Tonight on FOX Empire returns with an all new Wednesday January 28, season 1 episode 4 called, “False Imposition,” and we have your weekly recap below. On tonight’s episode the Lucious [Terrence Howard] makes an attempt to steal a hot artist who’s topping the charts from his rival at Safe House Records.
On the last episode, the Lyons headed to Philadelphia and got a taste of what their life could have been if Lucious hadn’t made it big. Lucious promoted Hakeem’s new relationship with hip-hop star Tianna, but tensions rose when another woman tried to catch Hakeem’s eye. 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, “Lucious makes an attempt to steal a hot artist who’s topping the charts from his rival at Safe House Records. Meanwhile, Jamal struggles with writer’s block; and Cookie tries to mend her broken relationship with Hakeem.”
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!
Lucious asks Hakeem what he wants and he says he wants to pop some bottles and make some videos. Then he talks about Jamal and Lucious has a fit and says Hakeem’s album has to drop the day Empire goes public. Cookie comes in and says she wants a better office and benefits for Porsha. Becky says Porsha gave HR a dead person’s social. Porsha says she doesn’t do taxes.
Cookie tells Hakeem he needs to stop rapping about life on the streets because he doesn’t know what he’s talking about. She tells him No Apologies was good because it was about something real for him. Anika laughs and Cookie says she can take her office. Lucious says he wants everyone talking about Empire until the IPA launches. He tells her to take Porsha and go.
In her cramped office, Cookie is hanging gold records on the wall and Porsha asks if she stole those from the hall. Cookie says she produced them so she earned them. She says she’s the best producer Lucious ever had and she’s going to remind him. Tiana comes by and asks Cookie to listen to her latest demo. Cookie sits her down and asks why she wants her to hear it.
Tiana says it needs something and she asks why she didn’t ask Anika. Tiana says Anika is a suit and that song Cookie did with Jamal was dope. She plays Tiana’s song and listens. Lucious tells Hakeem he needs him in the studio making music but Hakeem says he has tickets to Titan’s show to go to. He asks to look at the passes to the show to see if they’re all access. He hands them to his dad.
Lucious says the reason Titan is hot is because he’s always recording. He then calls Becky over, hands her the tickets and says Happy Birthday. She’s thrilled and takes off. Lucious tells Hakeem that the race between he and Jamal is his to lose. Becky and her friends are at Titan’s show and they flash their all access passes and head backstage.
A brawl starts backstage and Titan shoots the guy who came at him. Anika tells Lucious about Titan’s arrest while he tries to shave. His hand is shaking out of control and she asks what the doctor says. He admits that he has ALS. She’s stunned. He says he doesn’t have much time – three years at best. He starts to shave with his other hand but Anika tells him to stop and she takes the razor and shaves him.
Cookie is at the head of the A&R meeting telling the group that she’s handling Jamal and Tiana too. Tiana is there and applauds. Anika says they’ll discuss it later but Cookie says there’s nothing to discuss. She sends Tiana to the studio. Anika tells Cookie she doesn’t have time for this and says she can stay but she has a meeting to run.
Anika starts the meeting. She says they don’t have Kid Fo-Fo anymore so asks who we can get that’s making noise on the blogs. One guy says Titan is making a fortune for Creedmore. Cookie says they need authenticity. Lucious comes in and says he doesn’t want someone like Titan, he wants Titan. He says – bring him here. He pulls Anika out of the meeting and Cookie takes over brainstorming on how to get Titan.
Lucious tells Anika he needs her to be strong and his illness is why he’s pushing Hakeem so hard. She asks why he wants Titan so bad and he says the label can use him and is will be a bullet to Creedmore. She says she’ll sign him but he says Vernon is going to do it. Mitchell from legal comes in and says they can’t poach an artist right before an IPO.
