“Empire” thoughts, Season Two, Episode Four: “Poor Yorick”

We live in an era of all-or-nothing politicization of fandom: Every show and every star is treated as either ideologically flawless or irredeemably evil. Empire knows it’s not that simple. It speaks to the issues, knowing that’s the duty of all art. But it also sees how easy it is to pass off schlock and kitsch as grand statements, and holds itself to a higher standard in that regard than any fan or critic ever could.

I reviewed tonight’s extraordinarily astute Empire for Rolling Stone.

Tags: , , , ,