"Previously on Empire..." "I want you to write a song for Angelo's campaign and perform it at the Captain's Ball." "He had a DUI some 20 years ago." "His family pulled some strings and got him out of that." "Why you got shades on?" "Boy, are you high?" "Poor Tariq, he's jealous of everything you got, especially your memories of your daddy." "That's Freda Gatz." "You know, her father was locked up with Lucious at the BCC." "Seems "" and "BK" must have done something for Lucious and got paid." "The question is, who is "" and "BK"?" "And as your mayor," "I will not only go to sleep fighting for you," "I'm gonna wake up fighting for you." "You're in Queens, brah." "You can't piss on my leg, tell me it's raining." "You come down here for a photo op, then you limbo your bougie ass back across the river for some uptown fundraiser." "Shut him down, Angelo." "He can't because he's telling the truth." " Okay..." " I got, I got it, babe." "How y'all doing?" "The name's Cookie." "Ask about me." " We know you." " You do?" " Cookie Lyon." " That's right." "Where's Lucious?" "Forget about Lucious, baby." "I'm with him now." "Look here, y'all," "I-I'm just an around-the-way girl from the hood in North Philly." "It looks almost like this one, but... except for your bougie-ass beach." "Look, my daddy was a plumber and we lived check to check, so I wouldn't be with this man if he wasn't the real deal." "If he wasn't a man of the people." "Man of the people!" "And so what, he went to Columbia?" "That makes him smart." "But he still lives in the same fifth floor walk-up in Harlem." "Now you try walking up five flights in these heels, baby." "Hey, what about the Captain's Ball?" ""The Captain's Ball"?" "Yeah, well, we-we know there's a problem with the Captain's Ball, that's why we've, um, decided to hold it right here in the streets with you guys, with the people." "Tell them, Angelo!" "Yes, hell yes!" "And we're going to call it the People's Ball." "That's right, baby." "The People's Ball, and you're all invited!" "And my son, Jamal Lyon, will be headlining." "Angelo Dubois for mayor!" "We'll see you then." "Thank you." " See y'all at the People's Ball." " People's Ball." "500 major donors have pledged to this event." "Just invite them all here." "Yeah, it's too late to pull out now." "We've committed in front of all these cameras." "There is not enough time." "You need permits, tents and security." "And who is gonna produce this street bazaar?" "Well..." "Cookie's the name." "All right." "Bye-bye, baby." "You're getting a little too local, darling." "Just a little too local." "Mother." "Hey, hey, hold up." "Cut!" "Jamal, you just fell off the stage." "All right." "Look, babe, now the tape marks the edges of the stage at the Waldorf, just follow your key light and don't go past it." "Seriously, Derek, like I don't know what the damn tape means?" "Come on, man." "I messed up, I'm sorry." "Yeah, but it's gonna be your little booty that gets busted up, not mine." "I don't even know what the hell I'm doing this Captain's Ball for." "Why you're doing it?" "You're doing it to remind everyone that you're the dopest in the world." "All right, hey, quiet." " Well, well, look at the little pimp," " Let's... ready to take the stage, like a ho." "How you feeling?" "Amazing, thank you, Philip." " Of course." " Yeah." "Listen, don't you think you might want to do a couple of smaller venues before jumping onto some kind of stage of this magnitude?" " Thanks for your concern, Dad." " Well, it's genuine... but here, I got a little advice for you." "If you planning on doing some of them trash ass, airing out the family laundry or something, you'd be better off taking a handful of them damn pills all at once and take a permanent dirt nap and I'll see you in the next lifetime." "I'm off my meds." "Good." " Let's go." " All right." "All right, from the top." "So, Rockaway Beach, day after tomorrow?" "Yes, thank you." "Ooh, Alonzo, I owe you, baby." "Yeah." "I got to go, but I owe you big time, okay?" "I got you, all right, okay, bye-bye." "Porsha!" "Yes, girl." "I thought you was Porsha." "What the hell you want, Lucious?" "I want to talk to you." "About?" "This People Ball thing." "Look, you sure you can pull this thing off?" "Well, I didn't do too bad with that Free Lucious concert that helped save your janky ass." "Yeah, that's 'cause you're the baddest producer in the damn game." "Truth is I really do hope that the whole thing is a smashing success." "It's about time New York had a black mayor again." "Well, the lineup is a who's who of our top artists." "I'm gonna start with a Hakeem and Tiana duet and Jamal is going to be epic." "Or an epic fail." "Don't you think it's a little early to be putting him on a stage in front of an uncontrolled crowd?" "I mean, something