In the annals of all-time great TV characters, there are eloquent men and women of immense depth and sophistication who’ve managed to elevate sitcoms, made us root for antiheroes, and burrowed their way into our imagination thanks to how well-written and fully realized they are. And then there are characters like Dwight “The General” Manfredi, the hulking, gravely voiced mafia capo at the heart of whose whole schtick ought to be a clown show — but instead gives Sylvester Stallone a chance to have some of the most fun of his career while beating down Dwight’s enemies and delivering lines line: “When I play my hand, you won’t see it coming.” In , streaming on , Stallone’s Manfredi is newly released from prison after a 25-year stint behind bars, and his bosses immediately send him to Tulsa to set up a new criminal empire.
, and the character, are classic Sheridan; rugged, ultra-masculine embodiments of different aspects of the American experience, with Sheridan’s other Paramount+ shows also exploring characters through the lens of the private prison industry, the Texas oil boom, frontier expansion, and modern ranching. This being Sheridan, though, let it be said: Shakespeare, is not. The writing is blue collar through and through, which suited me just fine.
In fact, Season 1 was a mostly enjoyable experience, because the show doesn’t pretend to be something it’s not — and, with Dwight promising in the new trailer, “Looks like we got trouble comin’ o.