‘Empire’ finale review: A death, an arrest, and Cookie all alone

“Empire” promised to deliver a crazy two-hour finale Wednesday night, and after watching it in full, we feel very confident right now in saying that they delivered. This was a blast to watch, and in addition to giving us some great twists and turns, Lucious Lyon also had one of the best closing lines that we’ve ever seen on a TV show: “Game time, b****es.”

Lucious made this remark while sitting behind bars for the murder of Bunky, which is what he was arrested on charges of earlier in the night at his own benefit. Immediately, he suspected that Cookie was the person who ratted him out, and his chosen heir Jamal seemed to believe that above anything else. Even though she considered making this move, we wonder now if she is going to be completely on an island moving forward. Everyone knew her motives, so it is impossible for her to be anything now other than an enormous suspect.

This was far from the only shocker of the night, given that we also saw the apparent death of Vernon at the hands of Rhonda, who swept in to protect Andre during a heated argument between the two parties. This death, strangely, managed to bring the two closer together, and they are now preparing to raise a family.

Of course, there was also music, Empire Entertainment going public, and a great slate of guest stars including Patti LaBelle, Rita Ora, and Jennifer Hudson. It was gritty in some ways, and yet opulent in others.

Regardless of whether this was a perfect finale (the first episode was far inferior to the second), you did get a chance to see the show give you almost everything that you love about it over the course of one night. It’s really hard to complain about something like that. Grade: A-.

What did you think of the “Empire” finale as a whole right now? Share some of your quick thoughts and reactions with a comment, and head over here to see some early season 2 speculation right away! Also, you can sign up now if you want to score some other TV updates courtesy of our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: Fox.)