Episode 3 of Empire sees the show slip up just slightly from its high quality first two outings. The episode is far from bad, but for me, it didn’t quite live up to the quality of its two predecessors.
The episode covers quite a bit of ground. Bunkie’s funeral takes place, Cookie attempts once again to push Jamal into the limelight before Jamal gets some really nice development (but more on that in a minute), there’s some potential progress happening in Bunkie’s murder investigation. The story develops really nicely this week.
Something that does annoy me slightly with this episode is Lucious constantly changing his reactions to a lot of the events that transpire this week. I will say, though, that despite my reservations about this, Terrence Howard again brings his A game to every scene he’s in. My favourite scene of his is at Bunkie’s funeral, where he delivers a rather touching eulogy. Lucious’ (partially) fake emotions for Bunkie are played magnificently by Howard. In addition, the scene in question has some nice transitions between it and a flashback to him, Cookie and Bunkie before she went to prison.
Jamal’s development in this episode is really enjoyable to watch. Jussie Smollett plays the role really well. He shares two really good scenes with Howard throughout the episode. The relationship between Lucious and Jamal is complex, and that’s something that’s addressed to some degree, but it’s really fun to watch. I wasn’t sure entirely what direction the writers envisaged for Jamal this season, but the ending of the episode makes it very explicit, and it’s certainly a direction I like.
Obviously, I can’t not mention Taraji P Henson, who is her usual fantastic self. I especially enjoy her interactions with Lucious, mainly because she comes up with some great retorts when he continually talks about wanting her back in prison – the only other thing I’d criticise with the episode, because it’s really overused and isn’t all that interesting to hear Lucious play the same broken record Additionally, both she and Howard are fantastic in a scene just prior to the funeral, so watch out for that.
Hakeem’s story is quite interesting this week. Lucious knows about his hook up with Tiana, and that creates quite an interesting dynamic, especially when a curveball – presumably unknown to Lucious -is thrown into the mix. With Lucious still eyeing Hakeem to take over, and moving forward, I’m intrigued to see what they do with this story.
Andre is, for me, the weak element. What transpires in his story this week I found to be really quite bizarre. I really don’t see where they’re attempting to take him this season, but it’s still early and there’s room for development. However, I don’t see it at present.
The episode as a whole does a great job of turning the tables on things going into the remainder of the season, and though I didn’t find it as good as the first two episodes, it serves its purpose and is enjoyable nonetheless. Make sure you tune into ‘The Devil Quotes Scripture’ on FOX, Wednesday 21st January at 9pm. And also, make sure you leave some questions for me to ask to Grace Gealey, who plays Anika.
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