Goodbye FBI plotline, hello elements that make “Empire” great.
‘Empire’
8 p.m., Wednesday, FOX
4 out of 4 stars
It’s not that “Empire” hasn’t had good moments in Season 2, but the appropriately named “Be True” is the first time the show has really felt like itself. After neatly disposing of the case against Lucious, “Empire” is back to family tension and making music—you know, the stuff that everyone actually wants to see.
Hakeem brings his pretty new Latina singer, Laura, into the studio right as Tiana is in the middle of a photo shoot. “I can’t wait to see what he does with you,” Tiana tells the new girl, all passive aggressive bitchery to Laura’s naive sweetness. It’s clear someone isn’t over their uneven breakup. Later, Hakeem has a bunch of the Lyon Dynasty singers over for dancing and weirdness at his place. He makes a move on Laura and she bolts faster than you can say, “I’m not one of those girls.”
Jamal is struggling with whether or not to bring Michael on tour with him and gets two very different sets of relationship advice. The first is from Ne-Yo, weirdly, who tells him to bring Michael. The second is from the gross photographer from last week, who tells him relationships are the death of creativity and tries to get with him before Jamal sets him straight. Too bad Michael isn’t above accepting oral sex from him on Jamal’s balcony. This both did and didn’t come out of nowhere. Yes, Michael is clearly a whiny ball and chain who has insecurity issues. But have we ever gotten an indication he was open to cheating on Jamal? Also, everyone’s V-necks are out of control in this scene.
Meanwhile, Andre is welcomed back into the fold at Empire, and Lucious has made him president of his new label, Gutter Life records. There’s a stripper pole in the conference room for this launch party and a woman is upside down on it. Was the pole specially installed for today? I’m confused.
To “protect his family” (from Satan?), Andre decides now is the time to get baptized. His pastor says in order to make that happen, he has to confess his sins to his family and invite them to come. I don’t think that’s how baptism works, but for the purposes of “Empire,” it’s the best development in a long time. Storylines that have been simmering since the pilot come to a head as Andre confesses that he pitted his brothers against each other and essentially tried to tear his family apart from the inside to get what he wanted. Jamal’s sexuality, which was such a major point in Season 1, gets brought back to the conversation when he asks if the church is OK with him being gay. “You should ask, Dre. It’s important,” Jamal says.
While the confessions bring the Lyon brothers closer together, Lucious has no interest in having a real conversation with his son. “You’re asking me to come watch someone dunk you in tap water,” he says disdainfully. “There is no God. You just need to man the hell up.” Way harsh, Dad.
Even more confusing is that Lucious is the able to have a heart-to-heart with Freda Gatz, the street rapper whose father he had killed in prison. She’s his promising new star, and he only seems to be able to connect with another person in the studio. But beyond that, Lucious hates his sons because they grew up (mostly) entitled. He doesn’t respect them because they didn’t go through the same hard realities that he and Freda have. It’s twisted but oh-so-Lucious that he wanted to give his family a better life but then hates them for it.
Regardless, Freda’s rhymes inspire Lucious to show up to the church, where he and Cookie begin to squabble in the first pew. “Preach, Mom, preach,” Hakeem says without a trace of irony. Rhonda rolls her eyes at the shit show she married into.
Hakeem tracks down Laura—who is walking home in floral overalls (Let me repeat that: Floral. Overalls.)—to try to convince her to come back to Lyon Dynasty. He claims all the singers he knows are like that, but now that he knows she’s not that kind of girls, “I won’t ever push up on you ever again.” We don’t believe him, Laura doesn’t believe him, but she gets in the car anyway. It’s a pretty cliché development, adding a “good” girl who actually says no to Hakeem to the equation. But it’s a welcome cliché. With Andre no longer banging Rhonda (why?) and Lucious being too evil for Cookie, we need a romantic pairing to root for. Maybe Laura will change Hakeem. That always works.
Of course, “Empire” saves its soapiest twist for last. While Hakeem is out running shirtless in broad daylight, he’s kidnapped and thrown into a van. Some people are after Lyon Dynasty, and after stealing Tiana’s purse, they’ve graduated to stealing actual people.
Best lines of the week:
“First rule of the road is you don’t bring your girlfriend. Or boyfriend.”
“And here I thought me made nice, digging in the dirt.”
“Tell Lucious to kiss my black ass!”
“The only commandments that I’m going to follow are mine.”
Lauren Chval is a RedEye special contributor.
