Wouldn't it be hilarious if Mike McLusky's unofficial reign as the "Mayor of Kingstown" was brought to an end by someone with a real job who actually does that job? This season, the city's new prison warden, Nina Hobbs, is proving to be a formidable foe for Mike, thanks to her radical strategy: following the rules. Mike can no longer pop by whenever he feels like it, thinking his concerns are urgent. Visiting hours are set, and a meeting with the warden requires an appointment. Nina is implementing a wild concept: operating like a normal business.
In this week's "People Who Died" (I assume the title is inspired by the great Jim Carroll song), Nina allows Mike to barge in one last time to express her exasperation. She promised to keep Kyle safe and secure, and he is currently in good hands. So, what possible reason could Mike have to be in her office? Oh yeah, because Mike's prison guard pal Doug Carney has just been murdered. But that happened in his home, Nina is cooperating with the police, and Mike isn't an officially deputized representative of the KPD, so... What does he want?
Mike seems taken aback by Nina's stony resistance. Even after he reminds her of his influence with local law enforcement and warns her about the brewing Colombian-Crip gang war in the city that will eventually spread to the prison, Nina remains unmoved. If anything, she appears openly peeved at Mike, mentioning with no small amount of consternation that she knows he's been navigating around the proper channels to manipulate her employees and prisoners.
I know Mike is supposed to be the hero of this show, and I know Nina has a villainous streak that's getting more obvious by the episode. One moment, she's playing the sympathetic boss, handing out brochures about grief management to her employees in the wake of Carney's death. The next, she appears to have ordered her lackey Torres to plant a burner phone and a baggie of dope in Carney's locker for the cops to find during their investigation. (The KPD isn't fooled. As Mike notes, Carney couldn't "walk and chew fuckin' gum," so there's no way he could've had a secret criminal sideline.) The episode ends with Nina popping pills and making certain her pistol is handy. She's definitely trouble.
But it sure seems like Mike meddles his way into bigger messes more often than he keeps the peace he promises. The savvier locals may be starting to catch on. When Mike asks Bunny if he has any intel on the Carney killing, Bunny allows Mike access to his inside man among the prison guards: Kevin Jackson (Denny Love). After Mike tells Kevin that he needs to be on call for him at any time, Kevin nervously asks, "This what got Carney killed?" You're asking the right questions, kid.
Mike's sway in the prison seems to be waning, and his influence over Kingstown's drug trade might be equally weak now that Frank Moses, the Detroit mob boss, has taken Bunny under his wing. I'm still not entirely convinced of Frank's trustworthiness. (Bunny says he trusts him "about 60 percent," which Frank chuckles at and replies, "Sounds about right.") Yes, Frank is not shy about his business practices, sharing with Bunny in one of the episode's most captivating scenes his method for smuggling drugs from Canada by hiding them in shipments of garbage. ("It's not hard to disappear something that doesn't matter," one of his men explains.)
Frank is openly complimentary of Bunny's interest in the finer details of drug-trafficking, saying, "Dealers get comfortable. Bosses pay attention." But whenever Bunny turns away from Frank to take a call from one of his underlings about the day-to-day violence and ugliness of their industry, a somewhat disdainful look passes across Frank's face. He doesn't like that so much of Bunny's operation involves prisons—or murders. "You are rebranding and expanding," he insists. I can't help but wonder if Frank is truly inviting Bunny into the big time or setting the stage for a hostile takeover.
In this episode, Frank does try to make Bunny's life easier by doing some of his dirty work. When a cooler full of body parts turns up in Crip territory, the Detroiters offer to take the lead on responding to the Colombians, who are most likely responsible for the dismemberment. Frank's crew rolls into the crumbling squat that is Colombian HQ, sporting body armor and flamethrowers. They do a lot of damage. But they also suffer some losses when Cortez coolly sneaks his men out of a secret passageway and then finds a spot where he can ambush and execute the assailants.
To be fair, this loss is in Frank's column. But I still blame Mike a little for encouraging the KPD to cut Cortez loose in last week's episode. Besides, it's not like Mike is on some kind of winning streak. His other current projects aren't proceeding any better. Take Kyle, for instance, who finally gets so fed up with the chronic pain from his injuries that he gobbles the pain pills Merle Callahan snuck to him in last week's episode. (Later, he finds that the supply of meds has been replenished, while he was out of his cell.) Kyle also has some inspiring conversations with Merle about what it takes to be an honorable individual in this evil world. If Mike loses influence over his own brother… well, he may as well just give up being a pretend-mayor altogether, right?
Mike has steadfastly maintained that Kyle's time in prison is necessary to safeguard Kingstown's delicate criminal justice system (or, more precisely, the "criminal/justice" nexus). However, Robert Sawyer, one of the individuals supposedly protected by Kyle's selfless act, shows no gratitude. He remains furious at Kyle for shooting him, and his life now revolves around excessive drinking. His family has seemingly abandoned him, and he makes blatant threats towards Assistant District Attorney Evelyn Foley, who, technically, is on his side in the battle for law and order. ("You perch up there in your glass house and hurl curses at everyone, thinking no one will retaliate," he hisses at her when their paths cross at the courthouse.)
Evelyn has been a cautionary tale for several seasons now, illustrating the consequences when principled individuals succumb to Mike's influence. Similar to Nina in the prison, Evelyn prefers to follow the rules: cleaning up Kingstown by locking up criminals and corrupt cops rather than allowing Mike to decide who can break the law. Instead, she continually defers to Mike's assertion that his approach will lead to fewer bodies on Kingstown's streets.
Now, one of those bodies could soon be Evelyn's. They say you can't fight city hall. But perhaps you can if city hall chooses not to fight back.
