Review How Empire Changed the Game
The season finale of Empire was the equivalent of an entire season of most other shows. In other words, it was like every other night of Empire, but twice as much. Since January, the addictive music-biz drama has shot to number one with a bulletseveral bullets, reallyand it's rocketed up there by burning a tank of 100 high-octane plot, trying on stories and throwing them off like a performer changing outfits at a video shoot. So if watching one hour of Empire can be dizzying, two of them back to back, throwing out twists to set up a second season, is like an all-nighter at the club I hope you stayed hydrated. Blood was spilled, weaves were pulled, alliances were changed, and Lucious Lyon went from dying man to ALS-free jailbird all in one night. That's why it doesn't matter so much that it's hard to keep up with the subplots twists on Empire. Chances are, they'll change by the next commercial break anyway. The way Empire constantly keeps the gas pedal of its Maybach floored is what makes the ride so fun, of course it's like a show for people who find themselves checking their watches during Scandal. I don't want to oversell the similarities with Shonda Rhimes' serials, because in some ways Empire is more old-fashioned, calling back to family sagas like Dallas and Dynasty. But like Shondaland's shows, it has an aesthetic of acceleration it doesn't just go fast, it always feels like it's getting faster. Only on Empire is it not enough that Rhonda kill Vernon she must announce she's pregnant at the same time., It works so well not just because Empire is ridiculously, swaggeringly fun, but because its speed fits its subject not just the hip-hop business, but the worlds of fashion and pop culture generally. The Lyon family is in the Next Thing business why shouldn't their story always be restlessly moving on? Take Cookie and Malcolm, who consummated their flirtation, then ended it parenthetically, as he announced he was off to Washington to work in the Department of High-Level Government Job., The risk for any story moving at this speed that that the characters disintegrate under the G-forces of constant change. They swerve and shift, becoming whatever they need to be to keep us off-balanceas often happened on another one-time Fox phenom, Glee, which ends its run on Friday. There was some of this in the season finale much as I pretty much bought Jamal realizing he craved Lucious' approval, for instance, I didn't buy him suddenly becoming a guy who would suddenly hold Sleazy Judd Nelson over a balcony. But then the show delivers something like the terrific songwriting scene between Jamal and Lucious. Much as Jamal has stood up to his father all season, he's still a son. And even if there's a pure plot reason for thissetting up the reversal of making Jamal Lucious' heirit makes sense that there's a part of him that still wants his dad to pull him out of that garbage can and take him back. It' not easy, though, and their duet is charged with conflicting emotionhostility and respect, regret and anger. Listen to the most important stories of the day.