Empire

[biondetta]

Damn, Andre! So was Luscious "recognizing" Andre's wife, by having her sign the papers or was he passing the buck to her, not wanting to be associated with the crazy guy?

[GirlyGhoul]

I don't know what Luscious's motives were in passing the buck to Andre's wife. Either he was recognizing her as a legit part of his son's life (which would be an 'awwwww!') or else he was punishing her by making her do the hard thing (which would be a 'yuck!') Or it was just too hard for him to deal with... or else he doesn't like to spread his autograph too thin. Or- I don't know. Maybe his motives will become more clear later.

It occurred to me while Poor Andre was flopping around on the floor that for all Luscious's fears and hang-ups about Jamal coming out- if it gets leaked about Andre having a meltdown and being hauled off on a stretcher- Empire's enemies will have a FIELD DAY. Homosexuality doesn't have the stigma Luscious seems to place on it... but sadly Mental Illness still does. Poor Poor Andre. And while I hope they deal with his illness in a sensitive and caring way on the show- I must admit, I already miss he and Rhonda's scheming ways and evil doings. That was great TV!

Speaking of great TV, Cookie's utter demolition of Boo Boo Kitty. I once thought they were equally matched in their own ways, but Boo Boo Kitty was rendered speechless. I love that Porsha apparently took Anika's payoff spy money- but instead became a double agent and stayed loyal to Cookie! I don't know what Anika was thinking. I know she was hurt and wanted revenge... but she isn't very good at it, is she? Now it seems she isn't very good at her job even. She was the one who turned Delphine away- and now Delphine is apparently the biggest thing ever (So they tell us). She also tried to sabotage Courtney Love to sabotage Cookie... but that only would have sabotaged Luscious and ultimately it didn't work anyway. Plus it was super dirty and she may have inadvertently derailed a woman's sobriety.

See, Cookie may be an over the top character (which I read as deliciously soap opera-y) But she has a heart and uses her ferocity for good (mostly) For the good of her family at least. And she's never underhanded or backstabby. She's honest. In your face honest, but honest. And she's effective. She gets things done and makes things happen. Anika- for all her sabotage attempts- has only managed to paint herself in a corner. She want's the powerful position both of A&R exec and Luscious's wife- But she doesn't have the skillz or talent to handle it. I'm sure she was genuinely hurt and maybe she even genuinely loved Luscious. But it was pretty apparent that the core of their relationship was a power move. She'd been trained to marry into wealth- not to really have a way to manage that wealth or the industry that created it. She was always in over her head. And I'd feel sorry for her... But spiking CL's drink was just nasty! BOO Boo Boo Kitty! BOOOO!

Cookie drinking the 'G's under the table was great, though could have turned out bad if Malcolm hadn't come to her rescue. Does he want those Cookies? Oh probably! But we shall see. He claims to be loyal to Luscious... but I don't trust him. I think, like Porsha, he could be playing double agent... but in the opposite way. Of course, at this point, I don't even trust Grandbaby Girl. I think she's a spy too with a whole cabal of ferocious stuffed animals ready to take over the Empire when everyone's guard is down!

Jamal continues to be awesome (Although how he got through that 'sexual proclivity' speech without cracking up I'll never know!) Also, how does Ryan get anything done with Jamal stripping and singing to him?!?!? That's the biggest mystery of all!

Hakeem is finally becoming awesome and can take off his broom handled hat now. I love how he used his Baby Boy charms to stall Anika- And then got Tiana back to Empire by being honest with her instead of stringing her along. For all the ruthlessness of Luscious- there's an intregrity that runs though at least some of his cubs... and that comes from his Lyoness (heh) Cookie. The bros. singing Lean on Me in the Elevator was sweet- if terrifying! Getting stuck in an elevator is one of my major personal fears (Got stuck in one for hours when I was 6 years old and they still freak me out a bit) But even more freaky- the Elevator malfunction was a HACK! That scares me even more! It's so crazy how vulnerable we all are having everything hooked up to a network. I mean, at least the boys had each other in there and could sing Lean on Me. But potentially Judd Nelson or whoever hacked into the system for him could have kept them in their long enough that they'd stop singing Lean on Me and start deciding which one of them should be eaten to keep the other two from starving! (Ok, yeah, elevators scare me that much!)

Gruesomeness aside- knowing that Andre used to sing to his little Bros makes me want even more flashbacks to their childhood. More that don't involve Jamal getting tossed in a garbage can.

