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‘Empire’ Episode 9 Recap: The Lyon’s Share

This week's Empire found the Lyon family scrambling to keep the Empire together in the wake of Anika's Beretti betrayal.

"Prove that this family can take the artists it wants and keep the artists it has," Lucious instructed his boardroom, sons and ex-wife. "You take blood."

LAST WEEK: 'Empire' Episode 8 Recap: The Lyons, The Snitch, and the Boardroom

Here's a look at what went down on "Unto the Breach."

ANDRE

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The eldest Lyon son finally snapped this week, under the pressure of trying to keep the Empire together and without his meds to keep his bipolar disorder balanced. His meltdown in the elevator led to a sweet musical moment between the Lyon brothers, but his final boardroom breakdown was heartbreaking as Rhonda finally signed him over to be committed.

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COOKIE

Empire's boss bitch brought the big guns out from the start, kicking this episode off by barging in on Lucious and Anika and spilling the dirt about Boo Boo Kitty’s betrayal.

Cookie also went toe-to-toe in a drinking contest with some of Empire Entertainment’s hardest rappers ("I know a busta when I see one, MARK") and dragged Hakeem along to meet with Tiyana, proving once again, that the queen of the Empire will do whatever it takes to make sure her family stays on top.

WATCH: 'Empire' Stars on the Show's Music: 'It’s the Air We Breathe'

JAMAL

We saw a new side of Jamal this week, as the sensitive singer-songwriter started making more corporate moves and expressed his interest in taking control of Empire Entertainment. The middle Lyon son is definitely making moves for his own career, but was also instrumental in helping sign superstar Delphine (Estelle) to his family's label, telling Lucious off in the process.

"Put aside your played-out homophobia, unless its more important to you than Empire," he snapped at his father, when Lucious was reluctant to let him take the lead with Delphine.

HAKEEM

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Once Hakeem’s initial plan for Creedmoor revenge (blow the building up) was shot down, the impresario was offended when Lucious let Andre take the lead in a major artist meeting that Hakeem helped set up.

"I’m handing you the baton," Lucious told his youngest son. "But I’m not doing that until I know you can run the like the wind and you can handle it."

After the pep talk from his father, Hakeem stepped up in a major way, derailing Anika and helping Cookie talk Tiayana back over to their side. The youngest Lyon was even up front with his ex about his feelings and (!!!) apologized for disrespecting Cookie and asked for her forgiveness.

LUCIOUS

After claiming last week that "this isn’t a family, it’s a disgrace," the Empire patriarch could not have been proven more wrong as he watched his ex-wife and sons step up to help repair the damage done by Anika’s betrayal. In fact, one heated confrontation with Billy Beretti was pretty much the only finger Lucious had to lift this week.

On a more positive note, we finally got to see Lucious perform, as the whole family joined him and Delphine at Leviticus for an impromptu live performance of "You’re So Beautiful."

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HONORABLE MENTION: PORSHA

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Cookie’s assistant gets a shoutout of her own this week. We’ll admit, she had us worried when she appeared to be considering Anika’s offer to betray Cookie a few weeks back, but she turned that right around on Boo Boo Kitty, and even got her crew together to keep the slimy A&R exec from making her meeting with Tiyana. Plus she got one of the best lines of the night.

"We at war," Porsha told Jamal when she walked in on him and filmmaker Ryan in a compromising position.  "Quit touching on each other and put your chest up."

BEST SONG

We got a sneak peek at another one of Empire star Jussie Smollett’s original songs tonight with Jamal’s steamy video for "All of the Above," and the Lyon family’s performance of "You’re So Beautiful" was a great moment, but the best song of the week had to be Jamal’s duet with Delphine, a superstar artist he ends up landing for Empire.

WATCH: Why 'Empire's' Cookie Lyon Is the Queen of Primetime

COOKIE OF THE WEEK

There were almost too many great Cookie-isms to count tonight. From dubbing Anika "fake-ass Jackie O" to FINALLY dropping a "Bye, Felicia," the queen of the Empire was on point for all 60 minutes. But the winning line has to be a wasted Cookie, fresh off out-drinking gangsta rap star Royale-T, throwing herself at security guard Malcolm, with the line, "That’s my name, take a bite!"

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WATCH: 'Empire' Star Bryshere Gray On Naomi Campbell and His Other Dream Guest Stars

See how Empire star Bryshere Gray prepped for his sex scenes with supermodel Naomi Campbell in the video below.


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