Empire: Discussion Thread

[Eric83]

[Particular]

http://www.broadwayworld.com/bwwtv/videoplay.cfm?colid=933785#.VO-XPvnF8Y0

[Juliajms]

Ah, thank you for the reminder. Some of you have such great memories when it comes to the soaps. I wish had that kind of recall.

[MoTheGreat]

http://variety.com/2015/tv/news/empire-ratings-growth-women-urban-markets-1201442207/

They mention the daylight saving time might stop the growth. Which start March 8th.

Don't know why it should stop?

[ThePrinceOfSunspear]

God that preview...Andre fitting to steal the show again. And I can't wait for months on end for this show to come back! How many episodes total will Season 1 be then?

[Cheap21]

IA. I always hated how she would only look at white men

He's obviously using her. Anika is good enough to sleep with but Lucious wasnt willing to wife her up until he could use her father to get ahead for his company. And besides, she may be biracial but she still black. Its not the same thing as Rhonda

Edited February 27, 2015 by Cheap21

[marceline]

Okay I'm just gonna say it: I think this was the weakest episode of the season. Don't get me wrong, "bad" Empire is still wild, crazy fun but something seemed really off in this episode. It felt choppy and insanely rushed.

First we see Cookie suggest the whole Legacy concept to Lucious for the first time (a scene where I could see the microphone cord on Terrance. Come on Empire, you can do better than that), next scene the family is in the studio recording the family song and the next is Lucious hiring a documentarian, then he's about to break up with Anika, oh wait, Anika knows about Lucious' deal with her dad (we certainly wouldn't have wanted to see that revelation on screen or anything), on and on and on.

The White Party could and should have been its own episode. Although I give Daniels mad kudos for having homophobe Lucious host a "white party." ​

That impromptu therapy session in the studio with Cookie, Lucious and Hakeem could've been SO powerful. ("Hakeem, tell your mother why you're mad at her.) but this episode treated it like an afterthought.

Rhonda/Andre's conflict only scratched at the potential drama of how damaging this episode was for them as a couple and as individuals.

I'm not trying to be negative. There were lots of positives: Jamal's coming out was a triumphant bit of television and exquisitely soapy. The scenes between Hakeem and Jamal - both in the church and at the apartment - felt like something out of Friday Night Lights, which is some of the highest praise I can give and Andre's playing at suicide was powerful but at the end of the day, this episode just felt overstuffed and wrong.

[NothinButAttitude]

Well we can blame CK for that. I'm sure if Davetta was in the role, things would've changed.

[Cheap21]

I get this and thats the problem with the show going so fast. They could make so much more out of it if they played all the beats by going slower

[MoTheGreat]

I always feel like they are rushing through the show. I hope when they come back from the hiatus, they slow down a little. Danny Strong gave a interview that the show is basically pro Jamal because of Lee Daniels experience from his father for being gay. I feel like we might not ever get a equal amount of parents time for Andre & Hakeem. For some reason I'll be rooting for them.

Edited February 27, 2015 by MoTheGreat

[Vee]

I don't think the show is that rushed - they just knew it had x amount of episodes and had no idea if they would get renewed when they shot all this. It was definitely a brisk episode, but I thought they serviced all of it well.

[All My Shadows]

I agree that the show is moving fast. It almost feels like they didn't expect it to be a hit and wanted to go through as much story as possible before it was cancelled. Everything is still effective and it works, but I can absolutely see parts that could have been slowed down and explored more thoroughly.

[MoTheGreat]

The lady that plays Anika was on Afterbuzz tv on youtube. & she mention that now Cookie around she have step off the sidewalk to get onto the street.

It had me thinking about next week episode, what she willing to prove to Lucious.

Edited February 27, 2015 by MoTheGreat

[ReddFoxx]

I think the show moves at adequate pace, but I agree that it was written without expectation of renewal, it has a short term series feel in a way.

[YRBB]

I turned on my Kindle to find this lovely surprise waiting for me

EMPIRE on the cover of EW magazine! :wub:

Can't wait to read this one!