[S04.E04: Bleeding War]

On October 19, 2017 at 8:29 PM, Margohill said:

Let's be as realistic as we can.

Not true. Lucious the grand master of the Lyons who was so happy about Rhonda's pregnancy and expecting a grandchild, KNEW that Anika had pushed Rhonda down the stairs and killed that grandbaby. Did he seek revenge? NO. What he did was, he took her in and was sleeping with her. Made no sense.

If we have to actually acknowledge actual human feelings, Rhonda fought Anika because she wanted to avenge her child's death just as ANY OTHER MOTHER would do especially since not a single person believed her that Anika was the babykiller. 

Rhonda is canonized in death because THE WRITING made it so. Her baby's death was tragic, her death was tragic and none of the deaths have been avenged. People can't help themselves but feel sorry for Rhonda especially watching Anika strutting her stuff around and barking orders as if she was clean. Anika is the worst for being a baby-killer. 

How in the world can you reward someone who kills your grandbaby, just how?? And to bring her back into the family with Andre the victim watching all this?? How is anyone expected to feel when their family welcomes back into their home the person responsible for killing their baby and their wife? As someone mentioned above, Mrs. Dubois is running around trying to make the Lyons pay dearly just simply because Cookie dumped her son and the Lyons can't avenge the killing of their own grandchild? The way the Lyons ganged up together to face the Dubois when Bella was taken from their care, it would have made more sense if they had reacted even worse to the killing of their grandchild. Again it makes no sense.

Hakeem was extremely irresponsible when he got Anika pregnant and Anika should have known better. No surprise that he didn't care to patch things up with her. He never loved her in the first place.

She threatened to snitch but she had no proof. Thirsty can take care of any problem. He could have found a way to shut her down if he wanted to just as he found a way to get Lucious out of jail and shut down the case against Anika. Another flaw in the writing.

IMO it seems more like a case of "BIASED WRITING" because there is no reason why the story couldn't have gone in a more realistic and believable way. After-all, the writers write what they want and we the viewers see what we see. All we can do is express what we take from the story. That's all.

Again it's JMHO.

I agree with what you are saying, but if you remember in Season 2, Hakeem had just escaped from that van after he was kidnapped, and yes, I agree that he was extremely irresponsible when he got her pregnant, but you also have to remember that he wasn't thinking clearly either, because he had just been kidnapped. And I definitely agree that Anika should have known better, and we also have to remember that Bella came along out of desperation for both of them. 

 

If you look at episode six in Season 2, Anika was talking to her mother about having no one and she said that she wouldn't be fine, and Hakeem was waiting for her, and if Anika really thought about it, if she felt like she had no one and nothing, than it would have made more sense if she went home to her parents, but she wasn't thinking about that. After telling the family and a very surprised Hakeem that she was pregnant, she told them that she wanted to make amends, and in Season 3, she wanted Cookie to take care of Bella in case she had to go into the Witness Protection Program, and then she goes to the Dubois family and has deliberately handed Bella over to them, and when they have lunch, she cries profusely after her daughter has been in the care of the Dubois family, and she wanted people to believe that she had no idea where her daughter was, when she knew all along? And Hakeem ended up following her, he knew she was being stupid and she cannot be trusted, when this plan has been manipulated by her all along.

[S04.E04: Bleeding War]

6 hours ago, Margohill said:

This episode had it's highs and lows for me but it was OK albeit painful at times.

THE GOOD

Cookie's flash backs of her time in jail were compelling and sad to see how much she sacrificed for her family to make them better which makes it more upsetting how Lucious can have amnesia and forget about all this.

The 20 for 20 was a riot and Cookie handled it like a boss. Tiana was hot, hot, hot, and Lucious's compassionate and tender attitude towards the contestant was quite bizarre and good but coming from the Lucious that we've always known, it felt very strange. It's amazing how he could sense pain and hurt in people quite distinctly. 

The Prince tribute was good and everyone was on point in their customes. I thought Bella, Cookie and Jamal really nailed the prince look. However, I think it was just not fitting for a 1 year old birthday party. They could have tied this tribute to another event not a 1 year old birthday party JMHO. I just felt Bella could have been much happier jumping around at a "Chuck-e-cheeses" with her little friends LOL!!!

THE BAD 

Lucious's amnesia seems to be dragging on and people are really starting to miss the old Lucious Lyon. Please hurry up Lucious and get your memory back.

As someone said above, people like Becky, Porsha and Thirsty should have been told about Lucious's amnesia. These are people who have been very close to him and would have done everything to protect him. Becky especially was one of the first people who discovered in S1 that Lucious was getting treatment for ALS and kept it secret. She should have been told about this. Now they will probably find out from the press. Too bad.

What is that nurse still doing around Lucious? Demi Moore is killing the ratings for this show. Notice how last week the ratings were up when Felicia Rashad was on and she was off? Someone needs to get rid of her storyline. So far, it has added nothing. JMHO

THE UGLY

Andre I agree has been treated badly by the Lyons while Anika has not paid for her crimes and I will elaborate on this. Anyone can argue all they want but there is a difference between how the audience views the story as it plays out and what the writers THINK they are portraying.

