‘Empire’ Season 5, Episode 10 ‘My Fault is Past’ Recap: Reclaiming the Empire

The Lyons are back at Empire. Although things might seem a bit shaky—especially with the entire hoo-ha with Kingsley (A.Z. Kelsey)—it does feel good to have the first family back on top after months of being kicked out from the very place that they’ve built.

But along with this return comes more problems for the Lyons to handle—Cookie (Taraji P. Henson) struggles to come to terms with Lucious (Terrence Howard) having a child with Tracy (Amanda Detmer), Lucious has to clear his and Becky’s (Gabourey Sibide) name following the Empire user data leak, and Jamal (Jussie Smollett) having to potentially break off his engagement with Kai (Toby Onwumere).

Despite the seemingly innocuous episode, titled “My Fault is Past,” there’s a foreboding sense of conclusion to Smollett’s character. The episode aired the same week the actor pled not guilty to his felony charge. Smollett’s fate in the series is in limbo (very likely at its end if he’s found guilty), so Empire might just have to cook up something plausible for his temporary exit. It’s been confirmed that he won’t be appearing in the last two episodes of the show, and it looks like we’ll be seeing Jamal fly back to London for an indefinite amount of time.

Here’s everything that went down on tonight’s episode of Empire.

Kingsley’s a Threat, but it’s not enough to stop the Lyons from reclaiming the throne

After Kingsley made quite the scene during the Lyon Family Management’s party in the fall finale, Cookie grows concerned over his power to blackmail Lucious through the Empire data mining scandal. The next day, the Lyon parents sit the brothers down for a discussion about their possible return to Empire, all thanks to Giselle (Nicole Ari Parker) and whatever her ulterior motives are. Sure, it’s all exciting, but Lucious did leave out one crucial detail—what about Kingsley being his Jon Snow bastard?

Lucious leaves each Lyon son a task to pave the way for their Empire return. Andre (Trai Byers) will have to handle the investigation into Kingsley’s tactics. Jamal has to convince Kai to help out by giving up his source on the Empire user data leak. And Hakeem? Well, he’s tasked to churn out some fresh bangers in the studio to make sure the Lyons’ returns come out fiercer than it ever was.

Jamal meets with Kai to discuss their “break” and hopefully slip in a favor from Kai to give up his source. At first, Kai is reluctant, thinking that Jamal is playing the Lyon card again. But he soon caves in after realizing that this is indeed his news story, and it’s up to Kai to set things right.

Later, Thirsty (Andre Royo) tells Lucious and Cookie that the users affected by the leak teamed up to file a $100 million lawsuit against Lucious and Becky. As Andre plans their next move, Kai arrives bearing good news and directs Lucious and Andre to the address of the purported leaker. Once there, the hacker refuses to share what he knows. Thinking that Kai’s diplomatic strategy won’t work, Lucious and Andre dangle the hacker outside his window and demand answers. The hacker gives and tells them that Kingsley did indeed hire him and that all the data to support it is in his external hard drive. Lucious takes it and thanks a visibly shocked Kai.

Lucious brings a press release that admits Kingsley’s meddling to the bastard son himself—left with no other choice but to accept defeat, Kingsley signs it and leaves.

It’s a victory, but Cookie feels defeated

In a show of familial solidarity, Cookie’s sister, Candace (Vivica A. Fox), finally makes it right with her. After the whole ordeal with her son (which ultimately ended with Candace, Carol (Tasha Smith), and Cookie being hurt), Candace is ready to put their hurt feelings aside and come to her sister’s aid.

Cookie is obviously bothered by Lucious and his failure to admit his former flame with Tracy. With support from Carol (who used to do crack with Tracy) and Candace, Cookie decides to visit her. But Cookie’s visit ends up adding more insult to the injury as she realizes that Lucious destroys every life that he touches—especially Tracy and Kingsley’s.

With Cookie and Lucious officially reinstated as co-partners with Giselle, the bad feeling lingers with Queen Lyon. Despite the fanfare and hype of their return, Cookie tries to point out in a speech that Empire is all about the people working for and running it. And clearly, Lucious doesn’t see it.

The Lyon Brothers and their complicated love stories

It’s getting a little bit tiring with what’s going on between Andre, Jamal, and Hakeem’s love lives. Andre seems to be getting more and more comfortable with Teri (Meta Golding), without her knowing everything there is to know about Andre’s complicated past. It also transports us back to the days when Andre had a thing for Church singer Michelle White (Jennifer Hudson) back in season 1.

Jamal’s relationship with Kai continues to plummet down, with the two ultimately breaking off their engagement because Kai wants Jamal to go back to his Lyon-free life in London. Meanwhile, Hakeem is setting up another complication between him and Tiana (Serayah McNeill) by trying to get with Maya (Rhyon Nicole Brown). Just when you think that the Lyons have bigger problems to solve, here comes the boys fucking up their relationships as the cherry on top of their woes.

We’re also getting hints as to who that person in the casket might be. It’s highly possible that it’s Andre. We found out during the episode that he has something going on with his health again after coughing up blood in the car ride with Teri.

All’s Well Doesn’t Really End Well

Sure, there’s a huge Empire party that Lucious throws to celebrate their return. Sure, everyone’s happy, including the Lyon brothers. But nothing’s going to change the way Cookie feels about this whole “coming back to Empire” thing. Kingsley also has another trick up his sleeve.

In an effort to derail Lucious’ happiness, Kingsley tells Lucious about a program he installed that could wipe out the master files of his past albums. Thankfully, it comes to a full stop when Lucious gives a tearful speech about his regrets of not knowing that he had Kingsley sooner. He could’ve provided a better life for his Jon Snow.

Meanwhile, things with Cookie are not good. There’s something about their return to Empire that doesn’t feel right at all. The Lyons built the place, but its foundations were from drugs, blood, pain, and broken families. “We did bad things, Lucious,” Cookie says. “And it’s coming back to collect with a living, breathing, furious man who calls you daddy.”

‘Empire: My Fault is Past’ Overall Verdict

Tonight’s episode doesn’t pack punches but leaves us with more questions. Of course, Jamal’s fate is still hanging in the balance, but it looks like the showrunners are opting for an open-ended exit ala Rick from The Walking Dead. Meanwhile, we have the moral themes of the show taking center stage tonight. Cookie’s bad feelings of reclaiming an institution built on shadiness are definitely something to think about. Would you be happy with your Empire if it was founded by all the bad things that you’ve done in the past? Despite a relatively slow-paced narrative, “My Fault is Past” is a nice return from its two-month hiatus. It doesn’t make a glamorous entrance, but it does make us think—after all the Lyon family has gone through, is an Empire return worth it?

Empire continues next Wednesday, March 20th, with “In Loving Virtue” at 8/7c on FOX. Watch the sneak peek below: