*spoilers ahead*
The first season finale of Empire opens with Lucious fretting about his ALS symptoms and a particularly bad case of writer’s block prior to his celebration concert for Empire Records’ IPO launch. Auditioning for the show is guest star Rita Ora, who only has a few moments of screen time, but I guess that’s still preferable to however she got trapped into doing Fifty Shades Of Grey.
While Malcolm and Cookie enjoy some steamy time by the fireplace in a log cabin, Hakeem is understandably miffed with his dad for trying to buy off Camilla, and makes his intent publically known to sign with a new label- which Lucious probably could have taken better. When Snoop Dogg can’t diffuse the situation, you know it’s getting out of hand.
The Lyon patriarch isn’t happy to discover Malcolm and Cookie’s little romp and bars her from the building in a rage, also blocking her from the company board via lack of authorization. Malcolm wants her to join him as he takes a new security job, but Cookie only has eyes for Empire. Meanwhile, Andre’s fallen head over heels for his therapist Michelle and he takes an interest in her faith, leaving Jamal as the one brother willing to work with Lucious. He takes his father by their childhood home in the hopes of sparking their creative juices, leading to a pretty cool jam session. Lucious then uses their newfound bond to convince Jamal to get the rights of his old songs from Beretti, which Jamal does by re-enacting that hip-hop legend. Yeah, that one. In the words of Kanye, “It’s bout to be a Suge ‘night!”
Later, Lucious is informed that his ALS was likely misdiagnosed, and that he in fact is not on borrowed time- though his actual ailment does require a medication that causes lucid dreaming. When Cookie marches into his bedroom to complain about his actions, a hallucinating Lucious confesses to the murder of Bunky and his more selfish intent for the concert, among other things. Cookie fights off the urge to smother him with a pillow, but the next morning after Lucious hands out various gifts and promises to the boys, he shows everyone the security footage, exposes and then fires her.
While the brothers try to figure out Lucious’s intent and their album release dates, the feds pressure Cookie to nail Lucious for Bunky’s murder, but she can’t bring herself to be a rat (and I also suspect she might be a little addicted to the drama) and she refuses. She’s initially even less willing to work with Anika to wrestle Empire away from Lucious, as Anika finds out the hard way, but the brothers change her mind and they all meet with investor “Tricky” Tritcher, who is willing to help buy Empire if Lucious can be removed via a scandal.
Meanwhile, Jamal has his hands full with homophobic rapper Black Rambo, who isn’t pleased with a gay man running his label on top of possibly having to perform with one. Jamal handily takes him down in a rap battle, or technically a rap/sing-off. Vernon then opens up to Cookie and the others about Bunky’s death in a attempt to reunite the family, but his encounter with Andre only results in a wild brawl, which Rhonda breaks up by braining Vernon with a candlestick and killing the best witness for the Bunky case.
So the big night arrives, and Lucious, having charmed Michelle onto his label, hits the button to take Empire public at long last. Sadly he doesn’t get the chance to savor it, as the FBI makes their move and arrests Lucious for murder before he can hit the stage. As the stock falls, the brothers put on a passionate show anyway, hoping to finally steer their company in a positive direction.
Nevertheless, Lucious vows revenge from his prison cell while also teasing Season Two, and I don’t know about you but with how much fun this finale was, it’s going to be a tough wait for me.
Odds and Ends
- Was it me, or were some parts of the score in Die But Once trying to hint at Giorgio Moroder’s Scarface soundtrack?
- Triple H should maybe think about signing Cookie up to NXT, because that girl can throw down.
- A big reason Tritcher wants to help buy Empire is to get his aspiring rapper son a record deal, and whoo lord does he suck. How bad is he? Well, remember that time Rodney Dangerfield tried to rap? This dude makes Rodney sound like Kendrick Lamar.
Again, if you want to talk Empire or just whatever, write me at jrseals1@gmail.com or visit me on https://twitter.com/radioclash5150!