Tonight on FOX Empire returns with an all new Wednesday January 21, season 1 episode 3 called, “The Devil Quotes Scripture,” and we have your weekly recap below for you. On tonight’s episode the Lyons head to Philadelphia and get a taste of what their life could have been if Lucious [Terrence Howard] hadn’t made it big.
On the last episode, Lucious had to defend Empire’s IPO launch after controversies arise around one of his artists being involved in a shooting, and Cookie proved to be invaluable by helping Lucious turn a crisis into a triumph. Competition between Lucious and Cookie heated up when Cookie heard of Lucious’s plan to stage a huge performance for Hakeem – but not Jamal. Meanwhile, the police began to investigate Bunkie’s murder. Did you watch the last episode? We’ve got a detailed recap right here for you.
On tonight’s episode as per the FOX synopsis, “the Lyons head to Philadelphia and get a taste of what their life could have been if Lucious hadn’t made it big. Lucious promotes Hakeem’s new relationship with hip-hop star Tianna, but tensions rise when another woman tries to catch Hakeem’s eye.”
Don’t forget to join us for our live recap tonight at 9:00 pm when Empire airs on Fox. While you wait for the recap, check out a sneak peek of tonight’s episode below!
Tonight’s episode begins now – Refresh Page often to get the most current updates!
On #Empire, Tiana is shooting a video while Hakeem and his boys watch. Lucious comes in and asks Anika if Tiana and his son hooked up. Hakeem asks when he’s going to let him do a video and his dad says when he’s as big as Tiana. Lucious tells him to get back into the studio. Veronica is also in the video and thinks Tiana pushed her. Mel, her manager, comes over and says Veronica should be up front. Lucious says he’s her low rent cousin from Atlanta and Mel tells him to keep up on his promises and threatens him.
Lucious takes the guy outside and into his trailer. He beats him with a pipe viciously and tells the guards that Mel had an accident and to tell Veronica her ex-manager won’t be at the meeting. Cookie shows up and asks about Bunkie’s funeral. He says he’s handling it and that it’s going to be really special. He tells her to trust him. She wants to go in but he won’t let her in. She says he better be glad she doesn’t feel like a scene today. She kicks his car and walks out.
Becky tells Lucious that Gladys Knight will be at the funeral. Andre comes in and shows him a magazine cover about FoFo signing with a new label. Lucious comes in and asks who knew that he signed with Creedmor. Anika asks what the problem is and Lucious says the story looks like he was poached not fired. He tells them to go after Creedmor now. Becky comes in and says there’s a cop there about Bunkie.
Lucious brings the guy into his office and the detective says he’s a fan. He asks if they have any leads and the guy says they got a lead today – a guy who says he witnessed it. Lucious says that’s great news. Lucious goes to Andre and says to use his contact at City Hall to find out about the witness so they can see justice is done. Cookie is with an aspiring singer. Porsha kicks the guy out. Andre comes in and she asks if heard that mess.
Andre tells her to talk to the Jorgensens. She heads out and is surprised they’re white boys. Andre says they charted four number ones last year. Cookie introduces herself and asks them to write a song for Jamal but then Anika comes out and hugs them. She speaks their foreign language and tells them Cookie is visiting from prison. Jamal is there and wants to know why she’s looking at songwriters. Cookie reminds him he bitched out on her by not coming out.
She says Michael Jackson and Usher do songs by other writers but he refuses. She tells him that Hakeem is good but he’s more talented. Jamal says to stop pitting them against each other. Anika comes in and introduces Lucious to Gus, a PI she hired to follow Cookie. Lucious laughs and Anika says she was worried Cookie would hurt him. They have photos of Cookie talking to what looks like federal agents. Gus says he’d bet his last dollar on it.
Cookie cries over Bunkie at the funeral home when Lucious comes in. She says Bunkie was responsible for their success. He asks who she’s been meeting with and if she snitched on him to get out. He tells her not to play dumb and says he loves her but if she gets in the way of his plans for his family or business, he will destroy them. She says it’s her company and family too. Cookie asks her sister if she told Lucious about the deal with the feds but she says no.
