Empire: Discussion Thread

[marceline]

I was listening to the song Rita Ora sang in the finale. I didn't realize that her partner in that duet, Charles Hamilton, nearly lost his career due to his bipolar disorder. Apparently his appearance on Empire is being considered part of his comeback. Now that's the kind of stunt casting I can get behind.

(Sorry if this is common knowledge but I don't really pay much attention to pop music anymore. It just all seems to be autotuning and Twitter beefs.)

[MoTheGreat]

I believe that Bunkie the only one who should have been killed this season. Next season should have been Vernon. I still needed information about how close Bunkie & Cookie would have been when she got out of jail. It seem like he was going to keep an eye on Lucious for Cookie.

Don't get me started on Power, I like it but after that guy cheated his wife. & his wife just wanted to be married to a drug lord, when he wanted legal money. I just stop watching that show.

[marceline]

I've never watched Power but I plan to give it a shot. I just continue to be amazed at the different ways people have tried jumping on the Empire bandwagon. A number of bars and restaurants here threw Empire parties. I was at the mall and saw an animal print dress at one store that had some ham-fisted little sign about "Rock your own Empire look." It clearly wasn't something licensed by Fox so I suspect they'll be getting a cease-and-desist letter any day now. LOL!

As for the rival family concept, I think that it's important for there to be external threats to the family in addition to their internal chaos. IMO, soap families need an excuse to drop their drama and come together just like we saw when Anika jumped ship. Whether or not that's in the form of a biological family or Creedmoor Records as the rival company doesn't matter to me and Lord knows I have no interest in the cliche star crossed lovers from two different families cliche but without an external force to fight against they're basically just a group of people who screw each other over time and time again while Lucious decides on a daily basis whether or not to be a bigot.

[MoTheGreat]

Only if Power give that man wife something else to do. Maybe go to college to manger all his business or become a lawyer. Just do something beside wanting to be married to a drug lord.

Make me think that what 50 cent think of his first kid mother. All she want to be with somebody who sell drugs.

[Eric83]

Like Empire, Power did have a short first season and didn't know if they would be canceled. Now they have a little more breathing room I am very hopeful that they will expand the characters more in Season 2. Tasha was starting to get a little more backbone towards the end of the season and I hope it continues. They already said FOX told them to kill someone off in the finale. The two finale episodes were the only ones to be shot after the show premiered. FOX probably wanted someone to die to "break the Internet" and create buzz. Maybe that's why there was so many rumors of Cookie killing Anika by accident. (I'm glad that didn't happen)

[ChitHappens]

Jillian ‏@jillianbowe 50s51 seconds ago

So after all the #'s came in, #Empire's season finale brought home 21.1 MILLION and 8.7 in demos.

[Eric83]

Highest rated finale for a freshman drama since Grey's Anatomy (9.8 in 2005)

[Toups]

Those are Live+3 numbers.

[KMan101]

For those who had wanted to see more of Cuba Gooding Jr.'s character, it was originally written for three episodes, but when the other actor backed out, Cuba could only do one episode so it was reworked. From his new EW interview: http://community.ew.com/2015/03/23/interview-cuba-gooding-jr/

It makes sense why that aspect felt a bit rushed and I wished more could have been played out there.

[marceline]

I hope he comes back. I liked what the character of Puma represented. He came from the same streets as Cookie and Lucious yet he made completely different choices. I liked the "what might have been" vibe he brought.

Oddly enough I was watching Chris Rock's Top Five over the weekend and both Taraji and Gabourey had cameos as themselves. Supposedly they were starring in the main character's flop of a movie. It was funny seeing them knowing how things were going to help make TV history just a few months later.

[ChitHappens]

http://www.tmz.com/2015/03/24/empire-show-name-lawsuit-record-label-fox/

[slick jones]

Guess they need some source of income

[Vee]

Top Five is a fantastic romcom. One of my favorite films of last year, and Taraji's cameo is hilarious.

I do hope they bring back Puma, as well as Elle Dallas, who I seem to recall hearing was supposed to be in most of the rest of the season initially. I love her relationship with Cookie and want more of that provided Courtney Love can appear, and honestly, Cuba can't be doing anything too important himself; they should make him a real romantic rival for Lucious for an arc, since they obviously couldn't get Derek Luke to hang around. They don't have anything left to prove except that they can continue producing quality and not have too much of a sophomore slump. (There will be a slump at some point, at least in the eyes of some - it's the nature of network TV.) They can take a breath and let things ride a bit. Especially with the new power setup at the company, which is intriguing and will hopefully stand for longer than the first two hours. Some of the comments by the showrunners suggest to me that Lucious may have to get back in touch with his Dwight Walker roots in Season 2, and I think we'll also be seeing more of Tasha Smith as Carol. I loved when Cookie went back to the neighborhood and sat on her front step with her.

[All My Shadows]

I also hope to see more of Elle and Puma. Especially Puma if it means being able to see the characters outside of the show's regular urban setting. Even without Puma, it should be a no brainer that the Lyons would have a country home somewhere out there, and it'd be awesome to see characters heading out there for rest and relaxation every now and then.

Another wish list item. It's more of a nitpick, but I want any of Lucious's original 90s hits to actually sound like 90s songs. "What the DJ Spins" is the only one from S1 that really sounded like 90s hip hop to me. His original version of "You're So Beautiful" was so lyrically contemporary, it just didn't make sense.

[marceline]

I thought it was interesting that we got to see Cookie in rural settings with Puma and Malcolm. Both settings were used to let us see a more innocent version of Cookie. The version from before she was with Lucious. We got to see her through the eyes of other men.

I see Lucious' version of a country home being the Playboy Mansion. Let's see if the show can get that as a location!