Empire almost delivered the perfect Season 3 finale until…
It was a long time coming for the show Empire. When Empire first aired it had the makings to be something special with its cast of dynamic actors and actresses like Taraji P. Henson and Terrance Howard. However, as quick as the hype came it began to go downhill just as fast. Ratings have stayed at an even keel but the writing has been all over the place.
The main characters seemed to have no real purpose for the past three seasons that was until the Season 3 finale.
The majority of the season was focused on Cookie, Lucious Lyon, and their relationship. There was still in-fighting between the family with Andre set out on killing his father and Cookie looking to destroy Lucious’ name but the finale brought a change to the dynamic of the show.
Lucious had a plan all along and he played it to perfection. Too perfect in fact. Cookie was dating Angelo Dubois and was set to take her place as the Mayor’s wife until she confessed she still had feelings for Lucious. What transpired after that was great TV and changed the course of Empire heading into Season 4.
But then it happened.
For 55 minutes the Finale was perfect. There was a great twist with Hakeem finding out where his daughter Bella was and being so dumb as to believe that Anika just stumbled upon the abduction. It was later revealed that the DuBois family has a plan to take the Lyon’s down and have placed Hakeem right in the middle.
But the best twist of the finale was the decision that Lucious made when it came to his heart. His relationship with Cookie has always been a back and forth battle of wits, love, and hatred but when Lucious started dating Giuliana, Cookie lost her mind. It came as a complete shocker when Lucious chose Cookie in the end. It was smooth, however, the icing on the cake was the homage he paid to her with his performance. As I stated earlier, their relationship has been rocky but you cannot just turn a blind- eye to the years they spent together. The greatest part may have been the reaction of the kids as Lucious proclaimed his love for Cookie on stage. As much as Hakeem, Jamal and Andre have tried to get Cookie to walk way from Lucious, to see the joy on their faces and actions were classic.
However, the finale took a turn for the worse after said performance.
Cookie and Lucious decided to turn the company over to Andre and then Empire returned to its horrible creative ways. As they were leaving the party, Shyne decided to go ahead and go through with Andre’s original plan of killing Lucious. Before the car exploded, both he and Cookie managed to escape death, however, three months later were shown a disappointing scene.
As the family sat in his hospital room, we learned that Lucious was in a coma but when he opened his eyes I was let down. After such an incredible way to end the season, the writers put aside their hard work and threw up a hail mary that failed.
For at least that one episode, I fell back in love with Empire and just that quick the creative team may have snatched it away.
Mark has been covering Sports and Entertainment for the past six years. His work has been featured on Bleacher Report, ESPN, Fox Sports, Teen Vogue, and many other websites.
