In episode 4 of Tulsa King Season 3, after Tyson’s colossal misstep, Dwight began making plans to get the booze back from Jeremiah’s clutches. He tasked Bodhi with looking into the Dunmires’ distribution website, and Bodhi not only scrambled their online system, but he also created an AI-generated advertiser, called Jasper, to sell the booze once it was reacquired. Tyson was benched for his irresponsible actions, but as soon as Dwight and Bill went off to track down the stolen liquor, he teamed up with Cole to retrace his steps and see where he went wrong. As soon as he went to the warehouse where Cole organized his bingo enterprise, he spotted that Serenity—the stripper who had won Tyson’s heart—was in cahoots with the Dunmires. That’s when he realized that he had been played by Serenity and Cole. So, Tyson and Mike decided to follow Serenity, and she led them right to the railway yard where the stolen booze had been stashed. Tyson conveyed the information to Bigfoot, and he arrived at the yard with Dwight, Bill, and Mitch. When the Dunmires were at their most vulnerable, Dwight and his crew held Cole hostage until Jeremiah gave up the liquor. Initially, Jeremiah hesitated, because the booze was worth more to him than his son, but eventually, he gave up. Dwight and his team went off with the booze, while Jeremiah got Cole back. Just when Dwight assumed that the worst was behind him, though, Bill got a call from Quiet Ray asking to work together to stab Dwight in the back. What happened next? Let’s find out.
Spoiler Alert
Bill Sides With Dwight
During a meeting between Mitch, Cleo, Grace, and Bodhi, it’s confirmed that American Whiskey, Bourbon Plus, Wine and Spirits, Spirits and Liquors, and more eminent liquor critics will be coming to Montague Distilleries’ inauguration party to both advertise and also judge how much they have to improve as a unit. Bigfoot is seen making an ice carving of a bottle of bourbon, with Montague Distilleries written on it, thereby proving that he isn’t just a force of nature. Back home, Dwight and Margaret are having a conversation about Thresher. Dwight is of the opinion that no matter how much PR you do for the guy, he’ll be unlikable. Since Margaret has a chance of getting back the complete rights to her ranch if she helps Thresher win the gubernatorial election, she doesn’t want to lose any opportunity to put him in front of people who’ll sway the votes in his favor. Hence, she says that she’s going to invite him to the aforementioned party. Dwight doesn’t like the idea, but he realizes that that’s his jealousy doing the talking. Therefore, he compartmentalizes his feelings and supports Margaret’s business decision. Meanwhile, Bill gets a call from Vince to talk about Dwight’s bourbon business and to check if Bill is going to defect against Dwight by joining hands with Quiet Ray. Bill simply says that if Ray has an issue with Dwight, he should deal with him directly instead of trying to win him over, and hangs up.
Going back to Dwight, he and Tyson head over to Montague Distilleries, where they are welcomed by Joanne. Dwight is impressed by the work that his crew has put into making the place look presentable. When he notices Bodhi sweating it a bit, he goes over to him to learn what’s worrying him. Bodhi tries to explain that the economics of the distillery are complicated, which is why he isn’t as enthusiastic as everyone else. Dwight tells Bodhi to relay all his grievances to Goodie while he goes off to talk to Bill. I was under the impression that since Bill doesn’t always see eye-to-eye with Dwight, he is going to betray him. I stand corrected. Bill tells Dwight everything about what Vince and Ray have been planning, and he is of the opinion that if they aren’t dealt with, they’ll try some other means to get a slice of the bourbon business. Bill assumes that Ray or Vince has already started to tighten the noose by having one of his wires placed in the Blue Hills. Since Armand is a no-show in all of this, Bill thinks that he is the one that’s hurting them. Dwight tries to calm Bill down by saying that he is overthinking this whole situation, but Bill is adamant that Dwight is treating this situation way too casually. Hence, he suggests that Dwight deal with Ray and Vince before they are thrust into a war they don’t want and then leaves Dwight to his own thoughts.
