

- #Empire season 2 episode 1 ddot full
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I felt as many conflicted feelings - astonishment, horror, glee, awkwardness - at the sight of Cookie Lyon (Taraji P. Her pointless, joyous repartee with Bravo star Miss Lawrence over the works of gospel singer Donnie McClurken (another in a long line of odd choices this week) was one of the best byways the premiere wandered down. Gabourey Sidibe's Becky (Hakeem: "What type of black girl named Becky?") would have been a one-liner spouting footnote on any other show (Becky: "He's crude, you're rude, and you're both socially unacceptable.") I think she's still wasted here, but amid this particular cast of characters she's allowed to be a more rewarding kind of random. Nobody is a saint on this show - even Lucious' redeemed gay middle son Jamal (Jussie Smollet, ever a joy) has picked up some of the hereditary Lyon asshole gene with his added responsibilities as Empire's new CEO. It so energizing and encouraging to see this show's commitment to giving bad, weird fun to every single character, no matter their walk of life. You could cluck at this as rampant social irresponsibility - huge swaths of America still believe that Mike Brown and Eric Garner had it coming, why give them ammunition, even fictional? Or you could find a deviant thrill in the show's overt refusal to give into the reverence and sobriety expected of black narratives. The Lyons are literally appropriating #BlackLivesMatter.

#Empire season 2 episode 1 ddot series
Yes, series creator Lee Daniels folded the most fundamental, still-fought movement of the 2015 black experience via an imposter plot point.
#Empire season 2 episode 1 ddot full
But there's nothing victorious or righteous about this scene, it's been staged by his family / staff who are in full knowledge that he is guilty as hell of the murder of Marcus "Bunkie" Williams. On last night's season premiere, we opened on a Black Lives Matter rally in support of incarcerated Empire Records patriarch Lucious Lyon (Terrence Howard). Jamal has picked up the Lyon asshole geneĮmpire's very existence is inescapably political, but mostly because of its how apolitical its week-to-week dealings are. There's no more novelty in watching old money fecklessly burn cash and crush the lower classes - not that there ever was, but now it's worn out in fiction as well as reality.

If the point of this subgenre is to stare unflinchingly into the dark moral abyss of capitalism, while also indulging vicariously in its thrills and pleasures, nothing is going to beat the thrills and pleasures of the Lyon family, least of all another show in which a white man in a suit is pulling the strings. You cannot make another show about devious human beings after Empire. I look forward to its cancellation in November.
#Empire season 2 episode 1 ddot tv
What I gather is that it's a show about Devious Whites, a longstanding and important TV subgenre that's been flourishing since the Hummers n' Hiltons mid-aughts. But I'm guessing that the "blood" in the title doesn't refer to a side hustle of blood drives for war-torn disaster zones. There's a poster for it at my subway stop. I mean, I don't know exactly what they do I have not seen a single second of this show. It's about some rich American people, maybe a family, involved in the oil business. There's some show called Blood and Oil premiering this weekend on some TV channel.

We welcome your additional reflections in the comments. This is not a recap series we are merely drawing inspiration from each subsequent episode. Every week we will publish a new writing, study, or reflection on this, the best of all possible shows. Guest stars for Season 3 include Eva Longoria, Demi Moore, Rumer Willis, and Mariah Carey.The Post-Empire Literary Society is a group of Verge writers devoted to the excavation, appreciation, and analysis of the Fox television show Empire. Joining them are Kaitlin Doubleday as Rhonda Lyon, Grace Byers as Anika Lyon, Andre Royo as Thirsty Rawlings, Leslie Uggams as Leah Walker, Phylicia Rashad as Diana DuBois, and Taye Diggs as Angelo DuBois. Henson as Cookie Lyon, Trai Byers as Andre Lyon, Jussie Smollett as Jamal Lyon, and Bryshere Y. "Empire" stars Terrence Howard as Lucious Lyon, Taraji P. The Lyons' unity is tested further when the DuBois clan goes to war against them. Hakeem attempts to turn a new leaf out of a desire to be taken seriously after wreaking havoc at his own party. Lucious and Cookie start a new feud over the direction of Empire, and their jealousy over each other's new lovers only adds fuel to the fire. Rhonda's fate is revealed following the previous season's cliffhanger ending, while Jamal develops PTSD and struggles to make music after his ordeal.
