‘Empire’ Season 2 Episode 11 Recap: Lucious Will Not Back Down

Empire returns from a season break with a formal introduction of a new Empire legacy. Lucious Lyon (Terrence Howard) does not want to give up his company that he started from nothing, especially to his youngest son, Hakeem (Bryshere Y. Gray).

‘Empire’ Season 2 Episode 11 Recap

In the last episode before the break, a pregnant Rhonda Lyon (Kaitlin Doubleday) was pushed down a large staircase but no one knows who did it. Rhonda has no recollection of the falling and assumes she may have tripped.

Andre (Trai Byers) and Rhonda have to grieve the loss of their baby after her hard fall.

Cookie Lyon (Taraji P. Henson) is angry with Hakeem for dethroning his father as CEO of Empire and giving the legacy away to Camilla Marks (Naomi Campbell).

Cookie wakes up to Lucious calmly loading his guns and claims he’s going to take his company back. Cookie mentions that she can get Camilla out from the inside but she has to get back into Empire first.

Camilla tells Hakeem that she has big plans but he needs to get rid of Laura first. She has an idea of pushing Hakeem past top CEO candidate Jago Locke.

Lucious meets with thugs who were recently released from jail to confront the board members who dethroned him.

“We’re at war. The empire is at stake, and you can’t be afraid to do whatever you got to do to secure the empire,” Lucious said.

Hakeem has bigger problems than taking over Empire. He’s having serious girl problems and confides in his brother Jamal (Jussie Smollett). Hakeem describes how he feels for Laura and how it’s nothing like he’s ever felt with a girl before.

Jamal meets with Jameson who questions him about his personal choices. Jameson had assumed Jamal was going to be a spokesperson for the gay community, except he is acting as if being gay is a choice. Jamal says that he’s still gay, but is dating Skye.

Cookie confronts Jamal and doesn’t understand his situation either. Jamal informs her that gender is fluid and that he does what he wants. She tells him to “get his gay back” so he can win the ASA Award against Lucious.

Camilla holds a meeting to name the new CEO. Board members quietly gather around the table and an injured Jago Locke walks out. Hakeem steps up and tells them that he’s not afraid of his father to run for CEO.

Cookie comes up with an idea for Empire to buy Lyon Dynasty so she can get inside and bring Camilla down. Hakeem agrees to the deal where they will run as two separate entities.

Lucious warns Hakeem that he will do anything to get his company back. Lucious hands him a gun to shoot him but he doesn’t do it.

Lucious threatens him saying the next time he sees him, he will try his best to kill him.

Tune into the next episode of Empire on Wednesdays 9/8c on FOX.