Tonight on FOX their blockbuster drama Empire premieres with an all-new Wednesday, September 21, 2016, episode and we have your Empire recap below. On tonight’s Empire season 3 premiere episode, Season 3 picks up with Hakeem left at the altar, Lucious and Anika newly married, and someone falling off a roof during a fight.
Did you watch the Empire season 2 finale where Hakeem got stood up and did not marry and Anika and Rhonda fought and one of them went over the gallery? If you missed it we have a full and detailed Empire recap, right here!
On tonight’s Empire premiere episode as per the FOX synopsis, “EMPIRE picks up exactly where Season Two ended – Hakeem left at the altar, Lucious and Anika married and Anika and Rhonda fighting on the roof – until someone falls. Also, Lucious pursues his music legacy with his streaming service, while clashing with his half-brother, Tariq (Morocco Omari), who is leading a federal task force investigating him.”
Empire is one of our favorite television series and we cannot wait for the season 3 premiere. So make sure to bookmark this spot and come back for our Empire recap between 9PM – 10PM ET! While you wait for our recap make sure to come back for our Empire recaps, news, spoilers & more, right here!
Tonight’s episode begins now – Refresh Page often to get the most current updates!
Tonight’s premiere of Empire kicks off where we left off during the Season 2 finale. A furious Hakeem storms out of Lucious’ wedding, Lucious and Jamal chase after him. Hakeem hops in the “Just Married” car and peels off. Lucious instructs Jamal to take his grandmother home, while they are talking, a body falls out of the sky and lands on the hood of the car that they were about to leave in. Rhonda is dead.
On the roof, Andre witnesses Rhonda falling to her death. He grabs Anika and starts choking her – then Anika’s water breaks. Andre snaps out of it and picks up Anika and carries her downstairs, screaming for help.
A frantic Jamal calls Cookie and tells her to meet them at the hospital. When Cookie arrives, everyone is sitting in the waiting room in silence. Andre is a mess, Cookie tries to get him to go to the chapel with her to pray.
Meanwhile, Anika is in labor and Hakeem is nowhere to be found, Lucious goes in to the delivery room with her. While Anika is pushing and crying, Lucious leans in and whispers to her that the cops are outside her room. He tells Anika that the story is that Rhonda went crazy and attacked her, Rhonda tried to drag her off the roof with her, but Anika managed to fight her off an she fell at the last minute. He threatens her to stick to the story. The baby is born – he’s 6 weeks premature and they place him in an incubator.
It’s not long before Lucious gets back to work. He hosts a poker party and invites Birdman and French Montana to talk business. Lucious is trying to get them to sign on to his new streaming service. Of course, the rappers are skeptical considering the mess that Empire is in. Lucious warns them that if they don’t sign, they will regret it.
Lucious holds a family meeting at Empire, Andre is still grieving, and Hakeem is day drinking and still fighting with Lucious. Lucious put his name on the baby’s birth certificate. Lucious says that Hakeem can’t have his baby back until he can start active like a father. Jamal is not happy with Lucious either – he thinks what he did to Hakeem was uncalled for. After Hakeem and Jamal storm out, Lucious tries to flirt with Cookie and she is NOT having it. She scoffs at him to “Enjoy his married life and go home to his wife.”
Hakeem is in the studio and Shine arrives to rattle him up. Lucious tells Shine to get out of the studio – but Shine says that he is not leaving without Nessa getting a record deal. He smashes Hakeem’s engineer’s hands and then leaves the studio, warning Lucious that he only has 24 hours to get the deal together.
Anika and the baby are released from the hospital, she named the baby Bella. The Feds are trying to track down Anika and prove that the marriage is fake – so Lucious and Cookie move her in to Lucious’ house. Of course, his Mom is not thrilled about her new roommate.
Tariq spends the night sitting outside of Lucious’ house and keeping an eye on Anika. Lucious heads outside and taunts Tariq, he says that they are family and Tariq doesn’t need a warrant, he invites him over for dinner tomorrow. The next day Shine shows up at Empire, he and Lucious work out a deal and Lucious agrees to give Nessa a feature and let her perform at the Xstream launch party tomorrow with Jamal. After their meeting, Shine heads
The next day Shine shows up at Empire, he and Lucious work out a deal and Lucious agrees to give Nessa a feature and let her perform at the Xstream launch party tomorrow with Jamal. After their meeting, Shine heads in to the studio to work with Hakeem on a new song that he has been working on. It’s not long before Hakeem starts flirting with Shine’s protégé Nessa. Cookie heads over to Lyon’s house to help him and Juanita make it seem like his marriage to Anika is legit. Cookie gets a little upset when she realizes that Lucious actually kept a photo from when he and Anika were together before.
Cookie heads over to Lyon’s house to help him and Juanita make it seem like his marriage to Anika is legit. Cookie gets a little upset when she realizes that Lucious actually kept a photo from when he and Anika were together before.
Cookie heads to Jamal’s rehearsal for the XStream event – she is shocked when she hears him rehearsing a song about gun violence, she knows that Lucious didn’t approve it and warns Jamal that his father is going to freak on him if he sings it.
It’s time for the big dinner with Tariq – and it is ridiculously awkward. Cookie and the boys join them, even Andre. The tension is almost too uncomfortable to watch. Anika lays a kiss on Lucious, and Cookie looks as if she wants to choke her across the table. Tariq hurls insults at Cookie and jokes that Lucious is treating her like “second rate trash.” It’s time for Tariq to go, before he gets thrown out …
The next night everyone gathers in Times Square for the XStream Party – Jamal takes the stage, and then right before it is time for him to perform, he has a panic attack. Backstage Cookie and Hakeem try to help him get it together. Luckily, Nessa is on the stage and she saves the show and starts belting out Jamal’s “Gun Violence” song – it’s a total hit and Lucious is not happy.
After the show, Lucious storms in to Jamal’s dressing room and screams at him. Because of Jamal’s panic attack, Shine’s artist is the new face of Empire XStream. Lucious heads home, Cookie finds him cuddling with baby Bella in a rocking chair. Cookie takes the baby away from him and puts her to bed. She tells Lucious that she needs to look to the future and it is time for her to let him go. From now on, Cookie wants to work on the music at Empire and he can work on the business end of things – then they won’t need to see each other on a regular basis.
Lucious heads home, Cookie finds him cuddling with baby Bella in a rocking chair. Cookie takes the baby away from him and puts her to bed. She tells Lucious that she needs to look to the future and it is time for her to let him go. From now on, Cookie wants to work on the music at Empire and he can work on the business end of things – then they won’t need to see each other on a regular basis.
Tonight’s episode ends with Andre at home, alone in the dark, and having a complete meltdown. He’s talking to himself and off his meds and seeing Rhonda. Jamal catches Andre screaming and talking to imaginary Rhonda – he’s obviously worried.
Meanwhile, Tariq is sitting in his car late at night and watching everything that is going on inside Lucious’ house with a hidden camera that was stashed in one of Bella’s toys.
THE END!
