‘Empire’ Recap: Jamal Lyon Channels Old School Lucious And Beats The Breaks Off His Boyfriend

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Empire is back, yay! The Lyons are working hard, trying to get Bella back. Lucious steps up and pays Anika a visit.
Bella isn’t home, she’s with her parents in that moment. Anika isn’t really trying to let Lucious in, but you know he does what he wants so he enters anyway. Lucious says he remembers when she would do anything to make Bella the sole heir to the Lyon throne. There’s a tone there, but Anika plays coy and asks what he’s insinuating. What he’s insinuating is that Anika made Rhonda have a miscarriage.
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Problem is, they don’t technically have any proof, especially since Rhonda is dead. The latter was an accident, but also Anika’s fault.

Lucious wants Anika to sign joint custody agreement. If she agrees, he’ll make Bella co-heir to Empire with his sons. Anika says she’ll agree to family visits. That seems to be enough for him to settle on for now, but earlier in the episode we learn that the Lyons filed an appeal in the ruling so this is going to get messy all over again.
Warren tries to convince Jamal to have a threesome and Jamal declines at first, but eventually half-heartedly agrees. Warren recruits a tender young thang to make it happen, but Jamal changes his mind again. He says he doesn’t want to do it and that he’s only going along with it because he loves Warren. Warren, realizing he loves Jamal too, sends the guy home.
And Andre’s girlfriend, Pamela the cop, is involved in some drama. She shot and killed someone on the job. The story made the news, but it took a minute for Dre to get in touch with her. When he finally got to see her, he reveals that thinking she was dead made him see that he loved her. She then reveals that she planted a gun on the person she shot. Basically, her shooting that person was excessive so she did what she needed to (aka lie) clear her name.
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She tells Dre that she hopes her confiding this info to him will help him begin to trust her.
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Riiiiight…this has Dubois Clan written all over it. Issa trap! Sadly, Dre is probably going to fall right into it.
Finally, the episode ends with the Lyon Clan headed to one of the negotiated family visits with Bella. At the same time and place, we see Warren telling Diana that he fell in love with Jamal. She’s disappointed, but not surprised and unbothered because she says Anika is going to help her destroy the Lyon boys.
And then, we see the Lyons walking up to the table because Diana set this all up. Imagine Jamal’s surprise when he sees Warren sitting with her. Diana wastes no time telling them that Warren is her nephew and that he was supposed to take pics of Jamal during the threesome.Warren is copping pleas, trying to convince Jamal that he was for real, and then Jamal blacks out and beats the breaks off Warren. Of course, people nearby pull out their cellphones to record.
That wasn’t planned, but it’s good material for Diana to work with.
We’ll be back next week as this continues dragging on.