So what with travel logistics and laptop weirdness and blah blah blah excuses, we didn’t get a chance to record again this week, but we DID have time to discuss season one of Mayor of Kingstown. GIANT GREAT BIG SPOILERS OF COURSE. Mostly for episode 8, which is hands down the high water mark of the series, but also the season 1 finale, and random bits from the whole season.
Kathryn
Wheeeee. Okay, I just finished watching the highlights of episode 1 and episode 8 of Mayor of Kingstown, so we can chat anytime.
Elizabeth
I just finished watching episode 8 too, and I’m still hyperventilating
Kathryn
Episode 8, man. The stuff with Iris getting sold off to be abused is SO DAMN DARK, but I loved every SECOND of that scene. From the moment Mike gets the call from Bunny to the end of the friggin episode.
Elizabeth
SERIOUSLY
And they were setting it up for a while. When Mike talks to the skinhead earlier (he tried to rough up Mike and Mike pulled a gun on him) the skinhead is all “Shoot me you’re a dead man.”
Heh, or not
Kathryn
This may seem random, but there’s a section of Mike Carey’s “Lucifer” series that seems to apply. A ghost of someone Lucifer got killed says something like “It’s not like he considered the consequences and decided to do it anyway. He just never thought about it at all.”
Elizabeth
Oh that’s Mike all over
Kathryn
Mike just REACTS to things. Never pauses. It’s awesome and terrifying.
And the fact that he obviously cares about Iris makes it all so much better.
Elizabeth
Oh man, when he walks into the room at Bunny’s place and sees what they did to her, his FACE, it just does all the emotions
Kathryn
I hadn’t thought about it the first time through, but when he goes to Bunny’s place where Iris is, he ASKS HER if she wants to come with him. When literally no one else in her life asked her what she wanted.
Elizabeth
Yes that was so cool, he asks it so gently too
Kathryn
AND THEN HE SLAUGHTERS HER ABUSERS AND GRABS A BOTTLE OF WATER FOR HER
Elizabeth
I KNOW!!
I caught it the second time through, right before they got to the skinhead’s place he asked her if she was hungry, and she said she was thirsty
SO HE MURDERS EVERYBODY AND GETS WATER
Kathryn
Just amazing. The first season is so damn cool, but the second half of episode 8 is the high water mark.
Elizabeth
Absolutely, hands down
Kathryn
Because the last couple of episodes can be summed up with “And then the prisoners rioted and everyone lost their damn minds.”
Elizabeth
And the rest of the episode is good too, there’s a lot going on
That stupid young guard who got sent to the women’s prison
Kathryn
Good lord was he dumb. He had to be saved from agreeing to send a letter from someone, he had to be saved from the consequences of shooting THE WRONG PERSON in a riot, and then a lovely female prisoner offers sex when literally everyone was telling him it was a bad idea?
I rewatched the first episode, and it’s really something to think that everyone except Mike in that conversation at the diner didn’t survive to the final episode. Heck, the people they talked ABOUT didn’t survive either.
Elizabeth
No one LISTENS to Mike, it’s almost annoyingly repetitive, he keeps telling them what’s going to happen and they never do what he says
Honestly Iris didn’t listen either
Kathryn
Nooo she didn’t.
I was kinda thinking she was part of this overarching plan by Milo, but in the end her getting sold off to gang members was just Milo being vindictive because she hadn’t gotten close to Mike fast enough.
Elizabeth
Seriously, cruelty for cruelty’s sake
Kathryn
I do have to wonder, how much did Milo put into action in order to be in the right place when the riot started?
Elizabeth
I get the idea Milo knew absolutely every step
Kathryn
Because Mike only went to find the school bus full of serial-killer victims because Milo was holding Iris over his head. But it felt awfully convenient that the prison riot started when he was in the room ready to be transferred to the feds.
Elizabeth
Yeah that’s why I think Milo had it aaaallll planned
I forget, did Milo’s lawyer survive the final episode of the first season? Because Mike scared him so much he literally pissed himself
Kathryn
I don’t think the lawyer was there at the riot, so maybe he survived?
Elizabeth
Probably. I really liked what Mike said to him, when Mike figured he was getting set up. He threatened to kill the lawyer, and said “If I go to prison it’s gonna be for something I fucking DID, you hear me?”
Kathryn
Quick jump back to episode one, the assassination of the guy who killed Mitch is STILL amazing on the second viewing.
Elizabeth
Man alive that Swat Team leader is so calm and methodical it’s terrifying
Kathryn
So cheerfully murderous.
And the comment they made to Mike afterward. “He got to see it coming.” Yes, yes he did.
Elizabeth
Boy did he ever
That’s a big theme in the series, people with plenty of time as they’re dying to wish they’d done something different
Both the bad guys and the “good” guys
Kathryn
I plan to rewatch the whole season, but that execution scene in episode 2 is gonna be tough.
Elizabeth
Lordy yes. Also the stupid tweaker who gets delivered to the inmates, yikes
Kathryn
That one guard who was gung-ho for just stomping down on the prisoners until they gave up, he did NOT have a good death.
Elizabeth
Nooooo he did not
Kathryn
I think you could lay a lot of the deaths at the riot at his feet, he just could NOT face reality.
And oddly enough neither could the Warden.
Elizabeth
That goes hand in hand with Nobody Listens to Mike. They don’t want to hear it.
You know what else is a running theme in the series? I don’t think we’ve ever seen Mike EAT something
Kathryn
Huh.
Elizabeth
Drinks and smokes plenty but I can’t remember one time he ate anything
Kathryn
I think you’re right.
