Whooo Lord! Did ya see it?
The incredible first season of “Empire” is in the books with last night’s highly entertaining and twist-laden 2-hour finale.
However, if you somehow missed it, here’s brief recap courtesy of Brian Lowry, TV columnist at Variety:
“Empire” didn’t hide its Shakespearean elements – heck, it overtly stated them from the get-go – while carefully pulling from a grab bag of serialized plots. The series has also been informed by the Shonda Rhimes school of drama, which states that the audience can embrace ridiculous moments on something like “Scandal” as long as they keep coming at a fast and furious pace.
What made the show really sing, though, has been Taraji P. Henson’s wonderfully buzz-worthy, fearless portrayal of Cookie, the ex-con who set her sights on reclaiming the musical empire built by her husband Lucious (Terrence Howard) on the back of her ill-gotten gains. That included not one but two “OMG”-calibrated sequences Wednesday (and SPOILER ALERT if you haven’t watched), in which Cookie briefly tried to hold a pillow over Lucious’ face; and later cold-cocked his ex Anika (Grace Gealey), triggering a hair-pulling, head-slamming fight.
Still, even those exchanges took a back seat to perhaps the most convenient misdiagnosis in the history of medicine – the conclusion that Lucious didn’t really have a fatal disease, but rather a more manageable illness. Consider it further proof that in TV, massive ratings really can cure just about anything.
More broadly, the finale underscored that the producers did an admirable job of casting Lucious and Cookie’s sons, whose loyalties and alliances kept shuffling through a finish that deftly positions the show for its second season — turning the tables on the Lucious-Cookie dynamic — and lays plenty of groundwork for the scheming and shenanigans to come.
Get the rest of Brian Lowry’s review at Variety.
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