Tonight on FOX Empire airs with an all new Wednesday October 21, season 2 episode 5 called, “Be True,” and we have your weekly recap below. On tonight’s episode, Cookie (Taraji P. Henson) and Anika (Grace Gealey) work with Laz (Adam Rodriguez) to organize a big block party to launch their company, an event that will be highlighted by a signature anthem written by Hakeem, (Bryshere Y. Gray) who finds himself entering into a tender romance with the lead singer of his girl group.
On the last episode, the Lyons collaborated on a music video, putting aside their differences long enough to capitalize on Hakeem and Jamal’s duet from Hakeem’s leaked album. Meanwhile, Lucious, who had the federal murder case hanging over his head, decided the answer to his problems was to find Vernon and make him permanently disappear. Did you watch the last episode? If you missed it, we have a full and detailed recap right here for you.
On tonight’s episode as per the FOX synopsis, “Cookie and Anika work with Laz to organize a big block party to launch their company, an event that will be highlighted by a signature anthem written by Hakeem, who finds himself entering into a tender romance with the lead singer of his girl group. Meanwhile, Jamal collaborates with Ne-Yo; and Andre takes steps to rid his soul of past sins.”
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!
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#Empire begins with a news report about Lucious and says the charges against him were dropped. Thirsty tells him that’s how you close a case. The Feds are calling it a suicide to cover up their embarrassment. Andre is back at Empire and looks pleased. Lucious calls him over and welcomes him back. He says Roxanne took a leave of absence. He tells Andre that he signed a singer Frida Gatz to his new label. Thirsty and Andre encourage him to make a press statement.
Lucious asks for Andre’s phone. Cookie works with Tiana at a new shoot. Cookie checks her phone and says she can’t deal with these alerts. She says she fired Porsha for getting her arrested. Hakeem brings in Laura just as Lucious makes a video post. He says he was innocent and was being targeted. He says anyone that has a problem with him can kiss his ass. Laura fangirls on Tiana who then walks away. She asks if she can take Laura to the studio. Laura asks if Tiana and him are a thing.
Tiana says no and says she can’t wait to see what he’ll do with him. Hakeem asks Cookie if she thinks Vernon killed himself. Cookie says where they’re from if snitches don’t kill themselves, someone else will. Cookie says they need to focus and says he needs to be in the studio. She calls him handsome and tells him to smile then says to fix her phone that Porsha screwed up. Lucious gets cheers from the Empire staff. They have a stripper pole set up in the conference room and it’s a party.
Lucious says this is a new day for Gutter Life then says Andre is the president of their label. Becky congratulates him then asks if he’s ready to get gutter with them. He has a lap dance forced on him. Lucious watches and laughs. Andre does not look pleased. Lucious is in the studio producing Jamal’s latest track. Lucious stops him and says he needs to do a big bang on the second spot. He asks what Ne-Yo thinks who says the passion needs to be epic and it’s not bad.
Lucious says they should just collaborate on a couple of tracks. Jamal says they were already talking about that. Michael comes in and says he’s got a gallery opening in 30. Jamal introduces him to Ne-Yo. He tells Michael that Ne-Yo is coming on a couple of tour stops. He leaves and Lucious says the first rue of the road is you don’t bring your girlfriend. Jamal says he should not be giving relationship advice and Ne-Yo laughs. He says the road gets long and you miss something real.
Ne-Yo says if he’s got the real, he should bring it but Lucious says he needs to focus on his big moment. Andre talks to his pastor about his dad putting him over the tacky label. He says it’s called Gutter Life and is what it sounds like. He says Lucious is testing him and there’s a purpose to all of this. Andre wants to be baptized but the pastor says they take it seriously. Andre says tell him what to do and he’ll do it. The pastor says to clear his conscience to his family then invite them to his baptism.
He tells Andre his house isn’t clean if the closets are dirty. Andre says the family doesn’t go to a church unless someone is in a casket. The pastor says maybe they need him to lead the way. Tiana is mugged in the lobby of the Ghetto Ass Studio. They steal her expensive purse. Cookie tells Hakeem she got jacked then they show a YouTube video about how Lyon Dynasty has to pay tax. Cookie says they’ve been marked and she’s going to take care of this.
