It is no secret that mob movies and gangster sagas are no longer popular among the younger generation; the only way for the genre to stay relevant on the screen any longer is to update and modify the existing narrative structure—to bring something new to the mix—and that’s exactly what Taylor Sheridan’s comedy-crime drama, Tulsa King, managed to do. Set up as a present-day mafia chronicle, the series simultaneously adheres to and subverts various mob movie tropes, adds elements from Westerns, with a touch of comedic flair backed by the support of a solid set of characters—it would not be an overstatement to say that Tulsa King is one of the better examples of how even a bit of ingenuity goes a long way in the case of genre narratives. Additionally, viewers who had lamented Sylvester Stallone not taking more mob movie roles outside of “Oscar” will be delighted to see his lead performance as an aging mafia capo trying to get back to his glory days.
A second season of Tulsa King is going to premiere on “Paramount+” later this week, so let us guide you through the events of the nine-episode first season of the series so that you can stay updated.
Dwight Manfredi and His New Syndicate
As the series begins, Dwight Manfredi, a 75-year-old former member of Cosa Nostra, a capo of the New York-based Invernizzi crime family, gets released after serving twenty-five year sentence. Dwight had taken mercy on and killed a man who was being tortured by Invernizzi family underboss Chickie and his underling Vince. Loyal to a fault, Dwight protected Chickie as a gesture of his allegiance to the crime family head, his friend Pete Invernizzi, and willingly became the fall guy for the crimes Chickie had committed. During his prolonged prison time, Dwight had decided to sever contacts with his family to spare them, and to some extent himself as well, from the pain and shame—creating a rift between him and his daughter Christina. Upon his release, Dwight goes back to meet Pete and the rest of the crime family members and gets disappointed to learn that he will no longer operate from within New York, instead being instructed to form his new base in Tulsa, Oklahoma. For Dwight, in this late phase of his life, this is nothing if not a prolonged sentence, and while having an argument with the others, things get heated, and he slaps Vince unconscious. However, Pete, with his old-school sense of mafia morality, is forever indebted to Dwight and decides to look the other way as long as Dwight respects the trust and bond they have between them.
Begrudgingly, Dwight goes to Tulsa, but wastes no time in setting up his base; in fact, even before reaching the hotel, Dwight extorts a legal cannabis shop owner, Bodhi, to channel regular funding to his new syndicate, offering protection in exchange. Hilariously enough, the small town has no organized crime problem to begin with, from which Dwight could offer protection. Anyway, Dwight makes new friends as he makes his cabbie, Tyson Mitchell, his personal driver, and gets acquainted with a local bar owner, Mitch Keller, a tough as nails ex-con. Dwight also gets close to Stacy Beale, an ATF agent who was a former special task force member, whose workaholic tendencies and nervous breakdown post-9/11 cost her her past career, and she had to shift to Tulsa from New York as well. For the time being, Stacy looks out for Dwight despite knowing his troubling background.
Turf Wars
Dwight begins his efforts for aggressive expansion as he cuts a more lucrative deal with Bodhi’s marijuana supplier, Jimmy, and initially gets off on the wrong foot with his Native American brother, Bad Face. Bodhi’s grievances with Dwight are assuaged as Dwight’s negotiation results in higher profit. On the other hand, Tyson often gets into arguments with his father, Mark, who deems his new line of work to be extremely dangerous and advises him to settle for a blue-collar jobs like he himself did. Dwight makes conscious attempts to keep Tyson away from the nastiness of the syndicate so that the young man doesn’t turn out like him.
Not everyone is happy to see Dwight in Tulsa, as Armand, one of the former members of the Invernizzi family, who had abandoned his past way of life and settled in Tulsa to raise a family of his own, fears that Dwight has been sent by the family to kill him. He makes an attempt to assassinate Dwight in fear but fails to do so, and finding Armand to be working at a horse ranch, Dwight tracks him down and threatens to kill him. However, Armand begs for his life and explains the situation to him, and realizing that it was a huge misunderstanding to begin with, Dwight spares him in exchange for regular donations to the syndicate.
