Admittedly, it does make for a fairly enjoyable if rather nutty stew, albeit one that requires ignoring things like, say, the plunging neckline of the ambitious prosecutor seeking to advance her career by using Lucious as her political springboard. Eventually, Cookie must visit Lucious in prison, and that exchange doesn’t disappoint. “It’s crazy how I can love your a– and hate you at the same moment,” he tells her.
“Empire” has been compared to ‘80s soaps like “Dynasty,” among others – old wine, basically, in a sleek new bottle – and the producers clearly embrace that label in a sly wrinkle that’s incorporated into these early episodes. That said, the chatter about spinoffs and other efforts to expand the franchise seem premature when the focus should be on keeping the project on the rails, creatively speaking – an escalating challenge for modern serialized dramas that chew through story at such a rapid pace.
Based on where last season ended, “Empire” looks secure commercially, at least in the near term. In addition, the writers made a shrewd move by essentially flipping the original scenario on its head – only now with Lucious serving as the outsider – allowing them to hit many of the same notes, just from different angles.
For all that, it’s still possible to admire the program as a commercial enterprise without fully buying into it as a top-tier drama creatively. And while it’s far too harsh to say the emperor has no clothes, in terms of the amount of media attention a program receives relative to its merit, it’s certainly good to be king.
Article Appeared @http://variety.com/2015/tv/columns/empire-season-2-review-preview-taraji-p-henson-terrence-howard-1201596999/