‘Empire’ Season 5, Episode 14 ‘Without All Remedy’ Recap: Infidelity Issues

After last week’s tremendously underwhelming episode of FOX’s Empire, our Wednesday night fix of the show redeems us once again. Titled “Without All Remedy,” the Lyons deals with the fallout of last week’s complicated mess brought about during the first night of Empire’s Trust Tour.

Andre (Trai Byers) finally comes clean about his medical condition, sending the rest of the family in another medical-related challenge. As things seem to go against Andre’s odds, he asks Jamal (Jussie Smollett) and Hakeem (Bryshere Gray) to take charge of the Trust Tour. Meanwhile, we’ve got Cookie (Taraji P. Henson) and Lucious (Terrence Howard) sorting out their wrongs and trying to make sense of everything that’s happening around them.

But there’s one thing that’s prevalent throughout “Without All Remedy”—it seems as if it’s trying to give the best tribute that it can to Andre, leading us all to believe that he might just be the death that Lucious was seen grieving over. Although Byers had repeatedly denied all rumors about his exit from the show, it could also be a red herring.

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

Andre Comes Clean

We cut back to the night Cookie caught Treasure (Katlynn Simone) trying to seduce Lucious. Cookie runs to Damon Cross (Wood Harris) to unload the sexual tension that she feels while Lucious disposes of the body of Treasure’s former manager.

The next day, Lucious calls up the family to inform them about Andre’s condition. Cookie gets the call, but Carol (Tasha Smith) answers it for her and delivers the shocking news. The Lyons fly back to New York to discuss their options for Andre. He assures them that their chosen chemotherapy program will work, but his parents and brothers engage in an argument. Andre walks out with his brothers to tell them that they need to keep working on the Trust Tour. It’s the only way that Empire can pay back what it owes Kelly Patel.

Later, Lucious tries to explain what Treasure did to him, but Cookie has none of it. She leaves, dumping the whole “Kingsley (A.Z. Kelsey) is your first born and not Andre” argument on Lucious’ face. As Dr. Swain (Jaq Seifert) arrives to administer the first phase of Andre’s chemotherapy, Cookie feels as if it’s not enough. She refuses to believe that what they’re doing is actually helping Andre’s condition. She probes Dr. Swain with various chemotherapy programs, all of which are not recommended for Andre. Sensing his mom’s growing concern, Andre tells her to calm down and asks Lucious to return to Empire to check on the developments of the Trust Tour.

Lucious’ Innocence, Cookie’s Big Mistake

As Lucious leaves, he remembers the time when baby Andre was sick with a severe cough, and how he refused to stay at home to care for him with Cookie. Lucious arrives at Empire and sees all the mundane work that Giselle is pouring into the tour. He also tells her that he’s dropping Treasure for inappropriate behavior. Lucious organizes a meeting to help improve the Tour. Despite it being free, people are still not buying their music or subscribing to their streaming service. When Becky (Gabourey Sibide) suggests partnering with international conglomerates, Lucious again remembers back when decided to go home instead of finishing his gig to care for a sick young Andre.

Meanwhile, Cookie’s agitation gets the better of her, leading her to argue with Teri (Meta Golding). Cookie brought another doctor to check up on Andre, but they’ve already consulted four times. Teri has enough and tells Cookie that this will not push through. As they argue, Andre tells Cookie that the therapy is working and that they don’t need another doctor’s second opinion on his condition. Later, Treasure knocks at their door and owns up to her mistake. She tells Cookie about how her former manager gave her the idea of exchanging sexual favors for more chances of hitting superstardom. Cookie recognizes where Treasure is coming from and tells her to not listen to men who only want to take advantage of struggling female artists. She also sends Treasure her way, telling her that all is forgiven and that Empire won’t be dropping her.

But that’s when Cookie realizes something—Lucious was right all along.

To blow off some steam, Cookie has Carol over so she could tell her about her almost-affair with Damon. It turns out that while they were getting it on, Cookie realized that what she’s doing is wrong. So she leaves Damon mid-foreplay. She’s debating whether she should tell Lucious or not, but Carol tells her to keep it to herself for now. Meanwhile, Lucious returns home to Andre and tells him that he needs Andre to get better and that he will be there to support him and love him every step of the way.

Cookie heads over to Empire to talk to Damon about THAT night. She asks him to keep it between them and reveals Andre’s condition. Cookie feels as if all the bad things she did in the past are catching up to her and using Andre as a wager. It turns out that Damon also experienced the same thing with his daughter, so he tells Cookie not to blame herself. Damon leaves, saying that their secret is safe with him—for now.

The next day, Teri, Andre, Lucious, and Cookie wait anxiously for the results of Andre’s chemo. Cookie finally came to terms with accepting Teri as part of the family. Lucious and Cookie reconcile, with the former telling Cookie to forget everything that happened. Dr. Swain arrives and tells them that Andre’s results are positive, meaning they can fight his cancer. He can now move on the next phase of the chemo.

That night, Cookie mulls over telling Lucious about Damon, but instead says “I love you” and snuggles up to him.

Meanwhile, we Kingsley being interrogated by FBI’s Meghan Conway (Alicia Coppola). “I’m the best shot you’ve got in taking down your father, Lucious Lyon,” Conway says.

A (Farewell?) Tribute to Andre

Jamal and Hakeem are having a hard time trying to keep their artists from biting each other’s heads off. As Jamal rehearses with the crew, Porsha (Ta’Rhonda Jones) gives him more problems to think about. Meanwhile, Carlito (Scotty Tovar) and an obviously drunk Blake (Chet Hanks) slowly builds up a beef over Tiana (Serayah McNeill). And to top it all off, Kai (Toby Onwumere) gate crashes the rehearsal to check up on Jamal. Of course, Jamal re-affirms his decision that Empire and Lyon family matters would always have to come first.

Later, Hakeem tries to brush off the toll of Andre’s condition on him by thinking about always having a good time. Jamal tells him that Andre was the one who always asked about Hakeem when he was in prison. Hakeem needs to see that Andre loves him just as much as he loves Jamal. Because of this, Hakeem thinks of a clever way to honor their brother.

Minutes before the first performers on the Trust Tour go onstage, the artists are a mess. Blake and Carlito are on the verge of a brawl, and Tiana wants none of it. Jamal catches their attention and tells them that they have to do it for the fans who look up to them with respect. The artists realize their stupidity and set aside their issues for the night.

Just before Jamal goes onstage, Kai returns with their engagement rings to say that he wants to be in this journey with Jamal, no matter how hard and how many fights it takes for them to be together. Jamal takes it and heads onstage. As a cap-off, Jamal and Hakeem perform a cover of “Lean On Me” as an emotional tribute to Andre.

‘Empire: Without All Remedy’ Overall Verdict

For some reason, Damon’s threat to the Lyon family seems a bit far-fetched given today’s events. But we’ve learned to not take him for his word, being the conniving son of a bitch that he is. His presence is a bit dialed down tonight, but his intentions remain apparent—either he’s coming to take Lucious down or find ways to effectively steal Cookie away from him.

On the other hand, This whole tribute to Andre thing stokes the rumor fires of him leaving the show. Empire showrunner Brett Mahoney previously teased that an essential character is going to die, and it all points to Andre. Unless, of course, they are giving us a Glenn-under-the-dumpster situation here.

Overall, “Without All Remedy” is an episode that still keeps us on the edge while hinting at possible situations that could set-up the future conflict for the Lyon family.

Empire continues next Wednesday, April 17, with “A Wise Father That Knows His Own Child” at 8/7c on FOX.