Dwight Agrees to Meet Deacon
Before Dwight can process Bill’s info-dump, he gets a call from Deacon saying that he wants him to arrange a meeting. Dwight wants to postpone the meeting, but Deacon says that he has 5 minutes to reconsider that decision and then hangs up. As soon as Deacon cuts the call, Dwight gets another call from Musso telling him to ignore anything that he is doing and greenlight the meeting with Deacon. This proves that the reason why Musso knows everything that Dwight does is because he has bugged his phone. I thought that there was a mole on Dwight’s team leaking information to Musso, but no, it’s a bug on Dwight’s phone that’s getting that job done. Anyway, Dwight clearly has no choice, and he tells Deacon that he is ready to meet him. It seems that Deacon knew that the meeting was going to happen, even if Dwight didn’t want it to; that’s why he had already reached Bred 2 Buck Saloon way before Dwight said “yes.”
Dwight gets to the bar with Tyson, but he tells Tyson to wait outside because he doesn’t want him to see his meeting with Deacon. Dwight wants to fast-track his conversation with Deacon, but Deacon clearly wants to take his time getting to know Dwight and his business properly. So, after beating around the bush for a while, Dwight states that he wants to blow up the Dunmires’ palatial home, and he wants Deacon to make a special explosive that’ll accomplish that task in one go. Deacon names his price, Dwight gets the advance payment from his locker, and that gets the ball rolling. Now, even though Dwight didn’t want Tyson to see Deacon, when he leaves the bar, Tyson catches a glimpse of him. Of course, he doesn’t know who that is yet, but if the link between Dwight and Deacon ever comes out in the open, Tyson will probably feel bad that Dwight didn’t confide in him about this whole thing. In addition to all that, we see someone taking pictures of Deacon exiting the Bred 2 Buck Saloon, who is later revealed to be Bill’s man.
Jeremiah Plans To Ruin Dwight’s Launch Party
At the Dunmire estate, Cole tries to have a chat with his dad about what they should do to get back at Dwight, but it seems like Jeremiah is in no mood for all that. Cole has failed to protect the digital side of the Dunmires’ liquor business, and he allowed himself to get captured by Dwight, which caused Jeremiah to let go of the booze. So, if Cole was struggling to stay in Jeremiah’s good book earlier, it’s going to be an even more uphill task now. Anyway, Jeremiah orders Cole to assemble a team of 8 men in case they have to go and do some physical damage at Dwight’s launch party to get their booze back again. Meanwhile, Jeremiah sits down for a meeting with Attorney General Sackrider (I swear that’s the character’s actual name) and essentially threatens him that if he doesn’t send a health inspector to Montague Distilleries and shut it down immediately, things will take a turn for the worse not just for Dwight, but for Sackrider as well. Jeremiah was instrumental in Sackrider rising to the position of attorney general. Hence, now Jeremiah wants him to return that favor. While all this is happening, Cole goes off to the Bred 2 Buck to hang out with Spencer. It seems that she has started liking him, and the feeling is probably mutual.
I assumed that Cole was playing the long game and is going to use Spencer to hurt Dwight, who clearly has a soft spot for the bartender. But I don’t think that is the case at all. Cole isn’t that manipulative, and it’s possible that he genuinely likes the woman. However, this love story will be quite short because Cole isn’t an independent man; he lives under Jeremiah’s thumb, and he has to do whatever his father tells him to do. At the launch party, Mitch notices that the place is filled with Bill’s men. Hence, he approaches Bill with a complaint that his crew is acting pretty shifty and advises all of them to chill out and avoid being trigger-happy. Cleo asks Joanne about Dwight’s whereabouts because most of the guests have arrived, including Margaret and Thresher, and they are desperate to taste the bourbon. But they can’t kick off the proceedings until Dwight gets there. Before Dwight can get there, health inspector Leery shows up to do an inspection of the place. Joanne gets heated up, and Bodhi has no option but to pull her to the side so that she can calm down and not give Leery an excuse to shut them down.
