"Empire" season 2 episode one went down and as expected, the Fox musical drama lorded over the ratings game.
Entertainment Weekly reported the premiere of the show's second season run improved vastly compared to its pilot last season, making it the "highest-rated season premiere for a scripted show in six years (since House in 2009)."
"The return of Fox's breakout drama delivered 16.2 million viewers and a 6.7 rating among adults 18-49 on Wednesday night," Entertainment Weekly wrote.
"That's up 81 percent from the show's series premiere last January, and down just slightly from the show's all-time high."
A lot of things transpired in "Empire" season 2 episode one titled "The Devils Are Here" and all of them made a good 40 minutes of TV. Which one stood out?
Twitter exploded when Marissa Tomei's lesbian millionaire investor Mimi Whiteman burst into the scene. Tomei's character is unlike what she played before but she convincingly portrayed it. While the audience are very receptive about this new character, showrunner Ilene Chaiken said Mimi Whiteman was not part of the initial brainstorming.
"We ended Season 1 with them still needing to raise a quarter of a billion dollars - how are they foing to raise it? And we said in the room: "There's going to be a rich white man. Let's call him Rich Whiteman for the purposes of this conversation," Chaiken said in an interview with TV Line.
Chaiken said she and series creators wanted to make Rich Whiteman more interesting and so they decided to make the character a lesbian.
"As we talked about the arc, we realized Rich Whiteman was an important character - and he also needed to be an interesting one. At that point, someone in the room - I can't remember who - said, 'Let's make her a lesbian.' Actually, it was probably me. And we just had some fun with the idea of the lesbian billionaire. We talked about all those male conventions you were referring to, but why not play with them? Nobody tried to pull us back, and we just went for it."
What made Tomei's character stood out in "Empire" season two episode one is her unashamed, no non-sense approach to get what she wants, not just the share in the company but also Cookie (Taraji P. Henson) and Anika. She has an intimidating presence even Lucius Lyon (Terrence Howard) who in prison can't help but ask.
There are a lot of guest stars enlisted for the show but Chaiken previously said it is Tomei's Mimi Whiteman audiences should set their eyes on.
"Empire" season 2 episode two will air on Sept. 30.
