Another week, another win for Dwight "The General" Manfredi. Sylvester Stallone's beaten, but never broken mafioso is at his best in Episode 4 of Tulsa King, entitled "Visitation Place." Directed by Ben Semanoff, who's helmed episodes of Candy and Ozark, this week's installment of the Paramount+ series throws a wrench in the show's machinery in the best possible way.
A massive truth bomb, followed by a laser-sharp action set piece and an unexpected redemption arc, makes "Visitation Place" a standout episode in the series. And the timing's just right: It was recently announced that Tulsa King has been renewed for a second season. The series premiere marked the biggest cable TV debut of the year. Never bet against the Taylor Sheridan universe.
Warning: Spoilers ahead for 'Tulsa King' Episode 4, "Visitation Place."
A Shocking Betrayal
The episode opens on Fennario Ranch, where Manny Truisi (Max Casella) is training a racehorse. He's not exactly a killer when it comes to competition: One of the ranch hands jokes that Manny's technique is better suited for a "hayride" than a race.
It's the story of Manny's chump-ish life. The guy is unexceptional in every way. (I mean, who botches a drive-by shooting?) Back at his cookie-cutter suburban home, his biggest problem is the recurring feces on his lawn (a gift from his brazen neighbor's dog). Even Manny's wife rides roughshod over him.
But Manny isn't totally spineless. He did take action as soon as Dwight got to town. Granted, his wannabe-mob-hit was a disaster. But a gold star for trying.
Manny's standing in the driveway when Dwight shows up with a gun to his back, leading him into the house for a proper interrogation. Manny cowers on the kitchen floor as Dwight asks if Chickie is the one who ordered Manny to kill him. But Manny hasn't seen Chickie in over 20 years. Dwight roughs him up a little and Manny spills his guts: "What the f*** was I supposed to do? Wait? I got a wife. I got kids. When I saw you at the mall, I figured Chickie's the one who sent you here to kill me."
A fair, if mistaken, assumption. But Dwight isn't biting. He's about to pull the trigger when Manny shouts out a name: Tico Tavares. It's the inmate who tried to kill Dwight in prison. Manny claims that Tico's attack was a hit ordered by Pete Ivernizzi and that he actually tried to warn Dwight but couldn't get a message through to him.
Dwight doesn't believe it at first ("My Pete?"), but Manny claims the boss was afraid Dwight would flip at some point during his 25-year sentence. Fearing that the Ivernizzis would come after him for what he knew, Manny skipped town and has remained in Tulsa these 19 years.
Dwight is visibly shaken. He went to prison for murdering a man on Pete's orders. And Pete puts a target on his back? It's the ultimate betrayal, and, in a heart-wrenching moment of reflection, Dwight puts it all in perspective: "You know I've never mowed a lawn?" he says. "Never. Not once in my entire life." A lawn is a symbol of a settled life - something Manny gets to enjoy, however bland it may be. Dwight gave all that up. And for what?
Satisfied that Manny's telling the truth, Dwight spares his life. Manny's now indebted to him for a starting rate of $300 a week. Before leaving the house, Dwight bumps into Manny's wife, Clara (The Irishman's Stephanie Kurtzuba).
No Laughing Matter
Lucky for us, Garrett Hedlund's bad-boy bartender Mitch gets a good deal of airtime this week. He's procured a backroom's worth of nitrous oxide canisters for Dwight's latest racket, selling laughing gas balloons to dopey partygoers at the local Ogallala Land Music Festival (great name).
That night, at the festival, Tyson (Jay Will) and Bodhi (Martin Starr), plus Clint and security guard Fred from the dispensary, are making a killing selling the balloons. Two leather-clad Black McAdam members ask the guys who gave them permission to sell the stuff in the motorcycle gang's territory. Tyson responds that they don't need permission, and the bikers back off - for now.
The balloons proved to be a savvy business move. They went through 10 full canisters in one night. Dwight gifts Tyson a few hundreds for a job well done, throwing in his pinky ring, too - the proof of his loyalty to the Ivernizzi crime family. "This one's lost its luster," he says. Ouch.
Over at Manny's, Clara is a bottle deep in red wine and, understandably, livid. He'd never told her about his previous life in the New York mafia. "How am I supposed to believe anything you tell me from this point out?" she says.
Meanwhile, Caolan Waltrip (Ritchie Coster), the leader of Black McAdam, has called a meeting at an as-yet-unseen dive bar to punish the two gang members who backed off on Tyson and Bodhi at the festival. Roxy (American Rust's Emily Davis), the gang's munitions expert, says the guys are weak links, and Waltrip agrees. "This is no minor f***-up," he says in a gravelly Irish accent. "No, this is a threat to our very existence." With that, the weak links take a beating from other members of the group. (So, yeah. This guy is much worse than big softie Dwight Manfredi.)
Speaking of the old pushover, Dwight FaceTimes his sister, Joanne (The Kitchen's Annabella Sciorra), from his hotel room. She's surprised to hear from him; they haven't spoken since he was sent to prison. She tells him that their older brother, Joe, is in the hospital with advanced lymphoma.
The Art of War
It's the second night of the music festival, and Bodhi, Tyson, Clint and Fred are back peddling balloons. This time, six members of Black McAdam ambush them. The guys took the beating pretty well, actually. Even Bodhi didn't look like a total wimp.
