried about Jamal because he seems less stable after being shot. Jamal isn't walking even though the doctor says he should be. Anika comes to visit and tells Lucious and Cookie that she was picked up by the feds and asked to testify against Lucious. Anika says she didn't tell them anything and demanded to leave but Thirsty knows they will only subpoena her. Lucious vows to have 24 hour security around Anika. Lucious and Cookie try to jog Anika's memory to find out what the feds asked her and the name Shine Johnson comes up. But just then, Rhonda comes in and begins choking Anika, having figured out that she is the one who pushed her down the stairs and made her lose her baby. When Rhonda accuses Anika of pushing her Anika is in disbelief (again, it's getting harder and harder to firmly believe that Anika did this, she's so good at playing dumb). No one in the family believes Rhonda, including Andre, making this the second time this season that the eldest Lyon son has hung his wife out to dry, good going Dre. Rhonda wants Andre to kill Anika just as she did with Vernon, but Andre refuses. Rhonda is furious with Andre and leaves.
Yo, Rhonda. I'm really happy for you, I'ma let you finish...
But Cookie and Anika had the best Empire fight scene of all time! *Kanye shrug*
Cookie and Lucious discuss what to do about the feds. Lucious admits that he killed three drug dealers but also killed another loose lipped artist with Shine Johnson. Cookie and Lucious both agree that their past needs to remain buried. Cookie then goes to visit Shine to get him on their side against the feds. Shine agrees on the condition that he gets a publishing deal for his nephew, Hakeem records on his tracks and he gets to come to Hakeem's wedding. Cookie reluctantly agrees.
Andre and Hakeem bring Jamal home. In the elevator, Hakeem and Andre both express their worry about Jamal. They both realize that the only person who hasn't gone out of their way to help Jamal is Lucious but doubt that that will change.
But Lucious is full of surprises and goes to visit Freda in prison. Lucious assures Freda that he didn't lay a finger on her father (he's technically not lying). He asks Freda to help get Jamal out of his funk and gives her a song to record on a phone from prison. Freda records a song about her friendship and musical relationship with Jamal. Lucious drops the song off to Jamal. Lucious assures him that he has broken the cycle. After Lucious leaves, Jamal tentatively begins to write a song.
Show of hands, who really thought Jamal was done with music? What's that? None of you? Good, me neither.
Lucious and Cookie have dinner with Laura, Hakeem and Laura's parents to celebrate their upcoming nuptials. Laura's father expresses concern at the fact that Shine Johnson will be at the wedding but Lucious says he won't be a problem and Hakeem chimes in saying that once he and Laura are married they won't be involved in that type of dangerous atmosphere.
Jamal continues to work on his new song, which will be sung at Hakeem's wedding. Meanwhile, during a meeting at Empire headquarters, Hakeem runs in to tell his parents that there is an emergency. Anika has bypassed her bodyguard and is sitting on the balcony ready to jump. Anika is afraid that she will be forced to testify and she'll have to snitch on Lucious. Cookie and Lucious talk her down by telling her that because of her pregnancy she is a Lyon now... what she's always wanted.
Cookie and Lucious talk and Lucious admits that he should never have let Cookie go and that that's the reason why he never remarried after their divorce. As the Lyon brothers get dressed for Hakeem's wedding, Jamal asks Leah what she meant when she said that Lucious' family is paying for the crimes of his father Joe. Leah initially dodges the question but begins to explain before Lucious comes in and interrupts her. Hakeem and Andre go to greet the wedding guests. As they are saying hello to everyone, they encounter Tommy and Rosy, two old friends of Cookie and Lucious who are also involved in the murders that have caused the feds to be after Lucious. As Lucious, Tommy and Rosy catch up, Shine Johnson shows up and immediately begins disrupting the wedding.
That dab was not good ...
Rosy and Tommy are disgusted that Lucious has invited Shine and want to leave but Lucious and Cookie explain that in order to avoid the feds, they have to keep Shine close. The wedding begins, but as Laura walks down the aisle, Anika is served by a court official disguised as a waitress. In the ensuing commotion, a fight breaks out between Shine and some of the security guards, which Laura and her family witness. Laura decides that Hakeem's family has too much drama and runs away in tears leaving Hakeem jilted and heartbroken.
In the aftermath, Lucious and the rest of the Lyons frantically try to decide what to do so Anika won't have to testify. Lucious suggests that he and Anika get married so that she will legally not have to testify against him, stating that they already have a marriage license from their first engagement. Distraught and heartbroken, Cookie storms out. Andre (who had been ordained as a minister to perform Hakeem's wedding ceremony) hurriedly marries Anika and Lucious. As they leave after the wedding, Lucious tells Anika that he knows she pushed Rhonda down the stairs.
After the wedding, Lucious runs in to Tariq, who calls him on his bluff of a wedding before Leah drops the bomb that he and Lucious are half brothers. It is revealed through flashback that Lucious and Tariq's biological father was a cop who was killed by another man. Lucious is shocked and Tariq tells him that they each got half of their father. Lucious says he has no family.
In the final scene of the season, Anika is on the balcony when Rhonda comes out and attacks her. Anika admits to making Rhonda lose her baby as the two hang over the balcony. You know? I'm not sure how Anika hasn't already harmed the baby with all of the stress and fighting she's been doing for the ENTIRE season. As Andre comes out and sees the fight, a scream is heard, as someone (presumably) falls over the balcony off screen. So I guess this would be a balcony hanger instead of a cliff hanger (yes, I know that was corny).
And just in case anyone was wondering, no, I still don't know how I feel about this episode. *Begins patiently waiting for January*
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