‘Empire’ Season 5, Episode 11 ‘In Loving Virtue’ Recap: Trusting a Potential Enemy

There’s a lot to be accounted for in the latest episode of Empire Season 5. Sure, the Lyons are back in the game, but it looks like there’s more to fix than celebrate. Jeff Kingsley (A.Z. Kesley) left the label in massive debt, and it’s up to the newly-formed trio of Lucious (Terrence Howard), Cookie (Taraji P. Henson), and Giselle Barker (Nicole Ari Parker) to find a way to keep Empire afloat. That’s when the shady Damon Cross (Wood Harris) steps in.

Meanwhile, Lyon brothers Andre (Trai Byers) and Jamal (Jussie Smollett) deal with Empire-related problems of their own. As Devon (Mario Barrett) struggles to put out a new song in his label, Andre decides to take the matter into his own hands. After all, Devon belongs to the Lyon Family Management. Jamal, on the other hand, has to churn out new tunes after being designated the new chairman of music development. In an effort to stay on top (and echo the whole Cardi B vs. Nicki Minaj beef), Treasure (Katlynn Simone) and Tiana (Serayah McNeill) engage in a feud as to who should sing in the next Jamal-led track.

It’s a particularly toned-down episode, but one that puts a lot of pressure into the future of Empire.

Retaking the Seat

“In Loving Virtue” opens with Lucious and Cookie arguing about Kingsley. It still doesn’t sit well with Cookie, and Lucious is left with no cards left to play. Meanwhile, Jamal writes and performs a song that echoes his heartbreak from Kai. He heads over to this parents’ studio, and Cookie tells him to get back up as what the Lyons have done in the past. Andre, who’s now living with Teri (Meta Golding), gets an expensive briefcase as a gift from his girlfriend. The episode doesn’t address last week’s bleeding nose incident, but it does leave an ominous clue as to how grave it might be.

The next day, Giselle has Lucious and Cookie observe a controlled survey about Empire’s music. When Lucious hears the respondents banking on the controversy against him, he and Cookie enter the room to assure them that Empire will be stronger than ever. Later, Lucious hosts a meeting with the entire Empire staff to announce that they’re doing away with Kingsley’s system. Reinstating proper control over the company—Lucious and Cookie are co-CEOs, Giselle as their partner, Andre resumes his CFO post, Jamal takes the chairman of music development role, and Hakeem stepping up as the new creative director.

Giselle, Cookie, Andre, and Lucious then meet privately about Empire’s drastic financial situation. Kingsley drowned the company in debt, and it looks like they have five more years to grovel so Empire can get back on top. They could have used the money that Eddie Barker wired to his Panama bank account, but the Panama government wouldn’t let Giselle near it. Lucious remembers a key player in this equation—Damon Cross. He then has Thirsty Rawlings (Andre Royo) hook him up with Damon so they could arrange a plan to retrieve the money. Despite Thirsty’s reluctance, he arranges a meeting at Leviticus.

The plan is simple: Damon only has to meet with his contact in Panama to help withdraw the money. But the plan wouldn’t work without an Empire boss coming with, so Cookie volunteers—much to Damon’s delight. Remember when they almost had a thing? The two then land at Panama, with Damon flaunting his gentleman-like attitude to win Cookie over.

Meanwhile, back at Empire, Lucious gets a call from his mother’s nursing home telling him that they can’t care for Leah (Leslie Uggams Pratt) anymore. The cost is piling up too high, and she’s becoming way too violent. Lucious pays for the extra care but gets no gratitude from Leah. She then tells Lucious that he’s always been an evil person, breaking his heart. Despite Lucious’s efforts to change for Cookie and his family, his own mother thinks it’s all bullshit.

Back in Panama, Cookie and Damon’s meeting with his contact goes well (despite having a rocky start). To celebrate, Damon invites Cookie to dance, and tries to make a move on her. When Cookie refuses, Damon tells her that no matter what happens, she will go back to him when the time comes. Lucious then pays Cookie a surprise visit to vent out his hurt feelings. He also tells Cookie that he bought a crack house in Philly that’s to be turned into a rehab center for teenagers. They then celebrate intimately.

Meanwhile, Thirsty is interrogated by District Attorney Meghan Conway. Apparently, Conway is after Damian and Lucious, and she’s here to pressure Thirsty into giving up information.

The Battle for Attention

We never really thought about a building feud between Treasure and Tiana until tonight. After the Empire pep talk by Lucious, Treasure tells them that she can offer more to the equation. But since Cookie has a grudge against her after leaving Lyon Family Management, Lucious tells her that if she can’t come up with new music, she will be dropped by Empire.

And so begins the feud—after Jamal has Tiana take over the female vocals of his new song, Treasure comes in to offer her voice instead. She plays Jamal one of his tracks, overlayed with Treasure’s vocals. It’s impressive, but Jamal has to think it over.

Later, Becky (Gabourey Sibide) organizes a red carpet spot for the Empire artists during the New York fashion week. And just like how Nicki Minaj and Cardi B almost had a full-blown catfight in real life, Treasure and Tiana go head to head in front of the press. If not for Becky stopping them, it would’ve become a TMZ exclusive.

After the event, Giselle, Becky, and Jamal sits Tiana and Treasure down and force them to work together—Jamal is dropping his vocals on the track and will replace it with an all-female rendition courtesy of Treasure and Tiana.

Andre’s Thugs His Way Into Control

After learning about Lucious and Cookie’s return to Empire, Devon wants in. He tells Andre that despite being an LFM talent, his label wouldn’t give him new material to work on. Andre then assures Devon that his family would take care of it. The two then try to convince Devon’s label to give him a new project by bribing him, but the manager wouldn’t budge.

Unknown to Devon, Andre returns to the label and destroys the manager’s expensive collection from Japan, forcing him to sign Devon’s contract over to Empire. When Devon gets the news that he’s now part of the Empire family, he thanks Andre for keeping an eye out for him.

That night, Andre receives a call from his doctor about his diagnosis. He has to see him first thing in the morning. It looks like this is leading to what we’ve seen in the previous teasers—is Andre being killed off?

‘Empire In Loving Virtue’ Overall Verdict

Tonight’s episode was nothing compared to last week’s semi-epic return. One reason could be Smollett’s involvement with the show. It’s not that Empire is losing traction, but given Smollett’s recent controversy, it’s hard to keep the show interesting with Jamal in it. Sure, “In Loving Virtue” offers a strong narrative that could set off the next conflict before the finale, but it seems like the showrunners are trying to play it safe by having Smollett on the show. Sure, he won’t be in the final two episodes of Season 5, but it can still affect the show’s awkward tone. If anything, I think it’s best to just keep Jamal out of the action entirely until this whole fake mugging issue is finally settled.

Empire continues next Wednesday, March 27th, with “Shift and Save Yourself” at 8/7c on FOX. Watch the preview below: