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S04.E10: Birds in the Cage


SimoneS
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When Nurse Claudia kidnaps Lucious, Cookie must race against time and use the skills she learned in prison to rescue him; Andre, Jamal and Hakeem pick up the pieces from their battle with the Dubois family.

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I was so ready to hate this episode with all the Claudia stuff, but it turned out to be surprisingly emotional and grounded. I liked the parallel of Cookie's trauma in prison with Lucious' present-day torture by Claudia. I too wish Lucious had ended Claudia. I was tired of her last season.

LOVED the Porsha/Becky scenes. Ta'Rhonda has done some really good work this season.

Great Lyon brothers scene in this one, too!

Welcome back, show!

Edited by Gillian Rosh
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(edited)

Welcome back, show. I have missed your crazy ass. I wasn't surprised that they didn't have Lucious kill Donna. It would have been too much. I enjoy the homage to Misery though. I laughed my head off when Cookie and Lucious talked about the bodies between them. I really hope that Cookie doesn't get back with Lucious. He will be back to his evil self soon enough. 

Jamal, stop wallowing, seriously stop! Time to get back to making music. Jamal needs to be a player for awhile also.

Oh Becky! Maybe she'll have a miscarriage. Thirsty will never stop being a riot, warning Cookie about her anger and the baseball bat wrecking destruction.

Edited by SimoneS
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That was pretty great.

I LOVED that the show didn't pull any punches with any part of the Lucious/Cookie/Claudia trio.

Yes, Claudia is crazy as a rabid wombat but she was bang on about several aspects of Lucious & Cookie's relationship. It is toxic, severely co-dependent and majorly unhealthy for them both.

But the thing Claudia misunderstood, much like everyone else that attempts to get between those two, is that they LOVE those things about their relationship as much as they may bitch about them.

I also found it highly refreshing that both Lucious & Cookie were able to voice many very deep, hurtful truths to each other that they most likely wouldn't have otherwise. It humanized them in a manner that makes their explicit acknowledgement of their dysfunctional tendencies more understandable.

I continue to adore the Lyon Brothers together.

I loved that it was Hakeem (ever Cookie's baby) who was the one who insisted that all three of the Lyon Brothers should lean into their bond. He's certainly not perfect (far from it), but he's come a LONG way from the awful brat he was in Season One. I also loved that Jamal (Lucious son through & through) continues to wrestle with his darker impulses (great work from Jussie tonight). The rest of the family has had to confront their darksides, in various ways, now it's his turn. I also loved that despite still being incapacitated, and often feeling like the emotional outcast of the family, Andre quickly moved to comfort his grieving little brother. He's struggled for years to balance his ambition with his place as the family caretaker, and now that he's been stripped of his Lady MacBeth and in the process of confronting the worst about himself, maybe he'll finally head towards the (much needed) light.

Becky and Porsha scenes are LOVE. Ta'Rhonda Jones and Gabby Sidibe are always great.

I really liked the continued focus on female empowerment in Cookie's flashbacks. Women supporting women is the jam in 2018.

Edited by Dee
  • Love 10
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"I'm gon' ask you once and I'm gon' ask you nicely. Do I need to worry about this bitch?" I LOVE Cookie. I was surprised that they resolved the Claudia situation in one episode.

Porsha and Becky scenes were great. I know characters on TV rarely have abortions, but I think Empire could pull it off if that's what Becky decided to do.

I liked Jamal wrestling with his actions. It's true to form. He's not a killer, even if it was self-defense. Of COURSE he'd have PTSD from it.

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What the hell is going on with Taraji's face? Her foundation colours were off in every scene and she looked plastic. 

She's such a gorgeous woman with an incredibly expressive face. I was too distracted trying to figure out why the makeup team hated her so.

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Craig Brewer is a fantastic writer/director, especially when it comes to working with Terrence & Taraji.

He understands both of them as actors, and Lucious & Cookie as characters, so profoundly.

It's kind of amazing.

Edited by Dee
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Man, it feels like its been ages!  Welcome back, Empire!

Glad that they didn't drag out the kidnapping plot for too long.  Not surprised that Lucious stopped short of killing her, but I do wonder if that will give her another opportunity to try something again.  I do think Claudia had a point in her own twisted way bout how Lucious and Cookie are toxic when they are together, but there is simply something there that will never go away, and I do think they will always be drawn towards one another.  Saw that Craig Brewer directed this one, so I'm not surprised that it had a lot of great Lucious/Cookie exchanges and top notch performances from both Terrence Howard and Taraji P. Henson, because those three really seem to bring the best out of each other.

Always enjoy the Lyon brothers bonding together.  It goes back to how that even when they fight or get on each others' nerves, they'll be there for each other when the time calls for it.  I also liked that it was Hakeem who had to be the anchor since Jamal is still shaken for having to shoot Angelo, while Andre is still a mess over what happened to him.

Porsha and Becky together was nice.

Thirsty continues to be the best.

Tori/Rumer Willis really does seem to have an Amy Winehouse-style voice to her.

Can't wait to see where the rest of this season goes!  Even with Claudia locked up, I suspect there will be a lot of other obstacles and enemies the Lyons will have to deal with.

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3 hours ago, thuganomics85 said:

Man, it feels like its been ages!  Welcome back, Empire!

Glad that they didn't drag out the kidnapping plot for too long.  Not surprised that Lucious stopped short of killing her, but I do wonder if that will give her another opportunity to try something again.  I do think Claudia had a point in her own twisted way bout how Lucious and Cookie are toxic when they are together, but there is simply something there that will never go away, and I do think they will always be drawn towards one another.  Saw that Craig Brewer directed this one, so I'm not surprised that it had a lot of great Lucious/Cookie exchanges and top notch performances from both Terrence Howard and Taraji P. Henson, because those three really seem to bring the best out of each other.

Always enjoy the Lyon brothers bonding together.  It goes back to how that even when they fight or get on each others' nerves, they'll be there for each other when the time calls for it.  I also liked that it was Hakeem who had to be the anchor since Jamal is still shaken for having to shoot Angelo, while Andre is still a mess over what happened to him.

Porsha and Becky together was nice.

Thirsty continues to be the best.

Tori/Rumer Willis really does seem to have an Amy Winehouse-style voice to her.

Can't wait to see where the rest of this season goes!  Even with Claudia locked up, I suspect there will be a lot of other obstacles and enemies the Lyons will have to deal with.

I never listened to Amy Winehouse much, but it seems that all the young singers on these shows (Nashville included), are "Adeling" all over the place (Adele).  No one is original these days and I hate it.  If you're imitating someone else, you're a fake and have no original talent as far as I'm concerned.

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Welcome back Empire! Oh how I missed your classic crazy. 

Really, Cookie and Lucious are always going to be each others One, even if they are ridiculously toxic and am absolute mess who bring out the worst in each other. They also bring out the best in each other, and will always come back to each other. I kind of love that it took crazy ass Claudia acting as therapist for them to really talk about their issues, and start working things out. I mean, Claudia is actually a pretty good shrink. If you ignore her tendency to act out the hip hop version of Misery anyway. They are my favorite hot mess on the whole show. 

I loved the Hakeem and Tori song, it sounded great and Tori/Rumer really does have a great voice and presence. She has a very Amy Winehouse vibe, but her music is clearly more pop/hip hop influenced than Amy's music really got (which, yeah shes on a hip hop label, makes sense) so it gives her her own vibe. 

Love the Lyon brothers all sticking together, and Hakeems attempts at being there for his brothers. He can be kind of insensitive to things like congratulating her brother about killing a guy when he clearly not thrilled about it, but he really means well, and loves his brothers even when he doesn't really say the right thing.

Awwww Becky and Porsha were so sweet. 

Edited by tennisgurl
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I really enjoyed this episode - I won't add much except I was glad they had Lucious say outloud to Claudia that when he said he loved her, he thought she was Cookie.  Claudia's face at that moment was priceless.

I have also never screamed so loud for Cookie to kick an ass as I did during this episode.  Like SCREAMING.

Also loved how Cookie figured out Lucious was talking one way, but PLAYING another and figuring out his clue so she could come back to save them.  Also that Lucious' leg showed up to help save the day when Cookie was felled by the taser (man Claudia came to win, huh?).

I'm so happy batsh!t crazy Claudia is gone.  Now bring back the DeBois'.

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Surprised they finished up the Claudia story so quickly but considering that she wasn't killed, I guess we'll see her again fairly soon.

I did like the prison flashbacks with Cookie here too as well as Claudia's summary of Cookie and Lucious's relationship.

Nice scenes with Becky/Porscha and Hakeem/Jamal/Andre this week.

Not a lot of standout music this episode but I did like the Tori/Hakeem duet, 7/10

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