‘Empire’ Season 5, Episode 6 ‘What Is Done’ Recap: Cookie’s Epiphany & Lucious’ Dirty Work

Tonight’s episode of Empire explores the different facets and issues that members of the Lyon family are facing. The pressure is on for most of them, especially with the future of the Lyon Family Management uncertain. Titled “What Is Done,” the episode is a nice way to pick up from last week’s relatively slow-paced chapter. A new character is also introduced, and it looks like this will bring back the Lyon family to its roots of shady dealings and a life on the streets of Philly.

“What Is Done” follows Cookie (Taraji P. Henson) and Lucious (Terrence Howard) as they bet on whoever signs a new artist to their management company. Cookie hosts a public audition, while Lucious tries to gamble his way through a game of poker. Meanwhile, they Lyon brothers are in their own respective dilemmas and mess. Jamal (Jussie Smollett) struggles to tell Becky (Gabourey Sibide) about his engagement with Kai (Toby Onwumere) while Hakeem (Bryshere “Yazz” Gray) tries to get back on his feet by letting out his depression through a violent rap track. Elsewhere, a new character is introduced, and it looks like he’s going to cause more trouble than it seems.

Cookie’s Realization

Cookie’s end on tonight’s episode is a little bit heavier than the rest of her family. After challenging Lucious to a bet (with the winner getting to be on top for their sexy time that night), she goes out of her way with Porsha (Ta’Rhonda Jones) to find that fresh, new talent in the streets of Philly. They organize an audition at a public park. We even see Porsha spitting out some rap verses to back her cousin up. But just when things begin to get a little bit more interesting, Maya’s (Rhyon Nicole Brown) comes to Cookie for help. After learning about Poundcake as her biological mom, Maya’s life spirals down. Cookie, being the savior that she thinks she is, goes to help.

Chuck Hodes/FOX

That’s when she discovers Maya living with a trust fund boy who only cares about himself. When the day ends with Maya getting busted by an undercover narc, Cookie bails her out. Maya realizes that her boyfriend weighs her down, so she decides to leave him. A few moments later, Maya changes her mind much to Cookie’s chagrin. When Cookie tries to give Maya a lecture about how her selfish boyfriend, Maya flips out.

“You introduced me to my convict birth mother,” Maya retorted. “You turned my life upside down.” It turns out that Maya finding out about her being a product of a jailhouse rape messed her up. Cookie realizes her mistake that night. As she returns to the park for the next round of auditions, she reveals to Porsha (while filming an Instagram Live video) that her noble desire to try to save and fix everybody might not be doing that well after all. But Cookie manages to encourage anyone watching to come to the audition because she knows a hit when she sees one.

That night, Lucious consoles her by saying that at the end of the day, Cookie’s decisions are merely coming from her gut and the goodness of her heart.

Lucious Takes a Shot at Poker

Lucious plans on signing a rapper named Carlito to the Lyon Family Management. But there’s on catch though—he still has a manager named Karl Binyan (Joel Smollett). But the good thing about this is that Carlito’s manager is a heavy gambler, and he’s so close to losing his money. Thirsty (Andre Royo) informs Lucious about the manager’s love for poker, so Lucious decides to gamble with him. It’s going to be hard because the day’s game at the Old Hampton Estate involves big fishes—a doctor who’s good at luck, a former lobbyist in the 80’s, a world-class poker player, and a Russian mafia boss. Lucious is unbothered though. He sells the expensive painting he gave as a gift to Cookie so he can have the money to play poker and try to have Karl gamble away Carlito’s career.

Chuck Hodes/FOX

The game starts, but a newcomer comes in—the mysterious Damon Cross (Wood Harris). He comes across as a professional money man, and Lucious warms up to his personality. They dominate every game, with Karl losing his money to the last drop. Lucious then encourages Karl to put Carlito on the table. When the game manager informs Karl that this he’s on the tilt, he pushes hard for a win but loses to Lucious. With Carlito’s career now in Lucious hands, the latter pulls out his most dangerous card. A group of armed men barges in to take all the money, with Lucious and Damon swiftly escaping through a door. It turns out that Lucious planned for this to happen so he can take all their money. Damon is impressed and offers to partner up with Lucious.