Later on, the guys lick their wounds at the Bred 2 Buck, telling a cigar-smoking Dwight that Black McAdam stole all their cash and nitrous tanks. Tyson apologizes, but Dwight takes it on the chin. "You have nothing to be sorry about. You held your ground. You lost. Now it's time to regroup."
It's one of the few times we've gotten to see Dwight's convening power in action. Let's face it: Criminal or not, "The General" is a born leader. When Bodhi expresses his dismay at the prospect of violence, Dwight quotes the ancient Chinese military text, Sun Tzu's The Art of War: "The greatest victories are obtained without battle." Good luck with that, Dwight.
Tyson's mother inspects his wounds in the kitchen, while his father, Mark (Michael Beach), is fed up with his son's secrecy. Tyson won't cop to it, but Mark knows he spends his days driving around a mobster. He should be in college, making something of himself. Instead, he's throwing away his future, taking orders from a criminal.
"You didn't even try," Mark shouts. "Made nothing out of every opportunity we provided you." Tyson starts throwing out hundred-dollar bills to prove his mettle, and Mark, furious, throws him out of the house.
Meanwhile, Stacy (Andrea Savage) is determined to get back out there - but not with Dwight. At the bar, she hits it off with slick-looking, self-professed "good guy" Colton (General Hospital's Mark Lawson). He's a little too perfect, this one. Either Stacy really doesn't know how to pick 'em, or Tulsa is a cesspool of shady characters. TBD...
Dwight's war council convenes at the Bred 2 Buck. They're off to strike a counter-blow on Black McAdam at the festival. Mitch offered to join the group's offensive, but Dwight won't hear of it. Mitch is on parole, and Dwight doesn't want him to get busted if things go south.
There's Tyson, Bodhi, Clint, Fred, Manny and Badface - who's just happy to be a part of something: "Mr. D, I ain't got a lot of friends. So this means a lot to me that you've included me in this beatdown," he says, adding a Sioux rallying cry, "Hoka hey!"
The ragtag hunting party is about to advance when Mark shows up, asking what kind of danger Tyson's really in. Dwight tells him that they're off to take care of it, and Mark insists on joining their pathetic-looking troop. "The enemy of my enemy is my friend," he says. "And if this is the army you're bringing into battle, then trust me, you need all the friends you can get."
Dwight accepts, and he and Mark shake hands. It's go time.
Black McAdam Redux
At the festival that night, Dwight reveals his master plan. "The Art of War states that, eventually, each man has got to grow a set of balls," he says, hauling out baseball bats from his trunk. When the concert ends, and the lights go down, Dwight leads the charge, twirling a wooden baseball bat. Bodhi is at the back of the phalanx, looking terrified. They're 8 against Black McAdam's 12.
Edwin Starr's "War" plays as the gang advances, slowly at first. They take Black McAdam completely by surprise in a hilarious fight scene beside the concert stage. Badface shines, of course. And Bodhi gets some good hits in, too. Tyson and his father team up to take on one of the bigger Black McAdam juiceheads. And Manny comes to Dwight's aid when he's caught between two bikers. The scene is intercut with shots of Stacy's ~steamy~ hookup with Colton.
Black McAdam writhes on the ground as Dwight and company limp away, hauling their baseball bats and some very heavy-looking reclaimed nitrous tanks.
Back at the Bred 2 Buck, the group silently lavishes in a hard-won victory. Manny is slightly rejuvenated by the ordeal, and Dwight sympathizes, saying the night was "cathartic." He offers Mark some cash for his troubles, but Mark refuses, telling Tyson, "You always have a home, Tyson. Unless you choose not to. So make your choice."
Manny's Revenge
Early the next morning, Joanne FaceTimes Dwight from Joe's hospital room. Joe is in the home stretch. He's not able to speak, but he intimated that he wanted to hear from Dwight in his final hours. Stallone delivers a gut punch of a monologue. He recalls the time when they were just boys, when Joe asked a white-bearded stranger if he was God.
"If you see this guy, I think he's okay," Dwight says, tearing up. "And I think you should go with him. And you and me...we'll catch up later, Joe." Just...excruciating.
We get some much-needed levity in the final moments of the episode, which tops off Manny's impressive little character arc. Arriving back home after his late-night escapades, Manny instantly steps in the dog-next-door's feces. Taking Dwight's war counsel to heart ("Eventually, each man has got to grow a set of balls"), Manny rushes his neighbor, pressing his soiled shoe bottom against the man's face.
He had it coming, honestly. But seriously, talk about economic storytelling. In the space of one hour of TV, we come to root for the guy who tried to kill our protagonist just last week.
Manny is just the latest example of the show's primary machinery: Dwight is increasingly the catalyst for other characters' development. He was Stacy's "Rubicon," proving to her that romance wasn't off-limits after a messy divorce. Plus, Tyson has gained confidence under Dwight's tutelage, and the bozos at The Higher Plane are a little less useless than they were previously.
Dwight is at the center of an ever-expanding cast of unlikely heroes with little skill but lots of heart - which may be just the thing he needs if (read: when) the Ivernizzi family comes knocking.
New episodes of Tulsa King stream Sundays exclusively on Paramount+.
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