Empire left us with the mother of all cliffhangers when it closed up shop in May. It was pretty darn obvious that either Anika or Rhonda fell to a certain death after the big rooftop fight. Fortunately for viewers, we picked right up where we left off. The Lyons were leaving that terrible wedding and then there was a huge thud when someone landed on the roof of a car. It was Rhonda! It was hardly a shock when you think about it. Anika’s storyline had so much more possibilities than Rhonda’s ever did. She’s Hakeem’s baby mama and now the wife of Lucious. What more could she want? The writers genuinely destroyed the character of Anika on Empire Season 2, so here’s hoping that things pick up for her. Empire has never been a show grounded in reality, but when you think of half the crap Anika has pulled, it’s pretty damn ludicrous. Andre was destroyed after witnessing Anika throwing his wife over the rooftop. He immediately decided the best course of action would be to strangle Anika. That was obviously his rage getting the better of him. He was interrupted by Anika’s waters breaking and that sent most of the Lyon family to the hospital. Meanwhile, Hakeem showed up at Tiana’s home and tried to get her back. It was a bit rich when you consider the fact that he was marrying Lauren mere hours earlier. As much as Tiana wanted to say no to Hakeem, it’s been pretty clear for a while now that she still loves him. Back at the hospital, Cookie took Rhonda’s box of belongings to Andre, who let us know that he was totally done with God. Lucious was shocked to see the police appear at the hospital and made his way into Anika’s room to make a threat while delivering her baby. Lucious told her to lie that Rhonda committed suicide and tried to take Anika with her. Anika reluctantly agreed while trying to push her baby out. Mr. Lyon really picks his moments to make threats. Right?! It seems that Anika got the last laugh when Lucious got the shock of his life when a baby girl was delivered. If you recall, she told him it was a boy. The look on Terrence Howard’s face was fantastic. He totally deserved it. Some time later, Lucious had a meeting with some of his friends and threatened to make Times Square his bitch. Yes, he really did. Can this whole Swift Stream thing be over already? It got old months ago. View Slideshow: Empire Cast: Did You Know…? A meeting between the Lyon clan in the Empire boardroom showed just how fractured the family really is. Lucious was still going on about Swift Stream and mumbling words about how the feds could be watching at any time. When you know you’ve done something wrong, paranoia sets in. Lucious was egging Jamal on perform at the show, but there’s something wrong with him. His confidence is gone. Hakeem comments that he should perform instead. We then got the next big twist of the evening. Lucious did not put Hakeem’s name on the birth certificate. Lucious seemed to think that he would change his mind when Hakeem changed his ways and cut the drink out. Cookie stepped in with the same views as Lucious. This made Lucious think he was on good terms with Cookie. However, she made it clear that their ship sailed long ago and that him wedding Anika was the final strike on their relationship. Shine Johnstone showed up while Hakeem was recording and made it clear that the Lyon family would be honoring their side of a deal that would get his niece recognized. Later, Cookie realized her sisters were getting a little too close to Tariq and she and Lucious went to get Anika from hospital. When they arrived, she had already been discharged. The two of them were horrified in case Tariq got to her first. Cookie made the observation that he would need to move Anika in to his home to further back up their claims. The Lyons decide to throw a dinner party to bring Tariq closer to them to try and see if there is any way of getting rid of him without a fight. As expected, an intense argument broke out with everyone against Tariq. Cookie played mediator to calm things down. The big performance arrived, but Jamal could not perform in front of the crowd and rushed off stage, leaving Shine’s niece to muscle her way in and use it as a chance to get recognition. If you thought that was enough drama for one night, Kaitlin Doubleday appeared as Rhonda, but she was a figment of Andre’s imagination and wanted him to get rid of his medication. This is not going to go down well. Then there was the revelation that Tariq was watching Lucious with the baby. Yes, he stooped low enough to put a camera in a teddy bear. Empire, you continue to delight me with all of the crazy twists. More episodes like this! What did you think of the season premiere? Hit the comments below! View Slideshow: 18 Actors Who Were Fired From Major Roles
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Empire Season 3 Episode 1 Recap: Who Died?
