‘Empire’ season 3 winter finale video: Cookie gives Jamal some tough-love

Going into Wednesday night’s winter finale of “Empire,” there have been a wide array of many dangling threads, with one of the most important ones being Jamal’s attempts to overcome addiction. He’s been fighting this battle for a number of episodes as of late, and Cookie’s decided that she no longer wants to see her son battling these particular demons.

In the first of the two sneak peeks below, you can see Taraji P. Henson’s character decide to flush Jamal’s medication down the drain, a move that is certainly risky, but also one that she feels is right. How he manages to bounce back from this, or even if he really does, should prove itself to be one of the more interesting aspects of the episode tonight and really the future of the season. We’ve seen it augment his behavior greatly — look at the family dinner — and he also suffered an overdose earlier in the season that easily could have killed him.

As for the second preview, this one sets further into motion the story for Lucious as he learns from Diana that she’s backing out of their business arrangement. She sees the benefit that Cookie’s presence is having on her son Angelo’s campaign, and with that, it only makes some sense that she would want to further foster and work on that relationship rather than keeping her oft-vengeful ex close.

Here’s the problem that we easily predict: You’re slighting Lucious Lyon. This is not a man who can be easily bribed, when he has almost everything save for genuine human connection. He may put on a good face to Diana when he hears the news, but who knows what this guy is going to do behind closed doors? That’s what Diana really should be worried about.

Before we go, just a quick reminder that tonight’s new episode is airing at 8:00 p.m. Eastern rather than 9:00, as Fox wants to use the show as a lead-in to launch their ambitious new show “Star,” which is also from executive producer Lee Daniels.

Want some other news when it comes to the “Empire” winter finale? Then be sure to head over here! We’ll be back later with some further news when it comes to the show. (Photo: Fox.)