Summary
By tying up a couple of lingering first-season subplots, “Oklahoma v. Manfredi” raises the stakes for the second season. This episode clearly marks a positive turning point.
Tulsa King hasn’t been in a rush to get going in Season 2, but that changes slightly in Episode 3, “Oklahoma v. Manfredi”. Quite a bit goes down here — we get the outcome of Dwight’s court case, more from the season’s villain contingent, and a proper casualty. You can tell that this is a turning point, and we’ll likely be able to look back at the end of the season and pinpoint this outing as where things got real.
And it’s about time. The premiere, “Back in the Saddle”, was a nice reminder of how fun these characters are to spend time with, but the second episode, “Kansas City Blues”, felt a little lethargic. “Oklahoma v. Manfredi” doesn’t just tie up a couple of minor subplots that were left lingering from the first season but raises the stakes in the new ones, so it’s a slick 40 minutes of television.
Justice Is Done
A dominant subplot early in Season 2 has been Dwight’s trial, which Episode 3 is named after. Despite the personal intervention of U.S. Attorney McGrath at Cal Thresher’s behest, and Dwight unconventionally representing himself, the verdict is nonetheless a positive one. Dwight is found not guilty of bribing a federal agent.
To be fair, Dwight didn’t bribe a federal agent, so this is perhaps just as well, but whenever an ex-mobster starts throwing large sums of money around it’s going to raise a few eyebrows. Luckily, Stacy comes through for Dwight in the end, taking the stand as his star witness to confirm the nature of their relationship. She’s not happy about it, nor is she thrilled about being transferred to Anchorage, Alaska, but it’s the right thing to do.
The outcome of the trial hardly constitutes a surprise — we can’t have a second season of Tulsa King with Dwight languishing in prison — but it does raise the stakes of other subplots. Cal, furious with McGrath for his failure, is going to have to find a more hands-on way of taking out his new weed rival, and with Dwight exonerated he’s free to go to open war with Bill Bevilaqua and the Kansas City Mob.
A Snake in the Grass
Cal’s not a direct kind of guy. After hearing about the outcome of Dwight’s trial, he takes another approach, which is to buy the loyalty of Armand from under Dwight’s nose.
Armand is going through a messy divorce, can’t afford alimony, and still owes Dwight a substantial packet. His “loyalty” to Dwight has always been a debt that needs to be repaid, so he makes sense as Cal’s next mark. After inviting him to his home, Cal offers him thirty grand in cash, ostensibly out of the goodness of his heart. He claims he just likes to help people. But he does suggest, rather tellingly, that maybe one day Armand would like to help him too.
Will he? Well, it’s very likely. We don’t see if he takes the bribe in Tulsa King Season 2, Episode 3, but we do see him give Dwight his envelope of cash right on time. Since previous episodes have already established that he hasn’t been able to reliably do so recently, the implication is that he took Cal’s money.
We shouldn’t take this as gospel, for reasons we’ll discuss in a minute, but I wouldn’t trust Armand as far as I could throw him.
Dwight, Meet Bill
“Oklahoma v. Manfredi” finally brings Dwight and Bill face to face. Needless to say, they don’t get on.
It’s funny to see how Dwight’s demeanor shifts when he’s dealing with someone legitimately dangerous, like Bill, versus when he’s dealing with an idiot, like his nosy new neighbor who keeps trying to fine him for silly homeowner violations like leaving his garage door open too long (this extended gag has a funny payoff, by the way.) Dwight already knows what Bill’s going to say, and that he won’t be open to negotiation. The conversation proceeds as such.
Back in New York, Chickie has already predicted this outcome. As soon as Dwight turns down Bill’s deal, he calls Goodie to tell him that he needs to get Dwight outside that evening so he and one of Bill’s associates, Carl, can whack him. Goodie seems to be leading Dwight to his fate until Bigfoot grabs Carl from behind and Goodie stabs him to death. Goodie clearly didn’t turn on Dwight after all.
However, this does mean war with the Kansas City Mob, and if that wasn’t clear at this moment, it is when Carl’s corpse is dropped off on Bill’s doorstep, his hand clutching a Bred 2 Buck flyer.
But just because Goodie didn’t turn on Dwight doesn’t mean Armand won’t. With an entire mob and a very wealthy and unscrupulous businessman gunning for him, not to mention Chickie and the remainder of the Invernizzi family back in New York, Season 2 of Tulsa King is likely to end up being much more dangerous for Dwight than even the first. Thankfully, with the admin out of the way, that should be great news for the audience.
