The Buzz: ‘Mayor of Kingstown’ No One Wins in a Broken System

Question: Who is in charge in a lawless city? Answer: The person everyone trusts. The genre of crime drama television includes a lot of shows. It can range from a police procedural drama like NCIS (2003 to present) and Chicago PD (2014 to present), to a series following what defines a serial killer in Mindhunter (2017 – 2019). It is a very popular genre because people are fascinated by crime and what happens behind the bright yellow tape at a crime scene. A crime drama television show gives viewers the answers. A series can be loosely based on a true story or completely fictional. Usually, these shows are over dramatic and corny, but sometimes a few good shows rise above the junk. Thankfully, Mayor of Kingstown is that exception. The show has nonstop action, crime subgenre fusing, socially relevant topics and some really great acting to bring it all together. It is very safe to say that Mayor of Kingstown is one of the freshest new crime series streaming today.

Mayor of Kingstown is set in Kingstown, Michigan where there are seven prisons within a ten-mile radius. The town's major business is incarceration, and business is booming. The show follows the McLusky family, specifically the three McLusky brothers; Kyle McLusky (Taylor Handley), Mitch McLusky (Kyle Chandley) and Mike McLusky (Jeremy Renner). Mitch is the mayor of Kingstown, which is the title given to him as the intermediary between gangs in prison and prison guards. He tries to make peace between guards and prisoners by striking deals between the two and doing favors for them to keep both sides happy. Kyle is a detective with the Kingstown police and gives insider information involving criminal activity to Mitch. After a sudden twist, their other brother, Mike, is thrust into the position as the new mayor and must maintain order between guards and prisoners. One day, the prisoners do the guards an unethical favor and they expect something in return and the guards refuse. Things then begin to get out of hand. In essence, the show is about power struggles within the prison between guards and prisoners. One man, The Mayor, is tasked with keeping the peace between them.

The show is created and written by Taylor Sheridan and Hugh Dillon, with Sheridan being one of the most profitable and sought-after screenplay writers working in the industry right now. He wrote the screenplay for Sicario (2015), Hell or Highwater (2016) and Wind River (2017) and he has written the highly acclaimed series Yellowstone (2018 to present). All of his scripts hold a common thread, they are about people, places and situations that are rarely talked about in mainstream Hollywood films. His stories are about people struggling in an oppressive system that is keeping them and other people down. He pays attention to building action alongside character motivations. As things become more intense, his characters start to struggle for power within their system. This writing is highlighted through the incredible acting performances from his main and supporting cast such as Jeremy Renner and Dianne Wiest. Mayor of Kingstown is no different from his past screenplays in how it does this, but what makes the show stand out isn’t just the writing, but the concept itself which melds different successful crime subgenres into one place.

The show is the perfect blend of three very successful television crime subgenres: gang drama, police procedural drama and prison drama. The main character, Mike McLusky, is a mediator between the prisoners, the prison guards running the prison, the gang leaders on the outside running the streets and he works with the police department that makes the arrests. This all sounds very convoluted, but because McLusky works with these different people fighting for power in this prison, there is action and drama that is all connected to his character. When Mike talks to the leader of the Crips in Michigan, Deverin “Bunny” Washington (Tobi Bamtefa), they talk about dealing drugs and making deals in the prison. Bunny handles problems as a gang leader, so when he interacts with Mike, the series shifts to a gang drama. When Mike talks with his own detective brother, Kyle, the show shifts to a procedural police drama because they solve crimes. Lastly, when Mike communicates with the prison guards or prisoners in the Kingstown prison, the problems that these people face such as prison riots or prisoner disobedience, turns the show into a prison drama. The thread that keeps all of these different subgenres from feeling disjointed is that they all connect back to Mike McLusky. Having him as both the center of the show and the center of the drama is what makes it a brilliant crime series.

Being tied to these three different sub-genres also comes with some pitfalls in storytelling which, in the case for both Mayor of Kingstown and other crime drama series, is the use of minor plot holes to create drama or action. All great crime drama series do it. For example, a detective walks home at night and a woman runs up to him crying that someone just killed her husband, and he springs into action. Does she know he is a detective? Why does she choose him? What are the odds of a woman running down the street to coincidentally meet a detective? This is a made-up example, but it shows how the genre often uses a random event that, “coincidentally” happens to push the narrative towards an action scene or confrontation. Unlike other crime dramas, Mayor of Kingstown does it better because the characters in different environments are connected. One random coincidence creates a logical ripple effect that affects the prison system, gang system and police system and they all react in different ways. All of this interconnected action is used to highlight what Sheridan does best, send a message of how a particular system is broken.  

There is more to the show than just violence, action and drama. Mayor of Kingstown is meant not only to entertain, but to enlighten. It focuses on very deep and sometimes dark concepts to bring up a moral conversation about things that are happening in present day America. The character of Ed (James Jordan), is a prison guard who looks down on the inmates and sees them as irredeemable criminals unable to make up for their mistakes. He always feels like he is in the right to abuse criminals because he believes they deserve it. He represents how many people view criminals in the U.S. Mike’s mother, Miriam McLusky (Dianne Wiest), is a teacher at the women's prison and she talks in her class about the misdeeds in America. She speaks about the abuse of Native Americans in history, the start of slavery in the United States and how both of these topics go against basic human decency. She represents a more educated person in the United States who cares about people and wants to help through education. She always chooses to help rather than hurt others and represents the best of the American people. There are other social messages that can be seen in the show, but Sheridan’s messages are always clear on where he stands and do not demand a reviewer explaining them one by one. All of these messages are usually negative towards American people and the predatory systems put in place that keep other people pinned down. The show has very dark moments but they are dark moments that are usually exclusive to the American experience, and it hurts to watch.

There are plenty of other things that make Mayor of Kingstown a great show, but they are mostly minor quirks that make it enjoyable to watch. Hopefully the series will be around for a long time. This is because the show's concept of having all of these crime subgenres together in one place allows it to go in many different directions. The main character, Mike, will always have to deal with prison guards abusing their power and prisoners that will need his help with something because, as Sheridan knows, the prison system is broken and one man can only do so much. To anyone that enjoys a good crime series, watch the first season in its entirety on Paramount+ now. It does everything right and more to make it one of the best crime drama series to come out recently.