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Key Points
Tulsa King's third season found Dwight feuding with a vicious liquor magnate over a distillery.
The season finale offered a definitive winner in the whiskey war — and saw Thresher become the new Oklahoma governor.
It also helped introduce the aging hitman Samuel L. Jackson will play in the upcoming NOLA King spinoff.
"Bourbon and blood" has been the overarching theme ofTulsa King's third season, withSylvester Stallone's reinvigorated gangster going to war with a local liquor titan (and mobster) over the fate of a local distillery.
The Paramount+ series began with Stallone's Dwight "The General" Manfredi, now free after a 25-year stint in prison, attempting to build a criminal empire from the ground up in Tulsa, Okla. By the time season 3 begins, that empire is thriving, with Dwight having amassed a loyal team of hustlers, killers, and brainiacs. Still, obstacles continue to pile up.
Foremost among them is Jeremiah Dunmire (Robert Patrick), the aforementioned liquor magnate who begins the season attempting to buy a fledgling distillery owned by Theo Montague (Brett Rice). But when Theo decides to sell to Dwight instead, Dunmire's goons kill the old man by setting his home ablaze.
What Dunmire's after is the 200 barrels of 50-year-old bourbon — worth roughly $150 million — in a secret storage unit. He doesn't know where it's stashed, but Dwight does. Throughout the season, he and his team revitalize Montague's business to the detriment of Dunmire's. Along the way, he's also got to contend with a vengeful FBI agent and the political aspirations of an old foe now running for governor.
So, whose glass is full by episode's end? And how doesTulsa King's season 3 finale set up the future of the series, as well as its upcomingNOLA Kingspinoff with Samuel L. Jackson? Let's break it down.
Who wins the whiskey war: Dwight or Dunmire?
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Dwight, obviously, but not without a fight.
The season's penultimate episode found Dunmire lashing out in rage. His efforts to steal the rare bourbon failed, as did his attempted hit on Dwight and his associates. But he really loses it when his business begins to suffer. The Dunmire brand is being dropped by distributors en masse as Dwight's Montague bourbon is expanding its reach. The episode ended with his goons kidnapping Joanne (Annabella Sciorra), Dwight's younger sister.
"Blood or bourbon? What's more important to you?" Dunmire asks on a call with a furious Dwight. He wants the Montague distillery, and Joanne's life hangs in the balance. He even tries to persuade her to sign over the distillery, telling her that Dwight would never make a sacrifice for his own flesh and blood. Tough like her brother, she refuses, even as he threatens her with an axe.
Dwight rounds up the troops, calling on his team to recruit additional shooters and loads of weapons. But he also knows that Dunmire is well-protected and a shootout with no strategy won't be in their favor. Thankfully, they have a secret weapon in Cole (Beau Knapp), Dunmire's son.
Though he was present for the burning of Theo Montague, Cole grew more and more disillusioned by his father's cruelty and desperation. After falling for Spencer (Scarlet Rose Stallone), one of Dwight's associates, he begins to atone for his actions, even helping to sound the alarm about a bomb that Dunmire had planted at a campaign event for Thresher.
After pleading his case to Dwight, Cole offered up a map of the Dunmire estate, as well as the location of Joanne. This made Dwight's job quite a bit easier, and his well-armed team makes mincemeat of Dunmire's goons once they storm the mansion.
How does Dwight deal with Dunmire?
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Joanne is saved, but Dunmire manages to escape his house and seek refuge in a nearby woodshed. Dwight catches him there and after beating him silly, strings up Dunmire over a stack of logs.
Dwight brings up what he said to Dunmire following Theo's murder. "It hurts just to burn a finger," he said at the time. "Imagine your whole body burning." Well, now Dunmire gets to find out. Dwight sets the logs ablaze, watching dispassionately as Dunmire burns to a crisp.
Does Thresher win the election?
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He does. The bomb that went off at his campaign rally only made Cal Thresher (Neal McDonough) that much more popular, and by the end of the episode he's elected the new governor of Oklahoma.
Dwight's girlfriend Margaret (Dana Delany), who's been helping Thresher with his campaign on the condition that he sell her back her horse ranch, spends much of the finale weighing whether or not she wants to go work for him once he's in office.
The con? She has to work with the corrupt schmuck. The pro? Well, as she puts it to Dwight, "It's good to have people on the inside." Later, she makes Thresher promise that, should she join his administration, she'd have a say in policy decisions. He agrees, but not without mentioning that he'd like to see Dwight removed from the picture altogether.
How doesTulsa Kingset upNOLA King?
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Earlier this summer, it was revealed thatSamuel L. Jacksonwas set to star in his ownTulsa Kingspinoff,NOLA King. The upcoming series is said to follow Jackson's Russell Lee Washington Jr., an aging hitman, as he sets up shop in New Orleans.
Jackson debuted the character in the penultimate episode ofTulsa Kingseason 3, having been sent to Tulsa to kill Dwight for the Renzetti crime family — specifically Quiet Ray (James Russo) — in New York. But Lee can't bring himself to do it, given that Dwight saved his life when they were in prison together. Instead, he incurs the wrath of Quiet Ray by giving Dwight a heads up about their vendetta and helping him deal with Dunmire.
After "raising a special kind of hell" with Dwight's crew, he helped close out the episode by musing on his future. "Seeing what you've done here makes me want to go back to New Orleans and maybe start something new. If the General can do it, how hard could it be?" (Considering Quiet Ray's goons will surely follow him to the Big Easy, we think it might be harder than he thinks.)
Before he leaves, he tells anyone visiting the city to give him a holler, teasing a potential crossover.
How doesTulsa Kingseason 3 end?
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As Dwight, Margaret, and the rest of the ensemble celebrate at the Bred 2 Buck, an unwanted visitor arrives in FBI Agent Musso (Kevin Pollak).
Early in the season, Musso leveraged his knowledge of Dwight's operation to force the General into doing his bidding. That included a sting to entrap Dexter Deacon (Dallas Roberts). Dwight, however, defied Musso by bending Deacon to his own needs, which unfortunately resulted in Deacon working with Dunmire to kill Dwight. It was Deacon, after all, who planted the bomb at Thresher's rally.
In the end, Dwight got the better of Deacon, forcing the mad bomber to confess his crimes (and reveal his associates) into a tape recorder after they tortured him. They subsequently finished the job, disposing of Deacon's body in the Montague crypt.
Musso, who wanted to arrest Deacon, is furious, but he nevertheless wants the info on that tape. Dwight will only give it to him, however, if Musso can get him a federal liquor license for the distillery.
In the closing moments of the season finale, Musso comes through with the liquor license, which he says required him to call him "favors from high up." Dwight hands him the tape and Musso makes it clear that their relationship isn't over.
"You f---ing owe me," says Musso, teasing more to come from his tortured relationship in season 4.
Where can I watchTulsa King?
Tulsa Kingis available tostream on Paramount+.
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