I would have agreed with this whole-heartedly at the beginning, but I think his feelings became more sincere over time. There's only so long you can pretend to care about people until you start actually caring about them, so if it was a game to Jimmy initially, it didn't stay a game.

I like the idea of Lip and Amanda getting married and telling people the adorable story of how they met. "Well, she was dating my college roommate at the time, and I woke up to her giving me a blowjob, yada yada yada, our bronze anniversary is in March."

I'm gonna go ahead and assume these attributes are listed in reverse order of importance.

He was apparently convicted of improper disposal of a corpse and sentenced to nine months. So that's…something.

I don't blame Jamal for suspecting Hakeem. I do blame him for becoming instantly convinced of Hakeem's involvement to the degree that he would immediately go punch him in the gut. I think Jamal would want to believe there was another explanation and would at least keep an open mind.

Your bravery will give others the courage to come out. I'm not ready yet.

I think Scandal is so Olivia-centric, the best possible way to introduce the show is through a self-contained episode that focuses almost entirely on her and strips away the more repetitive, unwelcome elements (Fitz vs. Jake, B-613, Rowan, etc.) I also think this episode is more representative of what Scandal has…

Totally agreed.

There are a million ways to develop Lucious' past without making an NOI reference, so if you're going to do that, you have to do it in a way that remotely resembles the planet Earth. Again, I don't think Empire needs to be deeply steeped in hip hop culture, but I hate that it tries to do it in such a half-assed…

This is a fair point, but it looks like we'll get to see at least some of that next week.

High five

This.

This was my exact reaction. I groaned the first time I heard "Kidd Fo Fo" and thought it was irritating as hell. But then I realized I'd have the same reaction had the character's name been, say, Waka Flocka Flame. So…yeah.

Actually, I LOVE Empire when it's being a soap opera with hip hop as the backdrop. That's what it was in the pilot, and what it was in "The Devil Quotes Scripture." I don't insist Empire be an accurate representation of the hip hop world, but I do expect it to either treat the nuances respectfully or veer away from…

PLEASE say more about this.

Yeah, I disagree. I'm not talking about how the actresses look, I'm talking about how the characters are portrayed. I don't think Tina Fey can grow a thick, full mustache in less than a day, as can Liz Lemon, nor do I think Lena Dunham owns panties with such large holes in them they could be mistaken for crotchless…

These conversations get tricky because I'm hesitant to be dismissive of other people's personal experiences, but I don't even buy the argument that "nearly all" black people are religious, at least in a way that results in homophobia. But again, that hasn't been my experience. I think it's a situation in which a loud…

I don't mind the murder plot in theory, I just don't see how it's possible to have it yield actual consequences for Lucious. If Lucious is just going to slip the noose at the last second, I don't see the point of it.

I think it's another example of the conflation of race, class and education, which is why it gets tricky when you start talking about "the black community" as a monolith. Attitudes towards sexuality split according to income level and level of education, irrespective of race, so homophobia is only an issue for "the…

I'm inclined to agree, and I get nervous every time Lee Daniels says something in the press about using the show to confront homophobia in the black community. That grosses me out to the fullest. I also gotta say, there's a case to be made for a sucker punch, and you could argue for punching someone in the dick, but…