Summary
There’s a simmering sense of tension to Mayor of Kingstown in Season 4, and as of “Promises to Keep”, it’s already having deadly consequences.
Mayor of Kingstown has always had a simmering sense of danger to it. How can it not? It’s about a prison town perpetually at war with itself, and a man trying to “keep the peace” by shooting or headbutting anyone who annoys him. Season 4 feels more tense than usual, though. Kyle is in prison, and his best friend right now is Merle Callahan, of all people. There’s a new warden at Anchor Bay who, in Episode 2, proves herself capable of murder, at least by proxy. And there’s a new player in town, a smirking embodiment of the old saying that you should fear the man who grows old in a profession where most die young.
This brings us neatly onto Lennie James. This show hasn’t lacked in the villain department, but in only a small handful of scenes, Frank Moses has emerged as the best yet, at least in part because he hasn’t done anything villainous yet (cutting the heads off Russian hoodlums doesn’t count, and besides, technically the train did that). In “Promises to Keep”, Moses positions himself as Bunny’s new friend and partner, someone who can help him with cross-border transport and security for a meagre 20% of the proceeds. It’s a win-win, and it keeps the peace in Kingstown by locking any other potential players out of the vacuum left behind by the Russians.
In theory, anyway. But Moses is unmistakably a villain. Mike can smell it a mile away, which is probably why he refuses to offer him any clearly defined services. He’s willing to look the other way while Bunny and Moses tie off any loose ends, but no more than that. It’s uncharacteristic reticence on Mike’s part. But Moses comes with a reputation, and anyone who earns one of those in Detroit can bring a kind of trouble even Kingstown isn’t used to.
And the last thing Mike needs is more trouble, since he’s having plenty of that trying to look after Kyle. After getting beaten half to death during his intake, he spends all of this episode languishing in Ad Seg trying to heal his wounds with the help of cigarettes, pills, and pearls of survival wisdom passed on by Merle in the next cell. The only time he leaves is for a brief visit with Tracy, which Carney almost has to drag him to. And it doesn’t exactly cheer him up, since she can’t quite get past the idea that he doesn’t need to be in there. It’s written all over her face, the same way the risks are now written all over his.
There are only so many strings that Mike can pull. Early on in Mayor of Kingstown Season 4, Episode 2, he visits Hobbs again, but she’s characteristically unhelpful, despite Mike promising that whatever happens to Kyle while he’s under her supervision will be visited on her in return. Hobbs takes that as confirmation that it’s time to “reassign” Carney, and it isn’t entirely clear what that means. It becomes so later, though. After Kyle’s attacker is killed by Raph on Bunny’s orders, since Mike asked for him to be hit as a favour for agreeing to meet with Moses, Hobbs tells her stooge, Torres, to make sure Mike can’t pull any more strings in the prison. He has a brief word at chow with Roberto Cruz, the Colombian boss whom Raph was clashing with in the premiere, and it doesn’t go unnoticed. Carney even reports it to Hobbs. But by that point, the damage is already done; Carney just doesn’t anticipate what form it’ll take.
More on this in a minute. Earlier in “Promises to Keep”, we saw Ian interrogating the Colombian shooter who had tried to hit Bunny, but he’s a ghost and refuses to talk. Mike suggests letting him go and seeing where he goes, which isn’t a bad idea when you think about it, but Ian is pulled away from the stakeout by a call from the captain. When he gets back to the station, he’s met by Evelyn, who has video footage that implicates him in the killing of Morrissey. Ian pretends the evidence isn’t compelling, but he’s lying. Evelyn is adamant that if nobody turns on Sawyer, she’ll press charges, and I, for one, believe her, even if she’s dragging it out. But the real issue here is that nobody is watching the Colombian assassin anymore.
It’s this assassin who turns up at Carney’s father’s house and shoots Carney to death. What Hobbs meant by “reassignment” was, evidently, murder. Now we know why she’s so unperturbed by Mike’s threats – she has strings of her own she can pull. And now Mike has lost his staunchest ally in Anchor Bay. The only other person he can turn to is Cindy, whom he meets with briefly in a bar. She’s willing to pick up the phone when he calls, but as a rookie, what more can she do?
We’ll have to wait and see. But I’m getting the feeling that one of the next casualties in Kingstown’s never-ending war may very well be Kyle.
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