After a series of great episodes, it's time for Empire to slow down the rhythm. We are used to filler episodes inside an 18-episodes arch, and this one is one of them. Let's summarize what happened.
Cookie is slowly recovering, but Lucious is still worried and pressures her to take it easy. She hears about a troubling news: Poundcake, her friend from prison is dying. After hearing that she has cancer she decides that she is going help her friend to find her baby. Poundcake was raped by one of the guards and now she only wants to be reconnected with her child. Cookie goes to speak with Burleson and finds out the name of the agency which took care of the adoption. I always enjoy when they deal with Cookie's past, but this season seems too much focused on these flashbacks. Maybe the writers should slow down a little bit this exploration of Cookie's past in order to use this trope next season without ending up being repetitive.
Meanwhile, Tiana has some problems with her crew, but her singles take off. Also, Jamal wants to rebrand his image, but he struggles with his fan reaction: they don't want him to change. Andre convinces his father to work together in order to uncover the truth about Eddie's intentions. In the end, they have a confrontation about why Andre tried to kill his father. Lucious is a sociopath, and finally, his family is saying that to him. Both Cookie and Andre want him to open his eyes about his past behavior. The family dynamics are still interesting and I enjoy the direction they are heading. This new-born Lucious' and Cookie's relationship is really sweet and I hope the writers won't ruin it.
All in all, this episode was a bit a slow, I didn't love it. It was a misstep, but I totally expected it. Empire can't handle more than 13 episodes per season, but money requires the story to be dragged on. We'll get what we can.
And you? What do you think of "Of Hardiness is Mother"?
