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Some of the casting was for story they already had planned and not just written for the stunt cast to make a cameo so it wasn't so bad to me. I still don't think that Chris Rock was a good choice for Frank Gathers though.

I need to watch the last 3 episodes in preparation for the new season. But I am really not all that interested. isn't that sad.

but that's what makes it so interesting. That she hasn't prayed or seemingly felt much guilt for it is what I find off. 

Is Ava the Writer/EP for this show? 

 

I love that she's giving women (especially those of color) opportunities behind the camera. 

I just watched the latest. 

What did Kerissa do to Jacob? Ruin his dreams of a pro football career? It's clearly not cheating since he askedif she had. They are way too happy.

 

Chit, you're right. Either Alexa is pregnant or she's going to sue for sexual harassment. Should be good either way. 

 

Bishop and Mavis seem to have had or still have a tendre. I like the idea of a forbidden romance of pastor who married the church girl when he really wanted the blues singing sister. The unfulfilled desires that will remain so. It's be even better is Mae plotted to get him and succeeded. 

 

That I'm far more intrigued by the romantic entanglements and a possible triangle between the senior citizens than I am with the onscreen triangle set to be played with Grace/Noah/Isabelle should tell you all you need to know about my interest in the latter 3 characters. 

 

And I don't mean to toot my own horn but I did call Jacob as Lady Mae's favorite child. 

 

I don't get Jacob either. Is he being set up for the biggest character arc/growth of the season? 

 

I also look at Grace and wonder who her father is. I hate when casting directors do this with black families. Don't get me wrong, Merle and Lynn do resemble somewhat by the forehead and facial shape but Grace just doesn't seem to fit in their family. I also assume her daughter's father is white. 

We've constantly talked about Empire going too fast, skipping beats, and not building characters. Greenleaf does the opposite and it's called boring. 

 

But I will say this, I'm find Grace uninteresting. I prefer almost every character to her. 

If Wendy isn't purposely trolling then she's too ignorant for words. I'd have more respect for her if she knew what she was doing. 

Jacob is common trope. He's a a rich boy who can't or feel he won't live up to the expectations of his father. 

 

Yes, I'm speculating on alot of this. Let's see how it plays out as relationships are fleshed out. 

Finally finished the other two episodes. It just gets better and better. My favorite thing about this show is the small nuances of black culture in the writing. Example, the senator trading on the respect from black community that he "earned during the movement".  That's a cardinal sin, to be sure! Noah and Isabel met at essence fest. But it's these small things that make this show so rich to me. It's plenty of stuff like that in the dialogue. 

 

I don't mind the kids. I do think that having Sophia so out of touch is kinda passe' now. Teens have social media. There is no way she wouldn't know certain terms and be out of step with popular culture with kids having snapchat and insta. Sure, during the 90s kids in Alabama spoke differently than those in Chicago so it was a treat to catch up with my cousins during the summer. But I think nowadays, with social media, that's kinda out the window. Bad storyline. But I think it's a set up for uncle Mack stealing one of those girls innocence and joy. I'm sure it'll be Zora. She's enjoying life way too much. Don't want!

 

I see some people wondering who is Lady Mae's favorite child. I think that's easy. She's very old school and considers motherhood a woman's most important jobs. So of course it's going to be her only son Jacob. She's pushing him to Bishop since she told bishop to make him head of the deacon board. Lady Mae doesn't like Karessa and I think it's for no other reason than she blames her for Jacob's failings. Plus she probably sees her as trying to usurp her spot as alpha female in their family. She's not going to have that. 

 

Charity and Kevin are sweet. I mean he held the stick for her drunk ass to pee on. That's intimacy. It's a shame they are making him gay. I'm invested in them. By the way, am I the only one who thought that sex was not apart of their usual routine. Like they've never had sex or rarely ever. Something about eating ice cream and watching the bachelor was off. Well, charity is surely to rise in her mother's estimation when the baby news gets out. 

Greenleaf is clearly not a Tyler Perry show. Its visuslly stunning and lush. The script was tight, dialogue crisp and rich. It was very well done. Like so many others here, I couldn't watch Haves for very long cause of dialogue and extended rambling scenes. It's horrendous.  Watching it now since Greenleaf went off and it's ridiculous. I cant! But, hey MiMi Reed. 

 

Anyway, I'm as excited about Greenleaf as I was about Empire. I see several stories developing. That nasty uncle must go. He's so slimy and them allowing his criminality to protect their image, read money, is atrocious. 

I'm intrigued by other dynamics in the family. Like why can't charity, the youngest daughter, preach? It's not cause she's a woman. Her not having a child is a clear rub for her mother.  

 

Jacob, their only son, clearly cares very little for their church or being a pastor.

 

Those kids snorting prescription medicine. O_O. 

 

The IRS looking into the church finances. 

So Lucious' mother is alive. I'm not sure how I feel about this.

