Pop Culture

Game Over: Last Night's 'Empire' Season 2 Premiere Drew Monster Ratings

Don't call it a comeback: 'Empire' drew in the masses last night with its fall return.

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Complex Original

In the immortal words of Lucious Lyon, "game over, bitches." While we all debate how long Empire's run will last, all that ultimately matters is the now. And right now it's being reported that last night's second season premiere ratings just continued Empire's trend of hauling in a jaw-dropping number of viewers to go with the jaw-dropping twists. The episode had everything we didn't know we needed but so greatly appreciated, like Marissa Tomei hitting the Shmoney and turning up to "Flicka da Wrist," Cookie uttering the phrase "You can't even dyke right," and Chris Rock as a feared cannibal gangster. And apparently a whopping 16 million people tuned in to watch it.

For some perspective, that's 76% more people than the series premiere drew and down only slightly from the series high of 17 million who tuned into the season one finale. The Lyons, officially the definitive television family of our time? Maybe so, if the rest of the season keeps up the steam.

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