Empire review: All good (and bad) things must come to an end

Empire isn’t known for having the most optimistic season finales, but this is the first finale where I’m not sure if everything will be alright.

This episode of Empire kicks off with Andre arriving at the hospital in cardiac arrest. Doctors revive him, but he still needs a new heart. Cookie is furious with Lucious for attempting to help Andre kill himself, although he says he was just being there for his son. Distraught over almost losing her son, Cookie stays at the hospital, refusing to leave Andre’s side.

Terri visits Andre, confirming her pregnancy and refusing to give up on his health. As a result, he asks her to marry him so that the baby can have his name and they can both be taken care of — no matter what happens to him. The two have an impromptu ceremony in Andre’s hospital room.

Kingsley comes to the hospital to be with his new “family,” but Hakeem treats him coldly, even after he offers to call a friend of his who’s a cardiologist at Stanford. Kingsley and Lucious briefly leave the hospital to spend time together, but Kingsley is further reminded that he’s an outsider when Lucious mentions that “What the DJ Spins,” Kingsley’s favorite of his songs, reminds him of Andre. Kingsley visits his mother and tells her that he’s been seeing the Lyons. Tracy is furious and disowns her son, saying: “You will never mean anything to them.”

Kingsley ambushes Lucious with a gun and demands to know if Lucious acknowledges him as being equal to his sons with Cookie. Lucious tries again to reassure Kingsley that it was his mother who kept them apart. However, a distraught Kingsley decides to end his own life. Lucious asks that Kingsley’s heart be given to Andre. Though Tracy initially refuses, she reluctantly agrees to the transplant – with some strings attached.

Anyone who watched Kingsley’s whole storyline from the beginning could have guessed that his days on the show were numbered. Though he had a short run, Kingsley managed to find his footing as the season’s tragic character. Yes, he tried to destroy Empire and Lucious, but as I’ve said before, Kingsley was only getting what he thought was his pound of flesh for his father not being in his life. Even though Lucious tried to open his arms to Kingsley and welcome him into the family, the constant reminders that Kingsley would always play second fiddle to Andre, Jamal, and Hakeem remained.

Setting aside the fact that absolutely none of the other Lyons, except Andre, were warm to him, Lucious also placed his three boys with Cookie first in his life. One of my favorite lines in the episode is when Lucious and Kingsley are at the record stand and Lucious mentions that digital can never match the sound you get from playing a vinyl record. On its face, the comment is purely about playing music, but when you look deeper you also realize that Kingsley represents digital – the shiny outsider lacking the soul that comes from the needle touching the vinyl. The family Lucious built with Cookie is the record – it may have scratches, and it may skip, but it’s the original and will always be there. Kingsley’s suicide is the horrifying end to his confusion and feelings that he’ll never be enough, except as something to keep one of those three other sons alive.

Damon visits Attorney Conway and agrees to help fund her political aspirations and give up Lucious if she’ll stay off his trail. The feds descend on Lucious at Kingsley’s funeral. Attorney Conway tries to bait Lucious with evidence of Damon and Cookie’s tryst, but Lucious doesn’t buy it. Lucious rushes home, planning to kill Damon and skip town, but Thirsty advises Lucious against it, saying that chasing after Damon would only prolong the inevitable – him being arrested and held without bail. Instead, Lucious decides to leave town until things blow over, leaving Andre, Jamal and Hakeem to run Empire alone. But when he brings Cookie to a hangar where the two are supposed to depart via helicopter, Cookie refuses to go with him. “I gotta put me first,” she says tearfully. Cookie falsely confesses to sleeping with Damon and leaves Lucious in the hangar.  Completely alone, Lucious departs as Cookie returns to her family and her new life on her own.

Her other key line in this episode, “ride or die is over,” shows the evolution of her feelings for Lucious. Cookie already lost one family (her father and sisters) because she chose Lucious. Now faced with the idea of losing her sisters and her sons to follow Lucious again, Cookie chooses what she wants, even if it means saying goodbye to the man she loves. Her confession about Damon, while completely untrue, was the only way she could get Lucious’ attention. Trying to get Lucious to see her side of things was ineffective. The only way Cookie could completely free herself was by showing that she wasn’t loyal to him.

It’s hard to imagine an Empire without Cookie and Lucious. But that’s what viewers will have to get ready for, since the two appear to be more divided than ever going into season 6. The label may also have lost Becky and Giselle, since the two appear to strike out on their own, having grown tired of saving Empire but getting none of the credit while the Lyons deal with their drama.

Lucious and Jamal are both gone. Cookie is done with Empire, Kingsley’s dead, and Andre is on the mend. With most of the Lyon family out of commission, it will take a miracle to make sure Empire doesn’t crumble again.

What did you think of “The Roughest Day?”