In episode 2 of Tulsa King Season 3, Jeremiah confronted Dwight at Theo’s funeral and all but ordered the sale of the rights to the Montague distillery to him. He was willing to pay 3 times what Theo had given him, which got Dwight thinking that maybe Jeremiah wasn’t really after the distillery. That’s when Cleo revealed her father’s bourbon storage unit, which held liquor worth $150 million, and everything made sense. With some help from Bill, Dwight restarted Theo’s distillery. But then there was the issue of distribution. Everyone in town was in Jeremiah’s pocket, and they were ordered to avoid doing business with anyone who didn’t have the Dunmire seal of approval. Dwight tried to work with a distributor named Walden, but Walden was bashed black and blue by Jeremiah’s men for doing so. After that, Jeremiah sent Cole to attack Mitch to show that he meant business. However, when Cole came back to his dad with his tail tucked between his legs, Jeremiah decided to have yet another chat with Dwight, just to confirm if he was really ready to go to war with him. Since Dwight is the last person to be afraid of a battle of brain and brawn, he openly told Jeremiah to bring it on. What happened next? Let’s find out.
Spoiler Alert
Musso Is Up To Something Fishy
Dwight has a team huddle at the Montague Distillers with Tyson, Joanne, Mitch, Grace, Bodhi, Goodie, and Bigfoot. Cleo isn’t there because she is dealing with the realtors who are trying to buy the Montague estate for cheap after “the accident.” It’s obvious that the realtors aren’t acting of their own accord; they are Jeremiah’s puppets who are doing his bidding. Dwight admits that after his last interaction with Jeremiah, he’s going to turn up the heat; all they have to do is not feel the pressure and mess up, because that’s exactly what he wants. One of the ways of doing that is by focusing on bottling the bourbon. While the team does that, Dwight picks up the call from Musso—something that he didn’t do during the ending of the previous week’s episode—who tells him to board the car that has been sent to pick him up and have a meeting with him because Musso needs to stay updated about what’s going on in Dwight’s life. Dwight tries to avoid it, but Musso orders him to get in that car ASAP if he doesn’t want to end up in federal custody again. Dwight puts Joanne in charge and heads over to the destination where the pickup car is parked. It turns out to be one of those driverless cars, and that scares the bloody hell out of Dwight because he hasn’t seen anything like that before. When he arrives at the destination, he warns Musso that if he puts him through something like that abomination again, he’ll put him in a coma.
After that little tiff, Musso and Dwight hit the road with the aim of going to Texas and dealing with a man who terrorizes women and children. For some reason, Musso tries to get Dwight talking about Armand, but Dwight refuses to entertain Musso and tells him to focus on the road. Musso quickly figures out that he actually doesn’t have any info on Armand, and that’s why he’s being so aggressive with him on this particular topic. So, Dwight says that Armand is in Colorado with his family and he is happy. Musso inquires if Dwight is sure about that, and he just doubles down on the crumbs of information he has on Armand. Dwight then gets aggressive, and he and Musso start taking personal swipes at each other. That’s when Dwight returns to the topic of the Texan terrorist they are after. Musso says that the name he goes by is Dexter Deacon and his primary expertise is arson and explosives. Dwight assumes that Musso wants him to threaten Deacon, but Musso corrects him by saying that he actually wants Dwight to enter a business arrangement with Deacon; probably that’ll give Musso the evidence he needs to arrest Deacon.
