On  the latest Empire episode, “What we May Be,” Cookie Lyon took some dinner party etiquette lessons in order to impress her boyfriend’s bougie mom. Cookie pulled it off because she is Cookie Lyon, but that sassy-to-classy Pretty Woman trope should be retired. It’s played out. If Empire wants to showcase tropes, here’s a helpful list.

1. The catchphrase: Cookie gave us the best nickname of any fictional character–ever–with Boo Boo Kitty, a derisive name for her nemesis, whose real name is … who cares? She will always be known as Boo Boo Kitty. However, that’s not an expression used in everyday conversations. Dr. Who’s TARDIS looks small but “It’s bigger on the inside.” Seinfeld gave us “Yada, yada, yada.” The Simpsons made Homer’s” D’oh” a thing, but fetch didn’t happen with Bart’s “Cowabunga.” Scandal’s Olivia Pope, though, has the best catchphrase: “It’s handled!” Extra credit for answering the phone with a terse “What?!”
2. The iconic feature:  Columbo wore his rumpled raincoat in every episode.
   

   Power’s Angie

   The Wire‘s Omar Little had a Du-Rag, and a duster. A man in a black duster always looks cooler. A woman in a black duster is always cooler. It’s the coat that identifies the character as a badass. Scandal‘s Olivia Pope can not only rock a white pantsuit, but she looks cute in her white hat too. Angie on Power has her magnificent chestnut tresses, that emote on their own. Those tresses could carry a silent movie. Those tresses should be in the credits. Those tresses should have fan events so we can get autographs and touch them.

3. Favorite food or beverage: Olivia Pope’s kitchen is stocked with two items–popcorn and red wine. Absolutely Fabulous’s Edina and Patsy guzzle champagne. Omar Little had his Honey Nut Cheerios. Cookie Lyon’s boyfriend, Angelo, does show up with coffee, and we’ve seen Cookie with red Twizzlers, but she needs to step it up with a Funyuns addiction.
4. The evil twin: The Vampire Diaries delivered a lot of wicked fun with sugary sweet Elena’s diabolical ancestor, Katherine.
   

   The Vampire Diaries’ Katherine

   Every single soap character has an evil twin or split personality. One of the best was dumpy All My Children’s Janet Green who tossed her glamorous sister, Natalie Marlowe down a well and stole her life. In the case of Empire, you could just clone Lucious Lyon and that would double the evil.

5. Be Olivia Pope: She’s got all the tropes: TV’s best catchphrase: “It’s handled!”, the iconic outfit, and a defining diet. She doesn’t have an evil twin, per se, but if  she did what would the twin do? Dress exclusively in black? Answer the phone with a polite: “Hello?” Have only one boyfriend at a time? Let’s just pretend her twins are Olivia’s bitchy, but kickass side and Olivia’s really bitchy and murderous side.

Aside from her dinner party, you can find out more about Cookie in a full recap at The Root.

Empire airs Wednesdays at 9/8c on Fox

Elaine G. Flores, Chief Editor

Elaine is the chief editor of TV Recappers' Delight. She's an experienced entertainment reporter, reviewer, editor, blogger, columnist and Bon Vivant.