‘Tulsa King’ Episode 5 Plot Twist: Who’s Really After Dwight?

The most important moment from Tulsa King Episode 5 came on a park bench, and if you were only casually watching you likely missed it.

With a suspicious look, Dwight Manfredi told us he knows who’s been setting traps and hiring assassins. He just didn’t have time to act on it.

• Season 4 of Tulsa King premiered on Oct. 16. It’s expected to last through Dec. 18.
• Episode 5 finds Bodhi and Leonardo Timpone bottling wine for auction and Dwight paying another visit to Quiet Ray.
• Season 5 of Tulsa King has already been picked up for Paramount+.

This plot twist is one of two big spoilers we’ll discuss here. As usual, if you’ve not watched and don’t want the episode ruined, subscribe, save and come back later.

Tulsa King, Season 4, Episode 5 Recap

The majority of Episode 5 (titled “Dinosaurs”) centers on the counterfeit wine scheme Bodhi and Leonardo cook up. Their phony vintage — “with just a whisper of ullage” — goes to auction and Dwight’s crew dresses up to pose as fake millionaires. The goal is to create a bidding war, and it works.

Actually, it works too well. Mitch, Spencer and Tyson push the price up past $6,000 a bottle but the instructions are to stop bidding at $7,500. Tyson — who wants to look gangster — live streams the bidding war and gets lost in the moment, pushing the price per bottle to $8K, winning the auction.

Instead of scoring a $2 million payday the crew now has to come up with $2.25 million, although they will ultimately only lose 10 percent to the auction house. It’s another bone-headed move by Tulsa King‘s most immature character.

Prior to this, Detective Wozniak (Pat McAfee) visits Dwight and blackmails him into a job. The dirty cop is upset that Tyson killed English Dan, thus costing him $3,000 a week. Dwight bites and offers $20K if Wozniak can retrieve the murder weapon. It works out for the home team, of which McAfee’s character is now a member.

Is Special Agent Musso the Real Villain of Season 4?

Midway through Episode 5, Dwight and FBI Agent Musso sit on a park bench to discuss the crimes that connect them. Musso tells Dwight he thinks Quiet Ray is responsible for the attempted murder that ended Ep. 4.

“I wouldn’t trust that prick to water a cactus,” he says.

We’ve heard that before. In fact, we’ve heard it twice.

At the start of Ep. 1, Bill Bevilaqua — fresh out of FBI custody — gives those words to Dwight about Quiet Ray. Then, we see Bill say the same thing to Ray about Dwight. At the time it seemed he was playing both sides.

Now it seems like Agent Musso is pushing Kansas City Bill to play both sides. A mob war could kill men from both families, and that’s all good news for the FBI. This would explain several random events, including the last week’s shooting, information Governor Clark is getting and maybe even Margaret and Cal Thresher’s deaths.

It also explains why Bevilaqua was at Dwight’s house bright and early to check on him. That didn’t seem suspicious until the park bench scene. Manfredi’s reaction lets us know he’s on to Musso, but he barely has time to respond because of his flight to New York City for a visit with Ray.

Tulsa King, Season 4, Episode 5 Review

A significant portion of Tulsa King Episode 5 is spent in New York City, and that’s good for the show. When the better actors dominate (Frank Grillo, James Russo, Kevin Pollak, Chris Caldovino) the show is elevated. Episodes heavy on Dwight’s crew dip.

Tulsa King

Agent Musso as villain is a plot twist few saw coming, and if that plays out, the show should be celebrated. There are still stray hairs to sift through (where is the dino on the ranch plot headed?) and more doom and gloom than we’re used to, but this was one of the stronger episodes of the season.

Hopefully the second half of Season 4 keeps building.