Those who fell in love with the breakneck pace and unrelenting intensity of EMPIRE’s first season will not be disappointed with Wednesday’s second season premiere.
Entitled “The Devils Are Here,” the episode retains — and actually expands upon — the show’s “all action, all the time” philosophy. When not rigorously advancing the plot, the episode allows the series’ larger-than-life lead characters to electrify the screen.
This is not a subtle, methodical, technical masterpiece. It is a primetime soap opera simultaneously on steroids and speed.
It is “Empire.”
“Season Two picks up three months after the shocking arrest and incarceration of Empire Entertainment head LUCIOUS LYON (Terrence Howard),” says FOX’s synopsis of the episode. “Still in federal lockup, Lucious is trying to run Empire from inside, while a headline-grabbing state prosecutor hangs her political ambitions on bringing him down – no matter what it takes. Meanwhile, Cookie stages a star-studded #FreeLucious concert in his support, while scheming with Andre, Hakeem, Anika and the business savvy Mimi Whiteman (guest star Marisa Tomei) to finalize the hostile takeover of Empire in the all-new “The Devils Are Here” season premiere episode of EMPIRE.”
Kelly Rowland, Chris Rock, Don Lemon, Al Sharpton, Andre Leon Talley, Tyra Ferrell and Swiss Beatz are also credited as guest stars in the episode.
In advance of Wednesday’s premiere, FOX shared behind-the-scenes photos from the taping. Those follow: