Tulsa King Season 2, Episode 6, “Navigator” features the season’s most shocking moment — if only it weren’t such a mistake. The Paramount+ show successfully raises the stakes for the second half of the season by having another face-to-face confrontation between all three of the mob factions. However, that’s not where the shock and grief comes from; it’s the character death that will haunt the series forever.
“Navigator” centers primarily on the sit-down between Dwight Manfredi, his former bosses in New York and his new rivals in Kansas City. This is the last chance for the three sides to work out a deal before they just destroy each other. Yet the subplots with family actually have more impact on the future, as both Tina Manfredi and Tyson Mitchell come to decision points. With Sylvester Stallone bullish about Season 3, this episode is a huge step down that road.
Tulsa King Puts Dwight and Bill Back in the Arena
Season 2, Episode 6 Improves Upon Their Last Meeting
When Dwight and Bill Bevilaqua had their first in-person confrontation in Season 2, Episode 3, “Oklahoma v. Manfredi,” it was surprisingly underwhelming. All of their posturing didn’t generate the tension and animosity that the viewers needed to be passionate about their rivalry. It’s ironic that although they’re more restrained in Season 2, Episode 6, their dialogue feels more charged and more like these two should go out back and just slug it out already.
It’s fantastic to see Frank Grillo have more screen time, and he makes Bill’s distaste for Dwight drip off every word. It’s great how Grillo reacts as Dwight winds Bill up by talking to the waitress at the Atlanta restaurant more than he needs to. As much as Bill keeps talking about business, it’s clear that both he and Cal Thresher are both more driven by their personal disdain for Dwight, whom they see as (to quote Thresher) an “interloper.” The situation is as much about their egos as their profits — and so even though Bill reaches an agreement with Dwight, Tulsa King never gives fans any sense of security. They don’t expect Bill to honor that deal for a second, even if Dwight seems optimistic.
Dwight Manfredi: We’re going to try to work out some misunderstandings.
As the episode’s writer Terence Winter told CBR, Tulsa King Season 2 only works if the actors playing Dwight’s antagonists can measure up to the level of Sylvester Stallone. With Grillo finally getting back into a scene opposite Stallone, audiences can see the give and take that the two actors have. Bill’s being quick to anger is a great contrast versus Dwight’s more measured, almost mellow approach to the conversation. This is the moment audiences were waiting all season for — even if not a single punch is thrown.
Tulsa King Checks Off Some Necessary Boxes
Episode 6 Gets People Where They Need to Go
Tulsa King Season 2, Episode 6 also noticeably goes through the motions to pay off plot points that were established earlier in the season. The sit-down is complicated by the fact that Chickie Invernizzi is detained while leaving New York — forcing Vince Antonacci to represent the group in Atlanta. The reason for Chickie not making it to Atlanta is so dumb that it generates some genuine laughs: he forgets that he has a pistol in an ankle holster and is dragged off by TSA agents. The scene is clearly intended as comic relief, but it works because it’s true to his character and it’s a way to progress the growing rivalry between Vince and Chickie. Suddenly, Vince is empowered to be in charge… and of course what he does makes Chickie upset. That’s a story to watch in the remaining episodes, after the New York part of the show has been relatively slow since the Season 2 premiere.
Cal Thresher: Everything in life is transactional. Did you really not know that?
Yet there’s also business back in Tulsa, and “Navigator” also gives Armand Truisi what’s been coming to him. Armand made the mistake of revealing his financial desperation to Thresher, and everyone knew from a mile away that Thresher was going to take advantage of that. After seeing the injuries Bodhi suffered in the wind farm brawl from Episode 5, Armand feels guilty and wants to cut off his deal with Thresher. This is Neal McDonough’s cue to drop Thresher’s altruistic act as the businessman spells out to Armand exactly how he manipulated him — and that there’s no way out of the situation. McDonough is well-known for intense villainy, and he’s almost gleeful with it in this episode. But again, that’s what Tulsa King needs right now; the audience has to genuinely be concerned about Dwight and his crew. If only the script didn’t take that idea a step too far with Tyson.
Mark Mitchell’s Death in Tulsa King Is a Huge Mistake
The Show Changes Because of Episode 6’s Murder
There’s a little bit of a bait and switch that happens in “Navigator.” The episode opens with Tina telling her father that she wants to get a gun for protection, and one of the smaller high points is more screen time for Tatiana Zappardino as Tina learns about guns and gun safety from Mitch Keller. Winter deserves credit for making the gun safety lesson part of the script, instead of rushing through it to get to the “cool” shooting range part. However, that story makes audiences think about the safety of the Manfredi family, when it’s the Mitchell family that’s in danger. And more trouble than just an SVU blowing up.
Season 2, Episode 5, “Tilting at Windmills” showed a very dark side of Tyson, determined to get revenge and not shy about getting involved in the wind farm fight. To see him just helping his father Mark out with a few plumbing jobs is a delightful return to Tyson’s humble roots. But then Winter decides to kill off Mark by having someone in a white Prius plant a bomb under Dwight’s Navigator, which the Mitchells had been using for the day. This is a frustrating decision on several levels: it eliminates Tyson’s biggest source of character development and it takes away the other family storyline on the show.Tulsa King’s undercurrent has always been family, and now it’s just the Manfredi family.
If this is meant to accelerate Tyson’s slide into full-on mob enforcer / series antagonist, by taking away his father so all he has left is Dwight as a surrogate father, then it’s a little bit understandable. But is that worth getting rid of an actor as talented as Michael Beach, who was just killed off Mayor of Kingstown? This is the second Taylor Sheridan show that Beach has been written off of in two months. And aside from how much that hurts Tyson as a character, the Mitchells give Tulsa King a perspective on family that is different from the Manfredis. They are part of the Tulsa community — as Mark’s final scenes demonstrate. By blowing up Mark Mitchell, “Navigator” provides a giant shock to the audience and to his son, but this decision will hurt the show in the long term. If family is what sets Tulsa King apart from other mob stories, then it just lost a large part of what makes it unique.