Mike season 1, episode 4 recap – “Meal Ticket”

This recap of the Hulu series Mike season 1, episode 4, “Meal Ticket,” contains spoilers.

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I have to admit, before this series, I knew very little about Mike Tyson’s life, but I was aware of the name Don King and I knew that Tyson’s infamous promoter wasn’t a very likeable individual at all. In episode four, “Meal Ticket”, Don King becomes the focus of Tyson’s world, alongside the prospects of Tyson’s very own video game. We’re verging on the end of the eighties and the start of the nineties in the Tyson chronology and the heavyweight champion’s imminent downfall is only just beginning.

Mike season 1, episode 4 recap

Tyson smashes his TV to pieces after fresh allegations of domestic abuse on the news. Don is on hand to calm the boxer, who denies any wrongdoing. Via the overarching narration, Tyson explains how the only two things that got him through this tricky period of time were Don King and the prospects of his very own video game. Ex-wife Robin had destroyed his reputation and was trouncing him on live TV, so Tyson decided to concentrate on the money aspect of his fame instead, spending a small fortune in an exciting montage of pure insanity. This fast-paced montage begins in 1989, with Tyson buying an entire car showroom and wardrobes of fancy clothing. He has a hot tub installed in his very own private limo and even has his mother reburied in an extravagant casket.

It is clear that Tyson became money mad because his promoter Don King was also money mad. Again, Tyson was looking for that all-important father figure to ground him. He got lucky the first time around with the sweet and dependable Cus, but Tyson lost his way when it came to Don King. He may have had the gift of the gab, talking like a respectable preacher, but Don was a violent and greedy man. Through a sixties flashback it is revealed how he killed a man and then somehow managed to leave prison with acres of land to come home to. This manipulative individual would use similar strengths to bleed Tyson dry.

The promoter organized adverts and special fights, all in the name of making a quick buck. He controlled Tyson’s finances and was evidently profiting from this new partnership. Tyson’s sister Denise seemed to be the only one who could see this or was brave enough to inform Tyson of the circumstances. She tried to warn him of this naivety, yet he didn’t want to hear it. This inevitable fall from grace was fast approaching, but Tyson didn’t see it coming at all.

The ending

Tyson’s downfall commenced during a trip to Tokyo in 1990. He tried to talk money with Don King, asking for a specific figure on his actual wealth or to even see his earnings in person. Don King turned defensive and told him he was the only ally he had left, but then tried to distract him with talk of his very own video game. Tyson had become distracted in other ways too, growing overconfident and out of shape. The night before his fight, Tyson sleepwalked through an orgy and then lost his first ever professional match the next day.

It’s heart-breaking to watch this undefeated champion lose his first match. The boxer stumbles around, taking hit after hit until he collapses onto the floor. It’s a truly tragic and saddening sequence that juxtaposes with all the glitz and glamour that came before it. Tyson loses the match and his belt in one fell swoop. Eleven days later his sister Denise dies.

The filmmakers then add an extra blow to Tyson’s situation. He takes his nephew shopping and asks to buy all the Nintendo’s in the store, requesting the shopkeeper places his new video game in each box too, but it would seem Tyson has been taken off the video game. Another painful blow for the boxing champ. The episode ends with Tyson explaining to the audience how this wasn’t rock bottom, worse was still to come.

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