Throughout the past nine episodes of Empire’s third season, audiences have dealt with all the Macbethian drama has to offer: love triangles, backstabbing and brotherly beef. The hit series from Lee Daniels even stayed true to the times by incorporating discussions of police brutality, racism and #BlackGirlMagic.
Though ratings for the series have taken a dip, viewers who tuned into the midseason finale found that while Empire is still jam-packed with its predictable over-the-top turmoil, there are still a lot of plot twists in the making.
Read which Lyons received a happy ending (for now) and the cliffhangers you’ll be clinging to until the show’s return in March.
Jamal Faces An Intervention
Since the season’s start, Jamal struggled with post-traumatic stress disorder and pill addiction. Though Jamal promised Cookie that he was sober now, a genuinely concerned Lucious warned her about possibly pushing him too far. Cookie dumped all Jamal’s pills to ensure his sobriety for his performance at The People’s Ball (a fundraising concert for Angelo’s campaign), but on the day of the show, she found him in withdrawal. Cookie reluctantly retrieved his pills — from the kitchen sink pipes — so that he could perform and revive his career. Despite Jamal putting on an incredible comeback performance, the Lyons (yes, even Lucious) confronted him intervention-style. “You’re going to rehab, okay,” Cookie declared.
#Takeem Returns
Hakeem kicked off this season as a new father who was still dealing with being dumped at the altar. Later, Lucious robbed him of his daddy duties, then Andre crushed Hakeem’s plans of being with Nessa. But since Hakeem caped for Tiana during her fashion show debacle, it seemed as though the two exes would rekindle old flames and Hakeem would find some silver lining among his growing pains. Luckily for #Takeem enthusiasts, Tiana brought out Hakeem for a surprise duet during The People’s Ball, where they shared a kiss.
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Lucious Digs Up Angelo’s Past
The Lyons weren’t the only ones who tried to keep their past under wraps all season. Angelo’s mom Diana recruited Lucious to stop a journalist from publishing a slanderous story about Angelo. In return, she promised to break up Cookie and her boo. Cookie was helping Angelo win in the polls, so Diana reneged on her end of the deal. To retaliate, Lucious ambushed Angelo after The People’s Ball with the media and shared the real story of when he “drunk drove into a lake saving himself while leaving a poor innocent girl to drown.”
“Shameful,” Lucious taunted before leaving Cookie to make sense of the news. “I warned you.”
Andre Plans to Kill Lucious
Following Ronda’s murder, Andre consistently plotted to gain more power at Empire Records. His ex-wife’s ghost has coached him through much of his plan but since revealing his bipolar disorder to Nessa, Andre finally said goodbye to Ronda’s ghost. “You are the smartest and most devoted and most ruthless of the Lyon sons,” she said as Andre imagined them parting ways. “Make her the biggest star and then you’ll control the music and then you’ll have all the power.”
In an attempt to retrieve said power, Andre discovered Shyne snitched to Tariq. However, instead of tattling to Lucious, Andre struck a deal with Shyne to run Nessa’s career and quietly gain power. “We’ll put the pieces in place, cover our tracks, make all the moves we need to make until it’s time,” Andre said. “Until it’s time to kill my father.”