like this could push him all the way over, Cook." "Am I to believe that "father of the year"" "is suddenly worried about his son?" "Look... truth is, I just don't want you to make the mistake of-of-of putting the needs of your boyfriend's campaign... ahead of the needs of our son's health." "That's it." "I know you, Cook." "You go all in." "But if this goes terribly wrong for Jamal, and it could, you are going to hate yourself forever." "I'll get right to it, Your Honor." "What you just saw is authorized FBI surveillance video of rapper" "Freda Gatz aka Freda Gathers, daughter of Frank Gathers." "The drug kingpin who was chopped up in prison last year." "Yeah, in those rap lyrics, she referred to two men who worked for her father." "Both were with him in Brooklyn Correctional when he was murdered." "Agent Cousins, if you're hoping to get a murder indictment based on rap lyrics..." "This is an e-mail that leaked in the Empire hack a few weeks ago." "It mentions cash payoffs to the families of two men identified only by their initials," """ and "BK"..." "Now, we weren't able to I.D. them until Gatz's lyrics filled in the blanks." """ Is Mikey Moses," "BK is Bobby "Bam Bam" King." "If you're implying that the Gathers hit was paid for with Empire money, get to the who already." "Yes, Judge Chae, I give you the only man with the money, the muscle and the motive to pull it off," "Lucious Lyon." "Well..." "I've got a football game to go to, so..." "I'll sign a court order freezing Empire's assets for 30 days." "It'll be up to you to gather enough evidence to bring about a federal murder indictment against Lucious Lyon." "This smells personal, Agent Cousins." " It better not be." " No, I assure you, sir," "I'm just trying to bring a dangerous criminal to justice." " You got your ticket?" " Here you go." "I thought I felt a certain chill in the air." "So, you're unhappy about my son's relationship with your ex." "Cookie and I have what you call history." "We share three sons." "She's the co-chair of my company." "So I watch her back." "But, lady... don't ever try to read me." "I would never." "I read books, not graffiti." "But here you are asking me to bust up Cookie and your little... cupcake?" "I have no doubt that you would have done that already if it were in your power to do so." "No." "Our campaign has a bigger problem than Cookie Lyon." "Are you familiar with Edison Cruz?" "He's planning to publish a story on the eve of our Captain's Ball that could cost us the election." "Is it true?" "There's always a droplet of truth, but once that droplet hits the water, it turns into a tidal wave." "I'd like to see that evaporate before that can occur." "See, this is what's funny to me." "This is the history of America." "Rich snobs like you, that I could burp their net worth, asking men like me to do things that you lack the courage to do." "Well, now that isn't really the history of America, but we can talk about that at a later date." "I need to know if you can persuade him to back off." "Well, I'm very gifted at the art of persuasion, but what's in it for me?" "Well, I could end Cookie's romance." "I know my son's hot buttons and if I press them, she will be incinerated." ""Incinerated"?" "Poof." "Anika." "What did I tell you about never being in my bed when I wake up in the morning?" "Yeah, whatever." "Your little friend didn't seem to mind too much." "You weren't calling him little last night." "Why don't you say hello?" " You are so nasty." " Please." " I'm not going..." " Please!" "Don't make me make you." "You stupid." "Yes." "Okay." "Ma!" "What are you doing?" "The same thing she's doing." "But I'm sucking the dirt out of the rug." "Okay, you know what?" "I am not doing this, Lucious!" "Okay, you got a choice, all right?" "It's either me and Bella or your crazy-ass momma." "So you decide." "I'm not going anywhere." "Yeah, we'll see about that." "Mom." "Look." "I have seen what bullets can do, so I know your guts are torn up, Jamal." "But I don't want you backsliding because of that pain." "Ma, I'm straight, all right?" "What, Lucious get in your head?" "Of course he did." "'Cause if I don't get back on that stage, then he wins." "No and I want you to win." "I want us to win." "But not at the expense of your health." "I wouldn't be able to live with myself." "I'm all right." "Completely off the pills, I'm good." "Good, that's good to hear." "Then you can give 'em to me, then." " Give you what?" " Give me what?" "The pills, boy." "Don't act stupid." " All right, Mom." " Yeah, all right, you off, done, give 'em to me." "I mean all of them." "Don't make me come back there." "I will ransack this place." "You ain't ransacking no place." "Yes I would." "Don't play with me." "That's everything?" "I know you got some in your purse." " It's a