My Review of Empire's 4x11: "Without Apology"

Written by Matt Pyken & Joshua Allen
Directed by Dianne Houston

Cookie: "I still run this bitch."

Oh Cookie. This week she went from one problem to the next one showing that she really did run both Empire and her family and then the episode ended with her getting a heart attack. Considering everything she's had to deal with since coming out of prison, it's probably surprising that this didn't come much sooner to be honest.

This episode alone, Cookie had a minor problem to deal with in ageing girl group 3 Black Divas who she tried to give a new contract to so they wouldn't cause Empire any bad publicity only for Lucious to nearly ruin her plan before the two of them banded together to actually get the ladies back on board by buying the rival label they were going to sign to.

I liked the focus on the older group and they certainly seemed to be justified in wanting to get a little even with the mistreatment they had experience at Empire. It was also amusing seeing them perform to uninterested people in the mall to getting a spotlight at Leviticus when they decided to play ball with Lucious and Cookie.

However the bigger storyline revolved around Andre finally confessing to his family about his involvement in the car explosion. It was inevitable this would happen and the results were delightfully explosive as Lucious rightfully lost the head with Andre while Hakeem and Jamal were unable to handle their brother's confession.

I didn't however expect the end scene with Cookie having a heart attack though. The scene was nicely shot but also reminded me of something more recent in my own family as well. However I don't think a heart attack will be the thing to take Cookie out of the mix from this show, not for quite a while though.

- Eddie and Wife No 3 are working with that app guy (who was also on Arrow this week) to take over Empire. Eddie also seems a little too interested in Tiana, who sensibly turned down Hakeem's proposal of marriage.
- I liked Jamal and Becky talking about the latter's pregnancy, even if she did end things with J Pop.
- Standout music: Three Black Divas more polished Can't Rock With You and Tiana/Jamal/Hakeem's Beautiful.
- Chronology: Not long from where Birds In A Cage left off.

Without Apology certainly had a little more to it than the previous episode. While I'm not entirely thrilled about Eddie and his wife plotting against Empire, I'm not too shocked by it either. The Andre scenes and the older girl band though were the highlights this week.

Rating: 7 out of 10