Spoilers ahead for Episode 14 of Empire Season 6, called "I Am Who I Am."
Lucious and Cookie's relationship on Empire has been one long series of ups and downs, but they've always come back to each other and seem to love each other beneath all the drama. After the events of "I Am Who I Am," however, I for one think Empire needs to end Lucious and Cookie for good. Of course, Lucious and Cookie separately are somewhat likely to be ended for good before the final credits roll on the series, but ideally they won't make another love connection beforehand.
In "I Am Who I Am," Lucious used some letters he was trying to write to Cookie while she was in prison as song lyrics for Yana. Lucious had struggled writing those letters to Cookie back in the day because it hurt him to see her stuck behind bars, and I originally thought that they would lead to Cookie and Lucious at least letting some sparks fly again. Instead, Lucious let Yana believe that he'd written the heartfelt letters thinking of her, and they hooked up again.
Admittedly, this isn't even close to the worst thing Lucious has done to Cookie, and I'll admit that I've been strangely intrigued by their messed up love story over the years. The back-and-forth was entertaining in its own way, especially once Cookie started really standing her ground about not falling back into their old habits even though she still had strong feelings for him.
Now, though, with the final season more than half over, Empire shouldn't waste time on Cookie and Lucious going back to each other again. Lucious did something that I can only really describe as gross to both Cookie and Yana, and Cookie has bigger issues to deal with. "I Am Who I Am" revealed what Carol had begun to confess in last week's episode.
As it turns out, Carol and Candace were the ones who tipped off the feds all those years ago, aiming to get Lucious arrested and free Cookie to get out of Lucious' world and raise her sons. They didn't think Cookie would take the fall for Lucious, so they didn't intend for Cookie to spend the better part of two decades behind bars, but Cookie was understandably shellshocked at what her sisters had done and then kept secret for so long.
Why put Cookie back into a relationship or even considering rekindling her relationship with Lucious when she has such an interesting story with her sisters going on? And then there's the Andre plot! My prediction that Andre is going to be the final season villain is seeming less and less like a shot in the dark and more like exactly what's happening.
Ever since he gave into his Kingsley side earlier in Season 6, Andre has been crossing lines and getting downright scary. He even told Teri that while Walker is irreplaceable to her, she is not. He physically intimidated her and pulled Walker from her arms when she tried to leave him, after learning from his doctor that he could be a danger to those around him. He already forced an "assistant" on her to "help" her, who was basically there to spy on her and keep her in line.
Andre already attacked Devon and threatened others, so relationships should be the last thing on either Cookie or Lucious' minds once the truth coms out about Andre. For Teri's sake, I just hope the truth comes out before Andre forces her to go through with the wedding. Personally, I hope Empire spends more of the rest of the final season on Cookie's plot and Andre's escalation rather than regressing into more relationship drama.
Unfortunately, Empire had to stop production on its final season a couple episodes shy of the intended end due to the coronavirus. At this point, it's not clear how and when Empire will be able to complete its final two episodes. For now, keep tuning in to Fox on Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET for new episodes of Empire.
