TOMATOMETER
Critic Consensus: No consensus yet.
Episode Info
Cast
as Lucious Lyon
as Cookie Lyon
as Jamal Lyon
as Hakeem Lyon
as Andre Lyon
as Anika Calhoun
as Anika Calhoun
as Rhonda Lyon
as Becky
as Porsha

as Tiana

as Freda Gatz
as Shine Johnson

as Tariq Cousins
as Angelo Dubois
as Gram

as Nessa

as Chicken
as Xavier Rosen

as D-Major

as Gus Rodriguez
One Before Another Photos
Critic reviews for One Before Another
I can't be blamed for wanting the family matriarch to knock some sense into her youngest.
In Empire's "One Before Another" -- which peaked with an ugly and captivating family showdown -- we got glimpses of father and son that brought previously obscured parts of them into sharp view. That reveal was most surprising for Lucious.
Don't get me wrong, there were a lot of good moments on Empire Season 3 Episode 5, but for the most part, this was a lackluster installment. Lucious continues to be a thorn in everyone's side, and the bickering between the brothers is getting old.
Without getting into everything else that happened during the World Series-induced hiatus (though some characters tonight made some pretty apt allusions), it's good to be back with the most predictably unpredictable pack in the fictional-music business.

The councilman's attempt to make virtue out of vice serves as a neat little mission statement for this week's episode. As the still-young third season of "Empire" has made abundantly clear, the Lyons are locked in an endless cycle of conflict.

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