At Laviticus, the artist shows Michael and Jamal some more of his art. He tells them they’re hot together. Jamal asks to use some of the art for his tour. He asks if Michael is going on the road. Jamal says his dad says no. The artist says relationships are the death of creativity then says he falls in love every day and can’t close it off to one person. He says he hates that same sex marriage permission was handed down from the old school court.
Jamal and the artist talk drunkenly and then the guy tries to go down on him. Jamal says he’s not into him and wouldn’t cheat on Michael. Then Michael walks up on this and Jamal tells him to come on. The guy says a mouth is a mouth. Cookie shows a promo for Lyon Dynasty to Laz who agrees to work with her despite the challenges. He says people think she’s swimming in cash and she’s on people’s radar like the people who hit Tiana.
Cookie says a bunch of people bounced when they heard about Tiana. He says he can’t be scared off. Porsha comes in and says she can fix the security problem then says she has Whoopty Woo her grandma’s poodle. Cookie caves and says it’s probationary. Andre tells Rhonda he talks to Reverend Pryce and will be baptized then says he wants her and the family there. She says the Reverend wants him to confess his sins and she asks what he’ll confess to. He says not that much.
He says he has to say how he wronged them in the past and ask forgiveness. Then Rhonda says she’s not wearing any underwear. He says someone could walk in and she says she knows. She says it’s been so long then he says things are different now. He says they’re back and walks away. She’s frustrated. Cookie and Lucious argue about being stuck with Vernon’s ashes since he had no next of kin. She says she knows he didn’t kill himself. He asks why not give him to Carol.
She says she thinks he was going to shake Lucious down. He asks if she knew he was a snake then she asks if he offed him. He says no. She asks how they can keep their family safe. He says he feels safe and she would if he was looking out for him. She says he better not have anything to do with the purse snatching. She says it must be liberating for him to stop pretending he has no morals. She grabs her purse then turns back and he’s gone. She has no choice but to take the ashes.
Andre finds Thirsty in his dad’s office drinking his booze then asks if he’s on the payroll. He says he’s replacing Vernon and Andre says no one can replace Vernon. He says he’s checking into Anika then asks Andre if he’s good with his mom then says Lucious wants all of Cookie’s label music. Andre says he wouldn’t do anything to hurt his mother and says Lucious can talk to him about family business himself. Andre says to put down the glass and get out of his dad’s office until he gets back.
Thirsty says he thought they made nice digging in the dirt. He pats Andre on the back then walks out. Ne-Yo and Jamal are working together again. Ne-Yo says he seems distracted. His phone goes off again and Ne-Yo says to stop fiddling with the phone. He says he told Michael he didn’t want him to go on tour and he thinks that means he wants an open relationship. He says this is a dope session and says Michael is just tripping. Ne-Yo says he should bring him on tour.
He says he’s done it both ways and says both ways worked. Then he says the whole not taking relationship advice from Lucious is the right approach. Jamal says he’ll take him. The phone buzzes and Ne-Yo takes it from him.
Hakeem is working with Laura and the girls. They are partying and dancing to Pharrell’s music. He flirts with all of them. Laura pushes him away and says she should have known this is what it was about. She says she’s not one of those girls and walks off. The other girls are offended. Jamal is drunk and talking to Becky who says his eyes aren’t unfocused. He tells her about working with Ne-Yo. She says Michael is on the balcony. He goes outside and finds him zipping it up. It’s the artist.
Jamal slams him against the wall and the artist says it’s his fault. Jamal threatens to throw shim over the balcony. Becky punches him as he goes by. Cookie chats with Laz and they hear the dog barking and it doesn’t stop. Then she hears glass breaking and they go to investigate. The door is open and Laz tackles one guy and Cookie holds a gun on them. They have the masters and tell her that Thirsty sent them. Cookie says no cos then says get out of here. They run out. She tells them don’t come back.
Laz has a gun too and she likes that. Hakeem stops by in the morning then asks why he didn’t invite him to the party. Andre is there too. He says they need to talk about Vernon. Andre says Vernon wanted what was best for them and says he taught him it was his responsibility to look out for them but instead he put them at each others throats because he wanted Empire so badly. He says he set up the robbery at Ghetto Ass, not Hakeem.
