In episode 1 of Tulsa King Season 3, Dwight entered an arrangement with Special Agent Musso where, in exchange for his freedom, he’d act as an informant for the FBI. Dwight didn’t have a lot of options at his disposal, and he had to accept the deal in order to get out of federal custody and go back to handling his businesses. As soon as he got home, he was invited to a meeting with Quiet Ray, who was willing to give him his own piece of New York—something the Invernizzis hadn’t given him even though he had sacrificed so much for them—in exchange for a share of Dwight’s profits. Dwight rejected that offer and headed back home to properly reunite with Mitch, Bodhi, Tyson, Margaret, Goodie, Grace, Joanne, and Bigfoot. That’s when Mitch came up with a business proposal; Theo, the father of Mitch’s former fling, Cleo, had a distillery that he wanted to sell. Apparently, Theo had entered an agreement with Jeremiah, and he didn’t want to disrespect that deal, even though Dwight’s offer was much better than whatever Jeremiah was offering. Still, Dwight talked Theo into recognizing the worth of his distillery, getting the right price for it, and then using that money to secure the future of his family. Soon after Theo shook hands with Dwight, Jeremiah killed Theo and burnt his whole house to the ground. Elsewhere, Bodhi got into a tiff with one of Bill’s men because that henchman was the guy who had killed Jimmy, and he didn’t like the fact that Dwight was doing business with Bill, who had called the hit on Jimmy. How were these plot threads explored in episode 2 of Tulsa King? Let’s find out.
Spoiler Alert
Trouble at Theo’s Funeral
Dwight, Tyson, Mitch, and Bigfoot arrive at the Montague estate, or what remains of it, to take stock of the damage that has been done by Jeremiah and his men. To be honest, Dwight is a bit shocked because of how immediate Jeremiah’s reaction was. But at least that gives him an idea of how brutal he needs to be in order to deal with Jeremiah. Then, Dwight and his crew head over to Theo’s funeral. Goodie arrives there to inform him that Armand’s AA-mandated therapy apparently isn’t going all that well, and he seems to be talking about things he shouldn’t. Goodie is afraid that if Armand ends up leaking news of Dwight’s involvement in the liquor business in Tulsa, on top of the weed and casino business, to someone in New York—probably Ray—then the gangsters over there are going to get even more adamant than they are already about getting a slice of Dwight’s pie. Dwight advises Goodie to just keep tabs on Armand for the time being—which Goodie does by ordering Armand’s AA group to get in touch with him if they spot Armand—and he’ll deal with him if things get too out of control.
For now, his focus is on the Dunmires, who pull the ultimate douchebag move by attending Theo’s funeral. Dwight doesn’t waste a second and confronts Jeremiah over what he has done to Theo and warns him that if he tries to pull the same stunt with him—now that Dwight owns Theo’s distillery—it’s not going to end well for the Montagues. Jeremiah tells Dwight that he is willing to give him thrice the amount that he was offering to Theo, and he should take it and stay away from the distillery, because he knows nothing about making liquor. Dwight is obviously not one to back down, and he makes it pretty clear that he is going to make the distillery a success with one hand while keeping Jeremiah away from it with the other. This war of words takes a momentary pause as Cleo attacks Cole for partaking in Theo’s murder. As soon as Cole puts his hands on Cleo, Mitch enters the picture and sucker punches Cole and sends the Dunmires packing.
Cleo Reveals the Bourbon Storage Unit
Dwight and Joanne sit down for a conversation about the Dunmires. Turns out that Joanne has been doing some homework on them and has figured out that Jeremiah’s establishment hasn’t made a profit for the past decade or so. There are no distributors who want to pick up the product the Dunmires are making. Which means that Jeremiah is breaking a bunch of laws by selling directly, given distillers can’t do so. That brings them to the topic of the product that Theo has made, which can’t be sold because of Jeremiah. Joanne says that they should just pocket the money Jeremiah is offering, set up their own distillery, and leave the Montagues in the rearview mirror. First of all, accepting anything from Jeremiah would be a sign of weakness. Secondly, as mentioned by Dwight, he’s too old to start a distillery from scratch; if he wants to step into this world, it has to happen via a pre-established distillery, or it won’t happen at all. Hence, it has to be Dwight’s way or the highway. On that note, they go back to the Montague estate, along with Tyson, Mitch, and Bigfoot, where Cleo is talking to the insurance adjuster.
