‘Tulsa King’ Recap: Season 1, Episode 2 “Center of the Universe”

In the second episode of Tulsa King, “Center of the Universe,” Dwight takes a road trip with Bodhi and Tyson, gets himself a debit card, and tries to reach out to his estranged daughter.

Dwight gets a debit card

Dwight starts off his day by searching his daughter’s name on the internet to try and find out where she is now, but he can’t purchase the records without a card. Afterward, he goes to mail the money that he’s earned so far back to New York, but he finds out that the post office doesn’t take cash. When he’s out for a walk around town, Dwight encounters the “Center of the Universe” (which is a real-life spot in Tulsa with a baffling sound phenomenon — science!).

Tyson picks up Dwight, and they stop at the dispensary — where everyone’s already high, despite the fact that it’s not even noon. Bodhi asks him again if there’s any actual reason that he’s taking his money, because he still doesn’t understand what exactly Dwight is doing. Afterward, Dwight goes to the bank with his stacks of money to sign up for a debit card. Unfortunately, his license expired in 1998.

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Dwight makes his way to the Department of Public Safety to take his driver’s exam again, and he convinces a guy to let him cheat off of his answers. Once he passes, he goes to get his license photo taken, though he turns sideways as if he’s getting a mugshot taken. When he brings his paperwork to the desk, the woman informs him that he’s going to need to take a road test … and unfortunately the next appointment is five weeks out. After sliding her money over the counter (this is really becoming a signature move, huh?), she gets booked for one for the following week. With his temporary identification paperwork in hand, Dwight finally goes back to the bank for his debit card.

Stacy Beale

The woman that Dwight brought back to his hotel calls up a friend while she’s working to dig up some more information about him, at which point she tries to defend the fact that at least he’s got integrity — “Nothing sexier than a cold-blooded killer with principles.” Later, she has an appointment with her therapist, to whom she shamefully admits that she slept with a 75-year-old criminal.

She returns to the hotel to see Dwight, at which point she informs him that her name is Stacy. Oh, and she’s also an ATF agent. He makes it clear that he’s not a felon anymore; he’s an ex-felon. Stacy asks him what his daughter thinks about him being there, and Dwight tells her that he hasn’t seen Tina or the rest of his family in 18 years. She’s suspicious about what brought him to Tulsa, and she warns him that she won’t be able to help him if he gets jammed up in something there.

Making deals

Dwight, Tyson, and Bodhi take a ride to the marijuana farm that the dispensary gets their product from, where Dwight cuts a deal with the owner (and also ends up high as a kite on apricot preserves). On the ride home, he laments with Tyson and Bodhi over how many societal changes he missed while he was locked up — like the fact that phones have cameras now — and proceeds to just ramble nonsensically. When he sees a sign for Commerce, Oklahoma on the highway, he tells Tyson to get off there so they can go and see Mickey Mantle’s house. Afterward, Dwight pays Mitch another visit at Bred 2 Buck, and the two have a heart-to-heart about their dads.

A failed olive branch

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Once his debit card comes in the mail, Dwight goes back onto the public records website to purchase access to his daughter’s information. When he calls the number listed, Tina’s husband answers. Although she doesn’t want to talk to him, he convinces her to briefly say hello, but when he asks if he can see her, she hangs up on him.

Defeated, Dwight admits to himself that he didn’t stop seeing Tina because it was too hard on her … he stopped because it was too hard on him.

The first two episodes of Tulsa King are now streaming exclusively on Paramount+. Catch the next episode on Sunday, November 27, and stay tuned for our weekly episodic recaps.

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