Tonight on FOX Empire airs with an all new Wednesday April 20, season 2 episode 14 called, “Time Shall Unfold.” we have your weekly recap below. On tonight’s episode, manipulation and sabotage are heavily employed by Lucious (Terrence Howard) as he works to regain his CEO position at Empire.
On the last episode, family tensions rose as Lucious threw his energy into directing an emotional music video, which recreated a traumatic interaction with his mother. 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, “manipulation and sabotage are heavily employed by Lucious as he works to regain his CEO position at Empire; at the same time, his new music video is unveiled. In other events, Andre hopes to better understand his bipolar disorder by learning more about his grandmother’s mental illness; Anika reveals a big secret to the family; and Hakeem heads an important meeting of the shareholders.”
Don’t forget to join us for our live recap tonight at 9:00 pm when Empire airs on Fox.
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#Empire starts in St Louis, MO at a playground with Thirsty talking to a little girl and pulls a hair out of her head. She says ouch and he says had to be done. Rhonda talks to Anika about how she stopped thinking someone pushed her down the stairs.
Andre shows up to see Rhonda and she asks if he’s staying with the reverend. He says he’s not going to church and is at a hotel but is on his meds and says he didn’t think Rev Pryce would understand what he’s going through.
Andre asks her to rent a new apartment together with no bad memories. Rhonda asks then what and he says he misses her and their ride or die. She says it’s not been that way a long time. Andre wants to know what he has to do to get her back.
Rhonda says they need to want the same thing. They hear Anika vomiting and Rhonda runs in worried it was something they ate. Rhonda says it’s not food then says she can’t tell her after what happened to them. Rhonda asks if she’s pregnant.
Andre wants to know who the father is and she doesn’t answer. She says Hakeem. They are floored. Lucious is having a viewing party for his video with powerful people. He gets lots of congratulations and a majority shareholder says they want him back in charge.
Lucious says the board decided but the shareholders tell him that they have to be heard and he says if the board wants him to serve, he’ll do it. Cookie comes over and sees the clean-up from the party and Lucious walking out one last woman.
Cookie says he crossed a line and asks why he had a house full of white people. He says he was winning their hearts and minds. Cookie says she wants to know what he’s up to since she’s trying to get the family back together.
She says Freda Gatz aka Gathers is in issue. Cookie says you killed her father and Lucious says he was nowhere near him when he died. Cookie says she doesn’t want that dangerous b-tch around her boys.
Jamal is with Freda at the barbershop singing.
They’re working on a song together and Freda is thrilled to be on two tracks on his album. They hug it out and he heads out. A guy sits in Frank’s chair and the guy says he’s been dead for a while. Freda comes at the guy and beats him down with some others helping.
They throw him out in the street. Freda is a dangerous b-tch – Cookie was right. Jamal plays the new song for Cookie and the time and she pulls a face when she hears Freda rhyming on the track. Becky says he and Freda kill it together. Cookie says it’s all right.
Cookie says she knows he did the track with Freda to get back at his dad. Jamal says he’s blowing past his dad and wants the album out before the ASAs. She says everyone is talking about his dad’s video right now. Jamal says she’s wrong.
He says he and Freda have a vibe like she and his dad had back in the day. Hakeem asks why Cookie is not at the meeting and then Andre shows up. Hakeem calls a break on the meeting to talk to him. Jamal hangs back.
Andre tells him he’s doing well and he and Rhonda are talking. Andre says he’s back on board for the meeting and can do the CFO presentation. Hakeem asks if he’s sure and then Jamal asks if he talked to Lucious. Andre says they just spoke.
Jamal says he hopes he didn’t apologize and Andre says he’s on to the old man’s game. Hakeem says Cookie is bringing out Tiana and suggests a gospel edge. Andre gives some tips with the shareholders meeting and says one wrong word and they get hostile.
Andre says Hakeem’s message must be on point since Lucious is gunning for him at the meeting. Jamal agrees their dad will come at him. Andre says let’s go over the impending deals and Andre points out one he says he thinks Lucious will go after.
