In episode 7 of Tulsa King Season 3, Dwight came to the realization that one of the only ways to get Montague Distilleries up and running and take Jeremiah out of the picture was by bringing Sackrider under his thumb. Initially, he politely asked Sackrider to switch teams. When that didn’t work, he set up a meeting between Sackrider and Thresher at the Bred-2-Buck casino under the pretext of getting them to know each other ahead of the gubernatorial elections. But before that meeting, Margaret had learned from Anna, Sackrider’s wife, that Sackrider had a gambling addiction. So, Dwight kept feeding casino chips to Sackrider, and Sackrider kept losing. When the attorney general’s mountain of debt had become insurmountable, Dwight went to him with an offer: he’d cover Sackrider’s losses if he abandoned Jeremiah, removed the ban on Montague Distilleries, and endorsed Thresher in the upcoming elections. Sackrider had no real choice, and he caved. This prompted Jeremiah to attack Sackrider at his office, and that got him jailed. Parallel to this plot, there was Tyson, Goodie, and Spencer extorting a bunch of drug-peddling frat boys, just because they could. What happened next in the lives of Dwight and his crew? Let’s find out.
Spoiler Alert
Deacon Meets Jeremiah
In episode 8 of Tulsa King Season 3, the ban on Montague Distilleries is lifted, thanks to Dwight’s newly established “bond” with Sackrider. As they resume business, Dwight states that if Jeremiah tries to attack them again, he’ll need to bring in the National Guard. Speaking of Jeremiah, he is bailed out of prison by Cole and taken home. After watching last week’s episode, I thought that Jeremiah was going to stay in prison for a while for assaulting an attorney general. I assumed Cole wouldn’t bail Jeremiah out because he was complaining so much about how he mentally abused him. But here we are. What was the point of that whole detour? Was it to show that, in Tulsa, you can assault an attorney general and then walk away scot-free? I guess so. Going back to the plot, right after the Dunmires arrive at their estate, Deacon shows up there as well.
Deacon was hired by Dwight to kill Jeremiah, but evidently, Deacon has betrayed Dwight, that too after accepting his payment, because he thinks that Dwight isn’t “trustworthy” enough. He has sensed that Dwight hasn’t hired him just to kill Jeremiah, and that he has some ulterior motives, which is true, because Dwight is associating himself with Deacon because Musso has told him to do so. Hence, Deacon fears that once he has killed Jeremiah, Dwight will throw him to the wolves, and that’s why Deacon has decided to join hands with Jeremiah. And to win over Jeremiah, he intends to kill Dwight. Jeremiah orders Cole to leave so that the adults can talk. Moments later, Deacon slips into the hotel through the backdoor, which is open to the workers bringing in supplies and decorations, and plants a bomb. Since nobody is monitoring that route, Deacon manages to slip out of there as well, undetected.
Deacon Wants To Meet Dwight
Thresher and Margaret are throwing some kind of a fundraiser party at a lavish hotel (which does look like The Continental from the John Wick franchise). Their conversation about the former’s speech is interrupted by a call from Dwight because, well, he misses her. After they hang up, Dwight oversees the repair work happening at Montague Distilleries after Bigfoot broke the racks for the bourbon barrels in order to kill Inspector Leery. Joanne is there too, and she wants to know if he’ll be attending Thresher’s party. Dwight says that he hasn’t been invited. Their conversation is interrupted by Deacon, who says that he’s ready to “make the exchange” at a location that he has decided for both of them. What was this exchange supposed to be about? Well, Deacon had taken $250 thousand to start making the bomb, and Dwight was supposed to give him another $250 thousand after he had completed making the bomb. But Dwight refuses his proposal and says that they’ll meet at his desired location.
After hanging up on Deacon, Dwight calls up Musso and tells him that the bomber has decided to meet and it’ll happen at a spot that he’ll decide. Musso tries to one-up Dwight by saying that he can’t choose a location until Musso has prepped a team who can nab Deacon during the “exchange” because he wants this whole operation to go as smoothly as possible. Dwight assures him that it will but only if it plays out on his terms. Here’s what’s confusing to me. Musso said that this whole Deacon hunt thing is off the books because his vendetta against Deacon is personal. So, how’s he going to mobilize a team? Won’t that need some kind of paperwork or permission from higher-ups? I think it’s pretty convenient that Musso can do whatever he wants when the plot needs him to, and he has to follow protocol when the plot needs him to. It really keeps the viewers at the edge of their seats.
