This show does best when it focuses on the family and obvious Shakespearean themes. Tonight’s episode of “Empire” was one of those rare shining moments when the music, lyrics and storyline all worked together beautifully.

Quick recap: Hakeem and his lollipops are settling into his role as CEO as the family still reels from the tragedy of Rhonda’s miscarriage. Jamal struggles to get the LGBT community back on his side after the brief disaster that was Skye-mal and Cookie is anxious to get rid of Camilla. Lucious throws a few fits before regaining his composure to deliver the best ending we’ve seen in a quite a while.

I was glad to see Rhonda continue her run toward next year’s award seasons with a flawless portrayal of an exhausted wife. You can feel every ounce of her exasperation with Andre’s visions and accusations. Also, that pastor has got to go. There’s nothing wrong with loving the Lord, but Andre obviously needs more than prayer and his cockamamie counseling.

It’s also nice that everyone outside the family was treated with equal dismissal during this episode. Thirsty finally gets knocked down a few pegs as Cookie puts him in his place. Obviously no one cares about Ti-yawn-a’s feelings as Hakeem’s new love is booked to open for her on tour right after she says that aren’t good enough to do anything at all, which is rich because her performances are better with the sound off.

Anyway, the Lyons were particularly cold tonight, and it just worked. What’s the coldest thing that Lucious has ever done? Told a man he was going to have sex with his daughter before having him killed by his own gang? Nope. Banished his son’s lover to another country during the same night he revealed he father his other son’s long lost, beloved daughter? Not even close. The absolute coldest thing he has done is to force a woman to commit suicide at gunpoint. My mouth was open during the entire scene that Lucious led Camilla way past rock bottom into an abyss where her best option is to go full Romeo & Juliet and end her life after realizing everything she loved the most – her money, power and control of Hakeem – was gone forever. I think Shakespeare would’ve been proud.

Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down

UP: The Fabulous Flip-Flop Flash Mob deserves a thumbs up, a snap and a twirl!

DOWN: Ti-yawn-a deserves to sit on a bench until someone creates a market for an X-rated Kidz Bop album.

UP: Jamal and Hakeem make beautiful music together! “Good People” is simply great music.

DOWN: Not only is Camilla a gross creature taking advantage of Hakeem’s Oedipal Complex, Naomi’s Campbell’s character didn’t throw a cell phone once despite numerous chances!

WTF Moment of the Night

Jamal made a huge deal about how Lucious Lyon changed his name, as if no one could’ve known that without him. We’ve seen the President’s birth certificate, for goodness’ sake. I can’t.

Final Grade: A-

About The Author

Stephanie Taylor

Co-Editor/Entertainment Reporter

She may be a traffic engineer by day (hence the ‘stopsigngirl’ alias), but do not let her technical skills or multiple calculators fool you. Stephanie Taylor has a way with words. She will destroy any opponent in Scrabble, and get 50 points for using all 7 of her letters in the word “destroy.” She can a-n-n-i-h-i-l-a-t-e you in a spelling bee, having competed in no less than ten as a child. She uses correct punctuation in her text messages. It’s no wonder that copy editing comes naturally to her, and she is happy to fine tune the work of other writers before it reaches TRR readers.

Proofreading is not all that Stephanie loves to do. Regular reading without the proof is just fine, and she also loves to write. In fact, Steph has been writing since the tender age of 6 when she penned her would-be bestseller Mouse in Jail. It “would be” if all literary critics were in Kindergarten. Since elementary school, Stephanie has helped publish newsletters, yearbooks, and the Arts & Entertainment section of The Rice Thresher, Rice University’s student newspaper.

Stephanie’s other gigs have included singing her heart out in the chorus of My Fair Lady in Houston, doing improv comedy in front of hundreds of people in Atlanta, and teaching A.P. English in Los Angeles. She loves to travel and have cultural adventures like tubing down a river in Ecuador, dancing in a South Asian festival, or riding a ferry from Italy for 19 hours just to get real Greek food. Cooking and Yoga are also among Stephanie’s list of favorite things to do, but she cannot do them at the same time.

This native Texan genuinely adores reporting on entertainment as much as she loves to entertain, and is looking forward to learning more about what the D.C. area has to offer and sharing that news with you.

Stephanie Taylor also likes to write about herself in the third person.

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