Elizabeth
He TALKS about food
Kathryn
He certainly cooks, and likes the idea of getting a job as a campfire cook, but he doesn’t actually eat.
Elizabeth
Yep
Speaking of cooking, when he cooked food for Iris at the cabin and then she asked if he could do something for her
And the next scene he’s holding her in the bed while she cries
Kathryn
MY HEART
Elizabeth
AAAAAA
Kathryn
Just, you can see the writers asking “What would Iris need more than anything else in the world right now?”
Elizabeth
And it’s not done in a sexy way at all, he’s just giving her what she needs
While I’m thinking about it, do you think Mike’s secretary likes him?
Kathryn
I think the secretary has more sense than that, although they have just the perfect relationship.
Elizabeth
Agreed, I almost wondered tho if it was like Angela Bassett and Ralph Fiennes in Strange Days. She had more sense too but she still liked him
Kathryn
When she asks if he’s putting booze in his coffee, and he says how much he appreciates her staying on, but what he puts in his coffee is his own damn business. And she just says “Fair enough.”
Elizabeth
Yeah she knows when to back off but she doesn’t ever seem to take it personally
Honestly he needs to be much nicer to her
Kathryn
That’s it, she knows his moods and that he’s not being a jackass TO her, just AROUND her.
Elizabeth
Also she knows he’s daaaaaaamaged but trying to put some….good? In the world?
Kathryn
And to jump to the exact opposite of a good relationship, Diane West just NAILS the character of his mother in the first season.
Elizabeth
Oh my GOODNESS does she ever, she’s such a hardass and I love every scene
Sadly, that does not continue through season 2. Way less agency
Kathryn
So disappointing. I suppose they turn her into “Woman who tells the Man not to do the thing?”
Elizabeth
Yes and also the kind of timid, afraid-of-most-things person too
Also at least Mike’s secretary doesn’t kick him the way Evelyn does. I loved that exchange after he found the bodies in the bus.
“I don’t believe in luck and if I did I would not believe that you had any.”
“Can’t argue with you there.”
Kathryn
Does Evelyn stick around for the second season?
Elizabeth
Yes she does!
Kathryn
The fact that she and Mike were having sex surprised the hell out of me, but it also made sense once I thought about it.
Elizabeth
Oh yeah, emotionally they mean absolutely nothing to each other, so sex is safe
Kathryn
Except of course when he wants to have dinner and she has the bad taste to actually TELL him he means nothing to her. I mean, that’s cold.
Elizabeth
Yeah speaking of cast iron bitches she is definitely one
Which is why I like Iris. Also a cast iron bitch but can still connect with someone
Kathryn
The fact that Mike was so open with the feds about agreeing to be a paid informant, just one more instance of the writers short-circuiting a storyline that ordinarily would drag on for three or four episodes.
Elizabeth
Right?
Kathryn
And yes, Iris is so believably broken but hasn’t stopped actually WANTING things.
Elizabeth
Honestly, in most shows the “Iris getting sold and broken and sold again” thing would’ve also gone on for three or four episodes
Hard to believe that whole arc was just ONE episode
Kathryn
Okay, quick question, who exactly was cleaning up the crime scene when the cops found the house where Mike killed everyone?
Or do I not find that out until season 2?
Elizabeth
Er, can’t remember, I haven’t rewatched that yet
Kathryn
Another example of a short-circuited storyline, the cop dumping the phone that would have proved that Mike was there when the shooting started.
Elizabeth
They’re so EFFICIENT with their arcs
Kathryn
Do they still handle the Bunny character well in the next seasons? His scenes were always fun.
I love a good scene where Jeremy Renner gets to disarm someone on the fly, but Bunny’s henchmen whining about it made it even more fun.
“He took my fucking gun.” “He’s right there, go get it.”
Elizabeth
Hee
Yes he’s still fun in season 2 and what I’ve seen of season 3. Maybe not AS fun but the actor does a great job with what he’s given
Kathryn
I couldn’t believe how calm everyone at Bunny’s was, especially after the frikking RANDOM gangland shooting that happened just because the guys who bought Iris got detoured into the wrong neighborhood.
How terrifying THAT must be, that you can take a wrong turn and BAM.
Elizabeth
As soon as those guys got redirected in traffic you just knew they were dead dead dead
Kathryn
Boy howdy
This show does violence so well, so of course they had to pull all the stops in the season finale.
Elizabeth
Oh my goodness the finale, that was CRAZY violent
Kathryn
What the heck was up with the one prison guard who had the disabled son and the horrible wife?
It’s like they set that up just so he could kill a couple of national guard members and then die.
Elizabeth
Just one bit of random weirdness that could’ve gone on forever but got wrapped up IMMEDIATELY
Kathryn
No mention of him in the second season?
Elizabeth
Not a single one
(That I remember)
Like, another show would’ve dragged his wife and kid in to have them be all upset on camera, but nope
Kathryn
Nope nope nope
I was honestly a little surprised Mike’s brother survived that whole disaster
Elizabeth
Yeah I was absolutely certain he and his wife were toast
The show remains unpredictable for damn sure
Kathryn
I know you said the second season doesn’t really live up to the first but…I think I’m still gonna watch it.
Elizabeth
I think if you go into it with reasonable expectations you’ll still enjoy it, they just set the bar so damn high
And I’m at least two episodes behind on the third season so I need to catch the hell up
Kathryn
Same. Although if I wait a bit then maybe I can binge the 3rd season at the same pace as the 2nd.
Elizabeth
Goooooood plan