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This review was made possible by advance screeners of the first three episodes of Tulsa King Season 2. Tulsa King Season 2 premieres on Paramount+ on Sunday, September 15th with one episode. New episodes will air every Sunday.
If you need a new fix of mafia, mobsters and gangsters to grace the screens in the comforts of your own home, may I recommend to you Tulsa King. The series was created by Taylor Sheridan (Yellowstone, Mayor of Kingstown) and is written by Terence Winter (The Sopranos, Boardwalk Empire). Beware slight spoilers for Season 1 lie ahead.
The series follows Dwight Manfredi (Sylvester Stallone) a mafia capo that was just released from prison after serving nearly two decades for taking the fall for the good of the family. How is he rewarded for his service? He is exiled from NYC to Tulsa, Oklahoma to set up a new territory. To everyone’s surprise but his own, he walks right in and starts building his new empire in the country.
LET’S MEET THE SQUAD
Right in his Uber ride from the airport, Dwight hires his first employee Tyson (Jay Hill) as his driver and righthand man. He then partners up with a dispensary ran by Bodhi (Martin Starr) and a local bar owned by Mitch Keller (Garrett Hedlund). As he cuts ties with the family back home now ran by Chickie (Domenick Lombardozzi) after his father passed, Dwight gets old friend Goodie Carangi (Chris Caldovino) on his side along with a man who thought he escaped his past in New York, Armand Truisi (Max Casella).
With his new team in place Dwight wastes no time stacking up piles of money and making a name for himself. He’s a charming fellow, pair that with confidence, success and money and people will flock to you. Sometimes those people ending up being an ATF agent, who later realize she slept with a massive crime boss. And this is where Season 2 picks up.
LEGAL TROUBLE & NEW ENEMIES
Season 2 of Tulsa King starts with Dwight facing legal issues. That’s not his only problem, western mob boss Bill Bevilaqua (Frank Grillo) and local businessman Cal Thresher (Neal McDonough) have a massive problem with Dwight taking a piece of their pie. As you can guess, a few bumps in the road isn’t stopping the boss man from building his empire. The problem is his new enemies aren’t giving up without a fight either.
The series is filled with shoot outs and bareknuckle brawls that are exciting, but the biggest plus is Sylvester Stallone’s performance. He plays the straight man, tough guy with a heart of gold role incredible as we all know, but Dwight Manfredi is different. He’s insanely intelligent, always seems to be two steps ahead of his adversaries. To top it off, his lack of knowledge of technology and relevant pop culture from being in jail for so long makes for some great laughs that feel genuine and not corny. Even with the laughs, you always see him learning and adapting when it’s something he’s unfamiliar of.
FINAL THOUGHTS
If you’re missing The Sopranos, Tulsa King may be your new obsession. Is it as good? No, but it’s a great fish out of water story and some of the best work of Stallone’s career. It’s funny, surprising and not scared to get bloody when things get messy. I’ve only seen three episodes of this season, but it promises to be an explosive follow up in this mafia saga.
