YMMV / Empire

The Comic Book

• Iron Woobie: In a weird way, Golgoth becomes one of these.
• Sweetness Aversion: Most of Delfi's dialog. Lampshaded by Lohkyn:
  Lohkyn: God, I need insulin just to listen to you-!
• Too Bleak, Stopped Caring: When the main characters are all evil tyrants of varying selfishness and sadism, and even the supposed innocent character turns out to be a monster too, this trope practically describes every single page.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic: Considering all the stuff Golgoth does during the entire run, it's very likely the reader will feel unsympathetic towards him considering the final fate of his daughter. It doesn't help that we're given no indication of just why he wants to conquer the world in the first place - how sorry can you really feel for a guy who doesn't seem to have realised that Despotism Justifies the Means wasn't compatible with a happy family life?

The TV Show

• Award Snub: At the 5th Annual Critics' Choice Television Awards, the show was nominated for both Best Drama Series and Most Bingeworthy Show (both losses to The Americans and The Walking Dead, respectively). However, the show didn't leave empty-handed as Taraji P. Henson won Best Actress in a Drama Series for her role as Cookie Lyon.
• Awesome Music:
  • Hakeem and Jamal's duets from the first two episodes, "Living In the Moment" and "No Apologies". The fact that the two brothers have such great chemistry—both personally and musically—is one of the most heartwarming aspects of the show, even if the rest of the family is actively pitting them against each other.
  • "You're So Beautiful", both versions. Lucious' original version is smooth and sensual, and Jamal's is fun and celebratory. And the latter has the edge over his father, since he also worked his coming out into the lyrics.
• Broken Base: Given that the show is totally centered around what is essentially a There Can Be Only One-type competition (well, for its first season at least), it seems that this trope is an intentional part of its appeal. Each brother's storyline is presented (for the most part) with a high degree of objectivity, and each one has a decent case made for himself, which in essence encourages viewers to root for any one of the three without their pick being a designated "hero" or "villain". It also helps that each brother has a backer/mentor (Lucious for Hakeem, Cookie for Jamal, Vernon for Andre), and how you feel about that character will probably also influence which brother you're rooting for.
• Captain Obvious Reveal: Nobody (well, maybe 1% of viewers) was surprised to find out that Anika pushed Rhonda down the stairs, especially since she was already frustrated over her own pregnancy and wanted to harm the Lyon family.
• Fandom Rivalry: With Power fans.
• Fan Nickname: "Boo Boo Kitty" for Anika. Cookie only called her this once in the pilot, but fans, especially those who love Cookie and hate Anika, quickly took to it. This would later serve as an Ironic Echo in the Season 1 finale.
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • Terrence Howard's spousal abuse accusations cast quite a pall over any scenes about Luscious' conflicts with his family.
  • Some fans were uneasy about Lucious firing a machine gun in his study after Hakeem's betrayal in "Et Tu, Brute?". Long story short, the episode premiered on December 2, 2015, the same day of the San Bernardino shooting.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: Three episodes in season 2 features a fellow prison inmate of Lucious' named Guy...who's a music producer played by Max Beesley. Remember what happened last time Terrence Howard and Max Beesley were put together?
• I Knew It!:
  • Anyone who was correct about Anika pushing Rhonda down the stairs.
  • The minute Andre said it was Harper Scott, who revealed Lucious's mother being alive, Lucious was on that "handled" mindset.
• Moral Event Horizon: The Dubois family did many heinous things, but they crossed the line when they caused Andre's worst mental breakdown yet, by having his therapist messing with his medication.
• Narm:
  • While Hakeem and Jamal normally make great music together, their performance for the investor showcase where they sample "Money for Nothing"...complete with backup dancers wearing TV's on their heads...was more than a little ridiculous.
  • Jamal and Ryan's makeout session after the former becomes CEO of Empire becomes somewhat narm-y when you notice that Jamal clearly can't get his one shirt sleeve off, and has to do the scene with the shirt awkwardly hanging off of his wrist.
  • After Jamal beats the crap out of Warren and he is angrily screaming, which fits and is fine. The problem is that as he is being dragged away by Hakeem and Andre, the way he says "get off me" doesn't fit the tone of the scene.
  • Andre's Kingsley-induced breakdown is chock full of Narm, thanks to Trai Byers, who brings a glorious amount of Ham and Cheese to the scene.
