With the Complete Second Season of Empire now available on DVD, we’ve been diving back into the world of the Lyons and everything corrupt, hilarious and juicy that comes with trying to sustain and ruin a hip hop empire.
At the forefront of it all, undeniably, is the Lyon family matriarch, Cookie, once again fabulously portrayed by Taraji P. Henson. Her sass levels turned up to 11, Cookie had some pretty hectic plotlines during the latest season of Empire and while we await Season Three, we go back through our five top fire moments from Cookie Monster during Empire Season Two.
‘Good. Now, welcome to my streets, bitch…’
The whole Hakeem being kidnapped, tortured and being held ransom storyline felt like it simply happened, but then was quickly resolved. However it did give us one of the best Cookie moments of the season where again, she demonstrates a fierce protectiveness over her sons and her business. Taking a gun quite literally to the head of the thugs who kidnapped Hakeem and had been shaking them down, Cookie is quick to establish her dominance.
#FreeLucious
So bearing in mind that at the beginning of the season, Cookie and her boys are planning a hostile takeover of Empire right out from underneath Lucious while he is in jail, it seems like a ballsy task to host a concert in his name. But here we are. Determined to save the public face of the Lyon name, Cookie orchestrates the #FreeLucious gig to not only regain face, but to also draw attention to the incarceration of black men in the American prison system.
Cookie and Lucious…4eva?
The relationship between Cookie and Lucious has been on and off, leading to tumultuous and oftentimes hilarious scenes between Taraji and her leading man, Terrence Howard. However in this season of Empire, even though the two characters have dragged each other through hell, they still have moments of tenderness that was great to see. They’re both from the streets and have seen some serious shit, so they’re always going to be connected and seeing Cookie come together with her ex to work on his music video for “Boom Boom Boom” and be there as he quite clearly underwent a relapse when remembering childhood trauma was a nice moment of softness from the otherwise guns blazing CEO.
Teaching Laz a lesson
Everyone who’s been rooting for Cookie to find some kind of lovin’ fist pumped when she came across Laz, played by Adam Rodriguez. They were both hot, he seemed relatively normal and he was giving Cookie everything she needed. …Except he was also involved in getting Hakeem kidnapped and generally turned out to be a bit of a shit guy. So when he finally shows his true colours and attempts to get a bit physical with Cookie’s youngest, the rose-tinted glasses are off and Cookie steps up.
Cookie v. Camilla
Naomi Campbell has been one of Empire‘s best guest stars, in my opinion, even if the relationship between Camilla and Hakeem bordered on creepy more than once. When she returned in Season Two, now a lesbian, and more power hungry than ever, it was a long drawn out process for her to finally get what she deserved. Admittedly, with a shot of poison wasn’t the exact way we’d envisaged for Camilla but still, it was a fitting end for a nasty character. The back and forth between the ‘Yoko’ and Cookie continued to grow in intensity, with Cookie unafraid of getting down and dirty in making the former know just how unwelcome she was.
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Season Two of the award winning hit Empire is now available on DVD.
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