Meanwhile, Vince, still bitter about Dwight breaking his jaw, convinces Chickie to pressure him for kickbacks, prompting Dwight to think of new ways to turn profit. Using Mitch’s bar as cover, Dwight brings tankers of nitrous oxide for balloon business to rake in good numbers during a local music festival. A local biker gang named Black Macadams, led by a notorious Irish mobster, Caolan Waltrip, whom Stacy and ATF were investigating for a series of criminal activities, had so long monopolized the festival trades, and finding competition in the involvement of Dwight’s crew, they beat up Bodhi and Tyson, stole the profit money, and stole the gas tankers. In response, Dwight takes his crew, consisting of Mitch, Armand, Tyson, Bodhi, Bad Face, and even Tyson’s father, Mark, to launch a surprise attack on the gang, and beating them to a pulp with baseball bats, manages to take back their belongings.
Family Troubles
Ever since arriving at Tulsa, Dwight had been trying to communicate with his daughter, Christina, with whom he last spoke 18 years ago—and with Dwight’s wife divorcing him and abandoning their daughter, growing up, Christina had no parental figures during a major part of her life—aside from Dwight’s brother Joe himself. Dwight finally gets a chance to meet with his daughter as Joe unfortunately passes away, and Dwight goes to Brooklyn to attend his funeral. Christina, now a florist in New York, is happily married and has twin sons, but she is unwilling to let Dwight enter her family ever again. Dwight apologizes to her for his past mistakes, and Christina confides in him that one of his crime family members, Nico, had put her in trouble (the nature of the incident remains unknown, but taking a fair guess, it might involve sexual assault). Fuming in rage, Dwight questions an ailing Pete about the incident, eventually locates the mob members in the club, and right in front of Vince and Chickie, beats Nico to death. Dwight’s allegiance to both his family and his crime family remains a matter of contention, as in the last phase of his life he has finally got his priorities set and taken a stand to defend his family. Pete supports Dwight’s actions and reprimands his son, Chickie, making him feel incompetent in comparison to Dwight. Dwight informs Christina about his actions and, conveying his love for her in his own way, takes his leave.
At Tulsa, Caolan uses two crooked cops under his payroll to rough up Bodhi and Tyson to reveal their ties with Dwight. The cops try to apprehend Mitch as well, but Mitch uses his bar’s location on Cherokee land to his advantage to shrug off the heat. With the possibility of a gang war between Dwight and Caolan jeopardizing her career, Stacy doubles down on her effort to dismantle the biker gang and prompts an informant in their gang, Roxy, to pass the ATF any information she can dig up on them. However, Stacy’s colleague decides to bring the FBI into the situation after learning that Dwight, the former mafia capo, is somehow involved in this mess. No sooner than Bodhi manages to return to his business, the FBI comes knocking at his door—but thanks to Dwight’s foresight, their marijuana profit money remains untouched.
Upon returning to Tulsa, Dwight finds everything in a mess, and meeting with Caolan regarding their territorial dispute, clearly conveys the fact that he is unwilling to negotiate with him. This results in Caolan sending his trusted associate, Roxy’s boyfriend, Pike, to attack Mitch’s bar at night. Mitch and Dwight manage to eliminate him while responding in kind and send his bullet-riddled biker jacket to the Macadams gang as a warning. Pete sends Goodie, his consigliere, to Tulsa to scope out Dwight’s situation, and ignoring Pete’s warnings, Chickie assaults Christina’s husband to send a message.
The Undisputed King
Chickie, by his own admission, didn’t want to be a part of his father’s mafioso life, and regrets not having sought out a life of his own due to his father pressuring him into the lifestyle. Which is why, when Pete belittled him by holding Dwight in high regard, it was a serious insult to Chickie. Reaching Tulsa, Goodie informs Chickie and Pete about Dwight’s syndicate being a starkly different, independent, and more inclusive one (compared to the all Italian mafia, Dwight’s crew includes members from a number of different communities), which does not sit well with Chickie, but Pete has no qualms with it. While having a discussion about it, in a fit of blind rage, Chickie kills his father by drowning him in a bathtub. Goodie returns to New York to attend Pete’s funeral, and upon learning that Chickie is planning to put down Dwight, a made man, raises concern, drawing the ire of Chickie as he threatens him with consequences. Chickie calls Dwight and arranges a meeting in Tulsa under the pretense of sorting out the problems between them, while planning to kill him during the meet.
