Jumping on the Empire train is the main reason I’m writing this article. When the show premiered, it was one of those TV series that became insanely popular—its music, the way people talked about it—it was everywhere. Naturally, I lost interest.
Fast forward ten years after its debut, and now I can’t seem to get enough of it. Nothing makes a show more complete than a mix of love, hate, mischief, and, of course, good music.
Since everyone else has moved on to newer series, all I have is my beautiful readers to share my thoughts on the Empire plot.
The plot of Fox’s Empire
Cookie Lyon and Lucious Lyon were teenage sweethearts. Lucious Lyon had a mentally ill mother and ended up in the streets at 9 years old, where he had to hustle to survive (sold drugs, stole, killed… you know, the greatest hits). Underneath, the hustler was this musical genius.
Loretta Halloway, aka Cookie Lyon
Loretta was a Catholic schoolgirl whose father had very big dreams for her. He imagined she would marry or even become president one day. Loretta Halloway, also known as Cookie Lyon, had a passion for music. On a random day (I assume), Cookie met Lucious rapping on the streets of West Philly.
When Cookie Met Lucious
They were both taken, and they began a teenage love affair. Unfortunately, Loretta’s father was not there for their love affair, and as a result, he kicked his teenage daughter out of the house, driving her deeper into the hands of the gangster he never wanted her to be with. From that day, they were all they had, basically raising each other while juggling music and hustling to make ends meet and fund their musical career.
Cookie Went to Jail
Cookie chooses to assist Lucious with the hustle to give him time to work on his music, and in the process, she is jailed for seventeen years, leaving her three sons: Andre Lyon, Jamal Lyon, and Hakeem Lyon.
Fox’s Empire goes deeper to show the lives of the family navigating and doing the best to keep Empire Records in the family while also navigating their dysfunctional and chaotic family dynamic. Regardless of the fights and dysfunction, one thing is for sure, the Lyon family loves each other and always sticks together—thankfully, none of Andre Lyon’s schemes was successful.
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Lucious Lyon, Cookie, and Their Sons
Except for Jamal, every member of the Lyon family tried to take Empire from Lucious and plotted against him. Maybe because of how strictly he treated Jamal Lyon for obvious reasons, Jamal always felt he had to work to earn his father’s love, respect, and, by extension, Empire. Meanwhile, Cookie, Hakeem, and Andre felt entitled to it.
Cookie Lyon Couldn’t Handle the Heat
Cookie constantly picked fights and competed with Lucious, yet exploded every time he retaliated. For example, after Lucious released his song Boom Boom Boom and its accompanying video, which revealed his mother’s suicide attempt, Cookie retaliated by introducing his mother, Leah Walker, on stage. In response, Lucious made Anika head of A&R, giving her a glowing speech about how she inspired him. That pushed Cookie to grab a baseball bat and trash the Empire building.
Considering Lucious made a journalist disappear for outing his mother, I think Cookie Lyon underestimated his ruthlessness.
She also started a relationship with a shady character, and when Lucious retaliated with his own relationship, Cookie, once again, couldn’t take it. She then plotted with Shine and Andre to sabotage his Vegas opening.
Lucious Lyon is tough and has no shame, which is why he could snap out of anything Cookie threw at him. He always knew exactly where to hurt her and wasn’t ashamed to go there.
Cookie and Her 17 Years
I don’t think there was a single episode where Cookie didn’t throw her 17 years in prison in Lucious’ face. But in reality, she chose to help him sell drugs. Just like Empire, their source of income was always hustle.
At first, I believed Lucious was the villain, but after rewatching the entire series (more than a couple of times 😭), I realized how much he sacrificed for a family that was quick to villainize him.
He did his best to love and understand Jamal, despite his own views on homosexuality. He killed, hid bodies, robbed, sold drugs, and probably his soul to ensure his family’s success—which, if you ask me, equates to Cookie’s 17 years. And the fact that he kept that away from her…
They Did Tiana Dirty for Not ending up With Hakeem Lyon
Tiana was always there for Hakeem, being a mother to his kids. A perfect ending would have been for Takim to ride or die together, with Hakeem divorcing Maya.
Lucious Lyon Loved Cookie More
People say a man should love a woman more, but I don’t think Cookie kept quiet about Lucious’ dealings out of love—it was loyalty. She didn’t want to be a snitch. However, she resents Lucious for those 17 years, which is why their relationship never worked. She never stopped looking for someone better to replace him.
On the other hand, Lucious made sure she had an empire to come back to. He gave her half the company, hid the fact that her initial investment made no difference, and never stopped wooing her. Meanwhile, Cookie always found a reason to be mad at him.
I Couldn’t Stand Eddie Barker
I honestly didn’t think it was possible to dislike a movie character until Eddie Barker came along. His audacity was unreal. What made it worse was knowing that real-life people like him actually exist.
Lucious Had No Shame
Lucious was surprisingly emotional—shedding tears at any given instance, pitting his children against each other for Empire Xtreme, standing naked in front of the detective without a care, and pulling off every shady move in the book.
Lucious Lyon definitely had no shame.
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