‘Empire’ Season 5 Finale Recap: Is Andre Dead Or Alive?

Last night’s episode of Empire, “The Roughest Day,” reveals who Lucious (Terrence Howard) was mourning during the beginning of the season, and shows the end his relationship with Cookie (Taraji P. Henson).

The episode starts off with Lucious and Cookie in the emergency room, crying over their son Andre (Trai Byers), whose heart has stopped beating. Cookie is upset with Lucious for trying to assist Andre in his suicide attempt and yells at him.

Andre suffered from lymphoma and the chemo he took destroyed his heart muscle. A pain-stricken Andre told Lucious he wanted to commit suicide, and in an effort to end his suffering, he obliged. Lucious tearfully replies, “He asked me to.”

As the doctors are about to declare Andre dead, Lucious asks them to try again and the doctors begrudgingly do so. They shock Andre’s system and they get a pulse. Andre is alive. The Lyon family rush to the emergency room to offer comfort and support. Even Kingsley (A.Z. Kelsey), Lucious’s estranged son, shows up to support.

Kingsley isn’t received warmly by his half-siblings and leaves because Cookie doesn’t want to see him. He runs into the hallway and meets up with Lucious, who has been kicked out of Andre’s rooms, and they both agree to get some air.

They walk down the street and come upon a guy selling old records, some of which are Lucious’. He starts reminiscing, as Kingsley desperately wants to belong and get to know his father.

Teri (Meta Golding) reveals to Andre that she’s pregnant, and the two of them get married inside the hospital while Andre is still hooked to the machine. He doesn’t have much time left and he needs a heart transplant.

Kingsley leaves the hospital to visit his mother Tracy, who admonishes him for visiting Lucious. She proclaims that his father never loved him, and she drives in the point by disowning Kingsley, saying he’s no longer her son.

Lucious is back at the Empire headquarters trying to save his business, when Kingsley arrives unstable with a gun.

Lucious tries to talk sense into Kingsley and says, “Anybody with my DNA knows you don’t pull out a gun unless you plan on using it.” This further infuriates Kingsley, who points the gun at Lucious, proclaiming his mother was right.

Kingsley shoots himself in the head, leaving Lucious stunned with blood dripping from his hands.

Lucious signs off on giving Kingsley’s heart to Andre, but Traci tries to stop it. Cookie reasons with her, and Traci ultimately agrees for an undisclosed favor.

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Andre gets a new heart and recovers, but the toll it takes on his family is immense. Lucious mourns his son’s passing, and puts a flash drive — full of music into Kingsley’s pocket to keep with him.

As Lucious is mourning, an FBI agent arrives and shows him pictures of Cookie and Damon Cross (Wood Harris), alleging they had an affair. Lucious doesn’t believe the agent and gets tipped off that Damon is a rat and that the feds are after him.

Lucious decides to leave town and sends for Cookie, but, she doesn’t want to leave Andre and confirms the truth about the affair. Lucious is stunned and the two go their separate ways.