Empire Reveals The Dangerous Aftermath Of Cookie Cliffhanger In New Episode Photos

Spoilers ahead for the October 1 episode of Empire on Fox, called "Got on my Knees to Pray," and promo photos for next week's episode.

"Got on my Knees to Pray" was arguably one of the wildest episodes of Empire, with Andre (who had been doing so well!) dealing with seeing visions of Kingsley while attempting to deal with Teri's health crisis and cope with the guilt of the man he just strangled to death, Lucious scheming to rob Damon Cross, Cookie going after Damon Cross herself, and Empire possibly setting events in motion that will see the death of Teri and/or her baby. The episode ended on a cliffhanger that saw a furious Damon Cross attack Cookie in her own home.

Parroting back her "You owe me, bitch!" line from the end of the Season 6 premiere, Damon pulled a gun on Cookie after surprising her in her bedroom. Clearly unhinged after being robbed and tricked by various members of the Lyon family, Damon has power over Cookie in a very dangerous situation. The good news is that photos from next week's episode reveal the aftermath of Damon's attack; the bad news is that Cookie is in for a rough ride.

Take a look!

"Got on my Knees to Pray" ended with Damon pulling the gun on Cookie, who was wearing a robe, in her bedroom. The photos prove that Damon let her get dressed before proceeding with whatever he has planned for her. At least one step of that plan apparently involves restraining her with her hands behind a chair.

Damon is far from calm even after he has Cookie immobilized, as is evident in the next photo:

It's not clear from this second image if Damon Cross is actually throwing the chair at somebody or just destroying the kitchen in a fit of anger, but I'm inclined to think he's just in the mood to make a mess and menace Cookie. For her part, she doesn't look like she's actually been restrained, although that may just be this photo rather than in the actual episode.

Empire's Taraji P. Henson Says She Didn't Think Cookie Would Be The Role That Made Her World Famous

If Cookie isn't totally restrained in the episode, then this might be a good time for her to try and make a move on Damon. He placed the gun on the table to pick up the chair. Should Cookie grab for the gun, or make a break for it?

Well, it looks like she is going to try to escape at some point, and it doesn't go well for her:

Whatever happens, Cookie looks like she's going down, and Damon has the gun in hand. If this was happening last season, I would think there was no way that he would shoot her. Considering everything that has already happened in just two episodes of Season 6, I 100% can believe it.

The next image does admittedly help with that:

It looks like Damon Cross did indeed shoot Cookie, as she's sporting a bloodied leg in the photo that has Damon leading her around outside. He doesn't seem to have done the greatest job of bandaging her leg, or going out of his way to conceal that he''s dragging an injured woman around. Is this because Damon isn't expecting to be within sight for very long, or is he unhinged by everything that went down to the point that he doesn't care?

At least Cookie will have somebody (probably) on her side in this scene:

Cookie and Lucious (who may be dead by the end of the season) may not have been on the best of terms in the first two episodes, but they do have a common enemy in Damon Cross, and they have always seemingly loved each other. Not necessarily a healthy love anybody should encourage, but love! Lucious lost his disguise and donned a snazzy suit for this scene, and he seems to be toting a laptop.

Only time will tell what exactly goes down in the next Empire episode, called "You Broke Love." Be sure to tune in to Fox to catch it on Tuesday, October 8 at 9 p.m. ET.

Laura Hurley
Senior Content Producer

Laura turned a lifelong love of television into a valid reason to write and think about TV on a daily basis. She's not a doctor, lawyer, or detective, but watches a lot of them in primetime. CinemaBlend's resident expert and interviewer for One Chicago, the galaxy far, far away, and a variety of other primetime television. Will not time travel and can cite multiple TV shows to explain why. She does, however, want to believe that she can sneak references to The X-Files into daily conversation (and author bios).