Summary
The ending of Tulsa King Season 3 lacks jeopardy, and it can’t shake off the sense of being a pilot for NOLA King and setup for Season 4 beyond everything else, but it’s at the very least funny, action-packed, and appropriately climactic.
If the penultimate episode of Tulsa King Season 3 didn’t quite feel like a penultimate episode, that’s counterbalanced somewhat by the fact that the ending really does feel like a finale. Episode 10, “Jesus Lizard,” is all about resolution in most of the overarching storylines of the season — Dwight getting rid of Jeremiah Dunmire once and for all, Cal Thresher getting elected by a landslide, and Dwight squaring away his issues with Musso (for now). It leaves plenty on the table for Season 4, and indeed functions as a backdoor pilot for Sheridan’s upcoming NOLA King, but it also has a big, explosive feel to it that is about right for a climactic episode.
It does lack jeopardy, though. There’s never any real sense that any of the core cast are genuinely imperilled, which is a shame since it would probably add something, but maybe that’s coming in the next season, given how well it has been set up. Because there’s still a story to tell here. “Jesus Lizard” is only an ending in the sense that it ties off a few loose ends from this season, specifically, but it’s very much a natural rest point in a larger narrative that still has a ways to go.
Dunmire’s Final Stand
With Jeremiah having kidnapped Joanne in the penultimate episode, the stage is set for a final showdown between Dwight and his allies and the old liquor mogul and his remaining loyalists, who crucially don’t include his son, Cole. And this is the primary arc of the finale’s standoff. You’d think a pious fellow like Jeremiah would be big on the idea of redemption, which is precisely what Cole is going through here, but we sadly never get to see him realise that his own put-upon son was his ultimate downfall.
I don’t buy Cole’s story, by the way. He’s a nice idea in theory, but in execution, his face turn has been much too fast and frictionless, revolving around a quasi-romantic relationship with Spencer that hasn’t been well developed. No final scenes between Cole and Jeremiah — he isn’t even present for the shootout — seems like Tulsa King missing an open goal.
It’s Cole who provides Dwight with a detailed layout of Jeremiah’s compound, including where Joanne is located — another thing: It’s a bit rich for Cole to be all like “I can’t believe he’s done this” when he burned an old man alive in the premiere — and Dwight’s various allies come through in terms of military grade weaponry, equipment, and manpower. Russell even hangs around despite the threat to his life from Quiet Ray, just so we like him enough to watch his spin-off. Contemporary streaming TV, folks — you’ve gotta love it.
Bad to the Bone
Dwight’s raid on Jeremiah’s compound is fun. It probably should be something else — tense, for instance — but it’s clear that fun is the main point of it all, with the George Thorogood & The Destroyers “Bad to the Bone” needledrop and near-constant Samuel L. Jackson one-liners. The whole thing goes off without a hitch. There are grenades in the garden, tear gas through the windows, gas masks, and bullets. Nobody on Dwight’s side gets hurt, Joanne is rescued, and Jeremiah is forced to flee and hide like a mouse.
Fittingly, Dwight subjects Jeremiah to the same fate he visited on his old friend Theo Montague — he burns him alive. It’s harsh, perhaps too harsh to really work as the payoff to a jovial action sequence, but action sequences probably shouldn’t be jovial anyway, so we’re already in weird territory. It’s deserved, at the very least, and Dwight is big on that kind of thing.
Everyone’s happy afterwards. Russell is leaving for New Orleans, inspired by Dwight’s way of doing business, and everyone else is going to remain in control of Oklahoma, especially with help from the Federal liquor license that Musso provides Dwight in exchange for the kompromat he gleaned from the Watchmaker. All’s well that ends well.
How the Ending of ‘Tulsa King’ Season 3 Sets Up Season 4 (And ‘NOLA King’)
With all this dealt with, here are the ongoing season-wide subplots that we still need to be keeping an eye on. Some or all of these will no doubt form the basis for Season 4, but some of them will also be dealt with in NOLA King, and at this point, it’s a little tough to tell which might be which.
- Quiet Ray still wants Dwight and Russell dead. This will, I imagine, form the basis of NOLA King, with Russell trying to become a self-styled kingpin in Louisiana while Ray’s New York goons try to take him out. But Ray can’t forget about Dwight either, so I would expect him to be problematic in some way throughout Season 4.
- Cal Thresher is going to be governor. Something tells me this is going to be a big deal in Season 4, especially since it ropes Margaret into the ongoing story. I don’t trust Thresher as far as I could throw him, and the idea that he’s just going to use the powers of his office to line his own pockets and be Dwight’s pet politician seems painfully naive.
- Bill is still in Federal custody. It’s extremely bizarre that Dwight hasn’t so much as mentioned Bill’s potential release to Musso. We can’t keep him on ice forever, since he’s backed by the entire Kansas City Mob, so he’ll surely be released in Season 4. And when he is, he’s surely going to know that Dwight has a deal with the Feds.
- Maybe Cole will stick around. This is a weird one, since Cole didn’t really get a proper ending of his own, although he did get a nice, small moment with Spencer. Since his arc hasn’t been handled especially well, I can imagine him sticking around for another season to continue to “atone” for his father’s crimes by becoming part of the gang and trying to navigate a relationship with Spencer. We’ll see.
