TULSA KING SEASON 1 climaxed with a full-on Western saloon shootout that left Irish biker boss Waltrip (Ritchie Coster) very dead at the hands of Sylvester Stallone’s Dwight Manfredi. Shortly afterwards, he was arrested by occasional lover and full-time ATF agent Stacy Beale (Andrea Savage) on charges of bribery, just as the Mafioso appeared to have completed the sooner state equivalent plot of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, with his weed business booming and casino newly opened.
Perhaps surprisingly, the first episode of season 2 picks up almost immediately after, with Dwight getting perp walked and booked into jail. Less surprisingly, he’s out again before the episode hits the 10 minute mark after his estranged daughter Tina (Tatiana Zappardino) coughs up the mammoth $3 million bond set by the judge, leaving “The General” (as Dwight is called by some) humorously impressed that his offspring appears to have been doing some heavy hustling during his 25 years inside.
“Back in the Saddle,” penned by showrunner Terence Winter along with Taylor Elmore and Stallone himself, is largely a smooth continuation of the first season as new big bads are established and old foes assert that they are not going away.
Let’s dive into the Tulsa King season 2 premiere.
Government Weed
Dwight’s brief time spent in a holding cell is not without its plot developments. Still dressed as the dapper don, he befriends a sad sack who’s looking at a lengthy stretch for defrauding the government of millions of dollars through obtaining wind farm subsidiaries. Many have claimed for years that Stallone isn’t the most expressive actor, but in the moment where this scam is explained, you can see a lightbulb go off in his head. The Oscar nominee has always known his strengths on screens, and his movie star gravitas really glows on the small screen, especially when he’s surrounded by a cast of veritable character actors.
He later takes his idea to Bodhi (Martin Starr), his spaced-out partner who handles The Higher Plane, their marijuana dispensary (which has had a 2024 upgrade for the new season, complete with chess tables and a recording studio). More lightbulbs go off, and it looks like Dwight and his merry band of misfits have found a way for Uncle Sam to fund their hydroponic activities.
Deep inside every gangster is the heart of a poet. Stallone (who has somehow never played a mobster before this series) gives the closest thing he’s ever done to a Shakespearean soliloquy, as he extensively quotes the iconic Oscar Wilde prison poem “The Ballad of Reading Gaol” before explaining its contemporary meaning to him, as a man exiled far away from his homeland. With a bit of luck, Dwight would recite a bit of classic literature in every episode going forward.
Respect and Honor
The two big remaining questions from the shocking closing scenes of the season 1 finale revolve around Dwight’s relationship with ATF agent Stacy, after she shopped him to the cops, and also his tenuous association with what remains of the Invernizzi family, now headed by Chickie (a thankfully wigless Domenick Lombardozzi).
On the first point, Dwight and Stacy sit down for a tense late night meeting. Not unsurprisingly, she thinks the sight of her former one night stand is going to be the last thing she ever sees. But “The General” does not have revenge on the mind, though the scene is framed as a final goodbye between the pair, with Dwight acknowledging that he respects Stacy more than any man he has ever met.
The relationship between the two is perhaps the most interesting part of Tulsa King. It’s a familiar situation for fans of virtually any crime show ever, but the now 75-year-old Stallone plays their scenes with a vulnerability that hasn’t been common throughout his lenghty career. Stacy, of course, has already proven that she’s a little more willing to get closer to Dwight than she should be, even after finding out he’s a gangster of enough notoriety to make the front page of the local paper.
The Invernizzi’s look like they’re going to have a bigger and more violent impact on season 2, if the first episode is anything to go by. Chickie (Chris Caldovino), warned off by Dwight in season 1’s finale, and now free from the calming influence of his father (he drowned him in a bath), wants to do more than save face after consigliere Goodie willingly joined the Tulsa operation at the end of season 1. To make his point, he executes his own soldier and Goodie’s friend Jerry while on the phone with his former high-ranking henchman.
It’s surprisingly the episode’s only display of violence.
This Town Ain’t Big Enough for the Both of Us
We are also introduced to the laser blue eyes of Neal McDonough, who previously worked with Tulsa King producer Taylor Sheridan as a villain in Yellowstone, and takes on a similar role with the super-producer once again here.
McDonough plays the villainously-named Cal Thresher, an oil magnate and weed king who rules the roost across all of Oklahoma. Dwight and his now suited and booted (featuring an awesome tailor montage) crew meet Cal at a Gatsby-esque party he’s hosting at his mansion, and they have a good old fashioned cock measuring contest, sharing warnings over what could happen if either man violates the other’s territory. Their budding rivalry seems set to be the spine of season 2.
Through Cal, the other main villain of season 2 is teased in the form of Frank Grillo’s cowboy gangster Bill Bevilaqua, who may or may not have some past business with Dwight from their days up north. He only gets a few words, but he might be the brawn to Cal’s brain. Following on from the first season’s vibe of Yellowstone meets Grand Theft Auto, expect more battles over protection rackets, semi-legal drugs and that favorite American pastime of land, but with bigger stakes (and better enemies than the biker gang of season 1).