murse." " Don't play with me, boy," "This is not funny." "Is that it?" " Boy!" " Ma, come on, all right..." "Come on!" "You come on!" "Yeah, all right, my ass." "That's everything." "You gonna get your ass on that stage, and you gonna perform." "You gonna perform your ass off." "You gonna perform like you've never performed before and you gonna do it clean and sober." "Sure you don't want another drink, Edison?" "I'll have the crooked politician, filleted." "You are really not a fan of his." "Angelo Dubois skates 'cause he's black." "If it wasn't for the color of his skin, he would never have a chance of being elected mayor." "Yeah, I know, this black privilege." "All us Negros, running around here getting everything handed to us because of the color of our skin." "You said it." "Are you a fan of rap music, Mr. Cruz?" "What did he just say?" "He is talking about... how some men can inspire such loyalty in their soldiers, that they'll do anything for them... kidnap, maim, murder." "Is that a threat?" "No, it's a song." "You see, rap is a reflection of reality, Edison." "See, that man is speaking about a special power that has the ability to humble a man." "Especially when the streets come kicking down his front door, you know what I'm saying?" "So, the black gangster is trying to intimidate a journalist for telling the truth." "No, I'm an advocate for truth and good government." "I just hate to see our city's mayoral campaign sullied by tawdry, unsubstantiated allegations." "Angelo Dubois will never be mayor of this city." "But that's no longer your choice, is it?" "Well, it appears that Mr. Cruz was easily persuaded that slanderous article he was about to publish on your son," "Angelo... have a seat... would not be in his best interests, seeing it wouldn't hold up under scrutiny." "That's an enormous relief." "Probably shouldn't ask how you managed to persuade him." "You know, the same way I won't ask how you fulfill your end of the bargain." "Yes, that." "Well, Lucious, this is a report from our pollster." "Until a few days ago, we were running consistently five points behind John Meeks, then Angelo's numbers spiked, now he's two points ahead, and research says it's Cookie." "Cookie?" "She resonates with the voters." "It seems she humanizes Angelo and lands some street cred." "They're calling it "The Cookie Effect."" "So, does this mean that you're backing out of the deal after I fulfilled my side of it?" "I don't see where I have a choice, really, but I will make it up to you, somehow, I mean." "Um, that, um... that zoning issue?" " I could promise you it'll be on the..." " Nah." "This ain't right." "This ain't fair." "What can I do?" "What do you want?" "An ambassadorship?" "Invitation to a State dinner?" "Diana, can you imagine the number of State dinners I've gone to?" "We had a deal." "But I did initially decide to help Angelo because I thought New York deserved a good mayor." "So why don't I make this my own personal contribution to his campaign." "Dre?" "Dre, are you okay?" "Andre, you're scaring me." "I have bipolar disorder." "It's a mental illness, marked by periods of depression, and periods of elevated mood." "I know what it is, Dre." "What did your wife do?" "She took care of me when I couldn't get out of bed." "She managed my medication." "She kept me under control." "That's intense, Andre, but..." "I'm not gonna do any of those things for you." "You don't want me anymore." "I want you to learn how to do these things for yourself, Dre." "And I'm not going anywhere." "She's trying to take you away from me, Andre." ""When they got me," ""it wasn't at the end of a gun, it was with the stroke of a pen."" " Al Capone said that." " I don't care who said it." "I need to know what's going on, Lucious." "Why can't I use my credit cards?" "'Cause the feds have put a freeze on all of our assets." "Well, that mean they got something!" " Somebody snitched!" " No, not necessarily." "Look, why don't you just relax and stay calm." "'Cause the only people that know about this" " is me and Thirsty." " You stay calm," "I did 17 years!" "Calm down." "Look, I got this whole world on lock right now." "And I promise nothing will ever happen to you again." "That was that look." "You just reminded me... you were so bold." "The first time that you kissed me." "Look, I got somebody working on the inside with the feds." "So, if there is a rat, we're gonna send him a nice little Colombian necktie, okay?" "Okay." "Trust me." "What's all this cash from?" "You slanging again?" "It's..." "Look." "It's for the People's Ball." "All of the accounts are frozen," "I got to pay the vendors somehow." "Angelo Dubois is just another opportunistic politician... with... that got skeletons in his closet, Cookie." "Okay, just looking out for you." "Okay, thank