Empire begins on a flashback with Cookie thinking back about the last time she saw Lucious and her sons before being sentenced to prison. Lucious sings a song to her You’re So Beautiful . In the present, she and Lucious continue to bask in the afterglow after their night of sex. She tells him she is done sleeping with him until he drops Anika. Cookie tells him she can offer him something Anika cannot–immortality. She proposes he do album of all his greatest hits remixed with Jamal and Hakeem on them. She suggests his first song be You’re So Beautiful. He agrees feeling it is excellent branding, especially since he is pushing Empire Entertainment as a family business. He also tells Cookie he will drop Anika for her and they begin to fool around again.
Jamal finds Hakeem praying in a Catholic church for their father’s health. There, the two brothers agree to put their issues to the side and do the song. In the studio, Hakeem, Jamal, and Lucious seem to be enjoying their session together while Cookie produces the song. She even joins in with them on the chorus. Andre looks on jealously. He and Vernon devise a plan to make him the interim CEO if anything should ever happen to Lucious. However, they need four of the board members to approve it. They are confident his parents will vote in his favor but must sway Mr. Blakely, who hates him. He knows the elderly man likes blondes and convinces Rhonda to try and seduce him. Cookie and Hakeem have another run in when he refuses to take her advice on the track and has a tantrum in the booth. Lucious demands they learn to work together and work out their issues. Hakeem reveals he feels she never tried to reach out to him growing up and loves Jamal more. She assures him she does not, but just knows him better. She kisses him on the cheek and apologizes. Later, he fools around with Cookie in the studio.
Lucious meets with Ryan, a filmmaker, who will do a documentary on the Legacy Album. Anika interrupts their meeting and confronts Lucious about involving her father in his schemes and sleeping with Cookie. He apologizes to her, but she wants assurance that he is committed to her and tells him to move their wedding up to that weekend. He compromises on the following weekend, after the White Party. She agrees but insists Cookie be there when he makes the announcement. Jamal bonds with his daughter, singing The Lion Sleeps Tonight and comforting her while she misses her mother. Later, he films his confessional part of the documentary with Ryan. They seem to have an unspoken connection and he invites him out for drinks later. He agrees, bt warns him to keep his sexuality to himself as his father does not like it. Ryan refuses, promising only to be himself.
Andre and Rhonda arrive at Mr. Blakely’s home for dinner. There, she finds he is wheelchair bound and decrepit. At dinner, he tells her about Stephen Hawking’s rare strain of ALS and how he can still get an erection despite of it. She vomits into her plate. In the car, Rhonda tells Andre she will not seduce Mr. Blakely and he will have to solve this one on his own. The next day, Andre presents his interim CEO motion to the board. Lucious, however, votes against him. Jamal and Ryan meet for drinks and discuss sexuality and their issues with their fathers. Ryan is proud of who he is and encourages Jamal to be the same. Camilla convinces Hakeem he should go last and the track, he in turn manipulates Cookie into helping him. At the White Party, Cookie learns of Anika and Lucious plans and informs the former about their latest antics. When Camilla and Naomi meet they immediately clash and Cookie and Hakeem seem to be back to square one. Lucious encourages Jamal to perform for the crowd and put his truth in his music. Jamal performs his own rendition of You’re So Beautiful and comes out in the song! Everyone is happy for him but Lucious is sickened and cancels the Legacy Album. He also tells Andre he does not trust him, considering him a sell out for marrying Rhonda and trying to assimilate. Andre breaks down and plays Russian Roulette in the studio with himself. Anika goes to see Beretti.
