Last Night's TV: Empire, AHS: Hotel, Arrow, and More (SPOILERS!)

VIEW IN BROWSER THIS ISSUE: Empire, American Horror Story: Hotel, Arrow, Survivor, Modern Family TOP MOMENT OF THE NIGHT Empire Asks What's In A Name FOX BECAUSE: Where's the beef? It's on Empire, of course. On Wednesday's episode, Hakeem Lyon and Freda Gatz participated in a rap battle with classic stakes: a last name. Wait... what? Yes, that's right, Wednesday's episode came down to a no-holds-barred rap battle, winner takes the Lyon surname. Hakeem won but he rejected the name anyway. Just call him Hakeem -- you know, like Cher! Trust him, it's very street. READ OUR RECAP American Horror Story: Hotel FX WHAT HAPPENED: The Countess has been as much of a mystery to AHS: Hotel fans as Lady Gaga herself is to people over the age of 50 (save BFF Tony Bennet, of course). But on Wednesday night, we finally got her origin story: In 1925, the Countess was just a starlet wannabe who got a little attention from real-life silent film stars Rudolph Valentino and his wife, Natacha Rambova. (Apparently she used to be cool with sharing.) However, the couple soon turns up dead. Since no one is every really dead on AHS, Rudy and Natacha turn back up, having faked their own deaths because they'd gotten a fancy new immortality virus from their pal, Nosferatu director F. W. Murnau. By the time they returned to reclaim The Countess, she'd married James Patrick March, and in a fit of jealousy, March -- in the words of EW recapper Darren Franich -- Cask of Amontillado'd Rudy and Natacha in Hotel Cortez's walls. WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING: So, thanks a lot real-life silent film stars Rudolph Valentino and Natacha Rambova, you're the reason L.A. has an unaccounted for elementary-school-sized swarm of vampire/zombie children roaming around. But the most import part of this storyline that many outlets like Variety noted is that this is "a rare occasion" where we see the Countess "genuinely, truly scared." Wednesday's episode opens with Rudy and Natacha being excavated from the Cortez walls... alive. (Immortality, ya dig?) The Countess has been running the show so far, but these are her creators. And they seem angry. Also, last thing: John Lowe might be the very serial killer he's been investigating all season -- see ya next week! READ OUR RECAP Survivor CBS WHAT HAPPENED: As far as badass nicknames go, "Witches Coven" is probably one Ciera, Abi, and Kelley Wentworth could get behind. But even following Kelley's big idol play last week, the girls are still technically at the bottom. They've inspired some potential majority defectors to think about how they're playing the game though, specifically, Stephen, who seems to have found some naturally sourced uppers in the Cambodian wilderness, and is ready to make a big move. His always-on crazy eyes work to his advantage, and he's able to convince Spencer and Jeremy to go along with the plan he devised with the Witches to vote out Kelly Wigglesworth. And thus, we say goodbye to our only player from the O.G. Survivor season and the coolest last name in the books. EW recapper Dalton Ross just has one question: Why, oh why, would Jeremy, who is "already seen as the leader of the tribe and the one pulling the strings," risk turning on his alliance? WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING: Well, the A.V. Club has some thoughts: "One of the most interesting aspects of Survivor is how the people playing the game become a conscious part of creating and sustaining the season's overall narrative." Basically, when Jeff Varner randomly mentions at a Tribal Council that gameplay has changed since his day, and then Jeff Probst keeps mentioning the changing dynamics of the game at every proceeding Tribal, the players sense a huge shift, whether it's totally true or not. Stephen is really the one that's created this newly dominant idea of voting blocs over traditional alliances -- probably what convinced Jeremy to ditch the sure thing he had going. As the A.V. Club points out, "It's [Stephen's] self-awareness about what he's doing that feels different, as well as his willingness to analyze the methodology of what he's doing in real time." You know what this all sounds like? SORCERY. Perhaps they should just be calling the "Witches Coven" the "Final 3" instead. READ OUR RECAP Arrow The CW WHAT HAPPENED: Wednesday night's episode of Arrow is titled "Brotherhood" and they're not kidding around about it. At its center, we have Diggle, feeling betrayed by his brother Andy. Andy isn't dead at all, and uh, apparently pretty evil. And in the inverse of that "nobody can talk bad about my family BUT ME" thing, everyone else tries hardily to convince Diggle that there might be some good still left in Andy. With Ray's (still not dead!) help, the team tracks down Damien Darhk's army and captures Andy to bring him back to the lair for a come-to-Diggle moment with his brother. As EW recapper Jonathon Dornbush notes, Oliver pushes so hard for Diggle to seek out the good in his brother because Oliver himself "needs the hope that they can survive no matter how much of a hold darkness has on their lives." (Andy isn't Diggle's only brother, you see.) Alas, Andy owns up to all the terrible things his file says he's done, so maybe we'll just have to find some sisterly hope: Thea discovers a crack in Damien's armor when he attempts to kill her, but suddenly pulls away, seemingly affected by her ties to the Lazarus Pit. WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING: Everyone noticed the work of fight-coordinator-turned-director James Bamford's debut work in Wednesday night's episode. TV Line says Bamford "was being humble, obviously, when dismissing the notion that this week's episode was anything special in the action and stunts arena." From the low-ground tracking shots, to the Thea/Andy fight that made its way in and out of an elevator, Bamford infused what could have been a character-heavy episode with serious action and camerawork. READ OUR RECAP One More Thing... What Makes a Sexy House a Sexy Home? ABC MI CASA ES TU CASA: If you've been looking for Modern Family to get back to its classic comedy of error roots, look no further than Wednesday night's episode. Basically, Phil has a sexy, sexy house on his hands and everybody wants a piece of it. Basically. READ OUR RECAP Also Check Out... Recommended by Copyright © 2015 Entertainment Weekly and Time Inc. All rights reserved. WANT MORE? To subscribe to any of EW.com's email products, please click here. PRIVACY POLICY Please click here for our privacy policy. For further communication, please click here Your California Privacy Rights Entertainment Weekly Customer Service ATTENTION: CONSUMER AFFAIRS 3000 University Center Drive Tampa, FL 33612-6408 You are receiving this email because you are a friend of Entertainment Weekly. To unsubscribe from these updates, please click here.