Tulsa King is back for Season 3 on Paramount Plus, and, based on the first two episodes, it’s business as usual for Sylvester Stallone’s Dwight “The General” Manfredi and his ragtag group of misfit gangsters, including Tyson (Jay Will), Bodhi (Martin Starr), and Mitch (Garrett Hedlund).
Season 1 pitted the crew against some bikers, while Season 2 upped the ante with gangsters from Kansas City to New York, as well as local corrupt businessman Cal Thresher (Neal McDonough), who is in bed with the Chinese Mafia. Despite the rising danger, Manfredi and his crew have always managed to kick butt and emerge basically unscathed, and the bad guys have ended up dead or otherwise incapacitated. Sure, Tyson’s dad got blown up by a car bomb, but he only got some minor burns and had to stay in the hospital for a few episodes. So far, the only one of Manfredi’s allies who’s gotten killed was Jimmy, the marijuana farmer. His death has informed Bodhi’s arc so far, since he’s wary of working with the gangsters who killed his friend. So far, though, it looks like Bodhi’s attempt to destroy the life of the man who shot Jimmy will be played more for comedy than drama.
Anyway, this season sees Manfredi’s growing Tulsa empire rank up to the next level in terms of business, adversaries, and allies. In terms of business, they find themselves owners of an old family distillery, owned by the family of Mitch’s old flame, Cleo Montague (Bella Heathcote). However, their previous business partners, led by patriarchal gangster Jeremiah Dunmire (Robert Patrick), don’t take lightly to what they see as betrayal, but what is really an old man’s desperate attempt to escape the iron grip of strong-armed thugs. The first episode ended with Dunmire and his goons beating up Old Man Montague before burning down his estate him inside. Clearly, Robert Patrick is the “Big Bad” this time around.
The first episode also explained the cliffhanger at the end of the Season 2 finale, introducing an FBI (or whatever) agent played by Kevin Pollack, who reveals that the man Dwight killed 25 years ago was actually an undercover informant. However, Dwight is only half-guilty, since he tried to save him, but the unlucky victim was already handcuffed to a room that was quickly being engulfed in flames. Given the choice between a bullet to the brain and immolation, I’ll take the bullet every time.
Episode 2 doesn’t feature Pollack at all and instead focuses on Dwight & Co building up their distillery business while hyping up Dunmire as a credible threat. Robert Patrick might not be as young as he used to be, but he’s still a raging pitbull of a man. I mean, there’s a reason he’s fought against the likes of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Alan Ritchson, and John Cena (Twice, in The Marine and Peacemaker). In fact, this is actually a rematch between Patrick and Stallone, who previously went toe-to-toe in 1997’s Copland.
It looks like Dunmire’s weakpoint is his son, Cole, played by Beau Knapp. He’s kind of a goober and a wannabe romantic rival against Mitch, but… While Knapp is a handsome guy, have you seen Garrett Hedlund? Hubba hubba! It doesn’t help that Cole dresses like a dork, with bad cutoff shirts and belt buckles that are trying way too hard. He even brings a few of his boys to beat up (and maybe kill) Mitch, but he’s able to fight them off, because Garret Hedlund is a friggin’ badass. While somewhat unlikely, it’s kind of endearing how members of the Manfredi Gang are basically invincible. I don’t know if that will hold true for the rest of the season, but it’ll take a whole lot of muscle to take down one of these guys, even Bodhi.
After Cole runs away with his tail tucked between his legs, he goes home to Papa Dunmire. When Cole suggests going to the hospital, Papa Dunmire cauterizes his knife wound with a fireplace poker instead. Later, when minor supporting character Spencer (played by Stallone’s real-life daughter, Scarlet Rose Stallone) is accosted by a shady man after her shift at the bar, Cole saves her by punching out the would-be attacker, venting some of his frustration while showing that he might not be as bad as father might want him to be. Maybe he’ll be persuaded to turn against his father, or maybe he’ll wind up as the gang’s hostage at some point down the line.
These first two episodes have a lot of setup, lining up the dominos that will surely be knocked over later. The show always carries itself with a light touch, perhaps a bit too light for those wanting the next Boardwalk Empire, but this isn’t really that kind of show. We still have yet to see how Samuel L. Jackson will feature in the show and how he’ll factor into Dwight’s story before getting his own spin-off, NOLA King, but there’s still seven episodes to go. Will this be the season where Dwight and his allies finally find themselves in over their heads and in deep trouble? Or will they find a way to steamroll over all challenges the way they have been been to thus far? Stay tuned in the coming weeks to find out!
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