Andre comes in and says Beretti will come for them and Cookie says it’s about time they kicked that fake-ass pimp to the curb. Lucious asks when Titan gets out and Vernon says he can’t get bail because of a prior gun charge. Anika asks Andre to talk to his contact at the Mayor’s office and Anika says she’s going to Brooklyn Correctional. Cookie says she can help but Lucious says she needs to focus on her client.
He says Jamal is having trouble since he’s been waving his little rainbow flag around saying he doesn’t need his money. Cookie comes to see Jamal and Michael at their cheap place and Cookie offers him some money. She says she knows how divas like to decorate. He says that’s Lucious’ money and he won’t take it. She says she and Lucious lived in a worse place and cut records there.
She says they shot rats between takes. She asks about his songs and he says they’re not ready. She says there’s no time for an artsy brain fart. She says to pull himself together and make some music. Lucious and Anika come in and find Tiana and Hakeem making out on their sofa and tell them to stop. Anika says she booked them on the Teen Choice Awards and want them to record a duet.
Tiana says they’re calling them Takeem on social media. She texts Cookie who says that Hakeem should rap Keep on Movin. Anika gets snippy with Tiana and says Cookie is stoked about it. She says Cookie is going to protect her music and make her a star – the same thing she did for Lucious back in the day. Lucious has to admit she did that.
Cookie comes to see Sister Fatima, Titan’s mom. They are devout Muslims. She tells Cookie she knows about her story and she says many of the nation’s sisters kept her afloat in prison. She tells Fatima she’s still lonely now she’s out since the kids don’t remember. Fatima says she feels her pain and it’s called being a mother. She asks if Titan is her only.
She says he’s her youngest and the provider. Cookie says her youngest is talented and strong-willed. Fatima says the animal that Titan shot burned down their community center the day before he shot him. She says he doesn’t seem to be following the nation and Fatima says Beretti lured him. Cookie says Lucious has an army of lawyers and wants to help Titan.
Detective Walker shows up to see Lucious and Vernon. He says he some questions about some trace evidence in Bunkie’s car. Vernon says they all rode in his car. Walker asks where they were when Bunkie was shot. Lucious says he’d have to check with Becky, but was likely at home. He asks if he was alone and Lucious says he has 15 maids and it’s a big place so he’s never really alone.
Lucious things back to their tiny house in the hood and him playing guitar while Andre sang with him. A cop car pulls up aside. Little Andre hides Lucious’ gun in his Legos. Now, Andre tells Walker that he was with his dad watching the fight and spent the night because he had too much to drink. Anika and Lucious go to talk to Titan’s manager Brick.
He says Beretti has security two deep because Titan shot a Cashville gangster. A car squeals by and shots fly through the windows of the restaurant. Lucious grabs her and pulls her down and says he can’t have her in places like this. She says she’ll find another way but Lucious says no – he’ll find another way.
Cookie comes to see Lucious and says she went to see Titan’s mother and says she’s serious Nation of Islam. Lucious sighs and says they’re going to break his ass in prison. She says you lose your soul in prison when you think people have forgot you. Lucious says he never forgot her but she reminds him he just stopped coming and writing though he says he was working to provide for the kids.
She talks about their first Christmas when he wrote her a song since they had no gifts. She says she made inroads with Titan’s mother but says that means inviting the Nation back into his life – and those are the people that killed his father. He says he really never forgot about her and she says to keep telling himself that. Hakeem is in the studio and Lucious stops him and says he’s going too hard.
He says he needs to be romantic and seductive. He goes into the booth and says Cookie knows music and re-record it until Cookie signs off on the mix. He says he can’t make Hakeem love Cookie but he owes her his respect. He says she’s been to a hell he can’t imagine and that he needs to understand to raise his music to poetry.
Jamal comes to see Lucious and he says he heard he found a rat hole to live in. Lucious offers him back his apartment and money but he says no thanks. Jamal tosses down an envelope and says he didn’t ask to be paid to perform as a sideman to Hakeem and won’t get paid for playing something he didn’t create. Lucious says the first rule of music is always take the money.
