S02.E18: Past Is Prologue

[Cruella]

Goddammit, they stole cliffhanger from Dynasty. And by the time of that cliffhanger Dynasty was crap nobody took seriously (not that people ever did, but the fall was steep all the same). I guess it's fitting since this show is Dynasty on steroids. Even though I like Ronda and don't want her to die, I still laughed at the fight. Where's the lily pond when you need it. Oh, and OMG Blake has black sibling! I guess they didn't want to give him shockingly white sibling (which would be total Dynasty reversal) and instead gave him shockingly law-abiding FED sibling.

Cookie looked shitty at the wedding. But that bold chick was very stylish.

[Tara Ariano]

In case you missed it, here's the Previously.TV post on the episode!

It's Not That Nice A Day For An Empire Wedding

On this show, there's always further to fall.

[gazebo]

I was kind of disappointed that they resolved the cliffhanger of Grandma Leah blabbing out who she is almost immediately.  I wish they had shown the scene where Thirsty comes by and drags Leah off in front of all those paparazzi.  And what kind of tale did Thirsty spin to the reporters?  "Oh, she's a friend of the family and she has dementia.  Don't believe anything she says.....".  I felt like Show missed a good scene there.

So Anika did push Rhonda!  I was hoping that it would be more of a good twist, but I must say, it did surprised me that Anika did push Rhonda after all.  I liked the ending where both women fight it out and it looks like they both will be falling off the balcony.  I predict that Rhonda is going to get killed, not Anika.  Anika is carrying a Lyon baby so writers may not want to kill her off.....yet, anyway.

I'm so glad that Laura decided not to marry Hakeem.  I can't see a nice young woman like that surviving in a family as corrupt as the Lyon family.  Laura looked fabulous in that beautiful old fashioned lace wedding ball gown.  Oh well, bye Laura.  I'm sure you will meet someone a lot better than Hakeem.

So Tarique is the half brother of Lucious?  How incredibly soapy!  I think Tarique would make an interesting nemesis for Lucious.  And even though Tarique is a FED, I don't believe he's a good guy at all.

Poor Cookie!  I hope she'll find a way to kick Lucious and Anika's asses real soon for what they did to her!

[Kendall]

Well, I'm not happy that Anika shoved Rhonda, though I did already know that was where they were going with it. I think I fumed then, so no need to do it again with the confirmation. I am thrilled that they finally found a way to drag her back into the main stories as I truly missed her and thought she was being wasted.

I think it would've been a lot better if she had slept with Andre, got pregnant and Rhonda didn't know, well I guess until she was ready to toss Anika over the side of a building.

I really don't blame Andre for refusing to believe Rhonda. She practically put him back in the psych ward when he was trying to tell her that he didn't believe her fall was random. She was the one that made him think he was losing it again, so for her to switch it up ... no way was he going to let those thoughts consume him again. He almost lost his marriage earlier this season because he began to lose it.

Now, y'all know Cookie, as great as she is in any other lane of life, is also in stuck in time where she might as well be a 20 year old girl who ties her self-worth to whether the boy she likes, likes her. Anika's got her goat because she believes that Anika almost had Lucious. She'll never get past that.

Jamal is one of the flakiest, "deep" dudes you'll ever come across. It doesn't take much to get him into bed and even after you do him dirty, you can still do him. What is D Major doing back at his house? Especially since he now knows that he's just another in a long line and he's not even a secret, since half the industry knows about D Major.

[jhlipton]

19 hours ago, Kendall said:

She practically put him back in the psych ward when he was trying to tell her that he didn't believe her fall was random.

Yes, but his next words were that it was part of "God's plan".  So he wasn't saying she was pushed (except by God), and certainly didn't think Anika did it.  So it's not quite the same when she starts to believe Boo Boo Kitty killed her child, and nearly killed her.

[Kendall]

No, he said that he was having visions that her fall wasn't an accident and she poo poohed him and didn't want to hear it. I believe he initially said the loss of the baby was "God's plan," which if you are a Christian, you would say as you believe that your life is in God's hands.

Nevertheless, when he was trying to tell her that it wasn't random, she didn't want to hear and told him to get his meds recalibrated.

[wanderingstar]

Quote

I was kind of disappointed that they resolved the cliffhanger of Grandma Leah blabbing out who she is almost immediately.  I wish they had shown the scene where Thirsty comes by and drags Leah off in front of all those paparazzi.  And what kind of tale did Thirsty spin to the reporters?  "Oh, she's a friend of the family and she has dementia.  Don't believe anything she says.....".  I felt like Show missed a good scene there.

