Summary
An action-packed and tense finale with some surprisingly touching moments. This is a much-needed return to form from the series, promising an enticing third season if it is to be renewed.
The season two finale of Mayor of Kingstown, titled “Little Green Ant,” pitches Mike (Jeremy Renner) against Milo (Aidan Gillen) as the two enemies finally collide with one another in the hopes of making a final trade-off. Milo wants his bonds, so he can start a new life on the run, while Mike wants to save Iris (Emma Laird) from a life of crime. It’s an action-packed finale, delivering plenty of tension and some surprising moments of emotion.
Mayor of Kingstown Season 2 Episode 10 Recap (finale)
The finale opens with Robert in the hospital. In the previous installment, the SWAT leader was attacked by Bunny’s men and left for dead. He is now on life support after this horrific beating. The police force mourns this attack and prepares for an ensuing battle with the Crips. Robert’s friends gather outside his hospital room. Kyle tells Mike that he needs to leave town, his wife has left him, and he needs to go win her back. Mike checks the time and realizes he must be leaving too; he’s late for his midnight meeting with Iris.
Who wants Mike dead?
Mike rushes to the meeting point but finds himself stopped at the train tracks. Suddenly, Mike’s car is ambushed and shot at. Mike fights back and manages to kill the three attackers. Checking their clothing and tattoos, he figures out that this is an attack from the Aryan Brotherhood, and they wanted him dead. Mike phones Kareem, asking for help, but the prison guard has had enough of Mike’s games; he doesn’t want to be involved in that seedy world any longer.
After that phone call, Mike speaks with Ian, someone he can always rely upon. Mike explains that he’s been targeted by the Aryan Brotherhood, he’s killed three of them, but his car is all shot up. It’s a real mess that Mike needs Ian to clean up and make disappear pronto. Ian agrees to help. Mike takes off in the attacker’s car, leaving his own by the side of the train tracks.
Next, Mike heads for Bunny’s establishment, enraged by everything occurring. He goes in, guns raised, threatening Bunny’s life. Bunny orders his men to stand down and leave him alone with the Mayor. On the rooftop, they talk. Mike states that the attack on Robert is a declaration of all-out war; there is an army of cops desperate to fight back now. Bunny responds, saying that this war has been going on since his birth and is nothing new. If Mike gets in his way, he’ll have to take him down. Mike thinks likewise, adding that if Robert dies, their relationship will be changed forever.
READ: Mayor of Kingstown Season 2 Review
While this is happening, Mike has missed his appointment with Iris. She arrives at Mariam’s house and is soon followed by Milo and his goons. Milo wants to make the exchange now; he is tired of waiting on Mike. He makes it clear to Mike that he is at Mariam’s house, which rightfully panics the Mayor. He phones Kyle and Ian for backup, and they all race over.
Where are Milo’s bonds?
The trio meets outside Mariam’s home. Just before he enters the house, Mike realizes he is driving the enemy’s car, but the bonds are back at the train tracks in his car.
There’s no time to collect them now; Mike enters the house regardless. He is frisked and then meets with Milo in the living room. The Russian mobster informs Mike that Iris has killed Joseph, and he will kill Mariam if he has to. Milo says that Mike is out of his depth. Mike tries to reason with Milo, mentioning the delays, Robert being hospitalized, and the Aryan Brotherhood attacking him; although Milo isn’t interested in excuses, he wants his bonds back.
Who shot Mariam?
Outside, Kyle infiltrates the building from the rear, attacking Milo’s goons. A shootout quickly follows, and Milo flees with Iris. During the shootout, Mariam’s house is annihilated, and the mother is shot in the fray. They rush Mariam over to the closest hospital before she bleeds out. Kyle blames himself, admitting that he accidentally shot his mother amid the chaos. Mike orders everyone to agree that it was Milo’s goons who shot her, not Kyle. Mike tells his brother he has his whole life ahead of him; he’s about to start a family. Kyle can’t let this one mistake define his life. It’s a sweet moment between the two brothers, Mike reassuring Kyle that everything will be alright.
Ian and Mike chat outside the hospital. They need to catch Milo before things escalate even further. Ian agrees to use the full power of the force to track him down. They head straight to Milo’s club and speak with Tatiana. She makes a call, and Milo speaks with Mike again. They agree on a final rendezvous point to finally exchange the bonds for Iris. Milo warns Mike that this is his last chance; if he brings anyone along, they will die, and so will Iris.
READ: Mayor of Kingstown Season 2 Episode 9 Recap
In retaliation for the continued attacks, Mike orders Carney to fight back in prison. The Crips and the Bloods leaders unite and take on Gunner, stabbing the Aryan Brotherhood leader to death in his prison cell. Elsewhere, Tracy and Kyle have a heart-to-heart over the phone, and Kyle speaks in person with Robert, who is on life support. Kyle feels somewhat lost, unsure if he can live in all this chaos. His friends and family are being attacked, and his mother is undergoing surgery after a possibly fatal gunshot wound.
