Tulsa King on Paramount+ season 3, episode 3 review

SPOILER ALERT: The following contains spoilers for Tulsa King Season 3, Episode 3.

Tulsa King Season 3, Episode 3 sums up what makes the Paramount+ show both interesting and frustrating. Everyone in the series is reckless, even by the standards of TV dramatic license. “The G and the OG” is the best example of this, but also ensures that its characters face consequences.

The script splits the group up into three plots: Dwight goes on an out-of-town trip with Agent Musso, Tyson is determined to get revenge on Cole for attacking Mitch, and Mitch gets roped into Cleo’s revenge scheme. These stories are almost wholly separate until the end of the hour. It provides an opportunity to examine each of the dynamics — most importantly the one between Dwight and Musso, which got somewhat shoved to the side after Musso’s introduction. Kevin Pollak continues to nail Musso’s smarmy tone, and this plot provides one of the funniest scenes in Tulsa King history: Dwight being stuck in a self-driving car.

As funny as it is to see Dwight raging against the car’s computer, this pre-credits scene is also emblematic of Tulsa King as a whole. What makes the show different from other gangster epics is that Dwight has never lost his “fish out of water” vibe. He’s an analog protagonist in a…