Its musical, its political, its packed with enough soap-opera outrageousness to make The Young and the Restless look like a work of gritty realism all of this is true about Empire. But dont overlook the secret weapon in its entertainment arsenal: Its funny as hell. Tonights episode A Rose by Any Other Name may be named after a line from one of Shakespeares sonnets, but its more concerned with comedy than poetry, and all the better for it.
And as always, Cookie Lyon is the Empires First Lady of Shade, and this episode contains two of her Best. Insults. Ever. She calls her rival for the throne, Naomi Campbells scheming Camilla Marks-Whiteman, Ol Resting Bitchface far be it from us to resting-bitchface-shame, but thats pretty good. Later, when Jamal complains that estranged patriarch Lucious is spreading the word that hed slept with a woman, costing him the support of the LGBTQ community, the Lyon Queen says We all know your father is a tampon. Problematic? Yeah. Hilarious? You bet your ass. When she tells lawyer Thirsty Rawlings, Stop wearing your granddaddys suits, he gets off relatively easy.
Then, when Hakeem announces his emergence as Empires new CEO, he unveils a matching logo to go with it, replacing his fathers head with his own then posing heroically for maximum effect. Its a laugh-out-loud moment that the show takes even further by adding the new image to its own opening-title screen. Youve got to love a show thats not afraid to get meta in its quest to get the audience to spit out their drinks and go Oh, shit!
Even the familys straight man, Andre, gets in on the act. When he walks in on the meeting between Jamal and Cookie in which his mom promises to make the labels PR team come up with a clever way to get the gays back on your side, hes got a better idea: Shouldnt take a PR team just drop your drawers, brother! The younger Lyon grimaces; his big bros grin and his own forgiving pat on the shoulder as he leaves show it wasnt intended to be an insult. Hell, look at Teyana, whose stage act involves writhing around in a sparkle-encrusted nude bodysuit while repeating Look at my body, dont I look sexy (hot) sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander, no?
Itd certainly be less humiliating than enduring another dance-number-as-protest from his detractors. As Jamal exited the building earlier in the episode, he found himself surrounded by angry gay men singing a protest-parody version of his brother Hakeems hit Drip Drop, brandishing multicolored flip-flops the whole time. If youre gonna insist that a musicians private relationship would be enough to encourage an angry homosexual mob to accost him, its probably wise to make the confrontation as unrealistic and ridiculous as possible. And you also might as well give Gabourey Sidibe, whos had precious little to do this season (no pun intended), a pretty funny comeback: Thats not even his song, stupid!
None of this is to say that Empire is just doing it for the lulz. As always, the show is insightful where and when you least expect it in this case, the continuing fallout from Rhondas pregancy-ending fall down the stairs. Her newfound atheism is a source of conflict in her marriage, but not of melodrama: Andre appears to respect her conviction, though his faith is important enough to him to encourage her to see a pastor for couples counseling rather than a therapist. At the same time, her disbelief in a Christian deity isnt used to make her a monster or a shrew. She goes to the pastor, deeming the sacrifice worth it.
What follows is a sharp take on the frustrations inherent in getting mental treatment for someone who doesnt want it. Rhonda tells the pastor that Andres growing paranoid and is heading for a bipolar break, citing as proof his vision from God that she was pushed down the stairs (she was) and his suspicion that shes having an affair (she isnt). But the pastor blows off her insistence that her husband needs a doctor to readjust his meds: Hes also in Gods care, which is far more powerful than any doctors medicine. If youve ever watched someone you care about shop around until they found a counselor willing to co-sign their illness, or seen a person you love cling to a faith that can help but not heal, this is painfully familiar to endure.
The final sequence is where the show really goes for the gusto. Unable to get Camilla to say anything incriminating on the camera hes planted in their bedroom, Hakeem calls an audible: He sends their sex tape, full of insulting pillow talk about her semi-estranged wife Mimi Whiteman, to said spouse. She immediately pulls her money from Empire and paves the way for the Lyons to take back what was theirs. Youd think thats enough for the climax, and for any show but this one it might have been. Instead, Lucious shows up at the deposed billionaires apartment and discovers shes killed her wife in retaliation; he relentlessly hounds her into taking an overdose herself. Rot in hell, he says as he walks away, moments after she swallows a handful of pills (in a silk robe and lingerie, no less). For Empire, a spoonful of laughter helps the murder-suicide go down.
Previously: Back From the Dead