Mayor of Kingstown Season 2 Finale Ending Explained
Mike grabs the bonds from his shot-up car down at the train tracks and heads to the meeting point with Ian. He asks his friend to watch from a distance, ready to fight back if needed. While Mike makes his way to the dock, Milo speaks privately with Iris. Milo can’t understand why Mike would jeopardize his life for Iris. He wonders if they are sleeping together, but Iris denies this. His only other thought is that Mike sees Iris as a chance at redemption, to right all his past wrongs.
On Milo’s boat, Mike makes the transaction, swapping the bag of bonds for Iris. Milo lets Iris go free and escapes on his boat. Iris and Mike wait by the water’s edge with Milo’s remaining goons. They watch as Milo’s boat explodes, going up in flames. It looks like Mike rigged the bag with explosives, after all. Ian kicks into action and shoots Milo’s goons. Mike and Iris fight back as well, making sure they are all dead.
The finale ends with a narration from Mike as we catch up with all the players in the series. Mike describes Kingstown as a trapped island, an isolated community that can only offer prison labor. He says the town encapsulates everything wrong with America, a failed society. Interestingly, during this final montage, we see a clip of Tatiana on the phone with Milo; he says everything went fine. Did this happen before or after the explosion? If it happened before, then it is clearly the filmmakers messing with our heads, but if it happened after, the Russian mobster is still alive, somehow, and he’ll want revenge.
What did you think of Mayor of Kingstown Season 2 Episode 10 (finale) and the Ending? Comment below.
Verisimilitude, that’s what this show is slightly lacking in some departments. Namely, the relationship or lack thereof between Iris and Mike. Too much time has elapsed for the average viewer. Mike and Iris’ relationship could not be more tenuous due to a full season, I’m presuming 6 months in accordance with the time frame of the shows trajectory, of getting snippets of Iris isolating, ( self-medicating with pills and booze ) while still working for Milo and his goons. We also glean from these short interactions between the audience and Iris that she is deeply discontented with her previous life decisions that now restrict her mobility and autonomy. She is trapped and she only has her self to blame.
This is is all easy to ingest for your bona-fide viewer that likes to ingest episodes of the series in bulk. Even then, it’s still a stretch for the viewer to empathize with Mike and even root for his family. The show hasn’t earned, in my opinion, the climax of being anything other than anti-climactic. We see the collateral damage: Robert being hospitalized for being beaten beyond recognition, and even Miriam being shot doesn’t imbue the viewer to be wholeheartedly behind Mike, Ian, and Kyle.. the triumvirate of “good-guys” but after everything we’ve learned from these three, the line of what is good and what is bad couldn’t be more ambiguous and the show fully delivers in this regard.
A couple episodes before the finale, the one where Mike takes a “Me day” and concludes with setting the stage for Mike and Milo to have there AL Pacino and Robert Deniro “Heat” scene-like-moment. Again, this trope has been the blemish for a non-linear and chaotic sequence of events where the viewer is often having to extrapolate on their own with the dearth of resources that Sheridan and Dillon, ( writers and creators of the show ) expose the audience members to.
We discover that Ian is just as corrupt and cold-blooded as any of the “bad” guys that he helps put away. He even seems to take pleasure or joy in the fact that he took part in killing Robert’s swat team colleague who was intent on testifying against Robert for, “shooting anything that moved” during the prison riot that occurred during the denouement of season one. He raises his beer in celebration of Robert’s discovery that he’s off the hook for, as another cast member puts it, “killing with impunity.” Ian raises a toast – and this is where the series delivers – not the reunion of Iris and Mike, not the status of Robert and Miriam’s swift declination in health, their precariousness hasn’t been earned due to the series’ overarching trope that does deliver. The difference between good and evil could not be more blurred and Sheridan does this with a poignant scene where Ian salutes and jovially shouts, “to the good guys.” Sheridan and Dillon have succeeded in making the audience members and perhaps even the cast, question the veracity of this boisterous declaration.
So, we don’t really care that Iris and Mike are back in each other’s lives, we aren’t exactly devastated that Miriam and Robert are fighting a precarious battle for their lives, and we are somewhat indifferent when we see the explosion of the boat Milo is supposedly on, or that he’s still alive because of his subsequent (to explosion) phone call to Tatiana, “everything is good and went as planned.” In my opinion the show has no room for growth, it’s reached an impasse. Why? Sheridan and Dillon didn’t write Mike as a protagonist and Milo is certainly not an antagonist because Mike’s mission of peace-keeping is quixotic at best and downright inane at worst. He’s a gangster in a suite or as Bunny quips, during season one when the two were clearly bros, “Jahova’s witness-ass-looking-mother f****r.” Ian asks Mike, in the seconds preceding the final scene something to the effect of why are we doing this for her (Iris)? Mike’s alacritous reply: “Because it’s the right thing to do.” Is it?
