‘Empire’ episode 8 review: Has Lucious made a choice between Cookie, Anika?

So far through its first season, “Empire” has done some pretty tremendous stuff! It has created a musical world that actually feels legitimate for one, and that is no easy challenge for a network drama. This show manages to tell an authentic story without the censorship freedoms that you get on cable. That’s rare these days.

To us, the biggest surprise of the episode was to see homosexuality become a part of conversation, mostly because this is not a subject that is broached often within the hip-hop community. Once again, though, this felt like it legitimately belonged in the universe, and was not just shoehorned in here. Lucious is having major problems with Jamal’s admission, and the interesting thing is that he seems to care about it so much more than anyone in the general public.

In the wake of the stress over this, and maybe his own relationship drama after promising Anika a faster wedding, Lucious decided to kill the legacy album. Will that last? We have a hard time believing so. We feel like he needs to get some more time to get his head together.

But Cookie … well, she’s focusing on her now. She’s not going to let any temporary moment or time spent with Lucious get in the way of what is for her, preparation for the rest of her career, and helping out Jamal and the others.

In the end, a very strong episode of “Empire” yet again, mostly because it forced some characters to look in the mirror and question their value systems. Above all else, it’s a sign that the show still knows what it’s doing. Grade: B+.

What did you think about tonight’s episode of “Empire”? Share your thoughts with a comment.