Her sister mentions Puma, a songwriter from back in the day and Cookie says to find her number. Lucious stops to talk to a young fan outside the funeral home. He tells him men don’t cry and asks if he wants to be a rapper. He gives the kid a hundie and says it’s an advance on his first album. Gladys Knight is there singing. Lucious gives a eulogy talking about how much Bunkie meant to all them. He says he was always there for them.
We see a flashback to back in the day when Bunkie shows up to warn them about the cops coming when they had drugs out. Lucious says he feels responsible for his death because Bunkie came to him asking for help and he told him to stand on his own. He says he’ll regret that the rest of his life. He cries and puts on a good show and you would never know he was the one that pulled the trigger. Cookie cries.
Andre goes to see Deputy Mayor Alvarez. He bends her over the desk and tells her about Detective Calvin Walker. He asks who the witness is in Bunkie’s case. She moans and says she’d be happy to help him. Lucious is getting ALS cramps and staggers to the sofa when Anika comes in. He lies and says his leg went to sleep. He tells her Beretti is coming at him hard to try and sink the IPO. Anika tells him to relax and focus on the positive. She says they have three albums in the top five and Hakeem’s single is blowing up.
Lucious says they should keep Hakeem and Tiana together. He tells her he wants the number one album in the country. She says they can work on it. Gus goes with Detective Walker to talk to Old Salty, the homeless drunk witness. He’s pretty unintelligible. They get nothing from him but Walker says he knows something. The deputy mayor calls Andre to tell him about the witness and he thanks her. Rhonda comes in and asks who he was talking to. He says he was checking on the witness.
Rhonda asks how he got her to share sensitive information. He flips her around, bends her over and says the deputy mayor likes it like this. Rhonda moans and says to call her the deputy’s name. He does and she’s into it. Hakeem is at the club partying when he gets a booty text. He tells Camilla he’s at home but she’s in the club and tells him she sees him. She goes to sit in a VIP area and gives him the eye.
Cookie comes out of the nail salon and tells the feds that Lucious knows. She says only her sister knows but then they show her a photo and tell her that Anika hired a PI to follow her. Turns out, Cookie is testifying about the Frank Gathers case. She asks Agent Cater to help her find Puma. They go to Empire and Carter sits down with Cookie in the conference room and chews her out about drinking. Lucious comes in and Carter asks for his autograph for her kid.
She tells him that Cookie has been drinking and missing check ins. She asks where the bathroom is and Cookie tells her down the hall and out the window. She leaves and Lucious says she reminds him of one of his old POs. He says he’s sorry for what he said to her at the funeral and says he wants her to come over for a family dinner. Carter comes back in and Lucious says he’ll be glad to help her lock Cookie back up.
Carter says she found Puma – aka Dwayne Robinson. Cookie heads to see him out at a stables. (OMG it’s Cuba Gooding Jr) He runs to hug her and says everyone calls him Dwayne. He’s turned into an equestrian lord of the manor. He tells her she looks good and she says he’s still charming. He says it never worked on her before. Cookie says she should go but he asks why she’s there. She says he’s the best songwriter she knows and wants a song from him.
He says he’s not in the game anymore and says he’s not feeling generous about Lucious. She says it’s for her son Jamal. Dwayne says he works with disadvantaged kids and that’s his focus. He also says Lucious is an SOB for letting her go down for him. He says if she was his, she’d never have to do that. She goes to leave and Puma calls out that he’ll send her a song. She plays it for Jamal and dances around. He tells her the song is old school.
She says it is but there’s something there. We see a flashback to her trying to get Lucious to record the song but he’s not digging it. She tells Jamal to play the song. She tells him to pick up the tempo and we see a flashback to the day when she says Lucious doesn’t like it because Puma wrote it about her. Jamal starts to play and sing. She tells him to play it for his daddy tomorrow and says it’ll drive him wild. She also tells him she’s bringing his pin up girl Michael to his dad’s dinner.