According to the insurance guy’s assessment, the fire wasn’t used to hide the evidence of a murder; it just happened spontaneously. Hence, Cleo isn’t getting anything out of this “mishap.” Of course, the whole thing is a farce, because the insurance adjuster, cops, and even the fire inspector are in Jeremiah’s pocket, and they won’t defy him no matter what happens. All this, as well as the fact that Jeremiah was willing to cough up a huge sum of money to get Dwight out of the equation, causes Dwight to wonder why Jeremiah went to such lengths to secure the distillery. That’s when Cleo unveils the storage unit packed with barrels full of bourbon that are around 50 years old and probably worth about $150 million, and it finally becomes clear what Jeremiah is after. He doesn’t care about the distillery; he wants to secure this stock and sell it for sky-high prices in order to make up for the losses he has incurred over the last few years. Cleo says that Jeremiah was aware of the existence of these barrels; it’s just that he didn’t know where they were stashed. After driving the Montagues off the estate, he would have launched an investigation and gotten his grubby hands all over the stash. Well, now it’s in Dwight’s hands, and Jeremiah can’t do anything about that.
Dwight Meets Walden
Cleo gives the gang a tour of the distillery, which is in absolute shambles and in desperate need of repair. Dwight orders Tyson to get his dad, Mark, to use his plumbing skills to fix all the faulty pipes in the establishment. Tyson warns Dwight that his dad won’t agree to do anything for him, given Tyson’s association with Dwight almost got Mark killed. Still, Tyson places Dwight’s proposition in front of Mark, and as predicted by Tyson, Mark promptly rejects the offer. Angie, Tyson’s mother, who has usually been opposed to her son’s association with Dwight, advises Mark to take up the offer because it’ll give him an excuse to be around Tyson and ensure that he hasn’t strayed too far from the light. While that’s going on, Dwight, Bigfoot, and Mitch take a trip to the “friendliest” distributor in town, Walden Eustice, and see if they can convince him to sell the alcohol produced by the Montagues. It doesn’t take very long for them to figure out that Walden doesn’t want to put Montague products on his shelves, acting on Jeremiah’s orders. Dwight understands Walden’s predicament, and promises him that he’ll take care of Jeremiah if he agrees to sell the bourbon made at the Montague distillery. Walden reluctantly accepts Dwight’s offer just so that he can get him and his crew to get out of his warehouse. Cole pays Cleo a visit to tell her that he wants her to abandon Dwight, Mitch, and the rest and join hands with the Dunmires, because that’s the only way to ensure a bright future for her. Cole is extremely sure that Jeremiah will wipe Dwight and his crew off the face of Earth in the next few days, weeks, or months. So, it’s better to be on the side of the winners than stick around with the losers. Cleo tells him, in very explicit terms, that she is never going to side with the Dunmires, especially after they killed her dad.
Bill Enters the Booze Business
As if the affair with Jeremiah isn’t complex enough, Bill shows up at the distillery to complain about how Dwight didn’t tell him about them jumping into the alcohol-brewing business and that he is going up against Jeremiah. Bill tries to put a stop to this whole thing, but Dwight is already too deep into it to back out. Hence, Bill has two options: he can help Dwight, or he can go home. After a lot of back and forth, Bill agrees to lend his vans to transport the liquor to the distributors, and in exchange he wants 50 percent of the profits. Dwight shoots down that demand because Bill has done nothing in terms of helping him make inroads into this sector. So, Dwight makes Bill an offer based on the amount of liquor he and his crew will be able to move on any given day, and he keeps lowering Bill’s share until he says he’ll think about Dwight’s proposition.