Dwight wonders why Musso isn’t using an undercover agent for such a lightweight task. Musso says that Deacon is a thorough man and none of his undercover agents would get past the “sniff test.” Hence, he needs someone authentic to get the job done. Once that’s settled, Musso again starts to inquire about Dwight’s personal connections; this time he targets Quiet Ray. Call it luck or something else, but while Dwight is beating around the bush regarding Ray, highway patrol pulls Musso aside because he has been speeding—something that Dwight did warn him about. Musso tries to deal with the officer by flashing his badge, but that only motivates him to give him a ticket. So, Dwight steps in to have a conversation with the officer. He not only manages to convince him that Musso is off his rocker—hence, the speeding—but also bribes him. The officer lets Dwight and Musso hit the road again, which undoubtedly impresses Musso. Anyway, eventually Dwight reaches Deacon’s shop, and, after pretending to be a regular customer, he begins to unmask Deacon. On a parting note, Dwight just tells him to do some homework on him, and he’ll understand that Dwight means serious business and he’s not a federal informant. While on their way back to Tulsa, Dwight expresses his displeasure at not being able to do a job, even though it’s a typical one, the way he wants to. Musso assures Dwight that he is doing the right thing and he should take solace in that. This is when Dwight finally asks Musso why he is prioritizing Deacon over all the more “out there” terrorists. As suspected, Musso’s mission with Dwight is some off-the-books type of stuff because Musso has some kind of personal vendetta against Deacon. Dwight doesn’t respond to that, but I think he understands that doing unsanctioned hits for a federal agent is not a good idea. Because once things go wrong, Musso will throw Dwight under the bus and go back to doing his job, while Dwight will rot in federal custody.
Cleo Tries To Kill Jeremiah
Mitch meets Cleo because, of course, he cares about her and he loves her, but more importantly, he is worried that if anyone associated with Dwight moves around solo, then Jeremiah will see that as an opportunity to strike. Since that’s a pretty depressing way to live in one’s own hometown, Mitch makes things entertaining by taking her out on a date in the car that they had made special memories in back in the day. Cleo asks if she can drive, and although Mitch obliges, he regrets his decision because Cleo doesn’t drive safely. While taking in the scenery of Tulsa, Cleo wonders if doing business with Dwight is a good idea. Mitch assures her that even though Dwight is a felon, he is trustworthy, and he’ll never backstab Cleo. In addition to that, Mitch points out that, regardless of what lies in the future, he’ll be there for Cleo. That quells some of Cleo’s doubts. So, she decides to turn this short drive into a road trip. Hence, Mitch advises that they should stop somewhere to get some snacks. This turns out to be a pretty bad idea because, apparently, Cleo is a shoplifter and forces Mitch to be her accomplice. Shoplifting actually pales in comparison to what Cleo does next as she drives the car into the Dunmire estate and uses one of the stolen liquor bottles to set Jeremiah’s house ablaze, much like what he did to her house.
Mitch stops Cleo from setting Jeremiah’s house on fire, and, surprisingly enough, Jeremiah lets Cleo and Mitch get off his property without a scratch. Why? All the authorities are in his pocket. What would have happened if Jeremiah killed Mitch and Cleo and stuffed them somewhere in his backyard? Is he actually afraid of Dwight? Did his last conversation with Dwight convince him that attracting Dwight’s ire will be very detrimental to his business? Hence, instead of doing something as drastic as killing Mitch and Cleo, he is going to take a comparatively nuanced approach? Guess we’ll find out soon enough. Going back to Cleo and Mitch, the latter reprimands Cleo for her antics because her actions could have gotten him jailed. And the fact that that thought didn’t cross Cleo’s mind says everything that needs to be said about how she truly feels about Mitch. Hence, Mitch gives Cleo a final warning: she can’t pull a cowboy stunt like the one she did again. He understands that Dwight’s revenge plan, which he is executing on Cleo’s behalf, is a slow burn. But he assures that the results will be in line with what Cleo wants. However, if Cleo doesn’t trust Dwight and his crew, and if she sabotages whatever strategy Dwight has in store for Jeremiah, they’ll need to pull the plug on this operation. Cleo promises that she’ll not make any more mistakes, but we’ll see how long that promise lasts.
