wanderingstar March 23, 2015 Share March 23, 2015 (edited) Speaking of Mad Men, Grantland's Dave Schilling asks "Is Lucious Lyon the Black Don Draper?" I made the Don Draper association as soon as Lucious revealed his real name is Dwight Walker. I even thought the name was Danny Strong's nod to Don Draper's real name, Dick Whitman (Strong had a small role on MM a few years ago). ETA: susannot, I too adored the montage, and in particular Jamal and Ryan having a tryst on Lucious' desk. Oh, these Lyon cubs never tire of finding ways to get back at their daddy. Ha! Edited March 23, 2015 by Gillian Rosh 3 Link to comment
tennisgurl March 23, 2015 Share March 23, 2015 Oh, these Lyon cubs never tire of finding ways to get back at their daddy. Ha! Oh those silly little Lyon cubs! Them and their massive daddy issues. It could really be the subtitle of the show. EMPIRE: DADDY ISSUES WITH A BITCHING SOUNDTRACK! God do I love this show. 4 Link to comment
GreekGeek March 23, 2015 Share March 23, 2015 Speaking of Mad Men, Grantland's Dave Schilling asks "Is Lucious Lyon the Black Don Draper?" I made the Don Draper association as soon as Lucious revealed his real name is Dwight Walker. I even thought the name was Danny Strong's nod to Don Draper's real name, Dick Whitman (Strong had a small role on MM a few years ago). I thought of Don Draper also, though it took me a moment to see the other resemblances: the alliterative fake name and the similar initials and syllables of the real name. I didn't think there was much more resemblance, since Dwight would have had to kill (or at least accidentally caused the death of) a guy actually named Lucious Lyon to be a parallel to Don. It's not strange for performers to change their names, so I don't see any major consequences for Lucious if anyone learns his real name. Still, it's nice to see a shout out to my other favorite scripted series! 1 Link to comment
ThomasAAnderson March 23, 2015 Share March 23, 2015 I don't mind the pacing of this show. I'd rather this than Nashville dragging out Deacon's cancer reveal or TGW's longest, most boring election ever or B613 God help us. All I'm suggesting is be careful what you wish for. This post was longer and incredibly funny you guys would have loved it but it disappeared :-( 5 Link to comment
TrininisaScorp March 24, 2015 Share March 24, 2015 My husband and I started watching OnDemand on Thursday and we finished the season the Sunday afternoon. My God, how did I miss this show when it was live?! It's so freaking brilliant and awesome and campy. The music is just so good. Love! Teraji has always been awesome, but she's a goddess here. The montage was pure awesome. I loved Jamal/his dude getting on on dad's desk. JHud killing the gospel song. Cookie getting ready to smother Lucious. The walk down the hall when Lucious was cuffed was also nicely done. Much of his interactions and thoughts felt very in line with it's inspiration of Lion in Winter, especially when he walked by Dre and Hakeem. That said, I found these last two episodes a bit weaker than the rest of the season (I'd binged in the past 3 days). 1 Link to comment
memememe76 March 24, 2015 Share March 24, 2015 I don't mind the pacing of this show. I'd rather this than Nashville dragging out Deacon's cancer reveal or TGW's longest, most boring election ever or B613 God help us. All I'm suggesting is be careful what you wish for. Let's also remember that Nashville's main gay character is still *in* the closet. 2 Link to comment
Eolivet March 24, 2015 Share March 24, 2015 (edited) Wow wow wow. Like others, I found the first hour stronger than the second, though both were just so compelling, I could barely look away. The shifting alliances were fabulous, love the use of Anika as ally -- and the fact that the cliched "girl fight" scene culminated in an alliance between two worthy women. And because I haven't seen it mentioned yet, I loved that completely throwaway moment when Titan wore a gladiator helmet...like an actual titan. With plot twist after plot twist, the energy of this show reminds me so much of early "Glee." Maybe that's a Fox thing or a musical thing, I don't know, but it's got that same "hurdling towards oblivion, so grab on for the ride" feel as Glee's first season (or at least the first part of the first season). It also has the same crazy high ratings and success on the charts. Plus, this show has the added benefit of a seemingly levelheaded creator (or more levelheaded, anyway) -- who could ask for more? I would love to see this show get some real Emmy (nomination) love, most especially for Henson, but I wouldn't object to a nomination thrown Howard's way, and even for Bryers. I want "Empire" to go out and take those nominations (and more than a few wins). Prove that a popular show can also be award-worthy. I want a hostile takeover of the Emmys, "Empire." You're here to get what's yours. Edited March 24, 2015 by Eolivet 3 Link to comment
damian F. March 24, 2015 Share March 24, 2015 the luscious character is loosely based on lee daniels real father. i guess hes telling us how he feels toward him basically calling him lucifer. lee daniels said his father also tossed him in the trash as a kid for wearing women shoes. he said the purpose of the show is to "blow the lid off of homophobia in the black community " Link to comment
wanderingstar March 31, 2015 Share March 31, 2015 One thing I loved about the finale was how it totally shifted the positioning of the main characters and their alliances from where they were at the start of the season. Jamal and Lucious, who were at odds for most of the season, are seemingly united against Hakeem, Cookie and Andre, an alliance I would not have predicted early in the season. Very curious to see how it all plays out in s2. Also, being a Lyon cousin (Bunky) or uncle (Vernon) is apparently hazardous to one's health! Link to comment
darkestboy April 16, 2015 Share April 16, 2015 That was awesome. I watched both episodes seperately and even still I got seriously flabbergasted by most of what happened here.Lucious going down for Bunkie's murder, not having ALS (slightly a cop out that bit), Rhonda being pregnant and accidentally killing Vernon, Jamal taking over Empire, Hakeem and Anika? Lots of crazy stuff went down in this episode.I don't know if they can keep up the momentum for the second season but there's enough stuff here to provide some strong enough plotting though.I like that Jamal has Empire for the time being but I'm mixed on Cookie, Anika, Hakeem and Andre and their whole hostile takeover stuff though.Nice scene with Jamal and Ryan on Lucious's desk as well (was it Lucious?) during the end of the first half.Good cameo appearances too, not too distracting from the main plots though I wouldn't have minded more of Patti LaBelle though. And Jamal taking down homophobic rappers too when he wasn't inspiring young people, 9/10 1 Link to comment
methodwriter85 April 18, 2015 Share April 18, 2015 (edited) My husband and I started watching OnDemand on Thursday and we finished the season the Sunday afternoon. My God, how did I miss this show when it was live?! It's so freaking brilliant and awesome and campy. The music is just so good. Love! Teraji has always been awesome, but she's a goddess here. Yeah, I bingewatched this over the past couple of days as well. The crazy pace makes it the perfect bingewatch show. It's good, campy fun. It's like a black version of what I wished the modern Dallas could have been. That catfight was great! I think I re-wound and watched it like three or four times...reminds me of what I used to think as a non-black kid at a black middle school- don't ever get in the middle of two black girls fighting! I do think it's a big cop-out that Lucious is no longer terminal, but that still don't mean the man isn't likely to end up dead. LOL. I also really liked the arc of Jamal and Andre. Jamal starts out the show not wanting the brass ring and trying to be independent, and then winds up doing the dirty work for his father to get Empire. And Andre schemes, then tries to have a moment where he wants to put it all behind him by focusing on this good Christian woman, and then it turns out she's just like the rest of them. So he goes running back to Lady Macbeth. Edited April 18, 2015 by methodwriter85 Link to comment
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