Through the course of events, Dwight had made a new acquaintance with Margaret, the owner of the horse ranch Armand works at. Dwight had become fond of an old, wayward, wandering horse, Pilot—ever since setting foot in Tulsa. Upon learning that Pilot is going to be euthanized, Dwight purchases him and stables him at Margaret’s ranch, and assigns a waitress, Spencer, the responsibility of taking care of him. Pilot is a reflection of Dwight himself—old, unruly, yet free, high-spirited—not settling into any boundaries or established limitations.
After Pike’s death, Roxy is devastated, and Stacy learns from her that Caolan has managed to gather a hefty amount of cash in his untraceable bank accounts. Despite knowing the dangers, Stacy coerces Roxy to dig deeper to find anything the ATF can use to nab Caolan with, and while doing so, Roxy gets strangled to death by the biker gang leader. Knowing this, Stacy finds herself out of options to apprehend Caolan, and to divert the FBI’s attention from Dwight, reveals Caolan’s monetary gains—resulting in an FBI raid in Black Macadams’ hideout—but they find Caolan missing from the scene.
Anticipating a possible gang war, Dwight trains his crew to shoot. Mitch and Grace, one of Bodhi’s employees, turn out to be the best marksmen of the bunch. Previously, Dwight had asked Mitch to let him become joint owner of the bar as he seeks to expand and facelift the business, and now Dwight calls in Jimmy, Bodhi’s marijuana supplier, to chip in and turn the bar into a mini casino. With Mitch and Bad Face’s help, Dwight brings new recruits in the form of Native American hitmen to strengthen his crew’s might. Learning about the attack on Christina’s husband, Dwight requests his daughter to bring her family to Tulsa, and Christina takes time to ponder about it. The past interaction with Dwight has allowed Christina to somewhat reconcile with her father, and concerned about her family’s safety, she starts considering the possibility of staying close to Dwight.
While meeting with Dwight, Stacy gets shot by Caolan and his crew, and Dwight is taken in for interrogation—until Bodhi’s lawyer swoops in to save him from further trouble. Dwight meets Stacy, who is recuperating in the hospital, and promises to make things right, but Christina has given up on worrying about the future any longer as she believes that her career is over now that her connection with a felon has been exposed.
Dwight and his crew join the meeting with Chickie, and anticipating foul play on the part of Chickie already, Dwight has his men stationed to take care of things if anything goes out of the ordinary. Without beating around the bush, Dwight promptly warns Chickie and Vince to leave Tulsa and never return, but offers Goodie the chance to join his crew, which he happily accepts given how his ideological perspective has come to clash with Chickie’s destructive mentality.
To flush Caolan out of hiding, Dwight takes Bodhi’s help to hack Caolan’s account and transfers part of the money to Stacy as remuneration. Additionally, he provides Stacy with a flash drive with information pertaining to Caolan’s illegal activities as well. An enraged, desperate Caolan attacks Mitch’s bar with his gang, and a vicious shootout ensues, at the end of which Caolan is brutally killed by Dwight, and most members of the biker gang either die or flee.
A while later, Dwight is living a rather peaceful life as Christina has decided to move to Tulsa with her children, and Dwight finally gets the chance to make amends with her. With Mitch’s bar and casino reopening, business is booming as well; on the other hand, Stacy’s superiors decide to reinstate her on the condition that she turns in Dwight. In the final moments of the first season, Stacy decides to betray Dwight’s trust and has him arrested by the FBI for allegedly bribing her, a federal officer, with the flash drive in exchange for favors. Tulsa King season 1 comes full circle as Dwight is taken away by police in the finale after getting freed from prison in the very first episode. A helpless Christina wonders whether she is doomed to face a similar fate once again, as she was forced to through a major part of her life.
