Tulsa King season 1 episode 5 recap & review: Token Joe

In episode 5 of Tulsa King, Dwight returns to New York for his brother’s funeral and tries to reconnect with his daughter while Caolan finds out more about the people that attacked his men. The episode is now streaming on Paramount+.

Recap

Dwight heads to New York for his brother’s funeral. He meets his sister and pays his respects but his daughter Tina doesn’t want to talk to him. He asks Joanne more about her life and whether she’s happy.

A member of Black Macadam talks to some corrupt cops about the attack they faced and tells them to deal with these interlopers as soon as possible.

Chickie calls Dwight and asks why he wasn’t informed when he arrived in town. He orders Dwight to come to the hospital because Pete is admitted there. Dwight says that he’s got some commitments towards his brother’s funeral.

Tyson is pulled over by the corrupt cops and they find a marijuana joint in his car and detain him. He spends a couple of hours in jail as they take his money and his phone. They also pick up Bodhi and take him to the Black Macadam’s bar.

Dwight meets his family at a fancy restaurant and says a few words but Tina doesn’t want to hear any of it and she leaves once he’s done with his toast.

Rochelle “Roxy” Harrington is close to Caolan but she also works at the same ranch as Armand. She brings up the fact that he was involved in the tussle at the music festival and warns him to be careful.

Dwight heads to the hospital where he meets Chickie and the others. Chickie tells Dwight to show him some more respect but Dwight is his own man. He calls Stacy and talks about his interaction with his daughter and she tells him to be patient.

She also tells him that Black Macadam are not to be trifled with and says that they can’t discuss more over the phone. He then calls his brother’s widow and leaves a message on their answering machine.

He says a few words that he wanted to say at the funeral but wasn’t able to. He talks about how much he loved his brother and how great he was. Roxy tells Armand that he needs to google the Black Macadam gang and then decide whether he wants to go up against them.

Caolan warns Bodhi about what Dwight is getting into and Bodhi says he’ll gladly relay that information. The cops then take Bodhi to Mitch’s bar in handcuffs but when they go inside, Mitch tells the cops to get out because his bar is in Cherokee territory and they have no jurisdiction.

Tina gets a visit from Dwight at her store and he says that he just wants to move past their differences. She says that he’s unreliable and she talks about how well her uncle treated her.

She then talks about how things were after Dwight went to prison and brings up the fact that Nico “The Package” Bugliosi was the only one from the mob who checked up on them.

She also implies that he forced himself on her one time but when Dwight asks her to tell him everything she says she doesn’t want to talk about it and makes him promise that he won’t do anything.

He goes to the hospital and doesn’t find Nico or the others there. He goes to Pete’s room and asks him if he knew about what happened to his daughter and Pete says he doesn’t know anything.

He then goes to where Nico, Vince and Chickie are chilling and in a sickening display of violence, bashes Nico’s head in.

Review

• The dialogue and tone of this episode are very intense. The scenes at the funeral and between Dwight and Tina as well as Dwight’s speech about Joe are truly wonderful.
• The balance between those more sombre moments and the scenes involving pure violence is perfect. Watching Dwight so brutally beat down Nico is a very “badass” moment that cements the duality of Dwight’s character.
• This is another episode that solely focuses on Sylvester Stallone’s performance and he is mind-blowing. One cannot take their eyes of him as he gives in a magnificent shift.

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Also Read: Tulsa King season 1 episode 4 recap & review: Visitation Place