Empire: Unto the Breach in Personal Essays

For those who are Empire fans and haven’t figured it out by now, Luscious Lyons does not want to give up his company. In the ninth episode, “Unto the Breach,” it shows just how much Luscious doesn’t want to really give his company to any of his sons.

What is also stand out by this episode is Andre’s breaking point…and despite Andre’s breakdown, we see Jamal and Hakeem flourishing as leaders.

Brief synopsis: While Luscious and Anika plan their wedding, Cookie bursts in and lays it all out about Anika. Basically, Porscha has been spying on Anika and finds out that she has been sleeping with the enemy, Billy Berreti. Luscious and Anika have a huge argumentative verbose…and it ends with Luscious suddenly, threatening Anika while Anika’s new ride, Billy Berreti pulls up and whisks her away.

Then, Empire, with Luscious’s clumsy direction, makes an intense effort to make sure that their artists are still with the company. As Anika continues to poach clients over to Creedmore, Luscious and family hustle and flow their artists.

At the end of the episode, we have Andre being sent to a mental hospital on a 48 hour hold. Hakeem and Cookie are able to get Tania to stay with Empire while Luscious and Jamal get Estelle, a huge singer, to sign to the label.

The crucial moment in this episode is Andre’s breakdown.

What is sad is that everyone is worried about Empire, and that’s the problem. Everyone is worried about making their stake, claiming their stake, or keeping their stake in the company. Instead, it is visible that Andre is in CRISIS. It should have been noted two episodes ago that Andre was falling apart when Luscious told the family that he was dying. None of the other members of the family except for Rhonda, Andre’s wife—went after Andre’s when he started falling apart after Luscious’s news.

The only time that someone in the family knew something was off is an earlier episode when Hakeem and Jamal performed “No Apologies.” That’s when Luscious asked Andre was there something the matter. This was when Andre was in his manic state because had not taken his medications. Other than that, everyone has been ignoring what is obvious to all the viewers in the episodes. That Andre is about to have a breakdown.

As I said before concerning Andre, being the oldest is tough. It is tough when you experience events like your mom being sent to jail. It is tough when your parents are in the drug business, and you have to stand up and lie for them so the police won’t cart them off.

It’s tough when you have to grow up fast in that regards. And Andre has had to. But, Andre has been excluded from his family as well. Although I am total Cookie fan, Cookie has excluded him for she hasn’t spent as much time with him. However, there may be justification to this because Cookie doesn’t know Andre like she knows Jamal, either. The only child that visited Cookie over her 17 year stint was Jamal. Just like Cookie doesn’t know Hakeem, she doesn’t know Andre. Due to his family not knowing who he is, it makes him feel alienated from his family. Andre’s alienation finally become outwardly explosive as he loses control over himself with how inadequate he feels.

We continuously see this alienation throughout the show until the boiling point when Andre explodes. The elevator scene where Andre, Hakeem, and Jamal are stuck shows the breakdown. Andre lashes out at Hakeem and Jamal for being the talented brothers. The brothers that Luscious and Cookie care about. In order to calm Andre down, Jamal soothes him with an earlier memory how Andre used to watch out for them. When Jamal and Hakeem reach out to him, it calms Andre. However, off the camera, either Jamal, Hakeem, or both had to tell Luscious that Andre was in trouble. During the last moments of the episode, Andre is put on a 48 hour hold. Luscious hands the paperwork to Rhonda to sign…while he sees a sedated Andre sent off to the mental hospital.

Before I started writing this, I became angry in how Andre has been treated by his family. I am particularly angry with Luscious and Cookie for not being there for their son. They have pretty much disregarded him and have not paid any mind to him. Now, they have to because of his breakdown.

For me, those parents who are watching Empire and are in a similar situation with their child(ren), really think about how you treat your child. I know how this feels to be treated as the outsider while my other two siblings were treated as special. As a child, I wanted my mom’s attention so badly. Now, I did not act like Andre did. I was a pretty good kid despite the chaotic circumstances that I was in. However, I felt excluded from my family and from my community—particularly the black community. It is really difficult for one to hone in on how they are when their parents do not show positive support for them. The sad part about all of this is that…people wait too late to give the Andres and Sophias the help that they need…

Like Andre, I had to see a therapist for my issues because eventually I had my breakdown as well. Yet, from the breakdown and getting help, I bounced back. I don’t know if Andre will. Yet, if this episode has taught me…it doesn’t matter what class you are in (wealthy, working, poor, etc.), when a person doesn’t feel like they belong in their family and in their community, they suffer greatly. All who I ever met want to feel like they belong especially accepted into the spaces they were born in. It is pure hell when you feel like you are an alien…the alienation you feel is dreadfully painful. It sears like no other pain. It is deafening…and all you want to do is be accepted, and you do everything in your power to be accepted, and you still aren’t or don’t feel like it.

I am intrigued to see how the creators handle Andre’s recuperation from his breakdown. I would have liked to see more of it from this episode. Maybe it will be made up in the next episode.

Cheers,
S

Last updated March 06, 2015