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Best Tulsa King Episodes, Ranked

All 19 episodes of Tulsa King scored and sorted — from the 8.4/10 high of S2E6 to the 7.7/10 of S1E1.

By Mira Vance · Editor & Lead Reviewer

Our rating: 8.05/10 average across 19 episode reviews (best 8.4, lowest 7.7).

Tulsa King runs hot and steady rather than wild — every episode lands between 7.7 and 8.4, so there’s no real disaster and no transcendent classic. What you get instead is a clean upward drift from Season 1 into Season 2.

The show starts at its weakest. The pilot, S1E1 “Dwight Manfredi Gets Exiled to Tulsa and Builds His First Crew” (7.7), has a lot of table-setting to do — getting Dwight off the bus, finding his people — and it shows. S1E2 and S1E6 (both 7.8) sag for similar reasons: setup and mid-season churn. Season 1 only really clicks once the Waltrip war heats up around S1E5 and S1E9 (8.1).

Season 2 is the stronger stretch top to bottom, and it peaks at S2E6 “Dwight Cuts a Deal With Bill as Tyson’s Navigator Gift Explodes” (8.4) — the car bomb finally turns Cal Thresher’s slow squeeze into open violence. The fallout episode, S2E7 “Tyson Hunts the Bomber as Dwight Tracks the White Prius” (8.3), rides that momentum, and S2E3 (8.3) matches it earlier with Dwight beating the bribery charge while Kansas City sends Caputo to the party.

The pattern is simple: when the threats get personal and the schemes pay off, the show is at its best. When it’s introducing pieces, it dips.

Season 1: 7.9Season 2: 8.2
678910S1E1: 7.7/10S1E2: 7.8/10S1E3: 7.9/10S1E4: 8.0/10S1E5: 8.1/10S1E6: 7.8/10S1E7: 8.0/10S1E8: 7.9/10S1E9: 8.1/10S2E1: 8.0/10S2E2: 8.1/10S2E3: 8.3/10S2E4: 8.1/10S2E5: 8.2/10S2E6: 8.4/10S2E7: 8.3/10S2E8: 8.1/10S2E9: 8.0/10S2E10: 8.2/10
Every episode scored on tension, payoff, and rewatch value. Hover a point for the episode.
RankEpEpisodeScore
1S2E6Dwight Cuts a Deal With Bill as Tyson's Navigator Gift Explodes8.4
T-2S2E3Dwight Beats the Bribery Charge and Kansas City Sends Caputo to the Party8.3
T-2S2E7Tyson Hunts the Bomber as Dwight Tracks the White Prius8.3
T-4S2E5Dwight Takes the Wind Farm Hit as Chickie Calls a Sit-Down8.2
T-4S2E10Dwight Takes Cal's Farm, Cuts a Deal With Bill, and Gets Grabbed8.2
T-6S1E5Tina Tells Dwight the Truth and Black Macadam Grabs Bodhi8.1
T-6S1E9Dwight Beats Chickie, Robs Waltrip, and Gets Arrested by Stacy8.1
T-6S2E2Dwight Buys a Wind Farm as Cal and Chickie Move Against Him8.1
T-6S2E4Dwight Makes a Wind-Farm Deal as Bill and Cal Push Back8.1
T-6S2E8Tyson Starts a War as Vince Moves Chickie Aside8.1
T-11S1E4Dwight Recruits Manny as Tyson's Nitrous Hustle Starts a Biker War8.0
T-11S1E7Chickie Kills Pete While Dwight Plans a Casino and Waltrip Catches Roxy8.0
T-11S2E1Dwight Makes Bail, Tina Risks Her House, and Cal Thresher Calls Kansas City8.0
T-11S2E9Dwight Uses Armand to Trap Ming as Tyson Pulls the Trigger8.0
T-15S1E3Manny Shoots Dwight, Stacy Crosses a Line, and Tyson Refuses to Quit7.9
T-15S1E8Dwight Builds a War Crew and Waltrip Sends a Shooter at Stacy7.9
T-17S1E2Dwight Chases a Debit Card, Stacy Knocks, and Manny Finds His Hotel7.8
T-17S1E6Dwight Faces Tina and Waltrip Shoots Up Mitch's Bar7.8
19S1E1Dwight Manfredi Gets Exiled to Tulsa and Builds His First Crew7.7

Scores reflect our episode reviews. Tap any episode to read the full review, or browse the whole Tulsa King season recap from the top.