Tyson Is Saved By The Cybertruck
Although Dwight has given strict orders to his crew to focus on the bottling of the bourbon, Tyson has the bright idea of going on a mission to “know the enemy” so that when the boss man returns, they’ll have something more to show than packages of bourbon bottles. Before leaving to tend to his personal or professional chores, Goodie advises against doing anything to irk the Dunmires. But as soon as Goodie leaves the building, Tyson sticks to his guns and goes on a fact-finding quest along with Grace and Bodhi. And who does Tyson decide to tail? Cole Dunmire (talk about aiming way too high). The first place that they spot him is, of course, the gym, because the show has to do that to justify Cole’s ripped physique (Beau Knapp should have had a word with the costume department because those shirts look like they are suffocating him). The second place that they spot him at is a warehouse that’s hosting a bingo tournament for the elderly. That undoubtedly surprises the trio, but since they are there already, they try to make the most of it and see if it leads to anything fruitful. While all this is going on, back at the distillery, Joanne asks Bigfoot where Tyson, Bodhi, and Grace are at, and Bigfoot refuses to snitch on them. Before Joanne can press Bigfoot any further, Clara shows up there asking about Armand. Of course, Joanne doesn’t know anything about Armand, but here’s the kicker: when Joanne asks Clara if she has a message to pass on to Dwight, Clara says that Armand has gone missing. Joanne assures Clara that they’ll get to the bottom of this mystery, and, as promised, she passes on Clara’s message to Dwight. However, the issue here is, did Goodie lie to Dwight about Armand’s current status? If so, why? I guess we’ll find out later.
In the meantime, we find Goodie paying the bingo-playing trio a visit. No, there’s nothing shifty about that, because Grace is the one who has called Goodie for some extra protection. After taking a seat with them, Goodie points out that the bingo tournament is a scam. If the Dunmires are swindling old people to stay afloat, this means that they are incredibly desperate. As soon as Goodie games the system, Dwight’s crew garners the attention of Cole and his men. Initially, Cole refuses to pay them a dime because he knows that Dwight’s people have hacked his charade. Goodie points out that if the rest of the bingo participants notice that there’s no prize for winning “fair and square,” they might stop partaking in his games, thereby bringing an end to this scam. So, Cole has no option but to blow Dwight’s crew the prize money and send them on their way. At the end of Tulsa King Season 3, episode 3, Tyson and his friends decide to spend their winnings at a strip club. While partying there, a stripper named Serenity takes Tyson for a private show. That’s where Cole ambushes Tyson, kidnaps him, and takes him to a shipping container yard to get him to spill the beans on the $150 million bourbon storage unit. Tyson refuses to comply, which is when Cole brings out Serenity and threatens to kill her. Even though Tyson knows little to nothing about Serenity, he chooses to save her, thereby giving the Dunmires access to all that bourbon. When Cole’s henchmen ask him what they should do with “the Black guy” (which hints at the Dunmires’ undercurrent of racism), he tells them to shoot Tyson while he’s locked in the trunk of his Cybertruck.
Here’s where the episode becomes an advert for Tesla as we bear witness to the bulletproof exterior of that abomination of a car, which protects Tyson from getting shot to death. Unaware of all this, Dwight is seen enjoying some downtime with Margaret. However, one call from Goodie causes him to rush over to the storage unit, which has been emptied by Cole and his men. If this doesn’t get Tyson fired, I don’t know what will. Mitch was with Cleo to stop her from doing something drastic and ruining Dwight’s plan. Even though Tyson had Grace, Bodhi, and Goodie with him, none of them were able to prevent him from going on his personal revenge quest against Cole. Yes, those 3 are equally responsible for this debacle, which means that none of those 4 will get fired by Dwight. The crew is already short-staffed, and if Dwight starts kicking people out, then it’ll be detrimental to his enterprise. That said, I do expect them, especially Tyson, to get an earful from Dwight; hopefully that’ll inspire some change in him. Also, this hiccup underscores Mitch’s words about Dwight’s approach. At the moment, it might seem like a slow burn, but the pieces do end up falling in the right places if he isn’t sabotaged by his own people. If Dwight’s crew would have just focused on bottling the bourbon, none of this would have happened, and now they have to figure out how to keep Montague Distillers running without any bourbon. Anyway, these are just my thoughts on this episode of Tulsa King. If you have any opinions on the same, please, feel free to share them in the comments section below.
