Mike McLusky finds himself in a precarious position, a rarity for him but a reality in the latest season of "Mayor of Kingstown." With the introduction of a new gangster and a new prison warden, the responsibilities he's already saddled with have grown exponentially, as Episode 5, "Damned," clearly illustrates.
Mike's steadfast allies, however, are a mixed bag of corruption and ineptitude. Ian's behavior this season is particularly grating, especially after Evelyn's crusade landed him a life sentence. Despite Evelyn's car windshield being shattered by Ian's brick, he enlists Sawyer to bamboozle the witness into not testifying. The irony is palpable: Sawyer, whose life has descended into a drunken haze, snaps and kills the witness. How could Ian not have seen this coming? It's as absurd as it is predictable.
Yet, Ian's folly adds to Mike's mounting problems, much like Sawyer's missteps led to Kyle's current plight at Anchor Bay, tormented by Merle Callahan. There's a full-circle quality to it all that somehow makes sense.
Speaking of full circles, Merle and Kyle's storyline echoes Mike's past. Mike once found himself in Kyle's position, reminding him of this when he visited Kyle in prison and warned him about his new neighbor. Mike was Merle's protégé out of necessity; now, Kyle is being groomed by Merle as a means to get to Mike. None of it is an accident; Mike is well aware. But Tracy is the one I empathize with the most. She points out the obvious: Mike's efforts to protect everyone invariably backfire and lead to violence. She accepts moving out of state to protect herself and her son because the correlation between Mike's help and violent deaths is almost 100%. As soon as Mike promised to take care of things, she knew she was doomed if she stayed.
Mike is making an effort, but he's up against a ruthless opponent in Nina Hobbs—even more ruthless than he anticipated, a level he's never faced before. The primary adversary is her, and after learning that Kyle has been placed in a cell next to Merle, Mike puts aside his niceties. When she refuses to agree to separate them, Mike instructs Ian and Stevie to harass her outside the prison. In the process, they discover a serious handgun with no serial number—not exactly the kind of personal protection weapon a law-abiding woman would carry. Instead of hauling her in for possession of it, Mike tells Ian to wait and let her come to him, understanding how much pull he has. Hopefully, this will convince her to play ball.
Hobbs does indeed visit Mike in the fifth episode of Mayor of Kingstown Season 4, pretending to be shaken enough to be willing to create some distance between Merle and Kyle. But she doesn't reveal her plan—to have Kyle transferred to general population instead of Merle, which is essentially a death sentence, as she well knows. With Carney out of the picture and Torres (and by extension Hobbs) in open alliance with the Colombian Cartel, Kyle's days are numbered.
Kyle's only hope for survival is to ally himself with the Aryan Brotherhood, using his connection to Merle—the exact same scenario that Mike found himself in back in the day. But we know what that cost Mike, and Kyle has even more to lose. Frankly, I don't see this ending well. And it isn't the only thing.
Bunny is also having a rough season. His new partnership with Moses was always going to have roadblocks, but Hobbs' empowerment of the Colombians has made their business almost impossible to run. Even though the goons Moses sent to burn their safehouse down were killed by Cortez, vengeance is still due. The Colombians ambush Bunny's first shipment of product, stop the train transporting it, and set the carriages on fire—a big statement that can't go unanswered. While Kyle is at war inside the prison walls, the various factions vying for control outside are now on the cusp of open war.
Yet, if nothing else, things seem to be going quite well between Mike and Cindy.
