I saw Tusla King #2 (Season Concludes)

It seems like only yesterday that Paramount+'s Tulsa King: Season 2 began, and here we are, in the aftermath of its bold conclusion. The perceived rapidity of the season was due, in no small part, to its engrossing plot and interesting characters, identifiable for their devotion to a cause, but also their flaws. And to distinguish Season 2 from 1, it wasn't so much a fish-out-of-water fable this time, as it was the story of a man who's shed his outsider relegation to become in every way the insider.

As with the prior season, Season 2 was sometimes Faustian and in most other ways, pulp-ish in the best hard-boiled manner. Its Godfather/Sopranos flair makes for good melodrama, but man, is Sylvester Stallone ever exceptional as Dwight Manfredi. Here's a guy who's tough and stoic when facing his foes, but bright and erudite (self taught in prison, serving time for a crime he didn't commit). He's also a family man, principled and protective, and what's wrong with that? (That's right, I'm directing that to all you bums who claim that such is something ho-hum and would be dismissible in today's pushy, cold-hearted factions.)

The guest-star standout for Season 2 was Neal McDonough's slick "businessman," Cal Thresher. Gosh, I thought McDonough was menacing as CW/DC's steely-eyed Damien Darhk, but Thresher was nuanced to the chilling max and an ideal, interceding adversary for Manfredi, creating a kind of elitist-vs-regular-Joe undercurrent, which only helped to make the storyline more credible. (I must also add that I'm glad Stallone and producers recruited McDonough, since he's a diverse and outstanding actor, who's taken some flack, as I understand it, for his moral views. He's my kind of guy no matter what, and Thresher is my kind of villain.)

I was surprised, though, that Andrea Savage's Stacy Beale was only in a small portion of Season 2. (Maybe she'll weave back in for the third.) All the same, Dana Delany's Margaret Deveraux did a swell job becoming Manfredi's main squeeze. 

I want more of Tulsa King, and though I'm confident Season 3 will surface, I'm also hoping that it'll contain more episodes than the previous runs. Sometimes shows can be padded to a fault, but Tulsa King's rough grace presents a foundation that propounds a virile expansion.