Empire Season 5 Episode 1

[Laila Berri]

Inthe end, more of the drama comes from the other Lyons, as Cookie (Taraji P. Henson) tries to keep Damon Cross (Wood Harris) from telling Lucious (Terrence Howard) about their history together, and Andre tries to make Jamal and Hakeem (Bryshere Y. Gray) accept Kingsley (A.Z. Kelsey) as their brother.

Smollett was written out of the last two episodes of Season 5 after he was accused by Chicago police of orchestrating a staged assault against himself earlier this year. He was initially charged with 16 felony counts related to filing a false police report, but the charges were later dropped. His fate with the series, which has yet to be renewed for a sixth season at Fox, is still unclear.

This week's episode of Empire is an emotional doozy. Now we know why the Empire writers spent so much time developing the story behind Kai and Jamal's steamy relationship. And, we get to meet an artist, Devon (Mario) who brings out the real heart in Cookie and Lucious. We still don't know who's in the casket foreshadowed in episodes past, but now we do know a few things for certain. Here then are the major truths and accompanying ten-second synopsis of the "Love All, Trust A Few" episode which aired on Oct. 17, 2018. For those who want more detail, simply skip down for the blow-by-blow of the entire episode.

It should be noted that "Love All, Trust A Few" is a truncated portion of a sentence penned by Shakespeare. In he wrote, "Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none." Good advice taken from "All's Well That Ends Well," Act 1, Scene 1. Let's see if the Lyon family can handle Shakespeare's truth.

The episode leads off with Lucious telling Cookie that he will raise the capital for their new enterprise while Cookie focuses on the talent. This sets us up for an episode largely about money, power and progress. The couple heads to the prison, to pick up Andre now that he's done serving time for his part in the death of Anika in the season four finale.

Cut to another prison scene with Kingsley reprising his visit to Diana. She wants to know exactly why Kingsley is here and she reads him the truth: "You've already taken their empire, what more do you want? Blood?" Diana knows that Kingsley was embarrassed by Lucious at the Empire announcement party and now he wants revenge. "Did Lucious remind you of all the boys that used to beat you up before you became a Silicon Valley star? This is about your ego."

Back at Lyons headquarters, a crew of interns is working under Portia's tutelage and Portia (Ta'Rhonda Jones) shows Cookie an Instagram video of a woman who seems like a Cardi B lite. Hard pass, but who is the guy singing in the background? Turns out his name is Devon and he is both beautiful in face and in voice. Devon, portrayed by real-life singer Mario, is living with his injured sister and working four jobs to make things work.

Cut over to Jamal (Jussie Smollett) and Becky (Gabby Sidibe) in his apartment and it is clear that Jamal is torn up over not hearing much from Kai these last few days. "He hasn't checked in," says Jamal. Becky tries to keep his spirits up but this is a bad portent. We get the origin story of how the two lovebirds met in a London club after someone tried to drug Jamal so they could get great pictures for the paparazzi.

Cut back to Andre and Lucious together in an office, and Lucious checking his gun and about to go out and make a hit, or a collection. Lucious refers to a book, which Andre asks about. Says Lucious: "How do you know about my book?" Says Andre: "I used to sneak in here and read it when I was a kid." So now we know that Andre knows the lay of the land and where the bodies are buried. Andre offers to go with dad as backup for a hit. Lucious tells him to stay home. A felon can't ever get in trouble again. That's another strike.

Over at Empire Giselle is looking sexy and busty and offers once again to assume a position of power at Empire. Kingsley looks down on her. "I don't think you've over us," he says, referring to when they used to have sex in the office. Little does he know she was just playing him. Says Giselle: "I'll accept that we played a little game and you won. Otherwise, hashtag #metoo all over your ass." Kingsley grants her the gig.

Over at the junkyard, Devon is talking to both Becky and Cookie. Both companies want the IG background singer, who thanks God each time someone offers him a contract. Ultimately, and to make a long story short, Devon sticks with the Lyons because the flash of main Empire Records is a bit much for him, what with all the emphasis on data-driven popularity. HE is particularly turned off by the presentation ideal that they will turn him into a man that all men want to be like and a man that all women want to sleep with.

