SPOILER ALERT: The following contains spoilers for Mayor of Kingstown Season 4, Episode 2. It also contains discussion of suicide.

Mayor of Kingstown Season 4 is making sure that no one gets comfortable, and that includes the audience. After the first episode established the new world order and the new players involved, Episode 2 gut-punches the viewers just to be clear that things aren’t ever going to be the same again.

“Promises to Keep” sets the tone right away, as new Anchor Bay prison guard Cindy Stephens (Laura Benanti) faces a prisoner who self-harms before dying by suicide right in front of her. The only thing that has to do with the main story is that Kyle McLusky has to snap Cindy out of her shock. But that sequence of events is so disturbing that it raises the tension for the whole rest of the hour. There are three plotlines across the episode, all of which converge into an ending that proves all of the changes in the season premiere weren’t just for show.

First and foremost, Mike is understandably enraged that Kyle has been attacked on his first day (more like first hour) in Anchor Bay—and he’s out for blood of his own. Mike reprimands Carney for not keeping a better eye on Kyle, but is unable to get to the prison before Nina Hobbs, which leads to another confrontation between Mike and the new warden. This moment between Jeremy Renner and Edie Falco shows just how cold Hobbs is. She describes the unprovoked attack on Kyle by saying that he “got into a fight,” and her response to Mike threatening her directly is just to tell her right-hand man Torres that they need to reassign Carney. Hobbs knows the unofficial hierarchy of Kingstown and doesn’t care at all about it.

It’s also important that Mayor of Kingstown considers Tracy’s part in this situation. It would be too easy to only have Tracy and baby Mitch pop up periodically, since Kyle’s story has shifted to inside the prison. But not only does Episode 2 give fans the expected moment of Tracy seeing her husband after the attack, it also provides a scene between her and Mike, and in both Tracy reasserts her strength. She’s not just crying over what happened to Kyle; in fact, she’s the one laying down the proverbial law to him. “This is who you married, Kyle,” she reminds him after he suggests she doesn’t need to visit him. She tells Mike how much she’s carrying without her husband—and he listens. The episode remembers the whole McLusky family.

Mike enlists Bunny Washington, who in turn enlists Raphael, to get revenge by eliminating Kyle’s attacker. But Bunny has his own plotline, as Frank Moses is properly introduced. The Detroit gangster portrayed by Line of Duty‘s Lennie James wants to form a partnership with Bunny—whom he insists on referring to by his legal name—to move Bunny’s drugs through Frank’s train yard. Bunny seizes on the perceived opportunity, which is one more character being moved away from Mike.

Mike’s interaction with Frank is even more telling for both characters. Mike explains to Frank that “my payout is peace” and rebuffs him, plus when Rebecca is worried about Frank, that’s a big red flag. This is Mayor of Kingstown putting a fresh spin on one of its most formulaic elements. There’s always someone from outside trying to move into the city. Yet Frank isn’t just muscling in; he’s trying to work within the system (the opposite of Hobbs). And Mike is diplomatic if pointed with him, which is a change of pace from the simmering tension that existed with both Milo and Konstantin.

Elsewhere, Ian Ferguson and his partner Stevie are investigating the Colombians. Yet they can’t even identify their suspect, which leads to a fatal chain of events. Mike tells the duo to let the man go so that they can follow him—but they’re pulled off that surveillance because Evelyn Foley wants to threaten Ian again. It’s getting harder to understand Evelyn’s value in the Mayor of Kingstown ecosystem, especially after Episode 2 ends with that same suspect murdering Carney at his front door. It’s a tragic act that snaps the entire story of Season 4 into place but at a terrible cost.

Plot-wise, this confirms the connection between Hobbs and the Colombians, which Carney had picked up on earlier in the episode by seeing Torres with a Colombian inmate. He makes the fatal mistake of reporting this to Hobbs, which is the equivalent of telling the serial killer you’re going to the cops. Between this and Carney’s loyalty to Mike, Hobbs has no reason to leave him alive. But in his last episode, Doug Carney (viewers get to hear his first name!) dies for just trying to do the right thing. That’s all he’s ever attempted, albeit awkwardly most of the time. It’s also a huge loss for Team McLusky, because Mike loses his key asset inside Anchor Bay. Now he has to depend on Cindy, whom the first scene shows doesn’t yet have a clue.

The only cool thing about “Promises to Keep” is that viewers get a scene of Hugh Dillon at a hockey game. Everything else is tough to swallow, and fans leave with a clear but chilling understanding of where it’s all going. Hobbs is in bed with the Colombians and in control of Anchor Bay, where Kyle is stuck next to Merle Callahan. Bunny is teamed up with Frank Moses, which puts them on a collision course with the Colombians. Whatever Evelyn has up her sleeve pales in comparison to all of this. And now Mayor of Kingstown Season 4 isn’t just about another outside element coming in. It’s about all the inside factions coming apart. Looks like peace wasn’t so stable in Kingstown after all.

Mayor of Kingstown streams Sundays on Paramount+. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Paramount+.

Article content is (c)2020-2025 Brittany Frederick and may not be excerpted or reproduced without express written permission by the author. Follow me on Twitter at @BFTVTwtr and on Instagram at @BFTVGram. For story pitches, contact me at tvbrittanyf@yahoo.com.