Written by Cherien Dabis & Eric Haywood
Directed by Sanaa Hamri
Andre (to Nessa): "No matter how much I try to play by the rules, the world's always gonna see me as a well dressed thug."
After this episode, everyone else will realise that Andre isn't as different from his father as he might have thought previously but all of the Lyons have a bit of Lucious in them. I have to admit though, Andre's scheme to get himself a nice promotion and more power at Empire was pretty flawless. Not to mention that he found the perfect fall guy in Tiana's awful ex-boyfriend to boot. Grudgingly, I say kudos there, Andre.
Having all of Empire's dirty laundry (including one of Cookie's nudes) leaked to the press was certainly devastating and then making himself look good by bringing in an IT guy to fix everything was rather clever of him too. However, confessing all this to Nessa - will that inevitably be his downfall?
Andre's certainly taking one hell of a risk by letting Nessa know everything. Who's to say that she won't go back and tell Shyne at some point or find a way to oust Andre as well when the moment presents itself? Not that I have too much sympathy for Lucious but there are so many ways that Andre's master plan can and probably will go wrong though and God help him when Lucious works it out for himself too.
Of course, Andre's antics weren't the only thing the episode had in it's favour. After my own misgiving of Cookie and Angelo as a couple, this one made me think that perhaps there could be something with them after all. He did kind of step up to the mark (and potentially risked his own mayoral campaign) during the fallout of Cookie's nude leak. Maybe they might just work it out after all.
Meanwhile Jamal's story took a hell of a dramatic turn and mostly away from his family. Feeling musically burned out, drinking and going back on his pills certainly didn't do him any favours this week and if it hadn't been for Derek and his counselor, Jamal might have died in this one. This episode did a lot to cement my respect for Derek and it seems like we might have a potential love triangle on our hands here.
- Great moments in this episode actually involved Shyne, Tariq and Thirsty. I also like the idea of Thirsty and Becky teaming up to get even on Xavier as well.
- Hakeem really needs to let his issues with both Tiana and Nessa go because it makes him look increasingly pathetic. Not to mention neither girl owes him anything.
- Standout music: I'm guessing Tiana's Me, despite it being used in the worst way for Empire this week.
- Chronology: Not long from where One Before Another left off.
This season seems to be on an upward swing. Chimes At Midnight was genuinely thrilling and unpredictable with great shocking moments and some priceless ones too (Lucious getting his hair done as the chaos unfolded). Nice to see the show is getting it's groove back.
Rating: 8 out of 10
No comments:
Post a Comment