Empire: Boo Boo Kitty’s Season 4 Downfall Was Epic

After committing all kinds of transgressions, Boo Boo Kitty finally got her just deserts in the fourth season of Empire and her downfall was of epic proportions. Like most of the characters on Empire, Anika Calhoun – or Boo Boo Kitty as Cookie Lyon likes to call her – did a lot of awful things during her four-season run. Played by Grace Byers, Boo Boo Kitty started the show as the head of A&R for Empire Entertainment and Lucious Lyon’s girlfriend and fiancée.

After discovering that Lucious was cheating on her with his ex-wife Cookie, Boo Boo Kitty began plotting with Billy Beretti – the CEO of rival label Creedmoor Records and long-time enemy of Lucious – to steal Empire Entertainment’s talent. By the end of Empire’s first season, Boo Boo Kitty was sleeping with her ex-future stepson Hakeem and plotting yet another hostile takeover of Empire Entertainment with the help of Hakeem, Cookie, and Andre.

Anika’s actions could be explained away as a case of hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, but Boo Boo Kitty really amped up the diabolical behavior in the second and third seasons of Empire. After discovering she was pregnant with Hakeem’s baby and realizing the perks of having a Lyon heir, she decided the best course of action was to push Andre’s heavily pregnant wife Rhonda down a flight of stairs which resulted in a miscarriage and, thus, no rival heir to Anika’s baby. Boo Boo Kitty later killed Rhonda by pushing her off a balcony and by season 3 was an accessory to her own daughter Bella’s kidnapping.

By Empire season 4, the stage was well and truly set for Boo Boo Kitty’s downfall with her starting the season in jail framed for the murder of FBI agent and Lucious’ half-brother Tariq Cousins. Although she got out briefly and won custody of her daughter, she was soon forced to hand her over to Hakeem who threatened to expose her part in Bella’s kidnapping.

In a ‘will she ever learn’ moment, Anika once again plotted to bring down the Lyon family and takeover Empire Entertainment with the help of Eddie Barker. Her plans were foiled in Empire’s season 4 finale, however, in which her downfall was cemented quite literally. When a vengeful Andre drugged her, Anika got spooked by hallucinations of Rhonda and fell off a balcony to her death in a poetic bit of justice that mirrored Rhonda’s murder and ended Boo Boo Kitty’s time on Empire.