If you are looking for a drama series focusing on a love/hate family relationship ad featuring R&B and hip hop, then meet Empire—which is a blend of Dynasty and Dallas.
The series premiered in 2015 and it is currently on its 5th season, and it’s a television series gem that shows you the worst and best scenarios of a family who cannot live with or without one another. Even if you sometimes just don’t know which side you want to position yourself with, Empire always finds a way to hook you into their story.
Lucious Lyon (Terrence Howard) is a former drug dealer, hip hop mogul, and CEO of Empire Entertainment, which is all built on the sacrifice of his first wife Cookie Lyon (Taraji P. Henson) who had to be in prison for 17 years for taking the blame of a drug deal going wrong. In this time, he not only finds himself a new wife while taking care of their three boys, he also becomes one of the most influential people in the music business. Forced to think about the future of the company, he forces his sons to prove to him that they are worthy to take over the family legacy. Andre (Traj Byers) is already working as CFO for the company, Jamal (Jussie Smollett) is the songwriter and R&B singer of this family, and Hakeem (Bryshere Y. Gray) is a rapper.
Empire is a TV show that is simple and complicated with a lot of different exciting layers. One thing is for sure, you will never get bored with the story and naturally like every show, the worst that can happen is that some character will annoy you with their actions. Still, there are some reasons to watch them love and suffer!
The Lyon’s
A family who cannot be without each other, but at the same time try to sabotage itself is a familiar plot. This is the main foundation for Empire as well. Not only being unable to love, but also having this weird idea what love means could give enough of material to show how broken the family members are. But adding in money, power, and legacy, it does make it all even more interesting.
When the rivalry between the brothers begins, the audience will lose sight of who the good or the bad guy in this story. You are either with Lucious or with Cookie, both channelling their inner lions, which gives you some hilarious fighting scenes. They play the perfect family for the press, all the while changing sides, fighting ,and betraying each other, only having the ultimate goal in sight. It is quite fascinating to see how quickly opinions and support can change.
What also makes it interesting is how different the five Lyon’s are. Lucious is power-driven. He wants everyone at his feet looking up to him and does not allow anyone to say a single word against him. He does everything to get what he wants and if someone gets killed during that process, it does not bother him much.
Cookie is the anchor of the family. Not being able to be there for her children broke her heart and she is willing to make up for it. She gave up everything so that her family could have a chance of a better life. Now it is her turn to take what is rightfully hers.
Andre, the oldest of the three brothers, suffers from bipolar and he has no musical talent so he works hard for his father to make him proud and to be seen by him as the true heir of Empire.
Jamal is the most fragile of the three brothers. He is focused on his music and does not want to be mixed up in all of the family drama and what they are doing. His father never took him seriously though and after revealing to his family that he is gay, it put a wall between him and his father who sees him only as a weak emotional ball of a loser.
The youngest one, Hakeem, is carefree and thinks the world lies in front of his feet. He is the king and he is acting as one. Respect is something he doesn’t really know and this brings him into some bad situations. At one point, not even a rap battle can save him.
Music
Music can be an important life of a person’s life. You can express feelings way much better instead of just talking and Hakeem and Jamal are using their music to compensate their family drama.
Of course, every business has their dark and not so glamorous side. The more power you want, the dirtier you have to make yourself in the process to achieve it or so it seems. That is something important to point out, because in real life people tend to forget how hard this business can be and what some had to do to burn their names into our brains.
You can also always look out for some guest stars like Alicia Keys, Mariah Carey, Rumer Willis, or Xzibit. The soundtrack is full of some pretty great music worth listening to.
Taraji P. Henson
Best for last. Empire is Taraji and Taraji is Empire. Cookie is a tornado of emotions, style, and incredible dialogue. She is the heart of the family and the company. 17 years in prison did not damage her sense in music and to be honest, she is the one who has the power to turn things around if they move into a dead-end.
Taraji P. Henson is the best thing that could have happened to Empire. She plays her role to perfection and has created an iconic character which you have not seen on television for a long time.
Empire is a show for those who are interesting in watching a good drama story on a Friday night. It is a show for those who love music and cannot get enough of discovering new music, even songs they otherwise would may not listening to. It’s a show for those who love to see a great cast including guest appearances and recurring cast members such as Gabourey Sidibe who are given the time to leave their mark. And lastly, it is a show that is not afraid to address different aspects of life – good and bad.
Empire will give you a unique TV show experience you may get addicted to.
