Summary
Tulsa King hits top form in Episode 6, “Navigator” – easily the best instalment of Season 2 yet.
I’ve been waiting all season for “Navigator”. Tulsa King hasn’t exactly been firing on all cylinders in Season 2, but Episode 6 kicks things into a much higher gear on all fronts. The Atlanta sit-down arranged in the previous episode yields multiple tricky new arrangements, while a budding romance is developing in Dwight’s camp. And Tyson, albeit through his own short-sighted decision-making, suffers an irreversible tragedy that’ll reroute the show’s back half.
This feels like a return to peak Season 1 form. The dialogue crackles in the sit-down, showing the value of actually getting all these characters in the same place now and again, and we emerge with several villains who represent a real threat – not to mention another, potentially mysterious player, though more on that in a little while.
The Atlanta Sit-Down
There’s an unnecessary amount of funny stuff surrounding the sit-down – Tina knowing what the term means, Goodie being afraid of flying, Dwight ordering milkshakes, and so on, and so forth. But by and large, it’s a seemingly successful day out for everyone except the Invernizzi Family.
It doesn’t help their negotiating position that Chickie is detained at LaGuardia for carrying a pistol in an ankle holster through airport security, leaving Vince to attend the meeting alone instead of rescheduling. But all they’re bringing to the table, realistically, is some knock-off Ozempic and a very outdated sense of self-importance.
The real deal to be made is between Dwight and Bill. Neither is keen on giving ground, but they eventually settle on terms—Dwight provides a percentage off the top and top-quality weed for a reasonable price for the Kansas City Mob, and in exchange, KC provides security and, where applicable, distribution. Dwight and Bill do the neighborly thing and shake on it. New York gets nothing.
As much of a success as it seems on paper, any truce is unlikely to last. Bill is later seen openly considering reneging on the deal, and when Vince gets back to New York, Chickie is furious about the outcome. That leaves two out of the three participants on the cusp of doing something rash. It almost wasn’t worth the cost of the plane tickets.
Manny’s Mistake
Max Casella as Armand in Tulsa King
After hearing about the attack on the wind farm which came as a direct consequence of the information he provided to Thresher, Manny has a crisis of conscience. Although to be fair, that might not be the right term for it – he’s mostly just afraid of Dwight.
Either way, Manny wants out, and he visits Thresher in person to tell him so. But he’s now in Thresher’s pocket to the tune of $50K, and Thresher apparently has men of such low moral standing that they’ll happily cut out his tongue and send it to his children. So, he’s stuck between a rock and a hard place. He has to keep giving Thresher information, and he can’t turn to Dwight because of the information he has already supplied.
Thresher also seems to have a bit more control of Jackie and his trafficked army than I might have given him credit for. There’s still something amiss between the two of them, but I do wonder if they can get on the same page for long enough to pool their resources into getting rid of Dwight.
Tyson’s Tragedy
Tyson’s relationship with his father, Mark, has been fraught all throughout both seasons of Tulsa King. Here in “Navigator”, Tyson uses the titular car to ferry his dad around while Dwight is in Atlanta, seeing how loyal and useful he is to Tulsa’s more impoverished communities.
After the bonding session, which is what it turns out to be, Tyson decides to buy the Navigator from Dwight and gift it to his father. It’s a beautiful gesture – Mark loves the car – but also an incredibly stupid one, since Tyson had spent the previous day clocking the same suspicious car following them around. The Navigator is clearly associated with Dwight, and anyone trying to target him would, inevitably, target the car.
And this is precisely what happens. As Mark gleefully sets off to work in his fancy new vehicle, Tyson spots the tail car speeding away, and just like that, the Navigator explodes, presumably killing Mark.
But who’s responsible for the attack? It could be Jackie in response to the wind farm attack, and based on his conversation with Thresher, he seems the likeliest suspect to me. Despite Bill’s intentions to renege on the deal made at the sit-down, the car was already following the Navigator while he was in Atlanta. And Thresher doesn’t seem to know anything about it either – besides, it doesn’t seem like his style (or even something he could facilitate.)
Whoever’s behind it, there’s going to be hell to pay. Tyson has already been having a bit of an existential crisis this season, so the tragic outcome here could tip him one way or the other. But since the explosion was presumably an attack on Dwight, he’s going to have to start knocking on some doors to find out who’s behind it. The list of people who want him dead is already pretty long.
And Another Thing…
Some more observations on Tulsa King Season 2, Episode 6 that didn’t fit into the recap:
- Tina is worried about her personal security and wants to keep a gun in the house. Dwight doesn’t love the idea but eventually acquiesces, enlisting Mitch to teach Tina how to use and store firearms safely. The first lesson is a success, but Mitch’s description of Tina – “She’s a beautiful woman” – gets Dwight’s attention. Is a romance developing here?
- Joanne makes her presence felt in Even Higher Plane by pitching Bodhi on a drop-shipping business for their CBD products.