Jamal says his talent is worth much more to him than what Lucious is offering. Vernon and Lucious are at the club when Vernon tells him that Titan is in solitary and is safe. He tells Vernon that he decided not to go after Titan because Cookie went to talk to Titan’s mom and found out he’s heavy into Nation of Islam. Beretti rolls into the club and Lucious waves them into the VIP area at Leviticus.
Beretti gives him the nod and says it’s been a long time. Cookie gets to know Tiana over dinner and she says her Big Mama raised her. She says she was about her age when she met Lucious free styling on a corner. She says he tried to out-dance her and the next thing she knew, they had three sons. Hakeem is late and Cookie says they should eat.
Beretti tells Lucious he’s tried to forgive him and that without him, he’d still be selling CDs out of the trunk of his car. Lucious says he didn’t even know that Beretti had put his name on his credits til he saw the CD and tells Beretti he’ll never be an artist. Hakeem is in the tub with Camilla instead of at dinner with his GF and mom. Tiana comes in and catches them.
She turns right back around and storms out. Camille tells Hakeem it was an amateur mistake to give that girl a key to his place. Lucious says he won’t steal Titan from him if he’ll take care of him properly. Beretti tells him to cancel his IPO or else he’ll dig up the dirt of his past and bury Empire and everyone in it. He says he thinks he’s going to change the name of Lucious’ new club to Cookie’s.
Lucious says he’s going to go see Titan in prison tomorrow and is going to decimate Beretti’s ass. Hakeem is at Jamal’s and doesn’t want to face sound check with Tiana after her catching him cheating. There’s some pipes rattling and Hakeem asks how he deals with it. Then the neighbors start up a noise and Jamal says he can’t tell if he’s banging her or beating her.
Hakeem says he should make a song out of it. Hakeem shows up and Tiana yanks him to the side. She tells him not to blow this. He says he’s sorry about Camilla and it don’t mean nothing. She says she doesn’t care about the cheating, but she doesn’t like him disrespecting his mom then showing up late for sound check. Hakeem is stunned that she doesn’t really care about him banging the other chick.
Jamal takes a walk through his new, loud neighborhood and listens to all the noises. He starts composing a song along with the rhythm of the streets about him telling his dad to keep his money. The Teen Choice Awards are going on at Leviticus and it’s Hakeem and Tiana opening the show. Cookie encourages Tiana from offstage and tells her to work it.
Lucious goes to Brooklyn Correctional and the guard says it’s closed til he sees who it is. He is thrilled and says he can definitely take him in to see Titan. He leads him down the hall. Titan says his mom always told him Beretti was the devil and he tells Lucious he lost his soul a long time ago. Lucious says maybe but he’s lived through some hard times.
Lucious says if he stays with Beretti long enough, you’ll sell your soul too after he’s robbed from you. Titan asks if he stole from him too. Lucious asks about the community center being burned. Lucious says 1.7 million and says he cut a check to rebuild the center and for his signing bonus too. Titan asks if he wants to help the Nation and Lucious says no.
He tells Titan to take the money, rebuild the center and set up a recording studio named after Titan himself to establish his legacy. He hands his phone to Titan and says to record for Empire on it. Cookie catches Hakeem and tells him that she can’t get back the years they lost, but she’s here now and she loves him. He says it’s too late. She tells him what she said about his music was to help him.
Becky comes in raving about Lucious using her idea to take the cell phone to him. He and Cookie are watching Hakeem and Tiana on the Teen Choice Award nominations. She tells him she made sure Hakeem and Tiana did a good job and now all the blogs are blowing up about him and she softened up Titan for him. She shows him a newspaper headline with his photo that says Empire Strikes Back.
She says she likes the photo but it should say Cookie Strikes Back. He laughs and holds her finger for a moment. She says they’re better together and that she makes him stronger. He agrees they work well together and calls her baby. She says he better clear that with Anika then he calls her Baby Mama instead and they both laugh.
THE END!
PLEASE HELP CDL GROW, SHARE on FACEBOOK and TWEET THIS POST!
