Abhiroop Das
Co-created by Taylor Sheridan and Hugh Dillon, Paramount+’s ‘Mayor of Kingstown‘ journeys along with Mike Mclusky through the shady neighborhoods of the eponymous prison town, where the only way to maintain peace is by enforcing a ruthless system of checks and balances between criminals. As the person tasked with enforcing this system, Mike is more often than not unable to separate family from business, which leads to his primary conundrum in season 4 of this crime drama series. In the previous episodes, Mike has to see his brother, Kyle, go to prison, knowing that it is a disaster waiting to happen for a police officer. Things are worsened due to the arrival of a new warden, Nina Hobbs, who rules with an iron fist. Mike’s only means of direct communication with his brother is Carney, who is killed in a surprise move by the cartel. As such, episode 3, titled ‘People Who Died,’ carries this motif forward, with everyone realizing that they might have a target on their backs. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Mike, Bunny, and Moses Narrow Down the Culprits in Carney’s Murder
Season 4 episode 3 begins with the entire town slowly processing the murder of Carney. While some, like Cindy and Jackson, are as shocked as they are fearful for their own lives, others, such as the cartel hitman who pulled the trigger, leisurely enjoy their meal at a local diner. Mike Mclusky, however, has little time to relax, as the death of Carney is only a sign of things getting grimmer. Although his brother is still locked in prison, Mike cannot afford another casualty under his watch, and that brings him to call off the deal he set up with Cindy just the day prior. From there, he checks up on the investigation, where Ian is running desperately short on answers. While the crew has a general idea that the cartel is behind all of this, they are unable to pin down their location, which means that Mike might have to knock on some doors himself. When news about Carney’s passing reaches Kyle, he instinctively blames himself, but Mike, during visitation hours, reiterates that the best course of action is to stay put.
Meanwhile, Bunny and Frank Moses set out on a patrol with their respective troops to check out their new transportation arrangement. While Bunny had been banking on Kingstown’s network of criminals thus far, Moses proposes a way of exporting drugs out of town by hiding them inside waste carton trucks. Before Bunny can react any further, he gets an urgent call from Mike demanding a new way to set up communication inside Anchor Bay. Though Bunny is hesitant to speed things up, Mike refuses to back down, and this brief tension does not go unnoticed by Moses, who is potentially hatching a civil war. Elsewhere, a mysterious plot unfolds in the center of the town, where a group of teenagers makes discreet drug deals. While the police watch from a distance, there appears to be more at play here. Back in Anchor Bay, Kyle struggles to cope with his pain and, out of desperation, takes the pain meds Callahan smuggled into his cell.
Sawyer Stirs up More Trouble With Evelyn
As Bunny and Moses finish up their first round of business, Mike’s phone call continues to get more urgent, prompting a discussion around Bunny potentially rebranding himself. While his partnership with the mayor of Kingstown has brought him thus far, Moses claims that it is time to expand his hunting territory. However, Bunny’s loyalty is rock solid, and the tangent is dropped soon after. Elsewhere, Ian and team pry open Carney’s locker inside Anchor Bay, much to Torres’s dissatisfaction. Although it appears that the deputy mayor is hiding something bigger, Ian has no time to react any further, as he finds drugs, among other things, in Carney’s possession. After quickly disposing of them, he relays the news to Mike, who confirms that he is taking Carney’s death as a personal attack and suggests holding off the police investigation for the time being. Meanwhile, Sawyer continues his aggressive streak at the city hall, confronting Evelyn about how terrible his life has become.
Although Evelyn is quick to strike back, she realizes that Sawyer is a loose cannon whose alcohol abuse has only worsened since Kyle took the fall. As such, in the near future, Sawyer might do something even worse, further putting her and the town at risk. Elsewhere, the town is hit with another major blow, as Mike informs Bunny that the teenagers we saw earlier have been murdered in broad daylight, with their bodies being chopped into pieces. With this, the Cold War quickly escalates into a hot one, and both Mike and Bunny plot revenge. However, with Moses now on board, this becomes a team effort, and a meeting is called. Next, Mike gets a phone call from his office about Sawyer’s stunt with Evelyn, and sensing the urgency, he immediately sets out with Ian to tighten the screws around Sawyer. However, the conversation does not pan out as he expected, and Sawyer flips the blame back onto Mike. Although both he and Ian are left frustrated, they realize that the situation has to be dealt with patience, not force.
Mike Makes New Connections as Moses Loses the Fight With the Cartel
Later, Mike, Bunny, and Moses meet to plan their next course of action. While the former two explain how delicate the town’s system of checks and balances is, Moses has plans of his own. As proof of his commitment to the trio, he requests to be the one to take care of the cartel, using his superior forces to wipe out their hideout in town. While Bunny is hesitant, Moses promises to show a form of violence that he has never seen, which can send the perfect message to all of his future enemies. Meanwhile, at Anchor Bay, Torres gets suspicious of Cindy and quizzes her during a smoke break. Here, we learn that this is only her third week as a correctional officer, and Torres wastes no time in trying to make an impression. However, his account of how to deal with the inmates in Ad Seg is notably more twisted than Carney’s, and in the end, Cindy is left with more questions than answers. Right outside the prison, Mike meets with Jackson with the intention of making him the new informant, unaware that he is already working for Hobbs.
In the brief exchange, Jackson expresses fear about joining hands with Mike and risking death, but the latter assures him that the enemies will soon be taken care of. From there, Mike heads in for a meeting with Hobbs, who is even less pleased than before. Although the tension between them is palpable, both realize their importance as two cogs in the larger machinery, which leads to an impasse. While Mike reminds her of the sway he holds in prison yet again, Hobbs quickly interjects with how he has no actual legal stronghold in town, and that his access in and out of prison is strictly limited to matters concerning his brother. Elsewhere, Sawyer continues on his downward spiral, and at Hennigan’s, he nearly ends up having a violent episode with the bartender. Fortunately, Ian makes it there just in time to stop things from getting worse, following which he gets a dreary Sawyer back in the car and then takes him home. Here, Ian learns that Sawyer’s wife and kids have left, and that has likely made his situation even worse.
At Bunny’s headquarters, Moses informs that the plan to wipe out the cartel has already been set in place. While Bunny is pleased by this development, he remains visibly uneasy, largely due to the death of his crewmates. Moses lends a sympathetic ear, and the question then shifts to one of trust. Upon being asked, Bunny reveals that he trusts Moses about 60%, but is surprised to learn that he is far from earning a similar amount from Moses himself. The veteran then asserts that trustbuilding is a slow process, and it will be a while before they can have a connection as solid as Bunny and the town’s mayor. Later that night, Mike and Cindy meet at a bar yet again, but with their informant plan off the board, the two might just be out on a date. By sheer contrast, two of Moses’s men raid the cartel hideout with high-level weaponry, including a flamethrower. While they take out several men in one go, the hitman manages to outsmart and ultimately kill them, ending the episode with yet another cartel victory.
Read More: Is Mayor of Kingstown Based on a True Story?
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