you." "What do you mean he's on his way up?" "He just cleared security, sir." "You want me?" "Here I am." "You come in here to make a confession?" "'Cause I don't need showmanship." "You send errand boys with calculators to take the food out of the mouths of my employees' children." "I think I know what you want, but you're going about it like a coward." "What I want is justice." "Wow." "Fear of black people?" "This belonged to our father." " His father?" " Is he saying they're related?" "He never told y'all." "Agent Cousins never told y'all that we're brothers." "Our father was a Philadelphia cop." "He was a good man." "He made one mistake and he was murdered for that, and that mistake was you." "His bastard son." "But as he died in a Philadelphia street, he made me promise to look after my brother, but he never told me your name." "I know you want to own something that belonged to our father." "This ain't what brothers do." "Everybody get back to work." "You heard him." "Back to work." "Andre." "Have you seen Jamal?" " No, no, ma'am." " Okay." "Once you come down, you're just gonna go right back that way and..." "Becky, Becky, where's Jamal?" "He's still at his apartment." "The car's been waiting for, like, two hours." "What?" "Okay, I'll be right back." "And now to introduce the next mayor of New York, please welcome the young women and men from WOKE!" "Jamal?" "Jamal?" "Jamal!" "What happened?" "I swear I tried to get out the door, I really did." "Where is Philip?" "I told him don't come because him and Derek, they're always arguing." "What happened?" "Did you take something?" "No, it's withdrawal." "I've been throwing up and stuff." " I am calling 911." " No." "Can't have this out in the press." "If you not gonna go to the hospital," " then I'm gonna call your doctor down." " No." "I just need my pills." " No." " Please." "It's the last time, I just got to..." "I got to get to the show, you know that." "No, Jamal, I'm dead-ass, no." "If I don't get there... if I don't get there, then Lucious wins." "Lucious is not the enemy this time, he wants you to get better just as much as I do." "Lucious is the enemy, Ma, he is." "Just please..." "You said it yourself, if I don't get there, my career's over." "It's over." "Then what?" "I'm not gonna stand by and watch you become one of those pill-popping artists who dies alone in a motel." " Ma, I'm not some sort of addict!" " Not on my watch!" "Come on!" "God help me." "What are you doing?" "My daddy was a plumber." "Lucious, hold up." "This arrangement's not working for me." "Look, I got 99 problems, Shine, what's up?" "Look, I got a discretionary fund in my deal." "Now I can't access the accounts." "I've been paying for A-list producers out of my own pocket, man, what's up?" "Come here, I want to explain something to you, Shine." "Right now," "Empire finds itself in the middle of a little cash flow problem." "What kind of cash flow problem?" "Real talk?" "We got no liquid." "While Empire buys out a 30-day asset freeze by our buddies in the FBI, we're stuck." "Damn, Lucious, how come you didn't come to me for help?" "I mean, how much you need?" "You're gonna boss up like that and just burp out $50 million, man?" "I can raise it." "Liquidate a few properties, barbershops, Laundromats, stuff me and Stone used to buy back in the day." "The rest of it's in cash." " Are you for real?" " Absolutely." "I mean, being that we family now and everything, right?" "All right, then what's in it for you, man?" "I want a stake in Empire." "A stake?" "Do you mean like rib eye," "T-bone?" "Get the hell out of here, man." "More like a seat at the table." "Think about it." "Well, let's think about it." "Without the 50, you're gonna have to unload assets and you're definitely gonna lose Empire XStream." "That's without question." "But then again, letting the wolf into the henhouse?" "That's going to lead to a lot of blood and feathers." "Roll the dice." "TaKeem!" "TaKeem!" "TaKeem!" "TaKeem!" "TaKeem!" "TaKeem!" "TaKeem!" "TaKeem!" "TaKeem!" "I can't wait for you to meet Bella." "TaKeem!" "TaKeem!" "TaKeem!" "TaKeem!" "TaKeem!" "TaKeem!" "TaKeem!" "TaKeem!" "TaKeem!" "TaKeem!" "TaKeem!" "TaKeem!" "TaKeem!" "TaKeem!" "TaKeem!" "But she's right." "Isn't she right, shouldn't I learn to take care of myself?" "Do you think you can do it?" "If you let me." "I need you to let me go, Rhonda." "You are the smartest... and most devoted... and most ruthless... of the Lyon sons." "I'm the most ruthless." "I'm doing what we planned with Nessa." "I got her the Fashion Week gig." "I'm building her up." "Just like we planned." "Make her the biggest star." "And then you'll control the music." "And then you'll have all the power." "I believe in you." "Promise me you won't disappoint me." "I promise." "And, Andre?" "Promise