The Paramount+ crime drama Tulsa King is centered around former New York Mafia capo Dwight ‘The General’ Manfredi (Sylvester Stallone) who, after spending 25 years in prison, has set up shop in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he once again has established a crew and several lucrative businesses. As the second season came to a close, Dwight had made a mutual business agreement with Kansas City mafia boss Bill Bevilaqua (Frank Grillo), but found himself hooded and taken away by some unknown party.

As the third season opens, we discover that it was FBI Agent Musso (Kevin Pollak) who had abducted Dwight, and he informs the mobster “you work for us now”. Musso has been watching everything Dwight and his crew have been up to, and threatens to lock them all up unless Dwight now answers to him, becoming his on-call informant whenever he needs him. Musso;s current focus is taking down Dexter “The Watchmaker” Deacon (Dallas Roberts), a hitman specializing in explosives, and he believes that Dwight can help. Dwight decides to keep his cooperation with the Feds and the threats about arresting his crew a secret so as to not cast any doubts on his loyalties.

Besides, Dwight and his crew have a brand new venture, one that will significantly expand their operations, but also put them up against one of their most dangerous opponents yet. Mitch’s (Garrett Hedlund) old girlfriend Cleo Montague (Bella Heathcote) is back in town to help her father, Theordore (Brett Rice). He’s the owner of a large but failing distillery. He’s planning to sell the business along with his liquor license, but is being strong-armed by Dixie Mafia member Jeremiah Dunmire (Robert Patrick) to sell to him. Dunmire has the local politicians and law enforcement in his back pocket, as well as other connections to help enforce his desires. He and his son Cole (Beau Knapp) will take whatever force is necessary to ensure that the distillery is sold to his family—along with the $150 million worth of 50-year-old bourbon hidden inside. Soon there’s an escalating war between the gangsters.

Meanwhile, New York mob boss “Quiet” Ray Renzetti (James Russo) is growing tired of Dwight not passing along a share of his businesses to the bosses in New York, and plans to take him out. Word gets out to Kansas City mafia boss Bill Bevilaqua, who’s having his own issues.

Tulsa King is shaping up to be one of my favorite shows on Paramount+, with each season being better than the previous one. The series finds this perfect blend of action, drama, suspense and humor. Episodes often end on some big reveal or exciting moment, making you want to continue binging through the season to see what happens next. Dwight faces off against a formidable enemy this season with the Dunmires. There are so many twists and turns as each side competes to get the upper-hand. Jeremiah is unpredictable and scrupulous, and has no limits when it comes to what he will do to get what he wants. He controls the local politicians, police, distributors, etc. and wields this power without any hesitation. Dunmire would probably even sacrifice his own son, Cole, if it was necessary to get his way. Cole is constantly trying to prove himself, doing his father’s dirty work, but no matter what he does it’s never good enough. His father is constantly comparing him to the memory of his deceased veteran hero of a brother, his father’s obvious favorite.

Meanwhile, Dwight is also juggling many things, with the Feds getting him involved in trying to take down a dangerous bombmaker and making him potentially look like a rat, and several other parties threatening to kill him if he doesn’t hand over a cut of his business. The New York mafia is losing patience with him and would rather see him gone.

The series also does a nice job of giving Dwight’s crew members some fun and interesting storylines and character growth. Mitch was getting tired of working at the used car lot, so reconnecting with Cleo and taking on the distillery gives him a chance to change things up. Tyson (Jay Will) is eager to take on an earning role this season and so Bigfoot (Mike “Ca$h Flo” Walden) takes on more of the driving duties for Dwight. One humor-filled storyline finds Tyson, Goodie (Chris Caldovino) and Spencer (Scarlet Rose Stallone) shaking down some frat kids for drugs and money by pretending to be fake cops. Bodhi (Martin Starr) is forced to work alongside one of Bevilaqua’s men who shot his friend last season, but finds his own unique way to get payback. Grace *McKenna Quigley Harrington) often works alongside Bodhi on missions, but starts to seek a little more responsibility in the organization. And Margaret (Dana Delany) helps Cal Thresher (Neal McDonough) with his campaign for governor.

The cast has great chemistry and work well as an ensemble. It’s impressive some of the big names they get to appear on the show—at the end of this season, Samuel L. Jackson shows up playing veteran hitman Russell Lee Washington Jr. from New Orleans, who served time with Dwight, and is approached by Quite Ray of NYC to take out his friend. These episodes set up this character who will be on the upcoming spin-off series, Frisco King. I can’t wait to see that series!

One thing I really enjoy about this show is the varied tone. One moment the action and drama can get tense, with serious high stakes, and then the series will switch gears and take a moment to just have some fun. The series also does a nice job of telling a complete story arc over the course of each season, rather than leaving the viewer wondering if they’re going to get any resolution or closure after investing their time in the season/series. Though the show does usually have some sort of tease to set up the next season.

Paramount Home Entertainment has released Tulsa King Season 3 on Blu-ray and DVD, and it is also available in 4K on Digital via Fandango At Home. I was sent the Blu-ray for review, and found the presentation to be solid. The picture is crystal clear, with an excellent level of detail. Whether scenes are taking place in the blazing Oklahoma sun, or a nighttime attack on an enemy, the picture always looks excellent. The Dolby TrueHD audio track provides clear dialogue throughout, and makes excellent use of the stereo and surround channels to put the viewer in the middle of the action, or set the immersive ambiance of the locations. If I had one complaint about the presentation, it’s that there are no chapter stops just after the opening title sequence, so there’s not an easy way to skip over this while binging though the episodes. This bugs me every season, I forget until I try to skip that first time and I’m suddenly 12 minutes into an episode!

The ten episodes of the season are evenly spread across 2 discs, which are placed on either side of a standard-sized Blu-ray keepcase, which is covered with a glossy carboard slipcover. Unlike the disc releases for the previous seasons, this time around there is absolutely no bonus material, which is a bit of a disappointment as I have always enjoyed getting a behind-the-scenes look.

What’s Included:

Episodes: (6:58:09)

• All 10 episodes of the third season on 2 discs:
  Disc 1 (3:43:54): “Blood and Bourbon”, “The Fifty”, “The G and the OG”, “Staring Down the Barrel”, “On the Rocks”
  Disc 2 (3:14:15): “Bubbles”, “Art of War”, “Nothing Is Over”, “Dead Weight”, “Jesus Lizard”
• 1080p / Widescreen 2.00:1
• Audio: English 5.1 Dolby TrueHD
• Subtitles: English SDH

Extras:

There is no bonus material included on this release.

Final Thoughts:

Tulsa King is another solidly-entertaining series from Yellowstone-creator Taylor Sheridan. It has a really fun collection of characters, interesting setting, and a wonderful blend of action, drama and humor. Stallone is charismatic and captivating and joined by a talented ensemble. The third season introduces a great new menacing villain for Dwight and his crew to face off against, and throws in plenty of twists and turns, and some big guest stars, including Samuel L. Jackson! Paramount’s Blu-ray release looks and sounds great, but unfortunately is barebones this year, with no bonus material. The release still comes highly recommended for fans of the series or of any of Sheridan’s other shows, or those who just want to see Stallone in another entertaining role.