'Empire' Season 6 Episode 11 sees Cookie shoot Tracy while Lucious finds new talent to train
The Spring premiere episode of ‘Empire’ (Season 6 Episode 11) picked up from where the show left viewers on a cliffhanger -- Tracy (Amanda Detmer) pointing a gun at Lucious (Terrence Howard) and Cookie (Taraji P. Henson). She was tired of living in the shadows of both of them. Obviously, Tracy has had issues with Cookie (she accused her of stealing Lucious from her), but the mad look in her eyes somehow made it clear that things were officially out of control.
Try as both Cookie and Lucious did to negotiate and calm her down, Tracy was relentless. As things reached critical mass, Andre (Trai Byers) tackled Tracy from behind. And as she fired shots into the air, Cookie picked up a gun and shot her straight in the heart. Even before the intro credits rolled, episode 11 of ‘Empire’ Season 6 had turned things topsy turvy, not just in the world of the Lyons, but for audiences as well. But that is expected from the show’s final few episodes.
In typical ‘Empire’ fashion, however, this tremendous act of killing someone was somehow legally inconsequential to the story, as one finds out that Tracy had left a sort of suicide note detailing her plans to kill Lucious and then herself -- what a deus ex machina, right? The only consequential effect it has is that Cookie has been left traumatized (even if she is in denial of that).
Things also get a little meta with the ‘Beginning of an Empire’ movie within the show -- basically a shorter version of the same story within the story we are watching, but it provides a welcome distraction from the murder and its effects. It’s also an opportunity to see Hakeem (Bryshere Y. Gray) perform, which viewers have sure missed over the break.
Meanwhile, problems struck Andre’s personal life as well as Teri (Meta Golding), who unable to accept that a murder took place in the same house as her son was sleeping, decided to take some time off. She headed off to her cousin’s place to cool down. More than Lucious and Cookie’s (despite the fact that their divorce was now official), it was Andre’s life, right now, that was stuck in a ditch. Already suffering from bipolar disorder, he kept zoning out and hallucinating about his half-brother Kingsley (A.Z. Kingston). So much so that he decided to admit himself into a mental health facility to deal with his issues and trauma. He backed out at the last moment, but he was unable to deal with what was going on in his life.
At the same time, Yana (Kiandra Richardson), who now wanted nothing to do with her father Damon, approached Lucious for a record deal. And Lucious, after his ouster from Empire, took this opportunity by the horns. Incredibly talented, she was his new clay to sculpt into a star. It reminded him of what it felt like to start Empire from scratch.
One of the best parts of ‘Empire’ still remains the performances and Hakeem and Tiana (Serayah), even in the brief bit they performed together, lit both the stage and the screen on fire. Even with a final few episodes left, one can already tell this ride will end with a bang.
‘Empire’ Season 6 airs Tuesdays 9 pm ET/PT only on Fox.