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Have some tissue ready for the next episode of Empire.

We won’t give anything away, but let’s just say that episode 9, “Unto the Breach,” showcases some of the finest performances thus far from actors Bryshere Y. Gray (“Yaz”), Jussie Smollet and Trai Byers, the trio who play the sons of Lucious and Cookie Lyon.

All three are in a rare scene together. Hakeem (Gray), Jamal (Smollet) and Andre (Byers) are stuck in an elevator, where all of their emotions, childhood baggage and singing talent heat up and explode in heartbreaking fashion.

“Yeah, let me just say this…that was such a great scene,” says Smollet in an interview about this week’s episode. “It was impossible for us not to be hit emotionally by that because [Byers] just let it all go, and it really did feel like we were trying to save our brother, you know. And that’s the thing about the Lyon family, what they cannot say, they can say through music. So, you know, that’s what they did.

“And, Trai. That’s honestly one of my favorite scenes that we’ve ever done in the whole season.”

Byers also talks about the emotional elevator scene, below:

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