Plot: In the wake of the Kingstown Prison riot, violence and chaos ensue in the newly formed tent city. Mike and Bunny discuss what must be done to solve the leadership void on the inside. Kyle begins his new job with the Michigan State Police.
Review: With all the acclaim bestowed upon Taylor Sheridan’s growing catalog of original series airing on Paramount networks, it is easy to forget that not every one of the shows he has created ends up a masterpiece. Mayor of Kingstown was the first series from Sheridan to debut after the original Yellowstone and amassed the biggest ratings debut for Paramount Network at the time. With Jeremy Renner in the lead, the Michigan-set series was as far from the natural majesty of Montana as possible but still echoed some of the dramatic and pulpy plots that made the Kevin Costner-led series so popular. Despite a solid finale featuring a massive prison riot, Mayor of Kingstown‘s first season was very uneven and did not build the same beloved cast of characters as Sheridan’s other series. Returning for its sophomore run and in the wake of Jeremy Renner’s traumatic real-life medical emergency, Mayor of Kingstown is bound for a big ratings boost when it debuts. Still, audiences will find that the second season is not much different than the first in terms of plot, tone, or energy.
Picking up in the aftermath of the riot, Kingstown is in chaos. While the prisoners are camped out in a tent city, crime is rampant in the public as rivals vie for power and leadership in the form of drive-by shootings and vicious murders. Innocent bystanders are caught in the crossfire, which puts Mike (Jeremy Renner) in the unsavory position of accommodating the police and the criminals to bring peace to Kingstown. Mike must also contend with the uncertain fate of Milo Sunter (Aiden Gillen), which puts Iris (Emma Laird) in danger. Things are also contentious with Miriam (Dianne Wiest), who sees firsthand the aftershocks of the vicious riot on the inmates she has worked with over the years. All of that is just in the first two episodes, which are heavily focused on establishing the power vacuum in Kingstown and how Mike juggles everyone looking to him for leadership.
Having only screened the first two episodes, I am a bit underwhelmed in the same way I was by Yellowstone‘s sophomore season. Taylor Sheridan, who shares script credit on the premiere episode with Fear the Walking Dead co-creator Dave Erickson, relegated duties on his flagship series on the second season, and the quality dramatically declined. The same shift is not quite as drastic in Mayor of Kingstown, but it is still evident that no feedback was taken from the first season’s reception to plug some holes in the narrative of the show. There are still too many characters who are uninteresting and yet claim the majority of screen time, while the best characters spend more time bouncing around the city of Kingstown rather than doing anything.
While Jeremy Renner does his best to play mediator between the various factions colliding, his even-keeled demeanor never lifts the intensity of the situation while all of those surrounding him are far more emotive. Hugh Dillon, series co-creator, portrays Detective Ian Ferguson as the reluctant law officer who must deal with the violence and bloodshed along with his partner Stevie (Derek Webster) and showcases a lot more depth than Renner in these opening episodes. Michael Beach is also excellent here as Kareem Moore, the head of the guards, who is struggling with the trauma of the riot which also including his own rape, something he is in denial about. Tobi Bamtefa is once again solid as Bunny Washington, but he spends most of these episodes sitting around, literally. Necar Zadegan, who plays district attorney Evelyn Foley, is underused here but her scenes are amongst the best.
There is a clear influence on this series from HBO classics The Wire and Oz, but Mayor of Kingstown never reaches the quality of either of those dramas. There are more similarities with Sons of Anarchy, a series Taylor Sheridan starred in, which portrayed prison as a violent fight club rather than the complex system of prisoners and guards teetering on the edge of violence. Because Mayor of Kingstown has to tread the narrative line between the world inside the prison and the world outside, it never feels invested in either. Season two opens with more blood and guts than every other Taylor Sheridan series combined, but it feels like a shallow attempt at shocking the viewer into ignoring the gaping holes missing from the overall quality of this series. I am not sure if the problems lie in the concept of this drama not being as interesting as they should have been or if there is something else holding this series back.
Mayor of Kingstown does not deviate from the path it set for itself last year and keeps chugging along as if it has been on the air for longer than just one season. With a cast this good, I was expecting more, but despite the increase in on-screen violence, the emotional depth of this story remains cool and detached. There may be a shift when Aiden Gillen has more screen time, but as the season opens, there is simultaneously too much going on and not enough. As much as I typically like Jeremy Renner, he is not given much to do besides have Mike put out fires in these opening episodes. Where Sheridan injected Tulsa King with a sense of humor that helped make it as fun, Mayor of Kingstown is so mired in death and violence that it is very hard to enjoy.
Season two of Mayor of Kingstown premieres on January 15th on Paramount+.