Detective Walker brings some beer to the witness and asks who he saw. He says wolf, ram, leopard, goat. He says Daniel was cast into the lion’s den. He says – there is a lion in the way, a lion in the streets. The cop shows him a photo of Lucious and the man nods. Andre tells Lucious that the witness is a paranoid schizophrenic so it didn’t pan out. Lucious says to offer a reward. Cookie sits in Anika’s seat and she tells her to go sit near her daddy.
Lucious asks her to sit nearby. Michael thanks Lucious for having him but he says he didn’t invite him. Anika thanks them all for coming and Cookie says they say grace before they shove foods in their mouths. She stands and tells them to take hands. She says a prayer for their blessings and for their family. She says she prayed this day would finally come. She glares at Lucious who lowers his eyes. She asks that the Lord does not withhold blessings from hos that hire skanks to spy on her.
They go into another room and Jamal plays the song he says was written by a friend of Cookie’s. Lucious is stunned to hear it. He looks over at Cookie who smiles wickedly. Lucious thinks back to he and Cookie in the day and how great it was. Cookie winks at Jamal as he finishes. They all applaud. Lucious asks if she went to see Puma and asks if he still likes her. Lucious says he never really liked that song til he heard that version and thinks John Legend would love it.
Lucious says he bought it from Puma and tells Jamal he has a great career as an arranger. Cookie gets pissed and asks what has this money done to him. Jamal tells Cookie to let her go. Jamal says Cookie told him that he couldn’t make the song work back in the day but his little girl made it work. He tells Lucious he’s old and weak and calls Michael baby and says – let’s go. Cookie tells Lucious that he’s going straight to hell.
Hakeem tells Andre that Jamal’s song was hot and Andre tells him he’s a made man and says it doesn’t matter that he’s not as talented as Jamal. Hakeem says he’s not dad’s boy and is the most talented. Andre says he could sing back up on Jamal’s Up All Night. Cookie corners Anika and tells her to watch her back. Anika tells her that her dad was a doctor and she and her mom were debutantes and says she can slice her throat without disturbing her pearls. Cookie tells her that made her hot.
Anika says she aims to please and walks off. Cookie finds Lucious struggling with a bottle of pills. He hides it and lies and says it’s hypertension pills. She says he’s shaken and wonders if it has to do with Jamal being so good. She tells him he can’t hide from her. She calls him baby and heads out. Hakeem is making out with Camilla on the pool table and he asks her if she thinks Jamal is more talented. She says it doesn’t matter and says he’s getting the company anyway.
He tells her they have to keep this on the low but she’s everything to him. She asks who he is to her and he calls her his mama. She rewards him with a kiss. Jamal gets a call from his dad who says he’s downstairs and is coming up right now. Michael isn’t pleased but goes to let him in. Jamal tells him the bedroom where they make the gay love is at the back. Lucious tells him that’s enough. Jamal asks why he’s there and his dad looks around and says he doesn’t know.
He says he wanted to see him and Jamal says he saw him at dinner and he even sang a song for him and he spit in his face. Lucious says he’s been trying to toughen him up since he was a kid. Jamal says – you beat me because you hate me. Lucious says he didn’t bring any women into this world and doesn’t understand why he wants to be someone’s bitch. Jamal tells him he doesn’t need to understand him. He tells him to keep the song and his money and says his obedience is no longer for sale.
Lucious tells him it’s a nice speech and says it’s nice to hear it in the apartment he pays for. Jamal calls for Michael and tells him to pack their bags because they’re leaving. He throws the keys at his dad’s feet and says they’ll be out in 15. Lucious asks why he’s being so dramatic and says he’ll be back in the morning. Jamal says he won’t. Outside, Michael asks where they’ll go and if he wants to give everything up. Jamal says he’s going to take his dad’s empire.
THE END!
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