Two people in Dwight “The General” Manfredi’s orbit certainly look like they’re no longer with us in the closing moments of the “Tulsa King” Season 4 premiere.
Margaret Devereaux, ranch owner/political operative/Dwight’s girlfriend (played by Dana Delany), and Cal Thresher, Oklahoma governor/Dwight’s sometime rival, are both asleep on a private jet toward the end of the episode. We see the plane’s pilots passed out in the cockpit, with air traffic control trying fruitlessly to reach them.
Next thing we know, Joanne (Annabella Sciorra) is waking Dwight (Sylvester Stallone) up with awful news. “I couldn’t sleep. I was watching the news,” she says, crying. “The plane that Margaret and Thresher were on went down somewhere over the Pacific.”
The incident was the final, terrible beat in an episode filled with frustration and loss for Dwight. After ending Season 3 on a high — after barbecuing his enemy, Jeremiah Dunmire (Robert Patrick), into oblivion — Dwight’s businesses were secured and his love life was on track. Season 4 starts with Dwight announcing the establishment of Friedman Enterprises, his legit company whose name is an anagram of “Manfredi.” What could possibly go wrong?
R.I.P., Margaret?
A lot, as it turns out. First off, Cal’s lieutenant governor, Amanda Clark (Gretchen Mol) really doesn’t like Dwight — she won’t even shake his hand when they meet face-to-face. But Clark doesn’t seem wholly on the up-and-up either: Could it have something to do with her championing of what Cal deems “tech bros”? We’ll see.
Regardless, after a romantic dinner at a new Italian restaurant, Margaret bids Dwight goodbye so she and Cal can fly to a conference abroad. (Hence the ill-fated flight at the end of the hour.)
Elsewhere in the episode:
- Bill is free from federal prison and playing both sides, telling Dwight and Quiet Ray that he’s their man. (That’s sure to end well…)
- Though Dwight tells Tyson to stop selling club drugs, the younger man just can’t give up the giant wads of cash that the illicit business is bringing in. But when he tries to intimidate his competition — with some help from Goodie (Chris Caldovino), things go sideways, and Tyson winds up shooting the guy… who works for some very scary people, indeed.
- Dwight decrees that Mitch Keller’s Car City is no longer a thing, so Mitch oversees a massive insurance scam to usher the used-car lot out of existence.
- Leonardo Timpone (Rhys Coiro, “Graceland”), the owner of the Italian restaurant where Dwight and Margaret share their last (?) meal together, sells Dwight a case of some very expensive wine. But when Bodhi (Martin Starr) gets a taste of it, he has his doubts about its bona fides. (Or, as he so eloquently puts it, “What the f*** is going on?”)
Now it’s your turn. What did you think of the premiere? Grade it via the poll below, then fill the comments with your thoughts!
