Dawn of a new empire: Family, legacy, and self in Empire’s season finale
By E. Smith
The Empire season finale returns to some of its most memorable narrative threads and, in doing so, completely changes the show’s trajectory.
Note: This review contains Empire SPOILERS!
You rarely come across a musical, thrilling, family-centric show like Empire, and its revelatory season finale addresses each of these points by answering one all-encompassing question: Should we prioritize our family over ourselves? Through an engrossing sequence of beautifully-acted reveals, we finally reach an answer.
All too often, the series poses the question as “family vs. legacy.” When Lucious, in the show’s first season, determines to pass his famed record label to one of his sons, he does so primarily to preserve his legacy.
However, when taking Lucious’ association with Empire into account, it becomes clear that Lucious truly aims to preserve himself. Lucious’ identification with Empire surfaces through the prevalence of his image throughout Empire—something that, in this season finale, Cookie’s mom wryly observes. Through these narrative developments, the series has demonstrated that Lucious’ protective attitude toward Empire, i.e., his legacy, effectively constitutes self-preservation.
What makes this finale innovative, within the show’s context, and refreshing, however, is that Lucious at last broaches on understanding that Empire’s success emanates not only from him, but from his family.
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This is perhaps most apparent when Cookie, to save Lucious and with the belief that Empire achieved greatness because of her family, sabotages its $750 million bid for the music business. Although this conclusion initially devastates Lucious, after reflection on Cookie’s enormous sacrifices for him, he ultimately concurs with her reasoning and sets on course toward the groundbreaking epiphany that his family represents an extension of himself.
The inklings of Lucious’ realization that his family, not Empire, signifies his legacy takes the show in an exciting new direction that will, in many ways, bring us to the Lyons’ origin story—a collective of lost and tenacious characters establishing a major company, a narrative that the show has only shown us through flashbacks, dialogue, and revenge. This time, however, Lucious and Cookie will start their label with family—a choice that may not retake Empire, but that might instead deepen Lucious’ recognition of what truly forms his legacy.
Next: Empire recap: Bloody Noses and Crack’d Crowns
What did you think of the season finale? Let us know in the comments!