Lucious (Terrence Howard, R) and Jamal (Jussie Smollett, L) in the Season Finale episode of Empire.
(Photo: Chuck Hodes, FOX)

Forget the show’s oft-repeated lyrics: Empire proves you can go up — and now out — without ever going down.

With Wednesday’s two-hour Fox finale, this popular, soul-fueled blend of new music and old TV staples — sex, violence, glamour, humor — exited on a giddy, goofy high. We haven’t seen a show go so gloriously, steadfastly over the top with such panache or confidence since the glory days ofDynasty.

That’s a comparison to bear in mind, by the way, because despite the Shakespearean allusions, the finale proved once and for all that Empire is not Macbeth or King Lear. It’s what would’ve have happened if Dynasty’s Alexis had married Dallas’s J.R.

And what does Alexis, or any soap queen, have on Cookie, as so fabulously played by Taraji P. Henson? Who but Henson could have powered the finale through one of the most absurd plot twists of all time: Cookie’s failed attempt to smother her ex-husband, Lucious (Terrence Howard) in response to his drug-induced, sleep-talking confession that he killed Bunkie, and he wasn’t dying. (Turns out he doesn’t have ALS: misdiagnosed, don’t you know.)

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SOURCE: USA Today – Robert Bianco