Summary
Things really heat up in “Every Feather”, as Milo begins to make his presence felt.
This recap of Mayor of Kingstown season 1, episode 6, “Every Feather”, contains spoilers.
Mayor Of Kingstown hasn’t exactly painted a favorable picture of prison officials, but for the most part, their problem has been corruption, not incompetence. The opening of “Every Feather” makes it difficult to distinguish the two. During a prison riot, the same young guard who beat up an inmate and staged him having initiated the attack finds himself in a watchtower, firing live rounds at a trio of inmates, two of whom are stabbing the third. He hits the guy being stabbed.
Mayor of Kingstown season 1, episode 6 recap
What to do? The guard had already been stationed out of the way for his own protection, but he was inadequately skilled for the position, marksmanship-wise. The next best thing is to station him in the women’s prison, but there’s a good chance that a good-looking guy like him would be eaten alive in there. Either way, the prison itself goes into lockdown, instantly ceasing all kinds of criminal operations that, needless to say, have a knock-on effect for Mike.
Virtually immediately, Mike is besieged on all sides by complaints, but everyone from Bunny to Duke is saying more or less the same thing – this means war, and it won’t be a war confined to the prisons. Blood is going to spill out into the streets. But Mike has other issues. As predicted, Iris turns to him for help, sent by Milo once again. This time, though, he has one of his goons brutally assault her, assuming Mike might be more inclined to help a broken angel. He’s right, but not in the way he expects. Milo remains an elusive figure, but his influence is felt more deeply here than it has been before, which gives the show a welcome edge of menace. Mike is used to dealing with problems by beating someone up, which we see when he sets about Iris’s attacker to send a message back to Milo. But he eventually learns that he’s dealing with someone much cleverer and more connected than usual. A few good right hands aren’t going to be enough.
Iris at least becomes more of a character in “Every Feather”, not that she suffers fewer indignities. She tells Mike about her past of molestation and abuse, about her present as essentially Milo’s property and plaything, and about her future – which likely contains even more trauma than she has suffered thus far. She’s forced to strip down and be photographed, to identify mugshots of New York’s politicians and officials who she has been paid to have sex with, and is treated dismissively by the FBI agent speaking with her. When Mike is offered a meeting with Milo about Iris, you can tell why he takes it. He’s trying to protect a woman who clearly can’t protect herself.
But can he? At the meeting, Mike is greeted by another version of Iris, another pretty woman at Milo’s beck and call, and is told via video call – despite the inmates not being allowed phones – that if Mike doesn’t do Milo another favor, he’ll skin Iris alive and send Mike her scalp. Mike isn’t keen on the idea, but Candace, on command, lifts her shirt to show a scar where Milo embedded a tracker in her. And if she has one, so does Iris. Mike thought he was keeping her safe, but he was really keeping her still while Milo’s goons tracked her down.
By the time Mike returns to the office, the FBI agents are dead, Iris is gone, and a message has been scrawled on the wall in blood – “Every Feather”, which Milo promised to pluck from the wings of Mike’s new angel.
You can check out Mayor of Kingstown season 1, episode 6, “Every Feather”, exclusively on Paramount+.
