Finally! Empire is starting to hit its stride by planting their characters’ feet firmly back into Lee Daniels’ reality and focusing on the Power Ex-Couple: Cookie and Lucious.

Cookie is spitting out her mildly racist and sexist quips in a way that only she can, calling Hakeem’s dalliance with Valentina Galindo “livin’ la vida loca” and reminding Ms. Galindo that she has to work extra hard to convince the world she is more than a sexual plaything. All of this sets us up for a huge disappointment when Cookie loses her to Lucious. The foreshadowing of Valentina’s betrayal was subtle enough for us not to see it coming so quickly but sufficient enough to make it not come out of left field. I am glad the writers have decided to stop waiting months before progressing storylines, but a little sad that we won’t get to see what Mirage à Trois (MUCH better name than Rainbow Sensation) could have become under Cookie’s Debbie Allan-esque tutelage.

Lucious is back on his “I’m a God” kick which hopefully means the same thing it did last season: he will be severely humbled in a few episodes. I also hope this season will include the facial hair on Andre’s face auto-transferring onto Lucious’ waxy mug. But back to humility – Mr. Lyon could really use a dose of it. He is busy trying to offer forgiveness to others but has yet to show an ounce of remorse for killing Bunky, sleeping with his daughter-in-law or shipping his son’s girlfriend off to the UK. He also refuses to admit that Lyon Dynasty is a real threat because Cookie is Musical Midas.

The show also did a great job of setting up some new avenues for the plot to explore and fleshing out some new characters. Thirsty the Sleazy Lawyer lightens Lucious up to a silly level of evil, not the disgusting level that had him telling a man he was going to have his with his daughter right before having him killed. Speaking of which, I cannot wait to hear more music from Freda! Her raw talent is just what the show needs.

Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down

More musical guest stars: Up! I love Pitbull, and Timbaland is everything when it comes to this show’s music.
Cookie’s lipstick shades: Down. She is gorgeous and it takes effort to find something that doesn’t complement her skin.
Latin artists getting attention: Way up!
Lucious vs. Andre: DOWN. I need fewer flashbacks and have heard the word “Pop”enough for a lifetime.

WTF Moment of the Night

How on Earth did Valentina and Lucious write a produce a new song for her to perform for Sway in less than a day?

Final Grade: B+

Follow me on Twitter: @StopSignGirl

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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