After Yellowstone, Taylor Sheridan’s Tulsa King has been the next big hit for Paramount, which isn’t surprising given the star power of Sylvester Stallone. But while the Stallone-led series has succeeded in rivaling the Western drama’s numbers, tonally, the two couldn’t be more different, as the mob drama doesn’t shy away from touching more absurd territories with its comedy.
However, compared to the first season, there is a noticeable step down in the writing department in the new addition, as certain storylines in the show further add to the idiocracy of its supporting cast.
Tulsa King Season 2 Takes a Nosedive in the Writing Front
While the second season puts a lot more emphasis on the supporting cast, the writing doesn’t do all of the show’s vibrant cast justice.
- One of the things that bugged most fans was how easily Armand accepted Cal Thresher’s offer. Although it gives Thresher a one-up over Dwight, the writing makes Armand pretty incompetent for being oblivious to Thresher’s main motives for bringing Dwight’s empire down.
- The show also hasn’t been successful in portraying Thrasher as the toughest guy on the bloke, as it doesn’t appear that he has a lot of people backing him up.
- The set-up for Mitch and Tina’s potential romantic bond also seems a bit undercooked, and the latter’s motivations to move to Tulsa to be with her father, despite hating him her whole life, seems a bit icky.
- Another major issue stems from Tyson’s naivety, which got his father killed. Not only does it take away the other family storyline, but it also paints his character in a pretty obtuse light.
- Tyson doesn’t even consider the prospect of risking his dad’s life by giving him a car that was being followed by hitmen all day.
- It also doesn’t help that his father accepts the car without any reluctance, even though the show did shed light on his animosity with Tyson over the latter’s involvement in the criminal landscape.
The Show Hasn’t Been Successful in Painting the NYC Mob in a Great Light
Although the writers want us to take the Invernizzi family seriously, they haven’t exactly succeeded in giving us some proper reasons that justify this case. Some other reasons why the series deserves scrutiny are as follows:
- The show also doesn’t do a great job with the presentation of the Invernizzi family, and its head Chickie, as we’re only shown three guys in a hideout in terms of the New York mob’s scale.
- Unlike Dwight, who has been excelling in the gambling and weed aspect, the NYC mob is said to be dealing with bootleg Ozempic, which doesn’t help their case of being a major powerhouse.
- Moreover, the mob head, Charles “Chickie” Invernizzi, forgets his ankle gun during his visit to the airport, which isn’t very on-brand for a seasoned Mafioso.
While it’s pretty evident that Terence Winter isn’t taking The Sopranos route with the Sylvester Stallone-led show, as he is leaning towards the absurdity of the mob business, there’s no excuse for lazy writing.
Tulsa King season 2 is available to stream on Paramount Plus.