Tulsa King: Season Three - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Tulsa King: Season Three



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Movie
At this point, Taylor Sheridan is keeping Paramount Plus alive on all fronts, and it's not even a secret at this point. Sure, we’ve got some Star Trek stuff going on with Strange New Worlds (let's ignore the rest of Nu-Trek, everybody else does for a reason) and a few films that get released there outside of theaters, but by and large Taylor Sheridan’s network of shows “made by dudes, for dudes” is dominating the charts over there. And while I will be the first to admit that Yellowstone went a bit soap-opera over the last couple of seasons, his OTHER shows have been more straightforward and action-filled. And the premier one alongside Landman is Stallone coming to TV and carrying the entire show on his broad shoulders in Tulsa King.

And to make matters worse, I haven’t seen Tulsa King till this review copy showed up. I have wanted to watch it for the last 4 years because, well, Stallone. But fate and my reviewing schedule (and sheer laziness) kept me putting this show off time and time again, despite some pretty great reviews coming in. And frankly, it boggles my mind WHY I held off this long. I’m a huge Stallone fan going back to the 80s, as he and Arnie were the action gods of that time frame. And I’m a huge supporter of 80s and 90s action movies. But for SOME weird reason my brain said “Stallone is movies, not TV,” and I couldn’t bring myself to start the show. And once more, I’m forced to eat some crow as I binge-watched the first two seasons so I could catch up with this Blu-ray review, and ended up really REALLY enjoying it.

Not to spoil the rest of the series, but Stallone is Dwight “The General” Manfredi, a crime lord who has moved operations over to Tulsa, one of the most out-of-the-way areas that you could think of. And he is forced to bend the city’s underground to his will, as well as adapt and blend in to an area that he is very much a “fish out of water” in. This season, his operation is threatened by the wealthy Dunmire family, led by patriarch Jeremiah Dunmire (Robert Patrick, in all his gravely voiced glory). This time Dwight wants to rule the local liquor market, and that means the Dunmires are having NONE of his intrusions, forcing the Tulsa King to have to batten down the hatches and prepare for an all-out war with an entrenched foe who not only knows the terrain, but has connections Dwith and his core group of men have no way of

Half the fun of the series is Stallone himself absolutely carrying everything on his shoulders, but the sheer amount of big-name actors who want a part of the show. We get to have Samuel L. Jackson come in as a New Orleans hitman, and Frank Grillo himself plays a pretty heavy staple in this season. But all in all, this is just pure machismo fun, and everyone involved is having a blast. Sheridan doesn’t have a handle on 80s and 90s action movies (where most of the actors in this series were forged); he DOES have a really unique look at crime thrillers and the midwest/southwest areas. His movies and shows have all focused on pretty typical Midwest areas, and the show thrives with this sort of ambiance. It almost has a slight Elmore Leonard vibe that we got with Justified (I would kill to have Timothy Olyphant show up with a variation on Rayland), just with a more modern feel to everything.

The one negative that I will say about season three is that it sometimes leans into the old “bigger is better” theory, WITHOUT actually making the plot bigger… or better. Instead, it sometimes gets a bit overly convoluted, and the action overshadows some of the plot elements to the point where I wished it would slow down a tad and let things catch up organically. The show seems to want to move to the next action piece without that character and plot arc development in between that makes everything mesh well. Not to say that the show is bad as a result; it’s just that those minor pacing issues can stick in your craw a bit when you look closely at everything.




Rating:

Not Rated By the MPAA




Video:

All three seasons are shot digitally (duh, pretty much the standard for TV these days), and it looks amazing in motion. The digital image is smooth as can be, with great color saturation and some impressive use of ambers and purples. Daylight scenes are impressive with their clarity and detail levels, while the dark interior of the bar where Dwight makes his home is a bit murkier and loses some detail in the hubbub. Facial details are incredibly complex, as are clothing nuances and even backdrops out in the daylight. At times the blacks and whites are a bit crushed, with whites looking a bit murky at times. Not enough to cause massive banding or other artifacting, but the copious dark sequences can sometimes look a bit milky and not as detailed as they could be. But all in all, a great-looking season.





Audio:

The 5.1 Dolby TrueHD track is very impressive, and sounds about on par with the previous two seasons. The presentation is powerful and aggressive, filled with dive bar discussion featuring lots of rabble talking in the background, as well as quiet and intense standoffs between characters that dial things down a notch. But when the action gets going, things get hot and heavy fast. Bass is tight and punchy with gunshots, and the music adds a nice layer to everything. Dynamics are pretty wide, with action-oriented bits going for broke, while the more talky portions of the series are less wild, but more restrained and filled with ambient nuances. Maybe not PERFECT, but a very capable TV mix that does everything quite well.





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Final Score: ​

Tulsa King: Season Three is bigger, bolder, more action-packed, and basically everything an 80s kid like me could want in a modern show. I hate to say, but it’s probably the best show that Paramount Plus has going for it, and this coming from a lifelong Trekkie. Stallone is having a ball in the role of Dwight (and seriously? The man is almost 80 and looks like a tank!), and the plot is more ambitious and more brutal than either of the two seasons that came before it. The show does falter a bit with having TOO much action at times, but overall it’s not a massive problem. Watching Samuel L. Jackson come in as a hitman is delightful, and I really am stoked to watch Season 4 asap. The Blu-ray set looks and sounds great, but there are the typical non-existent extras that Paramount Plus shows have these days. But hey, with how many TV shows don’t even get Blu-ray releases at all these days (especially streaming exclusives), I’m very happy with what we have. Highly recommended.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Andrea Savage, Martin Starr, Chris Caldovino
Created by: Taylor Sheridan
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 AVC
Audio: English: Dolby TrueHD 5.1, French, German, Spanish, Italian DD 5.1
Subtitles: English SDH
Studio: Paramount
Rated: NR
Runtime: 418 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: September 8th, 2026

Recommendation: Highly Recommended