As Lucious enjoys his wins back at the mansion, Thirsty gives him the bad news. He wasn’t able to buy back the painting that Lucious sold because someone else bought it. We then see the painting hanging above Damon’s living room as he sips some whiskey.

The Lyon Brothers

Hakeem’s side of the story involves him trying to cope with his losses. Last week, Tiana (Serayah McNeill) finally ended things with him and took up the task of raising their children. Hakeem is also mad at Blake (Chet Hanks) for not acknowledging the rap song Hakeem wrote about the shooting. So he releases a diss track and never stops writing and recording new songs. He hasn’t slept and taken a shower in a long time, and this bothers everyone, especially Andre (Trai Byers). Concerned, Andre tells him to get his act together. When Hakeem refuses, Andre tells him about how he lost Rhonda and their baby. It messed him up, but he had his family to hold on to. Andre then promises to look after Hakeem and says sorry for the pain that he caused him after he killed Anika, Bella’s biological mom. “You’re my baby brother, Hakeem. I never meant to hurt you or Bella,” Andre tearfully says. “And I swear to you, I’m gonna spend the rest of my life making up for that.”

Meanwhile, Jamal’s scheduled sleepover with Becky causes a bit of a dilemma for the newly-engaged couple. He’s not ready to tell Becky about it, and Kai also wants some boundaries set up since they are now engaged. But since Becky is Jamal’s best friend, he decides to push through it. Becky arrives after a stressful day at Empire. When Jamal accidentally eats her edibles, things get a little bit hokey. Kai arrives to see both of them high. But since Kai wanted in on whatever Jamal’s life takes them both, he gets high with them. Later, Kai accidentally mentions to Becky that they’re now engaged. Becky, enraged at Jamal for not telling her sooner, walks out. But Kai urges Jamal to say sorry. Becky accepts it and has Jamal promise that Kai will be the last he’ll ever be with. Becky then hugs them both as she welcomes Kai into their “family.”

An Unlikely Alliance

Elsewhere in the episode, things at Empire seem to be dipping down. After Giselle (Nicole Ari Parker) records a surefire hit for the girl group TBD (the old Destiny’s Child-ish group that Lucious signed last season), Kingsley (A.Z. Kelsey) has them shut down and says that he’s dropping them. The algorithms are saying that they won’t sell anymore, being a couple of has-beens who’re only trying to stay relevant. Giselle tries to convince Kingsley to let them stay, but he wouldn’t budge. That night, as she has a drinking session with the members of TBD, she reveals what Kingsley wants to do with them but promises to do something about it. The next day, Giselle brings Brooke (Tisha Campbell) with her to the Lyon mansion and offers to have them manage TBD—with a few arrangements in between.

The episode ends with a four-month time jump. It’s during the same funeral that Lucious is in. The federal officer wants to question him. Despite Thirsty’s disapproval, Lucious tells the FBI agent to show him what he’s got. Apparently, they are investigating Damon Cross, showing Lucious a few pictures of Damon getting a bit touchy with Cookie.

‘Empire: What Is Done’ Overall Verdict

I’m beginning to think that things are not what they seem this season of Empire. Although Giselle and Kingsley are the current big baddies, it looks like Damon Cross has something more up his sleeve. Tonight’s episode is a good set-up for what’s to come, as we come back to that frustratingly mysterious time jump. Only time will tell before we find out what happens, possibly during the midseason finale. One thing’s for sure, though—the Lyon’s are in for some big trouble, and there seems to be more than meets the eye here.

Empire continues next Wednesday, November 14th, with “Treasons, Stratagems, and Spoils” at 8/9c on FOX.