Empire -- A Destroyer Of Souls...

Empire left off with quite a cliffhanger. Shine was about to declare war on the Lyons, while Andre had sex with Nessa while imaging he was having a threesome with her and Rhonda. And Jamal's dependency on pills deepened.

Jamal back in the studio with his sometimes lover. Jamal, however, rebuffs him.

Shine prepares to go do a hit on the Lyons.

Cookie with Angelo.

Lucious in his Empire Mobile with Anaka spotting the lay of the land, realizing Shine is planning something against them.

Hakeem hanging with a group of women.

Cookie and Angelo walking in the park. A bunch of men come to get Cookie sent by Lucious and make her get in a car with them.

Shine and his boys go after Andre. Nessa comes in and stops him from shooting Andre. She tries to get him to leave without harming Andre. He has her dragged out and says he'll be back and he'll save Andre for last.

Hakeem is also brought to Empire. Lucious tells them what he and Andre did to Shine. Andre says he'll move out of Jamal's to keep him safe. Hakeem whines about how he's making the best music he's ever made with Shine. Cookie informs Hakeem that Shine isn't their friend and they're only putting up with him to keep him from talking to Ty-freak. Lucious gives everyone their marching orders as Jamal says Lucious is loving every minute of this. Lucious admits he is and says it's brought his family back to him.

Jamal plays his new track to Hakeem. Jamal wants Hakeem to let him perform with him during his live stream show. Hakeem agrees to do to it. Tiana's new boyfriend comes in during Jamal and Hakeem's announcement and challenges Hakeem. Jamal stops Hakeem from going after him and makes him realize it's another of Lucious' set-ups.

Becky and Xavier lock heads on what's best for Tiana and what Tiana wants and Cookie sides with Xavier.

Nessa confronts Andre for messing with her brother and then screwing her. He says they want to deal with Shine and promises they won't hurt him cause he's all she's got.

Lucious and Jamal have another confrontation. Lucious keeps saying Jamal is just another version of him. Jamal finally has enough and walks out on him after telling Lucious to let Hakeem be the man he wants to be.

Cookie visits her parole officer with a bodyguard. The woman threatens to write her up for being late. Then she orders Cookie to report to her three times a week. Something tells me Ty-freak has his hand in this. She threatens to send Cookie back to jail and makes her go pee in a cup.

Becky lies to Tiana that she can record the song she wants to record and that Cookie agreed.

Lucious with Bella when Hakeem comes to visit. It sounds like he's reading to her from the bible and he doesn't burst into flames. Lucious tells Hakeem it's kill or be killed and he wants him to crush his rival and urges him to not listen to Jamal. No, he wasn't reading from the bible. Lucious says the nature of humanity is dark and beastly. He gives the book to Hakeem urging him to become a destroyer of men.

Jamal and Hakeem on stage rehearsing. Hakeem takes Lucious' advice in his performance and Jamal doesn't like it. Hakeem says Jamal needs this not him and he's the one that will make terms not Jamal because Jamal's the one losing the fans, not him. Congrats, Lucifer, you got the little germ to do what you want.

Shine goest to meet with Andre and Lucious. Nessa comes along for the ride. Anika enters and takes advantage of the situation, as Shine is about to storm out. Her intervention saves the meeting. Shine wants Frieda involved. Oh, isn't that wonderful.

Cookie accuses Angelo of talking to her parole officer. Angelo says she and Lucious have unresolved issues to resolve. He decides to leave.

Tiana records her song. Xavier agrees that Becky is right, but he says Cookie will be pissed. Becky is sure once Cookie hears it she'll be fine with it.

Jamal brings Cookie to see Hakeem because of what happened at rehearsal. She gives them some tough talk and to not cost her money. She also gets a bit physical with Hakeem, YET AGAIN. If Lucious did that he'd be called an abuser. She tells Jamal he needs this so his fans don't forget him and tells Hakeem to stop wasting his energy on someone who isn't even on the Empire label.

Lucious arrives for Jamal and Hakeem's performance. Wonder if Jamal popped any pills before his performance. Lucious complains that Hakeem's fans aren't tuning in because Hakeem needs some fire. So Lucious fires him up about Andre being with Nessa when Hakeem says he wants Nessa. Hakeem trashes both his brothers in his rap which thrills Lucifer. The brothers get into a fight on live TV or should I say stream. Think that's more heat than Lucifer was aiming for, but his baby boy is a loose cannon with no self-control. Well, you got all three bros at each other's throats and in front of the world, congrats, Big Daddy.

In regards to Anika, they let her get away with killing Rhonda to do a drive by and save the day. She's an absolute waste of space.

Cookie invites Becky to the meeting and Cookie says she's not going to release her song. Tiana wants Becky off her team and Becky wants to know why Xavier didn't have her back. Cause you're better at the job and he knows it and he'll screw you any chance he gets.

Angelo gets Cookie off the hook with her parole officer. They won't admit it, but it's obvious Ty-Freak was behind it. Angelo says he wants to fight with her and doesn't mind going up against Lucious to do it.

Ty-Freak wants Shine to tell him how he and Lucious buried a body in concrete in Camden. Instead, Shine gives Ty-Freak Frieda so he doesn't have to rat Lucious out, himself.

Baby Killer wants to be Shine's A&R and Lucious says he'll think about it. Lucious hands Bella over to Hakeem and shows him how to hold her. The sucker is totally under Lucious influence. Lucifer offers to produce Hakeem and turn him into a destroyer of souls.

Okay, anyone snickering at the term “destroyer of souls” and Hakeem in the same sentence?