War Begins In ‘Tulsa King’ Season 2, Episode 8

“Under New Management” is putting it mildly. After Season 2 of Tulsa King really upped the ante by kicking off a gang war, Episode 8 requires a change in leadership everywhere, from the Invernizzi family to Thresher’s weed farm, all the way to Margaret’s stables. It’s a panicky, spiraling chapter about bad decisions cascading into chaos. I’m all for it.

It turns out that Bill Bevilaqua’s capo, who Tyson shot at the end of the previous episode, survived, but the damage is done. Kansas City is out for Dwight, the Invernizzis are out for each other, Jackie and his trafficked army are out for themselves, and right in the middle of it, somewhat improbably, is Armand.

Armand Loses the Plot

Armand makes for an interesting focal point of “Under New Management”. Thus far, he has largely been a supporting character who offers little but boozy comic relief. Season 2 promoted his self-interest and general lack of decision-making aptitude to a plot point when he fed information to Thresher – first inadvertently, then willingly, and finally reluctantly – about Dwight.

But it’s all going wrong for Armand here. Dwight is onto him. Thresher has no further use of him. His family hates him. His brightest idea is going to the FBI and trying to get enrolled in witness protection, which would separate him from his wife and kids indefinitely (even though they’re moving to Colorado without him.) So, he does what he usually does – he drinks.

In his drunken state, Armand makes a string of bad decisions. He lashes out at Spencer at the ranch, and then at Margaret, who has no choice but to fire him. He goes to Thresher for a loan and gets a patronizing $100 thrown at his feet. So, he leaves an ominous final voicemail message for his kids and takes the radical step of holding Goodie at gunpoint to rob Dwight’s stash.

I feel for Armand. He’s not fundamentally a bad guy, but he’s scared and desperate, and that’s rarely a good combination. Either way, I doubt Dwight will be as understanding as I am.

Chickie Is Ousted From the Invernizzi Family

It has been a long time coming, but Vince finally makes his move in Tulsa King Season 2, Episode 8, sitting Chickie down to tell him he’s been replaced as the head of the Invernizzi family.

Unlike Armand, Chickie is a bad guy, and you can’t help but feel like it was a mistake for Vince to leave him alive. His hatred for Dwight is what kicked a lot of this off in the first place, since he banished him to Tulsa, creating competition for the New York families. He’s not going to take this lying down, but what will his next move be?

Earlier in “Under New Management”, Dwight had called Chickie to warn him that Tina and the kids were heading back to New York for their own safety. Since Chickie doesn’t really have any leverage over the family, I suspect he’ll try and get some leverage over Dwight by targeting his family.

Rich Ting and Neal McDonough in Tulsa King

Jackie’s Takeover

Jackie really managed to sneak into all this behind everyone’s backs, didn’t he? I blame Thresher’s arrogance. He assumed that, because he had more money than Jackie, the man would be subservient to him, the way everyone else in his life is. But no such luck. Jackie was just biding his time, waiting until the operation had grown to such an extent that he could take it from Thresher by force.

Now we’ve reached that point, Jackie is low-key one of the most dangerous players in this whole game. He has an army of devoted men. He has resources. And he’s clearly an expansionist – as Thresher warns Bill towards the end of the episode, he won’t be satisfied with merely taking over the weed operation. He’ll be coming for Kansas City too.

But the more important thing is that Jackie is reckless. Thresher also tells Bill that it was he who planted the car bomb that almost killed Tyson’s father, Mark. Bill is furious since he realizes at that moment that he has started a war for no reason. And wars have casualties.

Kansas City Draws First Blood

I get it’s not technically “first” blood, but you know what I mean. Dwight might have killed a Kansas City hitman and dumped his body on Bill’s steps, but that was a warning back and forth. Since the Atlanta sit-down, the agreement has been that Dwight and Kansas City are in a partnership. Tyson ruined that by parking up outside Bill’s house and putting a couple of bullets in his capo, but still. War hadn’t been declared then. Now that it has, it’s Bill who fires the opening salvo.

We all knew it was coming. Dwight spent the entirety of Tulsa King Season 2, Episode 8 preparing for it. He sent Tina and the kids away and closed down all his businesses. With the Feds watching him – and even being nice enough to issue a warning that KC was planning a hit, which they gleaned thanks to a wiretap under Bill’s kitchen table – he knew there was nothing he could do but sit and wait, hopefully keeping his people safe.

But not quite. They almost get away with it, but just as Bodhi and Jimmy the Creek are closing up Even Higher Plane, one of Bill’s goons drives by and opens fire. Jimmy is fatally hit. It’s a low-stakes death to kick off the bloodshed – I’m not sure Jimmy was anyone’s favorite character, after all – but it’s hard to imagine that this won’t be the first of several coming demises.