Mayor of Kingstown (Season 2), Episode 4: Taylor Sheridan’s ‘Mayor of Kingstown’ is becoming increasingly intense as the situation in Kingstown is deteriorating every passing day. Jeremy Renner portrays a much grittier character than in his other works and bonds well with the dark, gritty atmosphere of the show.
In the previous episode, we saw Bunny urging Mike to get him out of prison as promised. On the other side, Iris has returned to the web of unlawful businesses, while Mike is concerned about keeping his beloved town safe and sound. He knows the high stakes of the situation and understands the necessity of taking action at the earliest.
Now the new episode delves deeper into the volatile environment inside the prison and the involvement of politics in aggravating the situation. Please note that the following paragraphs contain spoilers from the 4th episode, which is now streaming on Paramount+.
Mayor of Kingstown (Season 2), Episode 4 Recap:
Episode 4: The Pool
The situation inside the prison is heating up. As a result, Bunny Washington (Tobi Bamtefa) is incredibly anxious for his well-being. In the brief period he has been inside, he has already suffered a heavy blow from some of the prisoners. Their unruly nature is a reason for his fear, and so is the heat he is getting from other gang leaders. They entered the prison, trusting him with Mike Mclusky’s (Jeremy Renner) plan. So, a great responsibility lies on his shoulder, which makes him incredibly angry with Mike, since he is not keeping his word.
There’s a murmur within the inmates that some of them are getting transferred to another prison. One of Bunny’s gang members tells him that Mike needs to urgently turn the wheels to fulfill his promise, or otherwise, their lives will be in danger. So, Bunny questions a prison guard about it, who crudely answers his queries as if the inmates are cattle that will be segregated within different prisons. He assumes that Bunny wants to stay in the same prison.
Bunny is so restless due to these terrible developments that he wants to speak directly with Mike about their deal. But the guard refuses to offer his phone and turns his back on him. Bunny manages to scare him about his future in this volatile environment and acquires his cell phone. He calls Mike and confronts him about the news he heard that the authorities are moving the inmates. Mike assures that Bunny won’t be on that list, emphasizing that none of the big players have been moved either. He promises to take care of this matter while having no clear idea himself how to do so.
Then Mike meets Evelyn (Necar Zadegan) and questions her about the new plan of moving inmates out of the tent city prison. Since she has no control over DOC’s moves, she has no time to care about Mike keeping up his promise. Besides, she knows that the authorities are trying to pin down the recent murders on someone and using the already available situations to their advantage. Mike understands that this politics by the district attorney will cause them to lose the lives of people inside and outside the prison.
Meanwhile, Kyle (Taylor Handley) visits Mitch’s gravestone and gets emotional about the loss of this brother. Being down on his luck, he misses Mitch since he would have sought his help if he had been alive. He comes to Mike’s new office, where he is busy trying to stop the prison transfers. Kyle asks him to have substantial work and not do menial chores to pass his time. He sells himself as someone with more worth than what Mike is giving him.
During his daily duties, a construction worker stumbles upon something he considers a substantial help to him. He soon understands he can be a millionaire with what he has found. Meanwhile, Iris tries her best to adjust to the new environment she has gotten herself caught up in. Tatiana, who looks after her almost like a mother, tries to bring discipline to her, seeing her unruly attitude.
Inside the prison, other gang members start questioning Bunny about why they are not getting out as promised by Mike. They fear the uncertainty inside the prison can harm their life any day. Later that night, Mike comes to tent city to meet Bunny. He informs that DA uses the situation (having gang leaders inside the prison) to portray it as his victory, despite having no contribution to it. Mike tells Bunny to be patient a little while longer for the matters to cool down.
Bunny keeps stressing how their deal was for temporary imprisonment. He also threatens his well-being if he does not help him soon. So, the next day, Mike goes to meet Kareem (Michael Beach) back at his place. Since Kareem can oversee who goes and who stays, Mike asks him to keep Bunny and other gang leaders inside the tent city so that matters do not worsen. Kareem takes it as a personal insult, assuming it is Mike ordering him to do something.
Mike makes him understand the gravity of the situation – how this move can cause irreparable damage to the city he lives in – and where his daughter goes to school. All citizens’ safety will be in danger if they do not take the necessary steps. Meanwhile, the construction worker goes to a pawn shop to sell the bond he found. He asks for ten grand even though the bonds are worth 50 grand. The shop owner quickly understands the danger of doing it and tries to scare him away.
But the man does not want to waste the golden opportunity of getting such huge cash. The owner knows a party that can help with it but does not want to, sensing the danger. Mariam (Dianne Wiest) feels guilty that a child lost a chance to lead a regular life because of a petty crime he committed against her. She goes to the Juvenile facility and starts an open conversation with them. The young men share their painful stories of how they were arrested for inconsequential reasons. You see yet another side of the corrupt town that has no idea how to deal with the crime in the city in a sensible way.
Mayor of Kingstown (Season 2), Episode 4 Ending Explained:
Why did Bunny ask Mike to come urgently to tent city?
With the bonds he had accidentally stumbled upon, the worker cannot keep calm about it. So, he finally manages to get to the dangerous party that can help encash it. It turns out the party is Joseph, who keeps him tied to a chair and tries to steal the bonds out from him. Since the man refuses to share where they are kept, Joseph ruthlessly tortures him. Meanwhile, his wife takes all the bonds with her in a car and drives to the police station.
Bunny calls Mike from inside the prison and informs him that the situation inside the tent city has heated up, and he needs to be there soon. Right after that, Mike gets a call from Steve, who asks him to be at the station immediately. In this stressful moment, Mike heads to the station first. That’s where Steve shows him the bond given by that woman (worker’s wife). He then informs Mike that her husband has a box full of such bonds at his workplace. Mike understands the danger of possessing these documents and expects her to move to a different city to break her ties with them.
Right after this conversation, Mike drives to the prison. However, the scene he sees makes him numb to the core. The gate is open, and all the inmates seem to have escaped the prison. Mike must be already picturing the gruesome impact this situation will cause. Meanwhile, the man who brought bonds to Joseph is thrown inside a swimming pool to die. With one monstrous activity following the other, you start wondering if anyone in Kingstown is even a human or not.
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Mayor of Kingstown TV Series (2021- ) Links: IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes
Mayor of Kingstown TV Series (2021- ) Cast: Jeremy Renner, Emma Laird, Toby Bambtefa, Dianne Wiest, Hugh Dillon
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