NOTE: this post contains spoilers for Tulsa King episode 1.
Tulsa King has a lot going for it. Two of the most popular television writers of the last 15 years, Yellowstone's Taylor Sheridan and Boardwalk Empire's Terence Winter, came up with the story and co-wrote the opening episode of the crime-drama. While leading the Tulsa King cast is Sylvester Stallone.
The series follows Dwight Manfredi (Stallone), a New York mafia capo who has just been released from a federal prison in Northern Pennsylvania after 25 years. In the opening narration, he says during this time "he read great literature, wrote bad poems and tried to avoid a second shivving."
Manfredi expects to instantly return to his life of crime in the Big Apple, especially since he was arrested for killing a friend to protect the head of the family Pete Invernizzi (AC Peterson), and his son Charles (Domenick Lombardozzi).
After being driven through a completely rejuvenated Manhattan, a bemused Manfredi is taken to the Invernizzi family's lavish Long Island mansion, where he learns that Charles now runs the family business. Charles and his henchman Vince (Vincent Piazza) make it clear that time has moved on and there's nothing left for Manfredi in New York.
Having kept his mouth firmly shut and sacrificed a quarter of a century of his life, as well as his relationship with his wife and daughter, for the Invernizzis, Manfredi is understandably infuriated. He's not afraid to voice his anger, too, knocking Vince out with one punch, despite the fact that he's surrounded by half a dozen of Invernizzi gangsters.
Rather than completely ostracizing Manfredi, Charles insists he's giving him a great opportunity. He's sending him to Tulsa, Okla., to establish criminal operations in the city. Manfredi doesn't see it that way. He feels like he's being banished.
Almost immediately, Manfredi is in Tulsa. As soon as he lands, we see just how out of place he is, including being instantly scared by a humungous grasshopper. After shouting out an expletive, a woman approaches him. Rather than offering Manfredi guidance, she sprays him with holy water, as she’s a religious fanatic that was disgusted by his foul language.
Manfredi soon starts to make acquaintances, though. After jumping into Tyson's (Jay Will) cab, Manfredi hires him as his own personal driver. On the way to his hotel, Manfredi makes Tyson drop him off outside a Weed distillery store he sees.
Spotting an opportunity to make money, Manfredi waltzes inside and, after noticing its lack of security and cameras, easily beats up their one security guard, scares its two extremely relaxed employees, before ordering to speak to its manager, Bodhi (Martin Starr).
Manfredi demands to be paid for protecting the store, even though there aren't any gangs that threaten it and it is an entirely legal operation. Bodhi doesn't have a choice in the matter, though, and in the blink of an eye, he and Manfredi are business partners.
Over the next few scenes we see Manfredi adjusting to life in Tulsa. He makes Mitch's (Garrett Hedlund) bar his new watering hole, striking up conversation with the owner, who reveals he's a former bull rider who had to quit due to addiction.
Meanwhile, Tyson is tasked with buying a new car to drive them around in. But after a racist car dealer refuses to sell Tyson the car because he tried to buy it in cash, Manfredi gives the salesman a severe beating. Obviously he makes sure to get the car at a discounted rate, too.
We also get a brief glimpse of the two characters who look likely to get in the way of Manfredi’s criminal activities in Tulsa.
After spotting him at a mall, Armand Truisi (Max Casella) makes sure to avoid Manfredi. Right at the end of the episode, a clearly worried Armand calls a friend to double-check that Manfredi is actually in the area. We're still unsure why Truisi is so concerned, but you can only imagine that Manfredi won't be pleased to see Truisi, too.
Then there's Stacy Beale (Andrea Savage). After meeting Manfredi at the bar, she rather brazenly seduces him. Following their tryst, she's shocked to discover that Manfredi is 75. She calls their age gap a "chasm" and hastily departs. During the closing montage, we find out that she works for the Department of Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms in Tulsa, and Manfredi has suddenly been placed on the top of their watchlist.
The final words of the opening episode are left to Manfredi, who makes it clear in another voiceover that his mission in Tulsa is to make so much money that the Invernizzis have to take him seriously and bring him back to New York.
While it's far from ground-breaking and borrows heavily from other crime and gangster films and shows, "Go West, Old Man" is still a solid start for Tulsa King. At the very least, the show has the ingredients to be a consistently entertaining gangster-crime-comedy drama. But whether all of these aspects actually mold into something truly dramatic, captivating and original, or if it's just another pale imitation like McMafia, The Black Donnellys or Mob City, is still undecided.
Tulsa King streams exclusively on Paramount Plus.
