Spoiler alert: This story reveals major deaths from Episode 1 of Season 4 of "Tulsa King."
Season 4 of Sylvester Stallone's mobster series "Tulsa King"has just begun, and the death count is already climbing. Episode 1 (now streaming on Paramount+) delivers three shockers. One is tragic, one a big bummer, and the third is a mob kill unveiling for the ages.
Let's start with the most spectacularly gruesome. RIP, Buffalo mob boss Luca Fiorentino. We hardly knew ye. And this could finally be the Bills' year.
The newly introduced crime family boss is conspicuously absent from the mobster-packed National Council meeting. His empty chair finally draws attention to set up leader "Quiet Ray" Renzetti's (James Russo) meeting power play that trumps a killer
PowerPoint presentation.
Ray's goon Bartolomeo Turco (Robert Davi) unzips a bowling ball bag and pulls out Luca's severed head, wordlessly laying it on the conference room's wooden table.
Dwight Manfredi's (Stallone) face is a master class in mobster composure, shifting from subtle shock to practiced nonchalance under Ray's watchful gaze. The message is clear: Cross Quiet Ray and you will be the next boardroom centerpiece.
Tragedy level: 0. We don't even know who played poor, decapitated Luca. But the head did bear a passing resemblance to a younger Michael Douglas. Somebody might want to check on him, just to be safe.
Adrian II! Stallone's 'Tulsa King' love dies tragically and mysteriously
The second death is a stunner. Dwight's girlfriend, wealthy equestrianMargaret Devereaux (Dana Delany), a formidable presence throughout "Tulsa King's" first three seasons, apparently meets her end – in the same episode that Dwight splurges $3,200 on a bottle of wine to celebrate the anniversary of their first meeting.
Margaret is a last-minute addition on a private jet trip to the Mariana Islands with Oklahoma Gov. Cal Thresher (Neal McDonough). Sounds like a plum getaway, until the ominous scene showing Margaret and Cal unconscious in their seats, along with both pilots in the cockpit. A voice from air traffic control hauntingly calls out over the radio, getting no response.
Manfredi is awakened in his silk pajamas with the devastating news that the plane has lost contact somewhere over the Pacific. What's the governor of Oklahoma doing over the Pacific anyways?
Tragedy level: 9. Stallone calls the TV loss devastating "personally and professionally," comparing it to the death of Rocky Balboa's beloved wife Adrian (Talia Shire), whose death from cancer in 2006's "Rocky Balboa" fueled the aging boxer's return to the ring.
"I had to go through this before with Adrian," Stallone says. "It's brutal. But I felt like we needed to shake things up."
Someone is going to pay for Margaret's death, possibly with a whack from Manfredi's new silver-handled cane.
"Dwight will be emotionally traumatized. He knows this wasn't an accident," says Stallone.
One caveat: We never actually see the plane crash. There's a wildly improbable possibility that everyone aboard is disco napping and a pilot will wake up with a jolt.
'Tulsa King's Cal Thresher closes his dazzling blue eyes in death!
After two seasons of shifting alliances, simmering hostilities and truces with Manfredi, Thresher is apparently another casualty of the doomed flight.
Too bad. In Season 4, Thresher has settled into the governor's mansion and is finally ready to do business with Manfredi. But the governor has made powerful enemies, including his new lieutenant governor Amanda Clark (Gretchen Mol), whom he brushes off when asked to meet with an evil AI billionaire looking to build a massive AI farm data center.
"I'm not taking land from farmers and giving it to some tech bro," Thresher declares.
Tragedy level: 6. Thresher was a great character, and those dazzling baby blues will be sorely missed. We don't even get one last steely gaze, since his eyes are peacefully closed aboard the private jet. Come to think of it, not the worst way to go. RIP Cal.
With Thresher presumed dead, his lieutenant governor stands to inherit the governor's mansion, spelling trouble for Manfredi. Good times never last too long for mobsters like Manfredi.
"Another great loss," Stallone says of Thresher's demise. "But I needed someone in power that was not going to cooperate with Dwight, who is going to make life hell for him."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Who lost their head on 'Tulsa King'? Stallone mourns Season 4 deaths