Musso Reveals Why He Is After Deacon
Dwight meets up with Musso at some parking lot, and he confirms that he has the money that’s required to make the exchange with Deacon look as legit as possible. As Musso gets hyped about finally being able to nab Deacon, Dwight brings up the topic of Bill. He says that he knows that Musso is the one who detained him, and he wants Musso to release Bill and also bring an end to this Deacon business because it’s taking up time he’d rather spend on his actual business. However, Musso bravely rejects that proposal and says that Bill will stay in that federal detention center until he thinks he can leave. And he advises Dwight to focus on Deacon for the time being, because the sooner he is arrested, the sooner Dwight can return to his life. After hitting the road, Dwight and Musso have a chat about what’s actually going to happen to Deacon once he has been nabbed. Since Dwight has a decent idea about America’s justice system, he is afraid that he’ll be let out pretty soon and then he’ll come after him and his business (Deacon is doing that already, by the way). Hence, instead of arresting Deacon, Dwight suggests that they kill him, because if he’s dead, he won’t be a threat to anyone and true justice will be served.
Musso assures Dwight that Deacon won’t get out so easily, because he is on the FBI’s wanted list (Deacon’s not very high on that list though). On top of that, he’s guilty of killing Deacon’s partner. Apparently, Musso’s partner died trying to save the people that fell victim to one of Deacon’s bombs, and now Musso is out to avenge him. I had assumed that Deacon had killed one of Musso’s family members, but I suppose the writers have gone for the most cliche option. That said, it does seem that Musso was pretty attached to his partner, which is why he has undertaken this perilous mission to avenge him, and surprisingly enough, Dwight empathizes with Musso on this subject. Hence, he suggests yet again that Deacon should be killed instead of being put on trial.
Dwight Kidnaps Deacon
Although initially Musso seemed corrupt to me, hearing him say that he wants to do everything by the book, despite the personal nature of this mission, makes me think that he is a good guy at heart. I guess we’ll see if that assumption is true or not. For now, let’s focus on the “exchange.” Dwight and Musso arrive at the warehouse where the former is supposed to meet Deacon. One of Musso’s associates informs him that Deacon is already inside and waiting for Dwight. Musso tells Dwight to wear a wire (for insurance), do the exchange, and then the Feds are going to move in to nab Deacon. Now, that causes Dwight to walk back on the sense of empathy he has just developed for Musso, because why would he need proof that Dwight was the one who was doing the exchange with Deacon if he just needs to catch Deacon?
This could mean that Musso is not only after Deacon but Dwight as well. Therefore, before walking into the meeting with Deacon, Dwight discards the wire. And as soon as Dwight approaches Deacon, he pulls out a gun and points it at Dwight. Deacon thinks that he has the upper hand in this whole situation, but he is shocked to learn that it’s not Dwight who has walked into a trap; Deacon himself has walked into the trap set by Dwight. Yes, Mitch and Bigfoot were already waiting in that warehouse because Dwight probably had a hunch that Deacon would turn against him. Hence, he ordered Mitch and Bigfoot to come along with him for the exchange and nab Deacon if he tries to do anything shifty. Well, Dwight was right. So, unbeknownst to Musso, Dwight and his crew stuff Deacon into their car and drive away from the warehouse.
Thresher Gets Real With Margaret
Thresher and Margaret’s fundraiser seems to be going fine. While the organizers couldn’t keep a strict eye on the backdoor, thereby allowing Deacon to plant a bomb, they can be seen being vigilant about the guests by confiscating their mobiles until the end of the ceremony so that they don’t record anything that the management doesn’t want the public to see. Sackrider and his wife, Anna, are in attendance too, thereby confirming the fact that the attorney general is backing Thresher, which pretty much guarantees Thresher’s win at the gubernatorial election. So, that motivates Thresher to ask Margaret to become a part of his cabinet. He’s clearly smitten with her, as he keeps saying that they make a good couple. He obviously doesn’t care that she is with Dwight. He wants to steal her by hook or by crook. Margaret tries her best to deflect that proposal, and that prompts Thresher to drop his “nice guy” act. He says while their association with Dwight has ensured their ascension up the proverbial ladder, said association also means that they are now a part of his business, which has a habit of going sideways. And when that inevitably happens, Dwight will be able to avoid the consequences of their actions, but it’s possible that Thresher and Margaret will be left picking up the pieces.
Hence, instead of blindly trusting Dwight, Thresher wants Margaret to think for herself and contemplate the end result of mixing Dwight’s business with Thresher’s politics. Although Margaret doesn’t respond in her usual witty fashion, it’s evident that she has understood the point that Thresher has been trying to make. By the way, I want to take this moment to give a shoutout to Neal McDonough. The man has 148 credits to his name, and in this brief exchange, you can see him using all the experience that he has collected over the years. The pitch, the vocal inflections, the body language—it’s all done so beautifully that it reminded me of actors from the ‘40s and the ‘50s who used to deliver their dialogues in this snappy and breathless fashion. Back then, there used to be hundreds of actors like McDonough who could pull off dialogue-heavy scenes like that. Now, artists like McDonough are rare, and it’s a shame that he isn’t a superstar. I hope somebody gives him a noir franchise so that we can hear him talk like this for the next few years.