Now, although Joanne says that New York shouldn’t get a whiff of Dwight’s new operation, as soon as Bill gets a call from Vince, he spots out everything about the distillery—it’s possible that Vince and Bill are going to join hands to take over the operation. They might even side with Jeremiah in order to show Dwight his place. But they won’t make any such moves until the distillery is up and running. If they hurt Dwight’s rebuilding process before it has started, they’ll need to put in the grunt work. Hence, it’s better to let Dwight and his crew fix the distillery and then capture it. Speaking of grunt work, on Angie’s advice, Mark shows up at the distillery to fix the pipes, which puts a smile on Tyson’s face. Bill sends over his men to start the delivery services. This irks Bodhi, because this arrangement is causing him to work with the guy who killed Jimmy. Grace asks Bodhi if he is thinking about getting even by killing Bill’s henchman. Even though Bodhi does want to do that, he thinks that putting a bullet in that guy’s head won’t make him as miserable as hacking his phone, ruining his life, and compelling him to pull the trigger on himself—that’s pretty diabolical, to be honest, and shows how deeply Bodhi has been affected by Jimmy’s death.
Cole Attacks Mitch
Cole informs Jeremiah about the business that Dwight and Bill are doing with Walden. So, while Jeremiah goes to Walden to punish him for his betrayal, Cole prepares to go after someone that Dwight cares deeply about, which is Mitch. Unaware of all this, Dwight and co. keep making batch after batch of alcohol. Mark and Tyson have a complicated conversation about how the latter’s association with Dwight is robbing him of his personality and compelling him to think that the expensive stuff that he wears or rides is what he truly is. Is this going to change Tyson’s perspective, because Mark has been saying the same thing since the last 2 seasons, and Tyson hasn’t matured at all? Well, maybe the third time’s the charm.
Dwight pays Cal Thresher, who is apparently running for governor, a visit to tell him that when he wins the election, he should remember that he was shown by Dwight and give him the leeway he needs to thrive in the weed, casino, and booze sectors. I’m going to be honest, the way Dwight is throwing around threats left, right, and center to get his allies to work for him, I am afraid that it’s going to backfire. I won’t be surprised if, at the end of this season, he ends up being betrayed by everyone, leaving only Musso (who doesn’t make an appearance in this episode, by the way) to fall back on. We’ll see. Going back to Cole’s plan of hitting Dwight where it hurts, he and his henchman attack Mitch and Cleo. But the couple manages to thwart Cole and his henchman, and Cleo even gives Cole a scar on his arm that he’ll remember for as long as he is breathing. Cole goes back to his dad, crying and sobbing about his failure, and Jeremiah both punishes and cures him by putting a red-hot iron rod on his bleeding wound.
Cole Tries To Woo Spencer
At the end of Tulsa King Season 3, episode 2, Dwight gets a call from Musso while he is at Bred 2 Buck Saloon, but he doesn’t pick it up. Goodie gives Dwight an update regarding Armand, who seems to be doing fine and is on good terms with his family, which makes Dwight happy. But that’s when Jeremiah shows up to inform Dwight that since he has rejected his offer, he is obligated to destroy everything and everyone that Dwight is fond of. Dwight says that he’ll do the same to Jeremiah, and then he’ll pile more pain on top of Jeremiah’s suffering and make him regret his decision of going against Dwight and threatening his family.
Now, while Jeremiah sees that as his cue to leave, it seems like Cole has started sinking his claws into Spencer, yes, the barista that Dwight is extremely fond of and treats like his own daughter (yes, I know that Scarlett, the actress playing the role of Spencer, is Sylvester’s real-life daughter). Is this really a great move? What is he going to do? Woo Spencer with his biceps and crop top (it’s a crop top, don’t deny it)? I think Spencer can do better than that. Cole isn’t the sharpest tool in the shed, but even then, this seems like a stupid strategy. If this ends up working in the Dunmires’ favor and leads to some kind of a damsel-in-distress situation where Dwight has to retire from the booze business, then the credit should go to Spencer’s dumbness, not Cole’s “smartness.” Anyway, these are just my thoughts on this episode of Tulsa King Season 3. If you have any opinions on the same, feel free to share them in the comments section below.