Andre says it was wrong, he was sick and he’s sorry. He says he can’t change the past. He says he’s getting baptized Sunday and wants them both there. Jamal glares. Hakeem says they all make mistakes then says he’ll come. Jamal says he’s not going to get shaded because he can’t pray away the gay. Andre says he loves him and he’d be coming to support him, not the church. Andre says he wants to heal their family and asks him to think about it. Jamal says yeah.
Andre thanks them and goes. Andre tells Lucious that Thirsty sent some guys to break into Lyon Dynasty. He asks if Thirsty is too hood for him and Andre says he remembers the streets. Lucious says the only commandments he follows at Empire are his and tells him to check his faith at the door. Andre says he can’t do that and says he needs to make a confession to him. He says he told Cookie to blackmail her to produce Jamal. He says he’s committed to him and Empire.
Lucious says he forgives him but Andre says there are more. He says when he was off his meds, he felt hated and rejected by him and wanted to hurt him. He says he went into his studio, put a gun to his own head and pulled the trigger. He says he wanted to die and the Lord saved him. He says he knows he doesn’t believe in this but says Lucious gave him life and God gives him hope. He asks him to come to his baptism. Lucious says dunking someone in tap water doesn’t make sins go away.
He says there is no God and tells Andre to man up. Andre walks away. Hakeem goes to find Laura. She’s walking down the sidewalk and he pulls up beside her. She asks if he’s stalking her and she says she has a train to catch. He hops out and says he didn’t mean to come on to her. He says he never met a girl singer that doesn’t get down like that. She says she’s not. She says she doesn’t want to sing for money or fame and just loves to sing. He says he wants her voice to touch the world.
He says he won’t ever push up on her ever again. He promises. He says his driver will take her where she needs to go and he’ll catch a cab. She gets in the car. He tells the driver to take her home and they leave. Frida is in the studio with Lucious. He asks who she’s talking about, her pops. She says he’s supposed to be here and he says he’s not there because he’s a rotten bastard. He says that doesn’t mean he didn’t love her. He says he knew Frank and says he loved her so much.
He says if she bit off his right arm he would hug her with his left. He says to lay that down and meet it face to face. She goes back to the mic and tries again. Lucious likes the new rhymes. At the church, Cookie gets Andre into his baptismal robe. She says her mom wanted her to baptize them as babies but she says babies don’t know what sin is and you should choose it so the sin won’t stick. Andre says he’s not a good person and she says stop that.
Andre says he’s done horrible things. Cookie says she has too but they are good people and says God knows his heart and he’s trying to make it right. She says she doesn’t need to hear what he did wrong and says no one does then says she’s proud of him. Jamal is there and it’s a crowded house. Rhonda hugs Jamal and thanks him for coming. The pastor shakes his hand and he sits with Cookie and Hakeem. Cookie says she’s surprised he’s there. He says family shows up.
She says she believes in him then asks how it’s going with his dad. He says it’s everything he wanted and she wanted. She says she’s happy for him and he says don’t lie. She asks if Lucious is coming and he shakes his head. She says if that devil walked in here, the whole place might catch fire. They all laugh. Lucious pulls up in his car and pauses then goes inside. He walks down the aisle and the whispers start. Cookie says mention the devil and he’ll walk right in.
Lucious introduces himself to the reverend who tells him that Andre is an exceptional man. Andre hugs him and says he loves him. Lucious says he knows he does. Hakeem moves so he can sit with Cookie who says she needs to slide down in case lightning strikes. Jamal says he thought Lucious was in the studio. He says he was working with Frida and her rhymes moved him. Cookie says quit bugging her studio, quit trying to steal from them and robbing and hurting them. Hakeem says preach mama.
Rhonda shushes Lucious who keeps on threatening Cookie. Andre gets dipped. Lucious watches and thinks about his mom going crazy and dragging him into the tub and holding him under to wash away his son. She sang Mona Lisa as she held him under again and again. Lucious can’t take it anymore and walks out. Andre is hurt to see him go but the congregation says amen. Lucious stops and looks back at his son then walks out. The reverend says God is good and the choir sings.
Cookie and Jamal hold hands and Hakeem looks at this. Cookie blows Andre a kiss. Hakeem is out for a run in the park later. Three guys grab him and shove him into a van. It’s the same group that robbed Tiana.