Just when you thought it was safe to be Lucious Lyon, Empire had to throw a big curveball into things. Before the Season 3 midseason break, Andre revealed that he wasn’t only planning to take over Empire Enterprises, aka the family biz, but he was also going to kill Lucious, too, and by way of blackmail, Shyne was going to help him do it. A planner myself, I think Andre’s plans are well and good, but will Andre kill Lucious on Empire? He seems to be more talk than action so far.
Truth be told, if I had Lucious as a father, I’d probably want him gone, too. Lucious is definitely, uh, the worst father in the world, and he has belittled and beleaguered his children — especially Andre — over the course of their lives. Andre, being the oldest, has also spent the most time with Lucious, and he has gotten it the worst. Lucious openly mocked Andre’s bipolar disorder and later conversion to Christianity, and he barely let Andre mourn the death of his wife, Rhonda. Lucious has been wholly unloyal to his eldest son.
Now that Ghost Rhonda (that’s a thing, and I’m sorry about it) is whispering in Andre’s ear to continue with their plans for an Empire takeover (that’s actually just the effect of his not taking his meds), that’s the plan. Andre figured out that Lucious' longtime pal Shyne was a mole, leaking info about the company and the family to the feds, and Andre said he wouldn’t tell Lucious if Shyne helped Andre kill his father.
That’s it so far. That’s the end of the tangible plan. Andre did hack Empire Enterprises at the beginning of the season, but I can’t say the effects were long-lasting. So far, it seems like Andre’s plans to take down his father are getting Nessa a great single and having her climb the charts. There are some little things here and there, but this plot is more indicative of Andre’s continuing mental break than anything else.
Andre needs someone to rail against, and while Lucious is the best target (Lucious is always the best target), until Andre has more concrete plans, I’ll believe that Lucious is in danger when I see it.
