NEWSFLASH! Empire‘s 2nd season is rounding out it’s 5th week with some good news, their ratings slump is finally on the rise!

[FLASHBACK: RECAP: Empire Season 2, Episode 4 + Watch Full Episode (VIDEO)]

After facing 4 straight weeks of declining ratings, Fox Network’s hit series showed an increase in viewers this week. 12.3 million people tuned in this week for the fifth episode of Empire season 2, ending their 4 week ratings slump.

Looking at the night?s entertainment programs, ?Empire? averaged a 4.8 rating/15 share in adults 18-49 and 12.28 million viewers overall from 9 to 10 p.m., up a tick from last week for the show?s first week-over-week gain of the season. It was also up 4% from its fifth episode of its rookie season. ?Empire? was especially dominant in adults 18-34, where its 4.4 rating/17 share more than doubled the No. 2 program on Wednesday, ABC?s ?Modern Family? (1.9/7). (source)

Empire remains the top rated show on Wednesday night.

In case you missed it, watch Empire season 2, Episode 5 below:

VIDEO: Empire Season 2, Episode 5

Episode #5 of Empire is titled, ‘Be True’ and the Lyons are still battling each other for control. ?This week, ?Andre has found God (again) — didn’t he do that already last season with Jennifer Hudson??— anyway, Andre is set to be?baptized and he wants to have the entire family present.

Neyo and Kelly Rowland were two of the guest stars this week.

Episode 5 Synopsis:

Cookie and Anika work with Laz to throw an event to launch their company, showcase their artists, and premiere a song written by Hakeem; Jamal works on his music with Ne-Yo; Hakeem begins a relationship.

I didn’t do a recap this week because I haven’t had a chance to watch the episode, but The NYTimes compiled the following list of ‘conspiracy theories’ based on the events that occurred:

Four groundless conspiracy theories about episode five:

? Thirsty is not long for this earth. Everyone who has worked for Lucious in the capacity that he does is dead. He knows too much and he?s brash, and that is a recipe for disaster. He made formidable enemies of Andre, Hakeem and Cookie in arranging the Lyon Dynasty heist for Lucious. He?s crafty, but with enemies inside and outside Empire, how long can he last?

? Kelly Rowland?s character is alive. I feel it in my bones. These flashbacks are going to keep getting more and more vivid until we find out that Lucious has her stashed away at some wretched care facility he never visits. (Hair and makeup will have the devil?s work making Rowland look old enough to be Terrence Howard?s mother.)

? Hakeem?s new singer Laura and his old flame Tiana sure got along quickly didn?t they? Laura spurned Hakeem?s advance this week, informing him that she?s not like other girls, but what if she didn?t quite mean what we think she did?

? Is Rhonda really pregnant? Something about the way it was first announced ? right at the moment Vernon was killed ? and her expression when Andre turned down her offer for an office quickie seemed troubling. She?s been manipulating Andre to do her bidding since last season. How deep does it go?

FYI: ?Empire? is scheduled to be off next week for Game 2 of the World Series, which will be broadcast by Fox Sports, and could be off on Nov. 4th too if a seventh game is needed.

What did you think of Episode 5 of Empire’s 2nd season?