Thirsty and his crew pull up and his guys get out with masks on and head into Empire and knock out a guard then steal racks of clothes for the Antony and Cleopatra line that Andre and Hakeem were just talking about.
Hakeem goes to see his dad and says he know he had his boys hit the Empire warehouse and Lucious denies knowing about it. Hakeem says give the stuff back before the board meeting or the security tapes go to the cops.
Lucious says he wrote a song about that called Snitch Bitch and Hakeem says he’s not bowing down. Hakeem’s phone rings and Lucious says he better get it. Laura tells Hakeem that the roadies got searched and all her equipment is gone.
Hakeem ends the call and says you planted drugs on my trucks. Lucious calls it a boss move and says he ought to know how to clap back. Jamal is in the studio when Cookie shows up. Jamal asks if she’s there to get him to pump his brakes, she doesn’t need to.
Cookie says competition is healthy then says she had a surprise for him and he and Freda can knock Lucious off his throne without her. He says what is it and Cookie says she set him up with a celeb emcee Stacee Run-Run.
Stacee comes to see Jamal and she says she’s a fan. Cookie thanks her producer. He says Stacee wants the bridge and auto tune. Stacee says she’ll promote this on all her social media. Jamal says they can move Freda to three and seven.
Stacee’s manager has an issue and Cookie pulls him aside. Cookie says Stacee has an exclusivity clause and no other female rapper can be on his album. Cookie says two track with Stacee Run-Run will give Lucious a run-run for his money.
Jamal doesn’t want to kick Freda off the record. Lucious takes Andre to his mom’s grave and talks about how volatile and unpredictable his mother could be. Andre talks to her headstone and says he wishes he could have met her.
He says medical science has made things more hopeful for people like us. He touches her headstone and Lucious says he’s proud of him and he wishes he could have met her. Andre thinks he has an agenda and Lucious says he can use his help.
Andre says he won’t betray his brothers. Andre is struggling and Lucious says he knows it’s hard to worship a God that lets your baby die and says you have to have faith in yourself. Lucious says they all want the Empire to be great.
Andre says he wants them all to be better. Lucious says being his mother’s son gave him a lot of gifts but also did a lot of damage. Lucious says he and Andre can fix a lot of that and asks if they’re good. Andre considers.
Hakeem has to work on his speech about explaining what happened to the Antony and Cleopatra line. They give him lines to stay and he says Andre is supposed to be there. There’s a hiccup with the app so they have no profits.
Cookie asks for 5 minutes with Hakeem and the team steps out. Cookie says she wants what’s best for them and wants him to kill it at the meeting. She says he needs to stop getting emotional at meetings and says it’s childish.
Jamal finds Freda in the studio tightening up the verses for their song. Jamal says it’s dope and she says she hopes Mama Cookie likes it. Jamal says he has news and says Mama Cookie set him up to do a song with Stacee Run-Run and Freda likes it.
Then he breaks the news about the exclusivity contract and Freda says it’s cool. Jamal says they don’t have to stop this. Freda says he can’t choose her over Stacee since she’s worldwide. She tells him to do him and win and don’t worry about her.
Andre talks to the family that he has assembled and says they need to rise above their past and then has Rhonda bring Anika in and Cookie flips out. Lucious asks why anyone needs to hear from her and Andre asks them to be civil.
Anika says she’s pregnant with Hakeem’s child and Cookie calls her a trick ass ho. Hakeem says how do you know it’s mine. Anika says he’s the only one she was with and Cookie slaps her son’s head and asks him why he can’t use a condom.
Rhonda says she begged Anika to keep the baby and says they need an heir after she lost their child. Jamal says heir is a Shakespearean term and he has Lola. Then Lucious reveals he found Lola and her DNA tested out to be Marcus Jones’ kid.
Lucious says sorry to Jamal then approaches Anika and asks what she wants. She says something priceless – Cookie says write this bitch a check. Anika says she wants her child to have a family and Cookie says girl, bye.
Anika says she played a role in the animosity and takes responsibility for her actions then says she’s trying to make amends and hopes they will consider it. Hakeem is floored. Anika walks out with Rhonda. The family ponders this news.
