Over-the-top is the norm for “Empire” episodes, and the latest one, titled “A High Hope for a Low Heaven,” is not an exemption. This week, the major story line at play is Hakeem’s (Bryshere Gray) kidnapping. [Spoiler Alert!]

Arguably, Hakeem got the most Halloween-fitting storyline. The thugs sends Cookie (Taraji P. Henson) a video of himself tied up and moaning with a duct tape on his mouth. Cookie, who carries a grudge against Lucious (Terrence Howard), assumes that it was just one of Lucious’ games. In her best Cookie-like fashion, she storms in on him and Jamal (Jussie Smollet) in the studio only to find out that her ex had nothing to do with it.

While Hakeem is in custody, he notices that his captors have the same longhorn tattoos at their backs. He says something smart before he got smashed in the face and lost consciousness.

Apparently, the thugs want nothing more than $40,000 in exchange for Hakeem’s freedom. Lucious and Cookie gave them what they want. Once freed, Hakeem escapes from the van that would take him to Cookie and Lucious. When the family finally get together, he blames everything on his parents.

Traumatised, he struggles with PTSD symptoms during rehearsals with Cookie’s girl group hilariously called “Destiny’s Problem Child.” Adding insult to injury, Cookie follows Laz’s (Adam Rodriguez) advice and decides to hire his son’s kidnappers as security personnel. The plan almost blows when Hakeem threatened to pull the trigger against his captors. Eventually, everything was settled when Cookie managed to calm her son but not before she threatened to put a bullet on one of the member’s forehead.

In a span of 40 minutes, Hakeem went from being traumatised to having anger issues to getting it together to salvage his performance in Leviticus.

The ending has Cookie knocking on Laz’s door to have sex with him. When Laz removes his shirt, the audience learns that he has the same longhorn tattoo on his back.

As for other characters:

  • Jamal is finally working at the studio with Lucious as his producer. He says that Empire’s marketing strategy hurt his chance to play at the Staples Center, so he recruits a well-connected executive who has a history with Lucious.

  • Andre (Trai Byers) is making changes to Gutter Life and is concerned about image, but Lucious won’t let him drop his protégé Freda Gatz (Bre-Z). Meanwhile, he signs Becky’s rapper lover, J Poppa (Mo McRae).

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