There is this infamous scene in the 90s tv series Hercules, where the actor playing Hercules mistook a stage direction in the script for one of his lines and randomly yells "DISAPPOINTED!" Watching Empire, I wondered if the cast makes the exact same goofs. It would explain why the characters are always loudly yelling their current emotional states at one another. It doesn't make the show bad in anyway, it just lets you know it is a show without subtext. Empire does not do subtle story telling.
Empire is about a dying former rapper, now record label tycoon, trying to pick which of his three sons should take over his company. The only problem is that he is a racist, sexist, ableist, homophobic, philandering, lying, murderous, pathologically self-centred gangster. And his family are a bunch of jerks too.
Much of the show depends on the conceit that despite his sons hating everything about him, they all desperately want to be next in line for their dad's billion dollar legacy. This is a bit of a stretch when you consider they are all ridiculously wealthy and talented and could just as easily wash their hands of the whole affair. But instead they let themselves get strung along by their criminally insane dad, fighting one another (sometimes literally) for a bit more money to fund their comically lavish lifestyle. It helps that everyone in this show is gorgeous. Which is just as well as they have terrible taste and the songs they sing are universally awful (I hold my hands up and admit I don't appreciate hip-hop, but I can at least recognise which songs are better than the others).
Over all, it is a fun show that has enough melodrama and shenanigans to keep me hooked. I might not like the indulgent music, the glitzy settings, the tacky outfits or the dickish behaviour, but it all informs the story that is being told; one of hubris and greed. As easy as it is to make fun of Empire, it is a thing that I would happily keep on watching.
Series The Modern King Lear
There is this infamous scene in the 90s tv series Hercules, where the actor playing Hercules mistook a stage direction in the script for one of his lines and randomly yells "DISAPPOINTED!" Watching Empire, I wondered if the cast makes the exact same goofs. It would explain why the characters are always loudly yelling their current emotional states at one another. It doesn't make the show bad in anyway, it just lets you know it is a show without subtext. Empire does not do subtle story telling.
Empire is about a dying former rapper, now record label tycoon, trying to pick which of his three sons should take over his company. The only problem is that he is a racist, sexist, ableist, homophobic, philandering, lying, murderous, pathologically self-centred gangster. And his family are a bunch of jerks too.
Much of the show depends on the conceit that despite his sons hating everything about him, they all desperately want to be next in line for their dad's billion dollar legacy. This is a bit of a stretch when you consider they are all ridiculously wealthy and talented and could just as easily wash their hands of the whole affair. But instead they let themselves get strung along by their criminally insane dad, fighting one another (sometimes literally) for a bit more money to fund their comically lavish lifestyle. It helps that everyone in this show is gorgeous. Which is just as well as they have terrible taste and the songs they sing are universally awful (I hold my hands up and admit I don't appreciate hip-hop, but I can at least recognise which songs are better than the others).
Over all, it is a fun show that has enough melodrama and shenanigans to keep me hooked. I might not like the indulgent music, the glitzy settings, the tacky outfits or the dickish behaviour, but it all informs the story that is being told; one of hubris and greed. As easy as it is to make fun of Empire, it is a thing that I would happily keep on watching.