(Spoiler alert: Please don’t read ahead unless you’ve seen Wednesday’s midseason premiere of “Empire”)
“Empire” returned tonight with a midseason premiere that was mostly — well, a long, awkward confrontation at a table between Cookie Lyon (Taraji P. Henson), Lucious Lyon (Terrance Howard) and his abductor Claudia (Demi Moore), who are all hanging out in a cabin in the woods.
And while it may look like just another installment of “Empire” at first glance, the slow-burning episode “Birds in the Cage” was an impressive feat for the Fox leads and their A-list guest star. As co-executive producer Craig Brewer tells TheWrap, the majority of the episode was shot in singles takes, at the request of Henson.