I sometimes wonder if scenes like this end up on the cutting room floor.

Quote

What is D Major doing back at his house? 

I wish I knew. Jamal deserves better than the trifling D Major.

[Eolivet]

This was a great finale. Soapy and shocking, with most major characters getting a chance to shine. Similar to others, I hope Anika survived, as well, because she has so many more relationships with people on the show than Rhonda does. I also think if we're going by the old showrunner trick of shoving someone into the background before they're about to die, Rhonda fulfills that in the latter half of the season better than Anika does.

I had to laugh a little, because the ASAs was beginning to remind me of the episodes of Glee where they would sing about 10 songs, and say they were going to sing them at a competition, only to sing something entirely different once they got there. Who'd have thought the ASAs would become this show's Sectionals?

However, I think this show could benefit greatly from a shorter season. You could see how some of the plot threads were set up in the beginning and woven throughout (Lucious and Freda, for example -- and to a lesser extent, Anika and Rhonda). But there were some that just seem like treading water. Does anyone remember when Jamal was CEO of Empire -- that was five CEOs ago! And Lyon Dynasty? And Hakeem trying to be a producer/mogul (I guess just to set up meeting Laura)? Remember when he was kidnapped? LOL, good times (kidding).

Don't get me wrong -- I think this is a great show, with some seriously talented actors, and I loved about 50% (maybe slightly more) of what they did this season. I'm just hoping for slightly more consistency (and slightly longer plot arcs) in the fall. But I'll be there. Have to find out the winner of the #FatalDivaOff.

[Dee]

I'll never understand why fans have/had such an issue with Hakeem's kidnapping. It was never meant to be a multiple episode arc, unlike say, the ASA's, Nana Leah's return from the "dead", or Andre & Rhonda's marital issues.

[jhlipton]

On 5/29/2016 at 0:23 AM, Dee said:

I'll never understand why fans have/had such an issue with Hakeem's kidnapping. It was never meant to be a multiple episode arc, unlike say, the ASA's, Nana Leah's return from the "dead", or Andre & Rhonda's marital issues.

It just didn't have much impact, or effect on Hakeem.

[Syndicate]

What's folks problem with D Major? Is he too cute and sexy for Jamal? If so, SORRY, but that's a big plus for me personally. D Major has closeted issues but I thought Michael was a worse boyfriend to Jamal than D Major.

[DollEyes]

My problem with D Major is that he's a closet case and I've seen enough TV shows to know that 9 times out of 10 those relationships end badly. Michael wasn't "perfect," but at least he never treated Jamal like a dirty little secret, either. Jamal deserves to be with an out and proud man who truly loves him, not one who thinks he's something to be ashamed of. In other words, Jamal needs someone who is good, not just looks good. 

Edited June 5, 2016 by DollEyes

[Syndicate]

8 minutes ago, DollEyes said:

My problem with D Major is that he's a closet case and I've seen enough TV shows to know that 9 times out of 10 those relationships end badly. Michael wasn't "perfect," but at least he never treated Jamal like a dirty little secret, either. Jamal deserves to be with an out and proud man who truly loves him, not one who thinks he's something to be ashamed of. In other words, Jamal needs someone who is good, not just looks good.

Michael sucked other men's dicks practically right before Jamal's eyes and was nothing but a "hanger-on." He had no life and he clearly resented Jamal's success in the music biz. D Major is part of the music biz so I'm satisfied with that. He just needs help coming out of the closet. I feel like I can count on Jamal to help him do that at some point.

[DollEyes]

True, Michael made a big mistake with the skeevy photographer guy, but he wasn't just a "hanger-on." Michael didn't resent Jamal's success, just that it changed him for the worst, which, at one point, it did. D Major may be involved in the business, but that doesn't make him right for Jamal anymore than Michael was. D Major may have helped Jamal get back on track musically, but as long as he stays in the closet, I won't trust him. Jamal may encourage D Major to come out eventually, but the decision is D Major's to make and until he does-if he does- he's just not good enough for Jamal, as far as I'm concerned. 

  Right now, the best relationship in Jamal's life is with Freda, before and after the shooting, so I'm glad that Jamal forgave her because he knows that she didn't mean to hurt him, unlike Lucius, who wished him dead. As for Lucius' paying for Freda's defense, given that Lucius had her psycho father killed and started all that shit in the first place, that's the least he could have done, as far as I'm concerned.

Edited June 5, 2016 by DollEyes