Tiana opens up the Empire shareholders meeting. The shareholders love her performance and she takes a bow. Cookie then takes a stage and then says Lyon Dynasty is under the Empire banner and that song which is about to hit $2 million in sales is money in all their pockets.
Cookie then introduces Hakeem. Anika comes home and finds Lucious at her place. He brought her a stuffed lion and says he’s returning the favor of a surprise visit. Lucious sits and she asks what took him so long.
He says he wants her to take her vitamins, deliver the baby, give it to Hakeem and he’ll give her $10 million. She says no thanks. She says if she wanted his money, the Lyon heir would be worth more than that. She says she told him what she wants.
He says she slept with Beretti and she says no then says he cheated on her with Cookie and broke her heart. He says don’t blame me for your actions. Lucious says he said his piece and says take the offer. He says don’t make me get ugly.
Anika says she’s having a son and will do what she has to do. She says she never dimed on him to the FBI and Lucious asks what she knows about him they would care about. She says five years of being with him and living under his roof and working for him means she knows a lot.
Lucious says it sounds like a threat but he knows better and says be careful. He says a lot of women don’t survive childbirth. He walks out. Hakeem leads the meeting and talks about Swiftstream then answers questions.
A few investors asks him why he hasn’t released new music. Hakeem says he’s been busy watching after their money making sure they don’t go broke then says he has music coming soon. Then Lucious is there and speaks up.
Lucious asks what he thinks are the five biggest challenges facing the music industry over the next 10 years. Hakeem rattles off several very accurate answers. Lucious then says Empire scrapped a concert tour. Lucious talks about a teacher from Dallas and stands her up.
He talks about her buying school supplies out of pocket and she needs her dividends. Then Lucious brings up the clothing line. Lucious says there was a security breach under his watch. Hakeem says you can’t take over the meeting.
Lucious says he heard there was a problem with the Swiftstream app. Rhonda asks if Andre did this and he says this is how we get back to us and kisses her cheek. Lucious accuses him of mismanagement. Clair says they need Lucious back and a chant breaks out to bring him back.
Cookie takes the stage and says settle down. She says what we have is two great men fighting over Empire. She says they both love this company so much is they will kill for it and will kill it for them. Cookie says Lucious is a legend and they can’t take that.
She says Hakeem is a mogul in his own right and helped her build Lyon Dynasty for nothing and says Lucious owes respect too. She asks Lucious to come to the stage and shows he will fight for Empire not against Hakeem.
Lucious takes the stage and offers Hakeem his hand. They shake and the crowd cheers. Hakeem is not happy. One woman screams that Empire needs Cookie. Later, Hakeem tells his parents the board voted him out as CEO.
Cookie tells him he did the best he could. Lucious says he can tell his kids he ran Empire for 10 minutes. Cookie tells Lucious must feel good about what he did humiliating his son in front of all these people. Lucious says she loves him and she calls him a piece of work.
She says he’s like Steve Jobs at Apple. He looks in happily at the board. Jamal asks Cookie where Stacee Run-Run is and Cookie says she had to go to Tokyo but sent over pre-recorded stuff. Cookie plays it and says she’ll be back for the ASAs.
He doesn’t like not having her there to work with but Cookie asks him to just do it. Jamal misses Freda. Jamal stops and tells Cookie he doesn’t want to work like this and calls it disrespectful. He says it was better with Freda and doesn’t know why she had a problem with it.
Jamal walks out and goes to see Freda at the barbershop. He says he doesn’t like Stacee Run-Run’s ultimatum and he chooses her. Jamal says he likes the way they make music together and says it’s for the joy of creating music.
Freda glares as he sings her some of the bridge and then says can they record tonight. Freda says she’ll think about it. Jamal says he’ll be there all night if she wants to roll through. He leaves as she sweeps up he station.
In New Hope, PA, Thirsty goes to an old folks home looking for Leah Walker. Thirsty hands the woman an envelope of cash and says he doesn’t want to bother her. Holy crap, Lucious’ mom is alive! She’s in a home out of state staring out the window. She sings to herself and thinks about things she did to her son.
THE END!