I'm still rooting for Luscious even though he very much is evil and Archie Bunker-like. But I must say, I really love Judd Nelson as the baddie! The hair and make-up dept did a great job of making him look just like the Devil without going to the cartoon side of things. Now if they could just do a better job on Gaborney's hair! (Scarier than an elevator- that 'do!)

[Neurochick]

See, Cookie may be an over the top character (which I read as deliciously soap opera-y) But she has a heart and uses her ferocity for good (mostly) For the good of her family at least. And she's never underhanded or backstabby. She's honest. In your face honest, but honest. And she's effective. She gets things done and makes things happen. Anika- for all her sabotage attempts- has only managed to paint herself in a corner. She want's the powerful position both of A&R exec and Luscious's wife- But she doesn't have the skillz or talent to handle it. I'm sure she was genuinely hurt and maybe she even genuinely loved Luscious. But it was pretty apparent that the core of their relationship was a power move. She'd been trained to marry into wealth- not to really have a way to manage that wealth or the industry that created it. She was always in over her head. And I'd feel sorry for her... But spiking CL's drink was just nasty! BOO Boo Boo Kitty! BOOOO!

I guess it doesn't matter if you're a witch, as long as you have a heart and do things for the good of your family?

But a friend who is a serious feminist pointed something out to me, that Cookie was upset with Anika because she felt Anika was replacing her. My friend then reminded me that we women get replaced all the time in all things, marriage, TV, movies, the local news; we're put out to pasture at 40, while men go on and on and on until death it seems. She also said that Cookie is so fierce because she doesn't want her children to be replaced either, which does happen in families.

[Mutagen]

I thought Lucious was totally passing the buck. Although I got the sense that it was as much because he was in shock at the extent of Andre's meltdown as much as anything to do with Rhonda herself.

[Neurochick]

Mar 6, 2015 15:01:38 GMT -4 Mutagen said:

I thought Lucious was totally passing the buck. Although I got the sense that it was as much because he was in shock at the extent of Andre's meltdown as much as anything to do with Rhonda herself.

Maybe at some point Lucious will tell Andre, "I didn't want to sent you to that hospital son, it was Rhonda who signed the papers."

[Atreides]

Except he'll replace Rhonda with "that white woman".

[codert]

Two more episodes right? I wonder how it will all end.

[Mutagen]

Mar 6, 2015 16:25:56 GMT -4 Neurochick said:

Mar 6, 2015 15:01:38 GMT -4 Mutagen said:

I thought Lucious was totally passing the buck. Although I got the sense that it was as much because he was in shock at the extent of Andre's meltdown as much as anything to do with Rhonda herself.

Maybe at some point Lucious will tell Andre, "I didn't want to sent you to that hospital son, it was Rhonda who signed the papers."

Ohhhhh yeah. I fully expect Lucious to pull that move.

He seems remarkably incapable of deciding things in some ways - can't pick between Cookie and Anika, can't pick which of his sons will get Empire (he favors Hakeem but then pulls the "you're all competing" thing). So it's also kind of fitting that he froze up at the possibility of committing Andre.

[scarletprincess]

My favorite part of the opening tirade by Cookie was when she was storming through the halls right by Jamal's little daughter who said "Hi Grandma!" and Cookie gets all sweet in a flash and was like "Hi baby!!" and then immediately went back to yelling.

[biondetta]

Mar 7, 2005 14:59:54 GMT -4 GirlyGhoul said:

It occurred to me while Poor Andre was flopping around on the floor that for all Luscious's fears and hang-ups about Jamal coming out- if it gets leaked about Andre having a meltdown and being hauled off on a stretcher- Empire's enemies will have a FIELD DAY. Homosexuality doesn't have the stigma Luscious seems to place on it... but sadly Mental Illness still does. Poor Poor Andre. And while I hope they deal with his illness in a sensitive and caring way on the show- I must admit, I already miss he and Rhonda's scheming ways and evil doings. That was great TV!

This. All of this. Scheming, evil Andre was fun. Broken Andre is sad and really tugs the heartstrings. (Which, well done, writers!) I do figure Luscious not signing the papers was probably a mix of not being able to bring himself to commit his son (in part not being able to bring himself to admit that Andre has a problem), but also having Rhonda do it so that he can blame it on her in the future.

As someone mentioned last week, Jamal really is the one stepping up and taking care of things and being cool and consistent, even in the face of drama. He really is the surprise breakout of the three sons, in terms of being the true heir to the throne, but Luscious is so blinded by his homophobia that he can't see it.