me that you will destroy that bitch... that murdered me... and killed our baby." "Bye, Andre." "Good-bye." "Rhonda." "Where he at?" "!" "Looks like y'all one act shy of a headliner." "Yeah." "Jamal, Cookie?" "Yeah, they're on their way." "Does anybody have eyes on Jamal?" "Here we go, here we go." " We made it." " Okay." " How you doing?" " All right now, all right." "Stay back, Lucious." "You gonna be okay?" "Ready?" "Okay." "Look at me." "You got it." "He all right, go ahead." "Let's go, Mal!" "Hey, give me that big bottle of Russian vodka right there." "With shot glasses." "Shine, look out, man." "Tariq, we got to stop meeting like this." "Yeah, well, what's the point in helping me get enough evidence to freeze up Empire's assets, then you spotting Lucious the money to outrun me?" "No point." "Maybe you just got played." "Yeah, well, Lucious got played, too." "What's stopping me from telling him?" "Well, then everybody will know you got played, including the FBI." "And don't give me that you gonna take my immunity mess, because I know you can't do that... it's too late." "You know, if you was a real G, Leslie, you'd have started your own label with that 50 mil." "Well, Tariq, it ain't about the label." "It's about Empire." "It's the crown jewel of all labels." "It's the Iron Throne." "Everybody want to be king." "Don't you?" "Why you wasting my liquor like that, man?" "Come on, Tariq." "Why you mad?" "Aah!" "Yeah!" " That was good, right?" " Yes." "It was great, baby." " You did a good job." " Thank you." "I'm so proud of you." " Thank you for coming." " Of course, come on." " I love you." " I love you, too." "Hey!" "Hey." "You're going to rehab, okay?" "What?" "Bro, just... just go." "Ma, please don't do this to me right now." " Jamal..." " Don't touch me." "All right?" "Don't touch me." "It's time, son." "Our instant-polling was very encouraging." "And the money we raised." "Look, when he gets out of there, he's going to thank you for what you did." " Believe that." " I hope so." "Look, you'd better go," "Your man's waiting." "Hey." "How's Jamal?" "He's gonna be all right." "You're amazing." "Thank you." "Ooh, Councilman." "I have a gift for you I forgot to give you." " What is this...?" " Councilman..." " can I have a word?" " No, no, no, no, no..." "That little droplet turned into a mighty big ripple." " What do you remember about the evening." " What?" "Of October 5, 1988?" "You're as wretched as they say you are." "Mother." "It's the, night of my DUI." " I was 17 years old..." " Okay, wait." "Wait a minute." "Every teenager has gotten into some nonsense." ""W" was arrested for a DUI." "Bill Clinton smoked marijuana." "Barack Obama wrote about it in his book." "Yes, well, to the best of my knowledge, none of those presidents ever drunk-drove into a lake, saving himself while leaving a poor, innocent girl to drown." " What?" " That's a lie!" "Cookie, that's not what happened." "Shameful." "I warned you." "That's enough." "I'm the most ruthless." "The most ruthless." "Baby, I'm the most ruthless." "God." " Shine, let's go." " The most ruthless." "I'm the most ruthless." "I told 'em it was closing time." "They don't listen." "They even took over the music." "It's awful late, fellas." "Shouldn't you boys be home in bed?" "You kicking us out, bro?" "I mean, they could've at least sent the police, somebody with some real muscle." "I'm not trying to kick you out, Shine." "As a matter of fact, I'm here to join the celebration." "That's what this is, right, a celebration?" "Ladies and gentlemen, let's toast to my man Shine." "To Shine!" "Hell of a power move you made, brother." "Hell of a move." "Nessa said you was out your rabbit-ass mind, but that's okay." "I deal with a lot of crazy dudes... a lot crazier than you." "Listen, what do you think my father would do if he knew you were the one who set him up for the asset freeze?" "I had nothing to do with that." "I can prove that you leveraged all your Laundromats and parking garages and strip clubs, all your properties... if that's what you want to call it... two weeks before Tariq and the FBI froze Empire's accounts." " So what?" " "So what?"" "That means you knew it was coming." "That means you tipped off Tariq." "My father respects his opponents, Shine, but he hates a snitch." "Let's say you can prove this crazy theory you got." "Tell him." "Tell Lucious." "Let's see what happens next." "I got a much better plan than that, brother." "Come over here, I'll tell you about it." "Here's how it's gonna work from here on out." "You respect the hierarchy." "I pull the strings here, including Nessa." "Now, you do what you do, I do what I do." "We'll put the pieces in place to cover our tracks, make all the moves we need to make until it's time." "Time for what?" "Time to kill my father."