Written by Ingrid Escajeda
Directed by Sylvain White
Lucious (to Freda): "You're about to become part of my life story."
And this was something of an underwhelming. I've liked the flashbacks to Lucious's past with his mother but I'm starting to wonder if the writers actually intend to go somewhere significant with them and soon. Though this week there was the hint that Leah might have killed herself and by the end of the episode, Lucious had found a way of helping his prodigy, Freda with that song we heard enough times in this episode.
Keeping with Lucious - thank goodness for small mercies. I really did not want to watch a three way with him, Mimi and some random girl and between Lucious changing his mind and Mimi's sudden erratic behaviour, it was a scene we were spared from. Aside from that, I'm actually intrigued by the rapport with Lucious and Mimi though.
Lucious is still a raging homophobe at the end of the day and Mimi seemed a little too eager against Andre's warning to get Lucious to merge with a streaming company owned by a guy named Jacob who trashed Lucious's musical prowess as well in this episode. Could Mimi be out to ruin Empire? Why not, after all it's not like Cookie isn't getting the wool pulled over her by Laz, so it's probably fair if we're heading into a direction where Lucious ignoring Andre's actual sound advice is going to result in him getting screwed over in some capacity.
Speaking of Cookie - a part of me is wondering if she knows something is up with Laz. I hope so and not just because Hakeem openly dislikes the guy but mainly because Cookie usually isn't stupid and I don't want to see her being easily manipulated by Laz either. Going by the trailer for next week though, it does seem like she's going to see a side to her new man that she won't like one bit.
As for the rest of the episode - I love that they recaptured the dynamic between Cookie and Jamal that I loved in the first season but seeing the two of them sneaking around to record material and get Jamal's musical groove back just came across as a tad silly and pointless. During that house party scene, it seemed fairly obvious that Lucious suspected that Jamal was working with his mother once again.
Also in "True Love Never"
Andre resorted to blackmailing the deputy mayor rather than sex in order to get rid of Freda's criminal record this week.
Lucious: "What did your daddy do to you?"
Freda: "What did yours do to you?"
I'm still struggling to actually figure out what Laz's endgame with Lyon Dynasty actually is to be honest. It's starting to lose my interest as a storyline.
Andre: "That's not a small issue, pops."
Lucious: "And you're not a small man, son. That's why the deputy mayor likes doing business with you."
Lucious (to Jacob): "Shallow that, punk ass."
Tiana helping out Laura was nice enough but maybe Cookie has a point about the girl - one which Hakeem seemed uninterested in taking on board.
Cookie: "You did good. I'm proud of you, boy."
Hakeem: "So maybe you'll not forget I'm your partner, mom and let me make my own decisions."
Standout music: Lucious/Freda's "Boom Boom Boom Boom", Jamal's "Heavy" and Laura's "Yo Vivre".
Lucious: "History in the making."
Chronology: Not long from where A High Hope For A Low Heaven left off.
This wasn't a terrible episode, it had some interesting moments but there were times when during True Love Never I found myself drifting a little and that's not really a good sign, is it? I don't think the show is suffering from a sophomore slump but these last two episodes lacked something though.
Rating: 7 out of 10
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