I can't believe for one thing that the Lyons are off partying away without remembering that it was the anniversary of the loss of Andre's wife after the loss of his baby. Andre had to remind them. THAT WAS COLD.

Anyone can blame Andre for trying to kill his father all they want but if you watch your father sleep with your wife's and baby's killer without a care in the world, I would want to kill my father too. Human feelings can never be underestimated.

Some can say the family has shown sympathy to Andre but AS A VIEWER, that is not what I have seen. They have shown some sympathy here and there, but they were not there for him when his wife and baby died and still don't seem to care about the loss he has suffered as a family member. This is not meant as a criticism but simply what I as the viewer has taken away from this show.

I think the storyline with Anika killing both Rhonda and her baby and gotten away with it has disillusioned a lot of fans and made Anika some sort of a turn-off for a lot of people.

Rhonda killing their uncle was ACCIDENTAL because she was trying to save her husband from being strangled to death. Anika killing their baby was CAREFULLY PLANNED AND WELL ORCHESTRATED and she got away with it.

Anika asking for sole custody was plain ridiculous. After all she has done, where does she get the audacity to ask for sole custody? Does she even remember that she killed another woman's baby?

At the end of the day, we can all argue and take sides but what the viewer perceives from the story that plays out CAN NEVER be changed by what someone else THINKS it should be seen as. The story plays out, we watch and take away from it what we see. We can either like it or not but IT IS WHAT IT IS.

I think Andre continues to be treated badly by his family and I was touched when he went off on them and he had EVERY RIGHT to do so.

There......I spoke my mind but it's JMHO.

I definitely agree with everything you said in the post especially about the ugly. I agree with everything you said about Anika. She has some nerve asking for sole custody of their daughter and Hakeem deserves to have custody of her. She has left a sour taste in my mouth since Season 2, and she has greatly annoyed me since Season 1, save for Hakeem as well. She does not deserve custody of their daughter, but Hakeem definitely does.

[S04.E03: Evil Manners]

On October 17, 2017 at 6:21 PM, Margohill said:

Talking about Empire since I don't watch Star. I tried but it doesn't interest me much.

I agree that it's great when the guests are tough foes to the Lyons or are connected to them or are great musical guests, it helps the show. However, the role "Claudia" plays does not fit any if these and when she's on, she tends to suck up much of the screen-time from other cast members like Thirsty, Becky, Portia and Tiana who unfortunately always seem to be sidelined by a lot of these guest stars. Claudia does not seem to be bringing any new fans to the show so far unless a diabolical plot to her storyline unfolds which shakes up the show in a good way????? 

I wonder about that since as far as I can remember, Lucious was the one who got extremely giddy and excited when he found out that Rhonda was pregnant. He even rubbed her pregnant belly once and bought them a huge mansion with lots of perks and luxurious stuff. Rhonda even told Anika once that Lucious had opened up to her and was visiting their home often. Cookie never got quite as close to Rhonda as much as Lucious did IMO.

I agree with everything you said about the guest stars. I think she is just being what she is supposed to be as a character, and that is to help Lucious and possibly fall in love with him? But who knows if that will happen. But soon, she will go away when he regains his full and complete memory, and she won't be needed.

[S04.E03: Evil Manners]

On October 11, 2017 at 6:02 PM, SimoneS said:

I love Cookie in charge of Empire. She was fun negotiating with Shine who seems okay this season unfortunately he now knows about Lucious. What kind of bodyguard is that?

Also, it is difficult to believe the banker didn’t meet Cookie and Andre in a private office much less turn down their loan.

Taraji in Cookie’s purple suit was stunning in that photoshoot. I hope she doesn’t fall for Diana’s con game. She didn’t like it when those women decided to help Cookie. I was not surprised that she was behind the bank turning down their loan request.

I hate that Jamal is being all nice to his father because you know he will turn on him once his memory comes back. I cannot believe that Jamal told the boyfriend about Lucious. What a soft touch. I miss the days that when Jamal was hard.

Lucious and Jamal’s comment about Thirsty’s suit made me bust out laughing.

I am happy that Andre is suffering. He should be. Where is Juliana? Did Andre or Shine kill her? I do like the cop. Not sure why she was stripping for Andre. He can’t get it up after all.

The Dubois family is ridiculous. Poor Angelo. Cookie put it on him and he cannot bounce back.

I can’t believe that Hakeem thinks that he should be raising Bella.

I agree with everything you said, except the last part. Who else is supposed to be raising Bella when her mother can't be trusted with anything, as far as you can throw her, and Cookie can't help raise her when she is trying to run Empire and everyone is trying to help Lucious in any way they can. Hakeem doesn't trust Anika anyway, given everything that's happened, and he shouldn't. Tiana is being very supportive of Hakeem raising his daughter while not trying to come in between Hakeem and Anika's ability to co-parent Bella. So I think Bella is in good hands with Hakeem and Tiana right now.

[S04.E04: Bleeding War]

Everything Anika has done is deplorable, and she shouldn't have custody of Bella after having killed Andre and Rhonda's son, and then Rhonda herself. She deserves absolutely nothing, and I hope Hakeem gets sole custody of their daughter.