Not-so-guilty because it’s just so much fun! Fox’s Empire stars Terrence Howard and Taraji P. Henson as the patriarch and matriarch of a music industry family in upheaval. Loosely King Lear for a modern audience, it’s got all the crazy murder and drama you can imagine, with a healthy heaping of song and dance numbers interspersed. It’s the perfect storm of entertainment for an American audience.
Now in Season 2, I only watched the pilot last year because I was already a fan of Terrence Howard. But I was totally hooked from the start. This really surprises me because there’s nothing about the premise that is otherwise a draw for me personally. I’m not really interested in the music industry, really don’t like rap or hip-hop music, and power Drama with a capital D isn’t typically my thing. But the characters are amazing, the acting is top-notch, the music is actually sometimes really good, and the story, while way over the top insane, abides by its own logic and is extremely well-written.
There are a lot of characters in this series (it has a huge, outstanding cast overall) and fashion is a huge part of the show, but I’m only going to make the two main characters as paper dolls (Cookie’s wardrobe alone could keep me busy enough). Fortunately, many of the costumes are very well documented…all over the internet, so I don’t have to trawl through the episodes looking for outfits, taking notes, and trying to draw stuff from the screen. I’m doing that with other shows and it’s not easy sometimes.
Cookie’s wardrobe is so extensive, in fact, I can promise you that I’m not going to be able to capture all of it. The fact that I’m already a season behind means I have a lot of catch-up to do as it is. As for Lucious, I don’t expect he’ll have as immense a wardrobe since he wears a lot of suits. He occasionally breaks out into something unusual, so I’ll try to capture those moments in particular.
This is a set of dolls that will work best in color (though Cookie does wear a lot of black and white, interestingly enough). We’ll see how that goes. I’ve only drawn the figures themselves at this point and I’m planning to start their wardrobe in the coming week, so expect these to begin posting at the end of the month.
Meanwhile, if you’re not already watching this show, I recommend it strongly. Even if you think it couldn’t possibly be to your taste…oh who am I kidding, good television is really to everyone’s taste, right? And look at these guys. They. Are. Awesome:
