NOTE: this post contains spoilers for Tulsa King season 1 episode 5, "Token Joe."
Following the death of his brother at the end of last week's episode, Dwight (Sylvester Stallone) is back in New York City for the first time since being sent to Tulsa. At the wake, he's greeted by his sister, Joanne (Annabella Sciorra), who informs him that his estranged daughter Tina (Tatiana Zappardino) is also present. Concerned with being respectful and not needlessly causing a scene, Dwight decides to give Tina her space.
That's until Dwight organizes a family dinner for his nearest and dearest at a very fancy restaurant. Tina and her husband Emory (Loren Dunn) attend, and it doesn't take long for Dwight to provoke Tina's anger. Dwight is offended Emory didn’t ask for his permission to marry Tina. Unsurprisingly, this causes Tina to bite back and remind Dwight that he'd told her not to visit him in prison anymore.
Tina also chastises Dwight for picking such an expensive establishment to eat at, when they usually would just go to their local Italian restaurant instead. Her fury rising, Tina leaves the dinner before a menu has even been picked up. Clearly, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Dwight is left to wallow in regret over what 25-years in prison has done to his relationship with his daughter.
Dwight's also under increasing pressure from Chickie (Domenick Lombardozzi). After discovering that Dwight is back in New York, Chuckie insists he has to come to the hospital to pay his respects to Pete (A.C. Peterson), Chuckie's ailing father. The former boss of the family, Pete is now practically on his death-bed.
Even when Dwight does that, he can't help but cause trouble. After Dwight offers a tissue to a sneezing woman, Vince (Vincent Piazza) explodes with rage at him, as he's clearly still sore over the fact that Dwight knocked him out in the opening episode. A livid and even slightly despondent Dwight leaves the hospital having still not spoken to Pete.
However, things are even worse back in Tulsa. Following their titanic tussle with the Black MacAdam gang over selling nitrous oxide, the biker gang is out for revenge. It turns out they've got some very powerful help, too, as two of their members ask Tulsa police officers for their assistance in capturing the people that attacked them.
Because they had his license plate number, Tyson (Jay Will) is the first member of Dwight's crew to get pulled over by the police. The car is searched illegally and, as it's in Dwight's name, Tyson is duly arrested and put into a prison cell with at least a dozen other people. Uncomfortable in his newfound situation, Tyson gives the police them the password to his cell-phone.
As a result, the Black MacAdam posse are able to track down Bodhi (Martin Starr) and kidnap him. Their leader, Caolan Waltrip (Ritchie Coster), puts a knife to his throat, asks him a number of questions about Dwight, before insisting that he's going to send him a message.
When the Tulsa police officers eventually drop Bodhi off at Mitch's (Garrett Hedlund) bar, they explain how powerful Caolan and the Black MacAdam bikers are. Mitch won't have any of it. He informs the officers that the bar is on Cherokee land and they have no authority, before then ushering the police away and asking Bodhi to explain what has happened.
Tyson is eventually released from prison. But only after officers have stolen his phone and $1,200 in cash from him.
Meanwhile, someone at the ranch tells Armand (Max Casella) they know he was at the music festival fight. Armand starts to do his own research on the Black MacAdam gang, learning they've been accused of murdering several people in and around Tulsa and that Dwight and his gang could be next.
In New York, Dwight goes to see Tina one last time at her flower store before he departs. Still unable to forgive him, Tina launches into a tirade about what his absence did to her, heavily suggesting that Nico (John Cenatiempo), a member of the Invernizzi family who checked in on them when Dwight was in prison, abused her.
Dwight immediately heads to the hospital to confront Pete. Dwight realizes that Pete didn't know anything about what Nico was doing to Tina, but he still tells him that he trusted him to look after his family. Then, unsurprisingly, Dwight heads straight to the family's hangout spot, where he viciously beats Nico, seemingly to death, while Goodie (Chris Caldovino), Vince and Chickie watch on.
While Dwight has been able to make an encouraging start to his new life of crime after being released from prison, the resentment and anger over his past, and the misdemeanors of his present, mean that the walls are starting to close in around him.
Not only is he going to have a lot of explaining to do in New York and Tulsa for his actions, but he's also going to have to get his make-shift crew of criminals into shape, as they’re nowhere near ready for their impending battle with the Black MacAdam bikers.
All episodes of Tulsa King season 1 are streaming exclusively on Paramount Plus.
