“Hip-hop is a dish best served raw.” At least that’s what Lucious Lyon (Terrence Howard) says in episode 6, and I’d like to argue that if you replace “hip-hop” with “Empire,” the statement still holds up. Yes, that’s exactly what we get from the latest episode of Empire. The raw, real stuff the show is made of. I must admit that the one week hiatus had me fiending for my fix of Lyon drama, and one can only re-read #ZolaStory but so many times.
That’s why I’m glad Empire is back at it with some "yaasss bish" quotables from our beloved Cookie (Taraji P. Henson), like, “Welcome to my streets bitch!” and, “You ain’t a boss Lucious, you's a buster,” along with some cool — albeit a bit predictable — soap opera-style story line twists.
Flanked with two hot bookends, episode 6, called “A High Hope for a Low Heaven,” opens and closes with S-E-X. It begins with Becky (Gabourey Sidibe) lying in the afterglow of a steamy balcony smushing session, throwing her leg around her new label artist, Gutter Life’s own J Poppa (Mo McRea). The episode culminates with Cookie’s legs wrapped around shady club promoter Laz Delgado as they’re about to get it in atop an accent table in the hallway of his house.
Conversely…
Oh hell yes. Hakeem (Bryshere Y. Gray) sees the bull head tattoo on all the kidnappers' backs that will allow him to eventually out Laz as the sneaky bastard that he is in what I’m sure will be an epic showdown. Oh Hell Yes. Jamal (Jussie Smollett) channeling Elton John all up in the studio while singing another one of his heart-wrenching ballads brings out all the feelings. OH HELL YES. Cookie calms Hakeem down long enough to snatch the gun out of his hand and cock it on the kidnappers — right before she sets them straight and screams, “Bitch, are we clear?” like a BOSS. And OH HEEELLL TO THE YES. Hakeem’s new artist, Laura (Jamila Velazquez), is able to snap him back into the here and now right before he goes into full meltdown mode while they're performing for the first time. This forces Papa Lyon to tuck his tail after trying to buy Hakeem with the promise of a new hot track — the same track he just flipped the script with and lied to Freda Gatz (Bre-Z) about, saying he made the song especially for her. Lucious is one cold piece of work. Now, I have questions: Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. With Hakeem treating Anika (Grace Gealey) like shit, is she about to go straight H.A.M. on everybody? Is Laura catching feelings for Hakeem (as I predicted)? And will Andre’s (Trai Byers) love for all things God wind up railroading J (the J stands for Job from the Bible), Poppa’s career, and Becky’s fuck buddy? Finally, where the hell are Common and Oprah!?
Oh hell yes. Hakeem (Bryshere Y. Gray) sees the bull head tattoo on all the kidnappers' backs that will allow him to eventually out Laz as the sneaky bastard that he is in what I’m sure will be an epic showdown. Oh Hell Yes. Jamal (Jussie Smollett) channeling Elton John all up in the studio while singing another one of his heart-wrenching ballads brings out all the feelings. OH HELL YES. Cookie calms Hakeem down long enough to snatch the gun out of his hand and cock it on the kidnappers — right before she sets them straight and screams, “Bitch, are we clear?” like a BOSS. And OH HEEELLL TO THE YES. Hakeem’s new artist, Laura (Jamila Velazquez), is able to snap him back into the here and now right before he goes into full meltdown mode while they're performing for the first time. This forces Papa Lyon to tuck his tail after trying to buy Hakeem with the promise of a new hot track — the same track he just flipped the script with and lied to Freda Gatz (Bre-Z) about, saying he made the song especially for her. Lucious is one cold piece of work. Now, I have questions: Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. With Hakeem treating Anika (Grace Gealey) like shit, is she about to go straight H.A.M. on everybody? Is Laura catching feelings for Hakeem (as I predicted)? And will Andre’s (Trai Byers) love for all things God wind up railroading J (the J stands for Job from the Bible), Poppa’s career, and Becky’s fuck buddy? Finally, where the hell are Common and Oprah!?