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Empire Is Back, but Do We Still Care?
It’s been three months since the midseason finale of Empire, which returns Wednesday. The show’s sophomore season hasn’t lived up to the juicy, sudsy, must-watch fun of the first season. The storytelling was rushed, the music wasn’t as good, there was too much weak stunt casting and a focus on dull, new characters. (Sorry, Laura.)…
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A Force to Be Reckoned With
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, people of color were outnumbered by green characters, and the only important woman wound up a love slave. The latest sequel in the Star Wars franchise, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, released in the U.S. Friday, is light-years ahead in terms of cultural realism, and…
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Empire Recap: The Son Also Rises
It’s the fall finale for Empire. The first half of season 2 was hit or miss, so last night was the show’s chance to give us something to look forward to until Empire returns in March. There were a couple of surprises that should keep us hanging on. For Lucious, this episode was “You win…
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Empire Recap: He Kissed a Girl and He Liked It
This was a fun episode. We get to focus on Cookie, and everyone had something to do, especially Jamal. His story is going to get folks talking. Let’s go! Carol is missing and getting high. Cookie and her bougie sister, Candace, take to the gritty streets of Philly in their conspicuous designer outfits to locate…
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Empire Recap: Hakeem, No Lyon
This episode of Empire, “My Bad Parts,” was silly and soapy. Thank God! The Lyons behaved like the fun season 1 family: dysfunctional but in a charming way. Lucious and his interminable Gutter Life storyline were not the focus. Lucious works better as part of the ensemble. Taraji P. Henson got to show off her…
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Empire Recap: Mama’s Gun
We get a lot of history about Lucious’ childhood trauma in this episode. Lucious has taken on such a villainous role that the show may be trying to redeem him by explaining what made him this way. Lucious is so unlikable that he’s past the point of no return in my eyes, but his tale…
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Empire Recap: Rush Hour
It’s the episode we’ve all been waiting for. In the final seconds of the last one, Hakeem got snatched off the street. Those previews were tense, huh? And thanks to the World Series, we had to wait two whole weeks. It’s gonna be a nail-biter; let’s go! At the Lyons’-den studio, Cookie is salty because…
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Empire Recap: Heaven Help Us
Andre says that God is speaking to him. Will God have a chat with the writers and tell them to come up with a cohesive plot? The episode bounced all over the place and tried to pack in so many OMG moments that it turned into a lot of WTF. Here’s the breakdown: It’s official:…
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Has Empire Jumped the Shark?
What is going on with Empire this season? Last year’s glorious guilty pleasure left things on a high note but came back flat. It shouldn’t have. Not when the finale set the stage for the next chapter: After a season-long competition to determine which of Cookie and Lucious’ sons would be heir apparent to the…
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Empire Recap: Into the Woods
Jamal can’t give an interview in peace. Cookie burst into the last one to rant and rave; now he’s pulled away from an interview for a Rolling Stone cover story. FBI agents have raided the Empire headquarters and ransacked Lucious’ office. At the little Lyon Dynasty studio, Hakeem is determined to rebuild a girl group…