 

The only decent things are:

1) pulling Anika away from obsessing about Hakeem. It was unbelievable. They've made her actions about power/money and focus  more on her relationship with Lucious. 

 

2) those looks Lucious gives Cookie...especially when she's not looking. 

 

3) Andre and the performances of Trai Byers 

I have to agree about the avtpr that plays Hakeem. Maybe if he was more mature looking I'd buy him having a harem of women. But as such, I can't imagine anyone but Princesa and Tiana fighting over him. Camilla and kitty? Never. 

exactly. Black people, in general, do not vote against LGBTQ rights.

 

I do agree that black gay men have a special journey. The entire situation is by product of the mysogyny that is rabid in this country, which some gay men are often times complicit in perpetuating. So when masculinity is defined a certain way for black men, you've got black gay men struggling to maintain their male privilege cause they dont meet the criteria. And god forbid they lose that. 

 

Every time Jamal said  "I'm a man",  what he was also saying was calling me a woman is an insult. Why is that an insult? 

I agree that black gay men have different issues than white gay men just as black women have different issues than white women. However, the different issues does not make the "black community" more homophobic. After all, its not black people standing in the door way, so to speak, attempting to deny GLBTQ entrance to equal rights and protections under the law. It ain't the "black community" galvanizing behind anti-gay laws. Its not the "black community" voting against GLBTQ best interests. So when you tell me that subculture is more homophobic, I'm wonder what you're using for a measuring stick. 

the black community? Are we still trying to perpetuate the idea that black people hold some special antipathy for gayness that other people don't?  Give me a break.

 

If anything, Jamal's fluidity story was the show runners using the character to teach/educate about sexuality. After all, the show did have very high HH share for black viewers last season when Jamal was ONLY into men and having sex onscreen. If anything, they'd stop watching over the anti-God/religion themes running through the show versus Jamal kissing boys 

Empire owns Thursday night. Their demos are twice as high as the next show. Its nowhere near being cancelled. 

what the shiggidity!? Are you sure about that? 

 

Me no likey. Lee is old enough to be Jussue's daddy. I've just never been into the May December romance.

 

 

So the episode was much better to me. As I thought, most of my problem areas were cleared up. What's still bothering me is Kitty. But from the preview, writers seem to be flipping her motivation from loneliness and wanting Hakeem to birthing an heir to gain power and interest in Empire. Now this makes more sense. However, it should have been lucious' kid. I wouldn't even mind a rewrite in this instance. 

Actually this looks far more promising to me. It has a season 1 feel to it. None of my problem areas were visible:

 

1. Not one Latino shown.

 

2. Cookie seemed toned down. They put dramatic scenes in if her instead of comedy. Hope that's a theme.

 

3.  No clip of Jamal with a love interest of any gender (cis, trans, or anywhere in between. Praise). 

 

4. Didn't see Anikka.  And that didn't bother me at all. 

 

Sadly, I have lost interest in Empire. You know its bad when last season I was the biggest fan. Mostly cause (in no particular order):

 

1. The influx of Latinos (and none being afro Latinos). Not sure whether it is networks trying to increase the share of Latino HH ratings or just show runners bowing to their complaints over lack of presence.  

 

2. Cookie becoming a cartoon. Every scene she had was OTT and played for laughs. Tone it down and let TPH be the dramatic actress that she can be.

 

3. Jamal and who he's screwing. They constantly define Jamal by his sexuality. I'd think that would take a backseat to other story for him now that he's been accepted by his father. 

 

4. Anika's story. I couldn't stomach her being so pathetic over men. Especially that kid Hakeem. They couldn't find anything else for her. She's a well educated socialite from a wealthy family. She should have connections. At least have a boarding school class mate who had a crush on her. she could marry him and he be rich enough to indulge his new bride's music industry whims. Come on. 

 

I didn't even watch the last 3 epis of this season. I doubt I'll go back to watch them and just try go pick it up in March. Maybe!?

That was one glorious hour.

I also thought Annalise would shoot herself. But it was great TV to see her try to goad each and every student into shooting her. 

I dont think Laurel has killed before, I think that she's seen her father do it though. "You've seen worse with your father". 

So I'm assuming one of Annalise's schemes caused Wes' mother to commit suicide? I'm really interested in their shared history. 

Michaela's cupcake must be mighty powerful. Caleb went from being untamable to doing everything they requested. It was such a 180. I dont think that was developed enough. 

I dont think Catherine killed the parents. She's in love with and covering for the incest offspring. 

Lucious referring to himself as a god is a part if his charm. I don't think they should change a thing about his characterization lest the !@#$%^&*] it up. He works. However there are others the writers need to work on. 

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” 

 

http://variety.com/2015/tv/news/ratings-empire-bernie-sanders-jimmy-kimmel-1201624077/

This is Empire, so I'm thinking it's possible that Rhonda aborted this kid or miscarried and told no one.

 

Glad to hear the ratings went up.