The season 5 spring premiere picks up right where we left off in the winter finale. Cookie is beyond pissed about Kingsley’s revelation. She wants to know how Lucious found out about his secret son. She knows Kingsley has the ability to destroy everything they’ve built. “We have to take him down,” Cookie tells Lucious. “And I don’t care if he’s your damn son.” Cookie and Lucious meet with the boys to discuss their plan of attack. First and foremost, they need to prove Lucious’s innocence with this data-mining. Lucious asks Jamal to talk to Kai about his sources. Hakeem needs to put out some great songs, while Andre will be working alongside Lucious to get to the bottom of this data-mining scandal. Everyone has to work together to take back Empire.
Jamal goes right to Kai about the source. Kai gets frustrated that Jamal is doing his family’s bidding once again. Jamal thinks it’s totally possible to be both Kai’s husband and Cookie and Lucious’s son. But Kai doesn’t see it that way. Leave him, Jamal!
There’s a $100 million lawsuit against Lucious and Becky regarding this data-mining. Apparently, there are emails between Lucious and Becky. They have to prove Lucious and Becky didn’t send these emails. Unexpectedly, Kai shows up at the Lyon mansion with a possible lead. Meanwhile, Jamal tries to take Becky’s mind off the lawsuit. He plays a stellar new song he wrote for Devon, but Becky thinks that Jamal should keep the track. She thinks Kai’s starting to come between Jamal and his music.
Andre, Lucious, and Kai go to the source’s apartment. They try to get information out of the source in a civil manner, but that doesn’t work so Andre dangles the guy out of the window. Kai is horrified, but Andre and Lucious’s method works. The source admits that he leaked the emails that Kingsley faked to take down Lucious. Lucious confronts Kingsley about what he’s found out regarding the emails. He wants Kingsley to sign a press release admitting to everything. “I’m giving you a choice because you are my son,” Lucious says. Kingsley signs the document and crumples it up like a piece of trash.
In the midst of all the chaos, Cookie’s sisters show up. Even Candace. They know Cookie needs her sisters right now. Carol reveals that she knew Tracy back in the day. Candace and Carol urge Cookie to go find out the truth from Tracy herself. Cookie goes to visit Tracy and learns her story.
Later, Jamal finds out how Kai helped the family. Kai is still in shock over what he saw go down with Andre and Lucious. He can’t get over it. That’s the final straw for Jamal. “I’m a Lyon and I’m done apologizing for that,” Jamal tells Kai before giving his ring back. Bye, Kai.
Hakeem’s latest performance at a brand-new showcase features an intimate moment with Maya. Tiana notices it from the audience, and she is not pleased about it. Andre brings Terry to the showcase, and they seem really happy together. However, on the way home, Andre’s nose starts to bleed. Suddenly, he passes out at the wheel and Terry has to take control of the car before they crash. What happened to Andre?! It may be a stroke, aneurysm, or he could have possibly been poisoned. It’s time to kickstart Operation Save Andre.
Lucious gets a call from Kingsley while at the showcase and heads to Empire. Kingsley reveals that he’s deleting master files of Lucious’s biggest hits. “You made me and now I’m erasing you,” Kingsley seethes. He’s serious about it, too. Once Lucious realizes what Kingsley is really doing, he tries to make amends. Kingsley is desperate to be noticed and cared about, especially by his father. But this rage towards his father that has built up inside of him all these years is a concrete wall. It’s not going to be easy to break down. Despite everything, Lucious admits that he sees himself in Kingsley. Kingsley decides to stop deleting master files and walks away defeated. Or so he says.
In the wake of his breakup with Kai, Jamal writes a beautiful new song. Cookie is still trying to deal with everything she’s learned about Kingsley, Tracy, and Lucious. She’s fearful that karma is coming back to bite them. She’s well aware that Empire was built on drugs and people’s pain. Lucious doesn’t want her to embrace the negative, but she can’t help it. “We did bad things, Lucious,” she says. “And it’s coming back to collect with a living breathing man, furious man, who calls you daddy.”