The police brutality involving Andre is about to get worse, while Angelo makes a move on Cookie.
- Sep 29, 2016
AceShowbiz - "Empire" tackled police brutality in its latest episode, with Andre at the center of it. [SPOILER ALERT!] Still reeling from the tragic death of his wife Rhonda, Andre was cleaning out the apartment he once lived in with his late wife when two police officers arrested him on suspicion of burglarizing his own home.
And things will only get worse from there. In a preview for next week's episode, Andre is charged for assault against the police officer while in fact he was the one treated unfairly by the cops. But business still runs as usual, with Lucious declaring that he's re-taking control of Empire.
Cookie calls in a favor with mega-superstar Kitty (guest star Mariah Carey) to record a new song with Jamal, hoping he will overcome his inability to perform. Anika continues to show that she can't be threatened by Lucious, while Angelo Dubois (guest star Taye Diggs) begins to make a move on Cookie.
"What Remains is Bestial" airs Wednesday, October 5 at 9/8c on FOX. Andre runs into some trouble and things don't go as planned. Cookie and Lucious are at odds, Hakeem and Gram (guest star Romeo Miller) fight for Tiana's attention, and things heat up between Cookie and Angelo.
To TVLine, co-producer Carlito Rodriguez who also co-wrote the second episode explains their decision to tackle the racial issue. "I wouldn't necessarily say we're tackling the Black Lives Matter movement," he says.
He continues, "We wanted to talk about how the Lyon family deals with [issues of] class. Just because they left the hood, are they immune to some of the [realities]? And Andre felt like a good entry point for that story. He has done everything quote-unquote right. He got his Wharton MBA. He's proper, respectable young man. So we wanted to challenge him with, 'Do you think you're immune? Did you forget that you're black in America?' "
Of how this will affect Andre, Rodriguez tells THR, "We want to see if Andre is gong to consider this a catalyst or if he played by the rules?" But added with his wife's death and his mental issue, "it's all influencing and impacting his psyche, his state of mind," Rodriguez says, adding, "Again, yeah, a part of it is Andre being challenged on his idea of what being 'respectable' will get you. Andre's shield has been that he did things the right way, right? That he 'cleaned up the family.' ... We just wanted to strip away his protection."
