'Empire' Season 4, Episode 4 'Bleeding War' Recap: Claudia Makes A Move On Lucious, Lyons To Face War [SPOILERS]

The fight for music, family, and power is back for another round. And for the latest episode of “Empire,” all kinds of battles commence—but it’s only the beginning of the epic all-out war. Fights among Empire’s recording artists, among the Lyon family, and among everyone else versus the scheming Claudia.

Jamal Sings A Song About Gay Love for Empire’s 20-For-20 Competition

Cookie Lyon (Taraji Henson) is back on her rightful throne and announces an all-out singing competition for the alpha spot in Empire’s 20-For-20. Instantly, a wave of apprehension roll through her vocal artists—but this anxiousness soon reveals a montage of outstanding artists. It was like an RNB version of “X-Factor.”

After hearing a lot of hip-hop, pop, dance music and rap, Cookie and Lucious’ shy son Jamal (Jussie Smollett) walk out thinking he hasn’t got a chance. But after being inspired by her mother and father’s “pure and real” love story, he decides to sing a song from the heart—with a man of course: Tory the attorney. Not surprisingly, the duo bagged the Alpha spot.

Andre loses it, Anika files a suit against Lyons, Claudia Takes Dwight Away

When Dwight (Terrence Howard) walks into the office to see his granddaughter Bella and the mother Anika inside, he immediately approaches them. Here he discovers why Anika is indifferent toward him, and what other secrets his family holds.
He finds out that he is the reason for her jail time. And how Anika (Grace Byers) had murdered Andre’s (Trai Byers) wife Rhonda, and their baby on the day of Bella’s birth. Confused and disoriented, Dwight takes a step back—blown by the revelation.

The day after, Bella celebrates her birthday and Hakeem takes center stage to sing for his daughter’s guests. Meanwhile, Anika points out how unwelcomed she feels and pretty much ruins the celebration (to the point of making her daughter cry) by bringing her fancy lawyer and their fancy envelope, suing them for sole custody of Bella.
And on the other side of the City, Claudia (Demi Moore) sinks her claws in Lucious’ jumbled mind and brings him to the Lion Statue AKA his crossroad. And when Lucious asks Claudia to “come with me,” the nurse clings to him and breathlessly says yes. Then they share about 3 seconds of an almost-kiss moment. Crazy, right?
Other interesting recap moments on Season 4 of “Empire’s” fourth episode “Bleeding Wars” would be Lucious’ poetic dialogues. Viewers are obviously loving this new transformation—maybe even learn a thing or two about deep thoughts and the importance of listening. Lucious also admits that he hates being Lucious. In fact, he tearfully admits to Claudia that he doesn’t want to be that person again because he believes his past self was “bad.”
For the meantime, Cookie puts on her tough persona and rules her jungle of recording labels. While she may seem like just another business shark, we still admire her grit for it.
“Empire” continues Wednesday, November 1st with “The Fool” at 8/9c on FOX.