Tulsa King on Paramount+ season 3, episode 4 review

SPOILER ALERT: The following contains spoilers for Tulsa King Season 3, Episode 4.

After Tulsa King dropped a huge bombshell on the audience with the end of Episode 3, the Paramount+ show undoes most of the resulting suspense in Episode 4. “Staring Down the Barrel” solves the crew’s biggest problem in 42 minutes. Of course, there are threats made and intense staredowns, but the sense of calamity has largely faded away.

The theft of the Fifty at the end of Episode 3 was a shock that put Dwight Manfredi and his crew behind the proverbial eight ball. But one of the big reveals in Episode 4-that Serenity, the exotic dancer whose life Tyson saved, is actually working for Jeremiah Dunmire-is not a shock at all. Audiences likely guessed that from the moment Serenity appeared on screen. So when Tyson finds out, it’s more of a “finally” than a real surprise. All that bit of information does is reinforce how Tyson has no business being a gangster.

At least that leads to one of the better scenes in “Staring Down the Barrel.” Mark teams up with his son on a stakeout, having been in contact with Dwight, and gives his son some wise words based on his own history. Michael Beach is such an underrated piece of Tulsa King, and it remains great to see him continuing in the Taylor Sheridan…