Empire Review: Be True (Season 2 Episode 5)

Lucious Lyon always lands on his feet. It’s almost like he made a deal with the devil. Or maybe it’s more sinister than that. This week’s episode of Empire, “Be True,” left me wondering just who Lucious is. Spoilers ahead.

Since Vernon’s body found its way to Roxanne’s car, Lucious is a free man. I guess no one thought to ask how the body of a man who killed himself ended up, several months later, sitting in a passenger seat.

Who cares. Lucious is back and better than ever. His success and hubris, at this point, are completely out of control. What used to be subtle references have given way to full on allegory. I think Empire might be trying to tell us that Lucious is the devil. Not devil-like. The actual devil.

The clues are everywhere. It looks pretty possible that he is the one who sets up Tiana to get attacked… It’s definitely him who sends Thirsty to steal masters from Lyon Dynasty… He seems pretty comfortable putting his family in danger…

But no scene hits us over the head with this idea quite as much as Andre’s baptism. Andre confesses his various sins to everyone (minus the whole murder thing… you can’t really go around telling people about stuff like that) and invites them to attend his service. Everyone is on board. Except Lucious. But at the very last minute a lone dark car pulls up to the church and Lucious (basically) slithers out. He makes a grand entrance with lots of ominous music and meaningful glances, but he can’t hang through the baptism itself and ends up leaving before it’s over.

All of this seems to be framed to make us view Lucious as the devil. Not to mention the six thousand jokes Cookie and the sons make to this point. It’s almost too much… except it’s not. Because only us viewers get inside of Lucious’s head. And there we see his mother ‘baptizing’ him in a pretty grim flashback.

So maybe Lucious isn’t all evil? Maybe he’s a product of circumstance? Maybe there’s some goodness in there somewhere?

I really like how this character has been built. He’s so hate-worthy, but so cool that you love him, and yet, under it all, we are given the smallest promise that Lucious isn’t all bad. That he’s mortal. That he can change.

This is what keeps me coming back every episode.

I want Empire to continue down this road. I love the music and the drama, but what I really love is Lucious. I love the edge he walks on. It seems like he’s always about to teeter over to the dark side and lose his last bit of humanity… but a shred always manages to last.

That’s why I’m dying to know who has kidnapped Hakeem. It can’t be Lucious. Right? Right? I’m dying to know.

What did you think of this week’s episode of Empire? Be sure to leave your thoughts in the comments below.

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Empire airs Wednesdays at 9/8c on Fox.

Amanda Coyne

Amanda is an associate editor for Tell-Tale TV. She is a writer, teacher, and pop culture enthusiast with a love for 30 Rock and The Mindy Project. She is also the proud mother of two orange cats. Follow @amandarcoyne