“I hold a grudge. I really do. Back to you. You did 25 years. You didn’t rat, but you also didn’t learn anything. You get out here. You move west. But the killing spree continues. Bikers. Chickies. We know everything. Everything you’ve been up to since you got out here. But as of right now I’m not going to charge you for mass murder …”
Maybe the heat has finally caught up with Dwight. It’s Season 3, and where are we going from here? Let’s back it up just a bit. Sylvester Stallone plays mob guy Dwight “The General” Manfredi. It’s his first television role, and he couldn’t have chosen better than to appear in a Taylor Sheridan show on Paramount+. Sheridan pretty much owns the streaming service, all of it except maybe the Star Trek shows. He knows how to create characters and to then put the right actor in that role. I’ve seen it happen a thousand times now, from Yellowstone to Mayor of Kingstown and a couple of Yellowstone spin-offs. The part appears made just for Sly, and he makes it worth everything he has, all the while making it look effortless. That’s Sheridan’s magic, of course. Create and cast well, and no one has to really work at all. Yeah, that’s a bit of an oversimplification, but it sure looks that way, doesn’t it? That ain’t workin’. That’s the way you do it.
Dwight finally got out of prison last season. He’d been loyal to the mob, and now he’s looking to see that loyalty rewarded. He’s in for a bit of a surprise. The old boss was sick and now gone thanks to his son Chickie, played by The Wire veteran Domenick Lomardozzi. Dwight and Chickie were kind of close, and Chickie referred to Dwight as Uncle Dwight. He gets a little insulted, and that starts the tension between New York and Dwight in Tulsa, and it will outlive Chickie.
Dwight arrived in Tulsa and immediately planted his flag. He’s picked up by cab driver Tyson, played by Jay Will. Tyson is actually a gangster wannabe, and before long he’s Dwight’s regular driver at a couple of grand a week. This season Tyson wants to be an earner and starts to put together some deals himself. Of course, he’s kicking up to Dwight, and the old man is somewhat proud of him. Some of the show’s best chemistry moments are Dwight and Tyson talking in the car. There needs to be more of that. It’s golden stuff. Tyson’s father is a plumber who worked an honest living his entire life. He has mixed feelings about what Tyson is doing, but he’s there to help if Tyson and his new “family” get into a jam. And he’s played by Michael Beach and doesn’t appear often enough in Season 3.
On the way to his hotel that first day in Tulsa they pass a pot dispensary, and Dwight sees all of the possibilities at once. They stop, he goes in, and with sheer force of will he intimidates himself into being a 20% partner in the business, and the owner, Bodhi (Starr) doesn’t even know how it happened. Dwight promises to protect his money against gangs, crooks, and the feds. Dwight has been true to his word, and now Bodhi is an important cog in the crew. He’s a bit of a tech wizard. He’s loyal if a little bit naive.
A stop at a bar teams him with bar owner and fellow ex-con Mitch, played by Garrett Hedlund, who also fills the Taylor Sheridan requisite that there be one guitar-playing member of the cast. By this season Mitch is a solid partner and often the voice of reason when things get a bit chaotic. And boy, can things get chaotic.
The second season saw the arrival of wrestler Cash Flo as Dwight’s bodyguard, Bigfoot. He reminds me of a guy I actually know, and he’s there for muscle and comic relief. I mean, does Sly need a bodyguard? Yeah … I didn’t think so. That season also saw the arrival of Dwight’s sister Joanne, played by Annabella Sciorra, who is no stranger to television mob guys. She was one of Tony’s women in The Sopranos. She holds the liquor license on their bar. There’s also Frank Grillo, who just had a great role on the latest Spider-Man film. Here he’s Bill Bevilaqua, a guy who has had his own thing going on in Tulsa and after some pretty rough times became a partner of Dwight’s.
“As you can imagine, there’s certain things we can’t do as a law enforcement agency. But you? You would have no problem doing these things for us. I own you, General. Keep earning. Keep thriving. Just know that your freedom to do so belongs to me. So, when I call you, answer fast, or it will go very bad for all of you.”
So that’s the team. This season Dwight gets pulled in by a federal agent who is obviously working a case off the books. He appeals to Dwight’s patriotism to help him take down a terrorist who builds bombs that have taken out plenty of folks including the Fed’s partner. He’s Special Agent Musso, played by Kevin Pollak. The problem is this terrorist, but it ends up blowing back on Dwight. It doesn’t help that someone snitched to New York, and big boss Quiet Ray, played by James Russo, wants 80%. When Dwight refuses, he sends the best hit man in the business, but it turns out the guy has honor and he’s Dwight’s buddy. We’re talking about Samuel L. Jackson, returning to his Pulp Fiction assassin roots as Russell Lee Washington, Jr. Yeah, I see what they did there. It’s too bad Jackson is short-time here, because Sly and Jackson have incredible chemistry, and there just wasn’t enough of it here. But fear not. Jackson will be starring as the character in his own spin-off next year. Unfortunately, it won’t mean a lot more time of watching these two old pros work together.
“There was this big volcano called Mount Vesuvius. It was always erupting, a real pain in the ass, a real problem. See what I mean? So around 305 AD this stupid volcano decides it’s going to blow again. San Gennaro shows up, puts up his hands, does a miracle, and the volcano calmed down. The crowd is cheering. He’s like a hero. The Roman Emperor doesn’t like this. He’s getting very jealous, so he decides to have San Gennaro whacked. What’s he do? He chops off his head. That sealed the deal. The point of this whole dissertation is. You know what it is? Never volunteer for nothing. No good deed goes unpunished.”
So I already told you about the complications in Dwight’s crew’s lives. But the real season big bad is Robert Patrick as Jeremiah Dunmire. He owns a big distillery, and when rumor gets around that his main competitor has a treasure on his land, he blows up the mansion and tries to find it. But Dwight knows the guy’s daughter, and she shows him the treasure. It’s 150 barrels of 50-year-old bourbon. It’s worth $150 million. This is where the main conflict happens. Patrick just played the bad guy in a Reacher season, and he does another great turn here. This guy is obsessed, and he goes head to head with Dwight and is more dangerous than the New York mob. The bourbon changes hands a few times, and that gets a lot of people killed. Meanwhile Dana Delany returns as Dwight’s girl, Margaret, and last but certainly not least Neal McDonough returns as the sometimes good guy/sometimes bad guy Cal Thresher. He wants to be governor, and Margaret agrees to help. It also might help out Dwight, because Dunmire has a lot of the law in his pocket. Dwight needs to change that dynamic, and we’re off to the races.
Sly is now 81 years old, and he’s not slowing down. He does a lot of physical stuff here, and we’re already headed into a Season 4. The show has hit a stride this season that makes these 10 episodes go by so fast it’s over before you know it. This might be my favorite Sheridan show going right now. The loyalty and true “family” that Dwight builds in Tulsa is as impressive on display as it is in the story. You can’t say enough about the actual Tulsa locations. It gives a wonderful “fish out of water who is still a shark” persona of Sly’s character here. There’s also a nice balance as we still follow the New York mob story and its inevitable collision with the Dwight Tulsa scene. A lot of compelling characters, played by compelling actors, doing a lot of compelling things. And now they’re going to throw another season AND a new spin-off at me? “And I’m up for it.”
