Empire season 4 episode 4: Analyzing Bleeding War

The Lyon family is abuzz with preparations for Baby Bella’s first birthday. Meanwhile Cookie tries to bring out the best in her artists for 20-for-20.

This episode of Empire was pretty straightforward because all of the storylines centered around two main points: the selection of the alpha artist for Empire 20-for-20 and Bella’s birthday celebration.

Everyone feels like celebrating…except Andre

This episode was another example of how lost Andre gets among his relatives. In the excitement of planning Bella’s Princesses and Prince party, no one remembers that Bella’s birthday also marks the one year anniversary of Rhonda’s death.

Andre hasn’t gotten a huge amount of screen time this season when compared to characters like Cookie, Jamal and Lucious. This almost seems to be by design.

I get the feeling that Andre’s the son “no one has to worry about.” He’s the oldest,  has the most stable life (well, by comparison), and most of the drama Andre’s encountered has been a result of things happening to him (his bipolar disorder, Rhonda’s miscarriage and Anika killing Rhonda). This is a blessing and a curse to Andre. It gives him the freedom to make things happen that benefit him — even if they ultimately backfire. But it also means he isn’t always at the top of the priority list for his relatives.

Officer Rose seems to be a reprieve from this. In the episode, she sends him sympathy flowers and then shows up at Bella’s party. I’m positive she’s trying to soften Andre up and learn whatever he knows about Giuliana’s whereabouts and Lucious’ accident. But Andre’s so starved for affection and attention that, at least for now, he’s going for it.

Jamal is the Alpha in the family once again

I loved Jamal’s song with Warren. In a way, he’s accomplished what he was trying to do in season 3 —  break the Lyon family’s cycle of toxic, violent behavior. Instead of airing the family’s dirty laundry, Jamal has made his happiness the focal point of Empire’s 20th anniversary with his new song.

Even though Warren is obviously playing Jamal, it’s been nice to watch Jamal’s relationships evolve to a level of comfort we haven’t seen. With Michael, his boyfriend for the first one and a half seasons, Jamal was in the closet and his family was in denial. After that we saw him trying to be with D-Major — but D was in the closet. Now Jamal is dating someone who is just as comfortable with himself as he is.  It’s changing the way he makes music and the way he relates to himself and other people for the better. Which means its only going to hurt worse when it all blows up in poor ‘Mal’s face.

When Cookie turned into Lucious

Honestly, I thought it’d would be a cold day in hell the day Lucious ever felt he had the standing to lecture Cookie about being unnecessarily cruel. And yet, here we are. In the first few minutes of the episode, Cookie tells Lucious his decision to divorce her while she was incarcerated made her self-sufficient and hard. We see that come to life in this episode as she drives Empire’s artists to give their best in order to launch 20-for-20.

We also once again see Cookie forced to deal with the fact that she has become someone who thrives off of pain, be it hers or others’. Like I said in my review of the season premiere, fighting and trauma have been the Lyon family’s way of life and key to their many successes.  Lucious’ condition has put his family’s combative lifestyle on hold as the Lyons work together to help him heal and celebrate Empire’s 20th anniversary.

So far, Lucious has been the person dealing with who he used to be as he works to regain his memory. Now his increased empathy — presumably a result of his brain injury — is making him an emotional mirror for everyone around him, and the reflection isn’t always pretty.

And what about Lucious?

Lucious is really starting to wrestle with his two identities as he begins to remember bits and pieces of his life. The lion statue as the physical embodiment of his crossroads also makes sense because that’s the intersection of Dwight and Lucious. It’s clear Lucious doesn’t look Iike who he used to be, but it’s so deeply embedded in him that he can’t escape it.

It’s becoming clearer and clearer that Nurse Claudia is up to something. She is using the information Cookie gives her to gain Lucious’  trust and make herself indispensable to his recovery. Her endgame, however, remains to be seen.

Other thoughts

• I was right. Anika has found someone who hates the Lyons as much as she does and now that she has a permanent tie to them — Bella — she can use her daughter to get what she wants. My only concern is, will Angelo be able to stay sober enough to be Anika’s lawyer?
• If you read my streaming guide, then you’ve probably noticed that this recap is devoid of Hakeem roasting. That’s because, thanks be to Prince, Jamal sang “Let’s Go Crazy,” and Hakeem just did the spoken intro.

• Even though I’m not supposed to be rooting for the DuBois family, I want to know what’s in the exposé Diana had written about them. Angelo and Warren’s relationships with Cookie and Jamal respectively are sure to reveal some juicy secrets that even the viewers probably didn’t know. That is, if the story ever sees the light of day. I saw the look of guilt on Warren’s face.

Next: Riverdale is trying to make Jingle Jangle happen (again)

Empire (and I) will be back in two weeks after the World Series. In the meantime, remember folks: “Cookie and Lucious forever.”