Tulsa King Season 3, Episode 5 Recap: A Surprising Twist

ell, easing the character down a bit but keeping his brashness. The script for this episode, co-written by Lucifer showrunner Ildy Modrovich with Sylvester Stallone, lets Bill say what anyone in his position should be saying. He questions Vince on why New York isn’t just talking to Dwight directly. And he questions Dwight about his random disappearances, pointing out how untrustworthy that makes Dwight look. Bill becomes the voice of the audience in “On the Rocks,” which is an interesting leap for a character who started out as such a loose cannon.

When it comes to character development, Bill shines in this episode, but the rest of the cast doesn’t see much growth. The biggest character moment comes early on when Tyson and Dwight have a heart-to-heart in the car. Tyson shows more self-awareness in that scene than he has in most of Tulsa King Season 3, and Dwight doesn’t just encourage him or brush it off like another show might have had him do. He provides Tyson with necessary criticism to get better. Past that, the biggest development is that Spencer realizes who Cole actually is.

As for the plot, the health inspector’s death stands out because it’s left open-ended, with the crew agreeing to report the incident as an accident the following morning. Of course, Dunmire causing a huge scene is going to have consequences, but the viewer has seen him scheming before. Plus, they know that Dwight has hired the bomb maker to blow up Dunmire’s house. How far that plot gets remains to be seen, but audiences can expect some more unexpected twists from the Dunmire problem. Even Bill being seemingly arrested by two SUVs full of armed individuals isn’t necessarily a game-changer, because it’s not hard to guess who ordered that.

Directed by Joe Chappelle, this episode looks great and feels more intense than the plot necessarily is. Chappelle knows how to make countless scenes of people talking look alive and creates visual suspense even when there’s not anything physical happening.

In conclusion, Tulsa King Season 3 is creating a lot of sound and fury, but it needs to throw in a few more wrenches in the remaining episodes to keep viewers engaged. How will the Dunmire-Dwight situation resolve? And where will the unexpected death of the health inspector lead? Tune in to Tulsa King streaming Sundays on Paramount+ to find out.