What To Know
- The latest episode of Tulsa King reveals that Jeremiah’s harshness toward his son Cole stems from the loss of his elder son in combat, fueling deep family tension and resentment.
- Cole struggles with guilt and hesitation in carrying out his father’s orders to kill Dwight, influenced by his growing feelings for Spencer and desire for a different life.
- After the failed assassination attempt on Dwight, both Robert Patrick and Beau Knapp hint at upcoming storylines involving betrayal, revenge, and shifting loyalties as the season progresses.
[Warning: The following post contains MAJOR spoilers for Tulsa King Season 3 Episode 6, “Bubbles.”]
Things ended on a very violent note on Sunday’s newest episode of Tulsa King, with Cole Dunmire (Beau Knapp) and his crew taking shots at Dwight Manfredi (Sylvester Stallone) — and, perhaps unknowingly, the New York mafioso Quiet Ray (James Russo) — while the two were at dinner discussing the professional friction between them.
Dwight had a lot on his plate already before the shots rang out. He had to admit to his sister Joanne (Annabella Sciorra) that he’d been cooperating with the FBI — news which she took pretty well, considering. Then, his team, particularly poor Bodhi (Martin Starr), had to deal with the dead body situation in the barrel room and the cops shutting them down for Jeremiah Dunmire (Robert Patrick) after storming the influencer party didn’t get that job done. Plus, Kansas City was getting suspicious over all of the unrest on their end, and some of the case deliveries became way too eventful for comfort.
In addition to all of the conflicts coming at Dwight, the episode also revealed, finally, why exactly Jeremiah has been so hard on his son: His elder son Jeremiah died in combat service, and Jeremiah resented Cole’s survival… and especially his choice of camo clothing.
Jeremiah tells him if he wants to earn it, Cole needs to stop hesitating and take out Dwight once and for all. Now that he has tried, but not succeeded, what does that mean for the characters and the last four episodes of this season?
TV Insider spoke with both Robert Patrick and Beau Knapp (separately, but combined here in Q&A format) about this episode and beyond.
We learn that Cole’s brother died in combat. What do you think that means for the relationship between Jeremiah and Cole?
Beau Knapp: I mean, I kind of wrote my own backstory for that, because we didn’t dive too deep into it. But I think that my brother Joshua died in Kandahar with distinction.. I think my brother hated my father, and he joined the military to get away from him, and I think that pissed him off at the same time, leaving him there, because then he lost his mother, he lost his brother, and it was just this man that he was left with… It’s kind of that whole ‘the wrong son died’ kind of thing. So yeah, that built Cole a lot. I mean, he is trying to replace his brother, trying to replace his mother, trying to do everything he can to make this man happy, or who used to be nice.
Jeremiah tells Cole that the only way he can earn his camo is to do his dad’s bidding and take out Dwight. But could he ever really earn it?
Robert Patrick: Well, there’s a showdown coming. There is going to be a moment where Jeremiah stops himself and realizes what he was about to do, and it’s a moment of real clarity, and yet there’s a lot of vulnerability with it, and I’m not sure what episode that is, but that’s between the dynamic with me and Cole, so I don’t think he’s ever going to earn it, but I am going to have a moment of clarity where I realize I might be losing it. I’m under a lot of stress.
Jeremiah accuses Cole of hesitating to take out Dwight on the occasions that he has a chance. Do you think he’s right about that?
Knapp: I do. I think he’s right about that. I think that ever since he met Spencer (Scarlet Stallone), it was like, this light in the dark. He could see the future for himself, outside of this, whether it’s her or just a general, just like this doesn’t have to be how it is [realization]. And he doesn’t want to be a bad man. Cole feels terrible, carries so much guilt and shame around all that. But, yeah, I definitely think he hesitates. And Sly is very intimidating.
You mentioned Spencer, and that brings up something else I was wondering. There was a moment during the influencer party in Episode 5 when he looked at her, and she seemed disappointed in him. Do you think it upset him more to disappoint her than his dad?
Knapp: Absolutely, I think that. I think that was a hard moment for him because he didn’t even want to do that with the axe and all that stuff. I mean, it’s the first person he looked at because it’s the last person he wants to disappoint right now, because he actually cares about somebody and feels like somebody cares for him a little bit — or that there was a chance of something beautiful.
After the failed assassination attempt of Dwight at the restaurant, what’s next?
Knapp: I think that there’s gonna be a lot of background… The audience, they’re going to see us out of Tulsa like they’ve never seen before, and I think it’s almost biblical. Me and Sly talked about it before we even started shooting, because Cole was kind of written differently. He was written as almost like a comedic bit, a type of silly yokel… But as we were discussing it, and who I am as an actor, he’s like, “What about this East of Eden spin kind of thing, where this Cal Thresher [Neal McDonough] thing, this turmoil, and the son trying to be somebody who’s gotten redemption and all this stuff?” So I think there’s going to be a lot. You’re going to see revenge. You’re going to see betrayal, see romance, you’re going to see a lot of action, of course, but you know, Cole has a tough decision to make about where his loyalty lies.
Patrick: The restaurant shootout was not successful. My boy failed me again. I was disappointed in that. My guys are starting to fail me. Yeah, this is where I think Jeremiah is starting to realize I may have some holes in my organization, and I might be losing my grip.
Tulsa King, Sundays, Paramount+