Dwight Forces Deacon to Confess
Dwight, Bigfoot, and Mitch take Deacon to the secret bourbon storage unit on the Montague estate. Also, those three are wearing raincoats, which is an early indicator of the fact that things are going to get bloody. But what does Dwight want from Deacon? Well, he wants Deacon to reveal the names of all the people he has worked with so far. Deacon puts on a brave face and refuses to comply. So, the beatdown begins. We get a brief cutaway to Jeremiah and Cole talking about Deacon, and Jeremiah gloats about how he has managed to form an alliance with Deacon to have Dwight killed, a task that Cole failed at. Cole then magically teleports to the party at Higher Plane that Tyson and Spencer have thrown to sell the drugs that they had procured from the frat boys. He doesn’t have any exact details, but he informs Spencer that Deacon has put a bomb in a hotel to hurt somebody close to Dwight. She passes on that information to Tyson, and he puts two and two together and figures out that Thresher’s fundraiser is about to be bombed. As Tyson tries to get in touch with Dwight in order to warn him, the focus of the episode returns to Dwight, who has brutalized Deacon’s face in this brief period of time and gotten a confession out of him, which Mitch has recorded on a tape.
Although we don’t see the entire torture session, we do get to witness Dwight plant a USA flag-themed lapel pin on Deacon’s face with a punch. After that, he orders Mitch and Bigfoot to take Deacon away. But that’s when he gets Tyson’s call, and he is genuinely shocked to learn what Deacon has done. He hangs up on Tyson and rings Musso. When Musso picks up the phone, he tries to go on a rant about how Dwight has betrayed him, but Dwight stops him from doing so and tells him to go and evacuate the hotel where Thresher is doing his fundraiser before Deacon’s bomb goes off. Musso doesn’t believe him, so Dwight gets Deacon to admit that he has put a bomb in that hotel. Without wasting another second, Musso mobilizes the Feds and the police and makes his way to the hotel. Mitch and Bigfoot stuff Deacon in one of the coffins that already has the corpse of one Lawrence Montague, leaving him to suffer in the cemetery, and then they join Dwight on the rescue mission. Dwight tries to get Margaret on the phone, but since everyone’s phones have been confiscated, she is unable to receive Dwight’s warning. Thankfully, Musso, the police, Dwight, and his crew are able to reach the hotel and evacuate it before the bomb goes off.
Dwight Uses Deacon as Leverage
For a few seconds, I thought that the whole bomb threat was a bluff orchestrated by Jeremiah and Deacon to make a fool out of Dwight. However, in the ending of Tulsa King Season 3, episode 8, when the hotel explodes, I came to the realization that Jeremiah and Deacon are indeed psychopaths, and they are ready to take innocent lives just to get back at Dwight. That said, I suppose Cole has redeemed himself quite a bit, because if he didn’t leak the info about the bomb, all those people, including Margaret and Thresher, would have died. At the scene of the crime, Margaret spots Musso talking to Sackrider and asks Dwight about him. Dwight says that they’ll talk about it later. Tyson and Spencer finally arrive, and Mitch goes to them to give them the assurance that everyone is fine; some of them are injured, but everybody’s alive. Musso approaches Dwight, asking him about Deacon and the information he has extracted out of him. This is when it becomes clear that Dwight has the upper hand and he can use Deacon and his confession to keep Musso under his thumb, instead of the other way around. Musso is desperate to punish Deacon, but as long as Dwight has him in his possession, Musso won’t be able to force Dwight to dance to his tune.
It’ll be interesting to see if this plan of Dwight’s actually plays out the way he wants it to. Maybe he’ll use the confession to get Musso to work with him and bring down Jeremiah, because he’s clearly the bigger threat over here. Additionally, Dwight might even use that confession tape to secure his freedom. Is Deacon going to survive until the end of Dwight and Musso’s negotiation? I’m not very sure. Mitch and Bigfoot might have to give him some air and keep him alive until Dwight and Musso reach some kind of middle ground. Even though Dwight hates Deacon, he’ll probably want to keep him alive because his establishment is already guilty of “allegedly” killing Leery. If he gets accused of killing someone on the FBI’s wanted list, then that could spell trouble for him and his team. Speaking of his team, how’s this bombing going to impact his relationship with Thresher and Margaret? Margaret has been playing for both teams, but if she realizes that being with Dwight spells so much danger, she might decide to abandon him. The same goes for Thresher, because Dwight is the reason he and his sponsors almost died. Or maybe Thresher and Margaret might do the exact opposite and become more friendly with Dwight because he’s the reason why they’re still alive. I guess we’ll find out in the upcoming episodes. What are your thoughts on this episode, though? Please, let me know in the comments section below.