• Out of the Ghetto: Despite a severe lack of white people in the entire main and recurring cast, the show still gets extremely strong ratings, to the point where a second season was greenlit after only two episodes.
• Overshadowed by Controversy: The show got hit badly with this in early 2019 when actor Jussie Smollett (Jamal Lyon) claimed to have been attacked by a pair of Donald Trump supporters in a racist and homophobic hate crime. There was a huge outpouring of support for the actor from the entertainment industry and even politicians who decried the attack. Then the case took a turn for the bizarre when, two weeks later, the attackers were discovered to have been a pair of immigrants from Nigeria who said Smollett paid them to pretend to attack him, resulting in Smollett being charged on multiple counts of having staged the entire thing as a publicity stunt because he wasn't happy with his salary and an angered backlash from former supporters. This hit the show's ratings hard, ending with Jamal being Put on a Bus at the end of Season 5, and ultimately it was announced that the sixth season would be the last.
• Playing Against Type: We've got one ex-superhero who's now a gay documentarian, and another ex-superhero as a new artist on the label. Which (ex)superhero is gonna be next?
• Questionable Casting: Casting Chris Rock to play Frank Gathers, a drug lord who had only been spoken of in dreaded tones throughout the first season. When we finally meet him in the second season premiere, seeing Chris Rock in those chains totally killed the immersion. It was perhaps the first time Rock has ever done a 100% dramatic role (and a rather dark one at that), but because he's so distinctive as a comedian, it was impossible to take him seriously. Though, he doesn't live past the first episode.
• Rescued from the Scrappy Heap: Maybe not quite "rescued", but fan reaction definitely warmed to Rhonda over the course of the first season, where she slowly underwent a Heel–Face Turn from a rather bitchy, scheming Lady Macbeth to a supportive, genuinely caring wife who prioritized Andre's health and well-being rather than his taking over Empire, to the point that some fans felt some real sympathy for her after she accidentally murdered Vernon to protect Andre, something that definitely wouldn't have been played for such if it had happened in, say, the pilot.
• The Scrappy: Kingsley, whose character arc bounced around from taking down his father's Empire, to being a part of the Lyon family, resulting in his eventual suicide. It gets worse in the next season, where he lingers as a figment of Andre's mind after receiving his heart (undoing all the character development Kingsley had in the last season, in the process), leading to him possessing Andre, which lead to some of the series' most narmful moments.
• Seasonal Rot: It's generally agreed that the first season was good all across the board. The following seasons have been... somewhat divisive.
• Shocking Moments: Several, given the nature of the show. The reveal that Lucious' mother is still alive and Jamal getting shot by Freda stand out the most.
  • The Reveal of Pamela Rose, which was seen as a genuine shock by everyone.
• Spiritual Adaptation: Those who have seen Hustle & Flow can easily consider this to be a television sequel to the film. Helped by Terrance Howard playing a guy trying to make it in the hip-hop world, coming from a Dark and Troubled Past. The comparisons basically write themselves.
• Take That!: 50 Cent got this more than once in season 2. To be fair, he repeatedly kept raining on the Empire's parade.
• Take That, Scrappy!: Many fans of the show who hated Anika rejoiced when Anika dies by falling off a balcony.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: Frank Gathers, who spent the entire first as both The Dreaded and The Ghost finally shows up in season 2 proving to be a good rival to Lucious, is killed off in the season premiere.
• Too Bleak, Stopped Caring: Nearly every character in the series is a lying, cheating, backstabbing scumbag with the notable exceptions of Jamal (until the ending of the first season sees him take a huge level in jerkass), and, surprisingly enough, Cookie (she may be spiteful and quick to anger, but she isn't dishonest). Lucious himself is an abusive, conniving murderous crook. Given all of this, it's all too easy for this trope to set in. However, it is also noteworthy that there are several who are loving the show exclusively because of this. Hakeem does take a level in kindness as the first season progresses.
• Win Back the Crowd: It's generally agreed upon that Lucious' Amnesia Episode, and Andre's in Season 4 was a good arc, which gave Terrence Howard something new to do as Lucious, and Andre's relationship with NYPD Agent In his own mind, anyway Pamela Rose was well-received. Ultimately, it didn't last, as Seasons 5 and 6 were more divisive than ever.

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