Empire’s fourth season has started with a slow and even not surprising first part: I wasn’t surprised at all by all the consequences of Lucious’ condition and how the characters dealt with the aftermath of the events of the season finale.
Is "Bleeding War" an improvement to the first three episodes? Well, at least it has some juicy moments that we will remember. Let’s summarize what happened. The most enjoyable and narratively interesting part was in flashbacks: we see how Cookie struggled with another inmate and how the last meeting with Lucious was like. It was a pretty dramatic moment for the protagonist and I always love how the writers make us relate to Cookie: she is the more realistic figure in this story. In the present timeline Lucious, that we could call also Dwight at this point, helps Cookie in Empire Records’ decisions. They do an audition and Jamal, Tiana and Hakeem try to propose their performances but fail to convince Cookie. I didn’t enjoy this part of the episode, it’s slowly becoming repetitive.
The Lyon queen talks to Lucious' psychologist trying to explain what she has in mind: she wants to take her husband to a statue where they slept together. The nurse says that it's not the right time for them to revisit some memory lane places, but in the end, she reveals her real intentions. Andre is mad at his family because they are celebrating Bella's birthday while he is still suffering for Rhonda. I really appreciated that they didn't forget about her and I’m still missing Rhonda. She was a character that added something to the narration.
The ending is full of surprises: Demi Moore betrays Cookie's faith and goes for Lucious taking him to the statue, Anika agrees to sign some documents in order to have the full custody of Bella. The Lyon family takes part to a Prince-tribute and it’s pretty enjoyable.
All in all, the ending of the episode saved the whole hour and I didn’t hate this episode, but I’m still rooting for something more from this show. And you? What did you think of “Bleeding War”?