I would not presume to over analyze this series. It is truly fantastic in every way. I think, in point, because in the messy “reality” that Mayor of Kingstown takes place things are not perfect. I.E. you are not supposed to expect a “happy ending” of sorts between Mike & Iris. Kingstown is inescapable prison if it’s own. Those born there either take to the streets or end up within it’s local prison sentence. That being noted I really enjoy the familiar faces and enjoying the ride of the struggles from day to day within the series. On a side note I wish Jeremy Renner best health & wishes in his recovery. Whether he decides to return back to acting or not, his health is all that matters. I would be lying though if I did not say that I would love at least a send off season for Mayor of Kingstown because it has been such an incredible series through and through.
The ending was terrible why just kill off Milo because him still being alive makes no sense especially if he’s one of the most wanted criminals in America
While Mr. King’s romp through a thesaurus is impressive I think he misses the entire point of TMOK. Hopeless lives, in hopeless towns, in a hopeless. Poverty in all its many forms. I have loved every single minute of Kingstown. If you can’t related to the hopelessness and desperation of these people then you have lived a privileged life.
This show was amazing. I could watch Jeremy ALL DAY EVERYDAY!!! The whole cast was fantastic!!! I’m so sad it’s over…but it’s probably good because I kept holding my breath and tensing up, now I can relax a little!
When the boat leaves the dock you only see the guy driving the boat you don’t see Milo
Man takes guns to save prostitute named Iris from bad pimps. Remind you any other movie? Taxi Driver perhaps? Homage? “Hey you know Iris?”
Who writes these? Yikes.
The only disappointment with episode 10 was that it had to end. I’m a BIG fan of this series, I just hope there is a least one more season planned.
Mike made a deal with Milo to make it look like he died so people will stop looking for him. Mike put the bomb in the bag but Milo removed the Bonds and left the boat before the explosion. Only way Milo would have let Mike and Iris leave alive.
The only thing missing in the equation for the future of this series is Jeremy Renner and whether he will be able to return to acting. A tragic accident that hopefully will turn out okay…. I’m sure I join the many fans of TMOK in wishing him a full and speedy recovery.
I enjoyed it and don’t understand the negative reviews. It is what it is, showing their dark and bleak lives. A clever gritty story with enough twists to keep you involved and wanting more. The acting was on form ?
The ending in episode 10 left a big question? Hopefully an opportunity for season 3 ..
Kingstown parallels Baltimore…aka “The Wire”, I wonder how much inspiration was taken from the show
There’s been a few instances of Iris being a lot more lethal than you might expect. Milo told Mike that Iris was much more dangerous than he might think. She shoots people, stabs them in the neck and hardly seems to break a sweat. I think season 3 will focus on Iris as the woman of mystery and all the carnage she brings to the table. There’s definite indicators that she is a very dangerous and ambitious person. Having said all that I just hope that there actually will be a season 3.
Season one, great. Season two, needed More work.
It’s hard to repeat fantastic.
If Milo end up dead as lots funs of tge series wants they will run out of characters and bring new ones i hope Jeremy recovers from the accident and continues what he loves MN ake great movies
This is one of the best shows on streaming and best wishes to Jeremy Renner as he recovers from his horrific accident. What a gritty, suspenseful series. Kudos to all involved and for a great finale. No way Milo is dead. I hope a season 3 can be filmed.
Sometimes I think Taylor Sheridan’s life is spread too thin. Sometimes I even find myself watching 1923” & “Mayor…” back to back. I bounced on “Yellowstone because half the time it just seemed ridiculous. Undoubtedly, “…Mayor…” is the crown jewel in this trifecta. I am unashamedly addicted to this series, Jeremy Renner, & the entire ensemble. Every storyline is so strong and the comparison to “The Wire” is inevitable. “The Wire” is the holy grail of episodic television and for good reason. 20 years later, the series it is more relevant than ever. David Milch was a genius and the creative team and cast were at the top of their game. That being said, “…Mayor…” has the potential to be another groundbreaking series, but I harken back to my first sentence. TS is spread too thin and a series like this requires doing the hard work so that it doesn’t become just another shoot ‘em up parody of itself. Last thing I’ll say is that a real life tragedy occurred after the second season wrapped and one can’t help but wonder if Jeremy Renner will ever be able to return to the industry as an actor. A third season is certainly justified and I think even if it took a couple years the fan base would be there and anxious to watch. Here’s hoping and God speed, JR.