Giselle also came hard with her speech about how Devon could be one of the best in R&B with his face up there on the Mt. Rushmore of the genre: "Luther, Marvin, Teddy, D'Angelo." But in later scenes, Cookie's endearing humanity is showcased as she goes to visit Devon in his home, and meets his sister, who needs surgery on her legs or her spine. Cookie decides then and there that Devon should go with Empire Records, which has more money than he needs immediately for his sister's surgery. She leaves the apartment and meets with Becky, encouraging Becky to sign the kid, but he doesn't! he wants to stay with Empire because it feels like a real family.

Meanwhile, Lucious shows up to a boxing hall and finds Andre already there chatting with the owners. Andre won't let Lucious do these jobs by himself. If Cookie finds out there will be hell to pay, but Lucious also knows that Andre is right: he needs a wingman for backup. Lucious leaves the business, tells the guy he will come back for his cash alter. And on the next job, the guy who owes the Lyons money mocks Lucious and says that he knows they are broke and he's not inclined to pay them back because they have no power now. Andre shoots the guy in the knee and forces them to open the safe. There is a wad of cash inside, which the Lyons take - but they are surprised there isn't more cash.

- Blake and Tiana record Hakeem's song, and Tiana still doesn't realize that Hakeem wrote those lyrics. Blake (Chet Hanks) makes Tiana promise to never release that record. (We know this will go horribly wrong later when the song is released.)

- Giselle hired a private investigator to tail Kingsley and now knows he was seeing Diana. So Giselle drops by to visit Diana in jail and asks for her help taking down the Lyons. Diana claims to already know about Jeff and Giselle's trysts.

The big news is that Devon will stay with the Lyons. They feel more like family to him, and as Devon drops in for breakfast, Lucious drops him a roll of cash that was taken from the last collection run. The episode ends with Lucious noticing blood on his sleeve and then noticing blood on his shirt and then noticing blood on his jacket and inside his jacket. Perhaps he has been shot.

What a long, strange trip it's been. The chief complaint about this odd season of Boardwalk Empire has been its wandering. The journey has been uncertain both for the series and the characters within. There have been some absolutely fantastic small moments throughout, but on the whole, the series has had trouble defining itself this year. Making the choice it did to end the second season -- putting Nucky in the position of going Full Gangster -- has been difficult on viewers who appreciated the parts of the show that were more than a shoot-em-up. But "Two Impostors" handled the balance exceptionally well, culling down other stories to focus back on Nucky. Whether or not it's too late remains to be seen. Hit the jump for why, with all due respect Mr. Custer, this ain't no time for a last stand.

What angered me so intensely last week was that Boardwalk finally split in to two separate personalities. If you enjoyed last week, I'm guessing you weren't a huge fan of this week. The comments seemed pretty split -- those who believed the show had lost its way, and those who thought I was completely crazy for going on about it as I did. Friends debated it the same way, and I realized that Season Three's extreme unevenness finally drew a line in the sand. There are the languid, character-driven side-bar plots, and then there's the action. The two haven't mixed well. Until, perhaps, now.

Season Three has had trouble finding itself ever since Jimmy's demise, and the villanization of Nucky (besides his usual gangster role) has made me think that Owen's death was about more than just showing the violence of the world or sending a message. It's about how everything Nucky touches turns to shit, yes, but also that there can't be anyone who takes Nucky's place as an audience favorite. Nucky is the protagonist, we're supposed to root for him, but this season has made that all but impossible. By eliminating Owen, who often stole his scenes with Nucky (and indeed stole Nucky's place with Margaret), Nucky was able to have a redemptive episode that almost made him likable again. Almost.

"Two Impostors" was a great episode though, and suspenseful throughout. Nucky was left with the only people in the world he still has to rely upon -- Eddie, his faithful servant who he has taken for granted forever, and Chalky, who he alienated last week and in the past as well. Not exactly a rousing group. But Chalky still has plenty to offer Nucky, for the right price, and more Chalky is never a bad thing.

Nucky's moment in the back of Chalky's truck was the first time I've seen the man really feel in a long time. He felt fully the weight of the bodies he's put into harm's way, and the extent of his fall and possibly soon demise (it won't play out like that, which is good or bad depending on your personal feelings towards him). It brought Nucky back into the sympathetic fold before Eli, White Knight, rode in with Capone and the Chicago guns, ready to war with Masseria. It was necessary for Nucky to fall further before the war escalated in his favor, but I still don't believe he fell far enough.

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