Leery Is Dead
Leery says that he wants to see the barrel room, so Bigfoot and Goodie oblige his request. As soon as he enters the barrel room, Leery starts listing off a bunch of issues, which could make for adequate grounds for a shutdown of the distillery. This is where Bigfoot makes a split-second decision and destabilizes some of the barrels, causing them to fall on Leery. When Goodie checks the damage, he is shocked to find out that Leery’s head has been crushed and he is dead. I kid you not; Tulsa King Season 3 has been so boring so far, but this moment really got me. My jaw was agape because it just came out of nowhere. Sure, you might’ve expected Bigfoot to get the barrels to tumble onto Leery and maybe just knock him out so as to stop the inspection. However, the brains splattered over the floor just came out of nowhere, and yeah, I found that to be really entertaining. Going back to the plot, as Cleo begins the proceedings of the night, Goodie asks Mitch to come to the barrel room to see what Bigfoot has done. Mitch says that they can frame this to look like an accident and get away with it. Meanwhile, since Sackrider has not gotten a call from Leery, Jeremiah decides to head over to Montague Distilleries for a show of strength and to remind the people who the real boss is. Dwight and Tyson finally reach the venue. As they exchange pleasantries, Thresher decides to leave. While all this is going on, Bill suddenly tries to make a subtle move at Margaret, but that’s swiftly rejected. Dwight doesn’t notice that, so he proceeds to have a good time with his friends and family.
That said, just when the party is starting to get exciting, the Dunphy-Dunmires crash it, claim that the booze that Dwight is putting on display is stolen property, and wreak havoc. As mentioned before, since Cole is one of the aggressors, Spencer is hit with the realization that she has been falling for the wrong guy. Also, it seems like Cole is starting to dislike what he has become because of his father. Speaking of Jeremiah, he thinks that he has succeeded at being a party pooper, but Sackrider warns Jeremiah that since he has done what he has done without any proper evidence, this little stunt will cost him dearly. Jeremiah orders Sackrider to simply fix that issue. As the dust begins to settle and the guests have left, Joanne points out that the reviews for Montague Distilleries are going to be horrible. Dwight, as a believer of second chances, assures her and everyone else in his crew that they’ll try again and this time they’ll win. Once that’s done, Goodie, Mitch, and Bigfoot take Dwight over to Leery’s corpse. Dwight essentially says the exact same thing that Mitch said: they’ll label it a workplace accident that happened when Leery was inspecting the barrels in the dark. They won’t report it. Bodhi will find the body while doing the rounds, and that’s when the call will go out. Everyone agrees with Dwight, and they call it a day.
Bill Is Arrested
At the end of Tulsa King Season 3, episode 5, Bill shows up at Dwight’s house to confront him about his absence during the first half of the launch party. Bill wants to know where Dwight went after their chat, and Dwight gets very defensive. Bill presses on and reveals that he had his guys follow him. They found Dwight talking to an unknown individual—Deacon—and now Bill wants to know what the side hustle is that Dwight is running. Bill even says that he is starting to suspect Dwight is planning to cut him out of the business so that he can have a bigger share of the proverbial pie. This causes Dwight to get incredibly angry, and he violently asks Bill if he thinks that he is a federal informant or something. Bill underscores the fact that he is just spitballing, but it seems like Dwight is allowing his guilty conscience to take over his mind. Bill requests that Dwight think about what he would have done if he had suspected someone of being a rat; would he have let it slide, or would he have chosen confrontation? Dwight doesn’t have an answer—which in and of itself is an answer—so Bill takes his leave. As he approaches a traffic stop, he is surrounded by a bunch of armed police officers and arrested. So, who could have done that?
The way Bill’s scene with Dwight and the scene where he gets apprehended are cut together, it seems like Dwight made a call to Musso and had Bill arrested. That’s the simplest explanation. Bill had learned about Deacon, and if he dug around a little more, he would have jeopardized Musso’s mission, and Musso would have taken out the anger of that failure on Dwight. Therefore, yeah, there’s a good chance that Dwight asked Musso to take Bill out of the picture. My second theory is that Dwight had nothing to do with this arrest; Musso has heard Dwight and Bill’s conversation through that bugged phone and has decided to arrest Bill in order to silence him. My third and fourth picks are Thresher and Jeremiah, respectively. I don’t think Thresher is petty enough to have Bill arrested for telling him to get out of the launch party. At the same time, it’s fair to assume that Thresher’s ego was bruised by Bill’s comments, and now he wants to teach him a lesson. As for Jeremiah, he can make the police dance to his tune. He knows that Bill is an integral part of Dwight’s crew. Without Bill, Dwight will have a hard time rebuilding his enterprise, and it’s possible that Jeremiah will give Bill something that’ll finally compel him to betray Dwight. Anyway, those are just my thoughts on this episode. If you have any opinions on the same, feel free to share them in the comments section below.
