William Shakespeare King Lear decides at the beginning of the work, divide his kingdom among his three daughters, but giving most to those who loves the most. At the start of the series Empire , Lucious Lyon (Terrence Howard), a rapper become prosperous businessman, decides to give his multimillion-dollar company, Empire Entertainment one of his three children. These should be tested before him as worthy of such responsibility.
it Is that Lyon has amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and left only three years. The choice is difficult. André, the eldest son, is also the most polite of the three and now on the board of Empire, but is diminished by his bipolar disorder and lack of musical talent. Jamal, the middle child, is a talented singer and composer rejected by his father for being gay. Hakeem finally, the youngest, is a rising star in the world of hip hop, but also a spoiled child and very insecure.
To complicate matters, the ex-wife and mother Lucious youth Cookie (Taraji P. Henson, nominated for the 2015 Emmy for the role), is released from prison after 17 years and return the company to claim their share of the empire.
That’s the premise of Empire , which this week released its second season in Latin America, which started three months after the end of the first and the drama of the Lyon family extends for another 18 episodes.
The secret of success
Empire I became successful in gradually, with their ratings and critical acclaim slowly growing to become one of the most popular shows on American screen and transcend beyond borders.
For that one of their strategies it was to make use of controversial scenes. For example, in the second episode of the first season, a drunken insults Hakeem Lyon Barack Obama, accusing him of “selling” and claiming that whites voted for him to feel “less racist”. These statements end up on the internet, forcing his father from fiction to apologize by phone to the president, with whom it is by first name.
But he was equally successful for its main characters, the duo Lucious and Cookie Lyon. Howard’s character is the “villain” of the series, to force their children to face each other and for other reasons which should not reveal. But also fulfills the role of loving father (sometimes) and, when faced with its commercial rivals in the entertainment world, inevitably take their side.
Meanwhile, Henson shines like Cookie , a tough, aggressive and shameless woman who is not afraid to speak his mind and do what you need to do to claim your share of the business. However, it also seeks the best for their children, beyond their 17 years of absence have not been positive to generate a relationship.
Despite having several traits of a typical soap opera, with children illegitimate, family secrets, love triangles and sudden illness strewn throughout its plot, Empire has elements that make it more complex. The context in which the series takes a look also assigned to the racial issue in a country that still experiencing differences between blacks and whites.
In addition, the history of the Lyon family is also a twist to the story of the “American dream” that usually populate the cultural products produced in the United States.
All this again Empire more attractive than the typical romantic story told in a traditional telenovela. Also they make it more linear, somewhat influenced by the limited number of episodes included in each season (twelve in the first and in the second eighteen) compared with gender.
Despite a warm start, with the first episodes showing some but not all of what the series has to give, Empire becomes addictive as the history of Lyon begins to move, the three brothers to fight and Cookie couple Lucious and to resume their old relationship.
They also help the frantic pace of the series and the spectacular locations where it is filmed. The wealth and power of the Lyon are reflected in their possessions and in the luxury of the places they frequent, but the past is also present and the less pleasant parts of New York and Philadelphia are the stage on which the drama of this empire musical takes place.
Empire also has the presence of several actors and guest musicians, a parade of stars that are an attraction in itself. Courtney Love, Naomi Campbell, Chris Rock, Pitbull, Lenny Kravitz and rapper Snoop Dogg are among the artists who have interacted with the Lyon family.
At this time, the African American hip hop culture and particularly seem to be fashionable in the American audiovisual world, as also reflected the surprise hit movie Straight Outta Compton , which these days is exhibited in Montevideo as part of the Film Festival Movie. Empire stands as the television version of that boom, with a story that revolves around one of the most popular genres of the moment and a family drama that combines tradition with Shakespearean theater soap opera .
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