Before we get into this week's full recap of "Empire," let's all take a moment and admire the gold revolver. You know the one that Lucious sent Cookie as part of her 1,001 love gifts? Yea … I totally get why you kept it girl, but that better come to use this season since you ended up keeping it. I mean, if you have to 411 someone, I can't think of a more stylish way than with a solid-gold revolver, and that totally suits you.This week was heavy on the political overtones as the show writers incorporated several topical themes from Black Lives Matter with a toss in of some old Suge Knight again, courtesy of character Shyne Johnson – or as I refer to him, Mr. I-Love-To-Punch-People-Every-Day.We start this week with Lucious (still) trying to convince Cookie to fall back into love with him and that the whole Anika wife/baby daddy/son baby daddy thing is just a play for the Feds. Always the one to show emotion through money (or killing) he plies Cookie with loads of expensive gifts such as a gold-plated espresso machine (want), a mini-fridge stocked with wine (WANT), a rack of Jimmy Choo's (no thanks), a massive carved statue of a lion (don't want), a gold revolver (SUPER WANT), tons of other stuff and somewhere in there he throws in a diamond-studded choker for good measure (kind of want?).Cookie, however, wants nothing to do with Lovesick Lucious, and sends it all back – except of course the golden revolver. Smart girl.Anika meanwhile is hanging out at Compound Lyon interviewing nannies for Baby Bella but paranoid Lucious puts an immediate stop to that. It doesn't help matters when Grandma Lyon offers to take care of Bella, and Anika brings out her crazy-train history and tells her to "keep her crazy hands off her child."The shade Grandma threw could have been an equal to Mallory Archer at this point. And of course, never to lose an edge, Lucious reminds Anika that she doesn't need a nanny because, "you have one job in this house and that is to be a mother." So much for the 1970s and women's rights.Our other big item this week is the Anti-violence Summit for Kids, or the "WOKE" program, facilitated by delicious looking and expert wordsmith, Councilman Dubois (Taye Diggs). Dubois is organizing a discussion to promote nonviolence among the African-American community youth and during an awkward radio segment ends up strong-arming Jamal into attending the summit.As we all know however, once a Lyon gets their hands into something, once admirable things can quickly turn tainted.Jamal agrees to join the summit and takes the kids on a tour of the Empire offices, where they (naturally) run into Lucious. L essentially ends up hijacking the event by throwing money at them, but of course, it's for his own benefit in the end, not the kids.Moments before, Lucious was complaining to Cookie about not having enough content for the first month of his new Empire X Streaming service. He offers to host the summit, and conveniently for him they also agree to live-stream the event on his new music service. Win-win for Lucious, as usual.But wait, there's more!Lucious also decides that during the event he's going to single out Jamal and attempt to force him to perform a song for the kids and live-stream. Jamal, still reeling with undiagnosed PTSD from Freda Gatz shooting him, again freezes up as he's about to take the stage, and runs off with a panic attack ultimately collapsing in the entrance tunnel at Leviticus.Cookie, finding Jamal on the floor, attempts to calm him down but Lucious will have none of it. The writers should really consider changing Lucious' name to Lady Stoneheart moving forward. Zero compassion or empathy for even his own children.The karma flip however ends up back on Lucious as after an entire episode of tension between Councilman Dubois and Cookie, we see them part on a lovers note and what I can only pray and hope is a new love affair for Cookie. Mainly because Lucious is none-to-pleased with how Cookie is either playing him via Dubois, or is actually starting to like Dubois. Hopefully we'll find out next week.In other action items this week, Ghost Rhonda is no longer with us in spirit, just in voice – sad face. Dre is battling his demons with her but his brothers are all pitching in to try and help him out. Well, as much as they can be considering Jamal has PTSD and potentially his own painkiller addiction, and Hakeem is still newly jilted but also has a baby that is housed with Lucious and baby momma/mother-in-law. These sagas, I swear.The biggest shocker this week came from an unusual corner: Becky and J. Poppa debating to leave Empire. My mouth literally dropped. I can't imagine Empire without Becky-With-The-Good-Hair, but if her boyfriend J. Poppa has his way, we soon might have to.Poppa apparently negotiated a new deal with Empire's biggest rival, and has found a way to bring Becky on as head of A&R; the exact role she's been trying to convince Cookie to give her at Empire. Becky is a show favorite of mine, and if she does end up leaving, I hope she stays in the mix and stirs up drama from afar.We are also treated to several flashbacks – and wayyyyyy too many Biz Markie renditions of "You Got What I Need" – where we learn Cookie was a Catholic prep school girl who fell for the local bad boy. It's a song as old as time, but helps provide more clarity into the beginnings of Cookie and Lucious. At least now we know where she got her polish from.We end this week with an intentionally unsettling moment dedicated to recent arrests of African-Americans without probable cause. It's always a challenge for shows to weave contemporary political affairs into television programs, but here I believe the writers were successful.We find Andre attempting to make some final peace with his loss of Rhonda by clearing out their last apartment together, but while he is packing up his car, two white police officers approach him and accuse him of stealing. Their questions to Andre would not be out of the ordinary headlines in the United States of late, asking him for ID, what is he doing and where is he from, if he is in the wrong part of town (rhetorically) and if he knows anything about the recent burglaries in the neighborhood.As he is innocent of all of this, he is clearly initially confused, but then the realization slowly dawns on him of the hidden meaning behind the police officers' intentions. He is a lone black man, in a tony white neighborhood and they just called him, a grown, Wharton-educated man, "Boy." The unfortunate events unfold as he is accused of resisting arrest and thrown onto the ground, bloodied and bruised, to be handcuffed as if he had committed a crime already, but one he wasn't aware of.The writers leave us on a bleak note this week, as a continuous reminder of the disparity in justice, solely based on the color of one's skin in America. If you ever doubted this was a Lee Daniel's show, these moments bring you back in.Until next week.Best Dressed: Portia in her matchy-matchy green hair, green lipstick, and green Oscar the Grouch mashup top at the anti-violence summit.Best Quote: "I don't trust polite people." – Cookie Lyon