The series is called Mayor of Kingstown for a reason—it orbits around Mike McLusky. Season 3 proved that without Mike on watch, Kingstown falls apart. But in Season 4, it was Kyle McLusky whose emotional story drove the narrative, and audiences got to see the Paramount+ drama in a whole new way at exactly the right time.

Mayor of Kingstown Season 4 was so impressive because it was a story three seasons in the making. It was the story that could not have been told before this moment, and that needed to be told in this moment. So many TV shows simply look for bigger and better every year, but Mayor of Kingstown felt like it had planned this arc all along. And at the center of it all was Taylor Handley as Kyle, doing his best work of the entire series ironically while his character was being almost systematically dismantled.

It should be acknowledged how much work Handley clearly put into Season 4. That’s not to say that any of his previous performances were less than, but Season 4 required even more of him. It literally put him into a box for most of the season, which wasn’t just physically limiting but changed who he got to work with and his overall involvement in the story, until the season finale. Kyle was essentially on his own island for a long while with Merle Callahan, played by the fantastic Richard Brake. And yet that brought out this new, visceral side of Kyle that viewers hadn’t seen before and probably didn’t know existed. Part of that is that the Mayor of Kingstown writers devoted their time to giving Kyle his own storyline, and didn’t relegate him to being simply an object for Mike to get out of prison. But the other part of that is that because of those limitations, Handley got to give a performance that felt like it was in a play. He could just focus on what was going on in Kyle’s head and in his heart, and make that external.

Kyle McLusky has always felt like he’s searching for something. He knows that he wants to do good and he knows that he wants to have a family, but the how has been fluid—hence the repeated career changes. He keeps trying to adapt to the world around him, trying to do the best thing possible, and in Mayor of Kingstown Season 4, the best thing possible was sending himself to prison. That’s not just his opinion; Ian Ferguson spelled it out early in the season. Kyle was falling on the sword for everybody else. But that’s exactly what Kyle would do. Kyle McLusky is an idealist in a town full of cynics. Or, he was until now.

On face value, putting Kyle in prison seemed like a cruel joke Mayor of Kingstown was playing on the audience—as well as a really dangerous game. Take the one truly good character (by a universal standard, even including Nina Hobbs, who barely knew him) and screw him over. And in so doing, remove that sort of good counterbalance that had buffered all the darkness and violence that everyone else had to deal with. Kyle and his wife Tracy had been the lifeline fans were hanging onto, their solace that not everything in Kingstown was so difficult, and then the writers blew that up. Twice.

But the gains outweighed the risks. Limiting Kyle both literally and metaphorically (such as reducing his identity to a prison ID number) deconstructed the character. Audiences saw for the first time that there was a darkness inside him, the same way that Mike carries his darkness; Kyle has just been able to move past it because of his career and because of his family. The commonality between Kyle and Mike had never been more apparent, whereas in the first three seasons they could be dissonant. That would not have come out if Kyle hadn’t been in such extreme circumstances. That storyline also allowed viewers to see Mike in a way they had never seen him before, and likely never will again. Unfortunately, because there’s no one left who is as close to him as Kyle, except for baby Mitch.

Mike McLusky’s entire mandate as “mayor of Kingstown” is to keep the peace and protect everyone else. But when he can’t protect the person who means the most to him, what does that say to him? How does he balance his personal world of the McLusky family with the greater world of Kingstown at large? To see Mike as both powerful and powerless was a painfully beautiful juxtaposition. It called into question how much he gives to other people and how little is left for those he cares about. He could navigate between massive criminal factions, but he couldn’t get Kyle out of prison until it was too late, and he certainly couldn’t protect Tracy. And Mike would absolutely rather save Kyle and Tracy over putting Frank Moses behind bars. By imperiling Kyle, the writers made Mike question his own life choices—which, because the show is centered on him, also made the audience question him and question Kingstown. Was it a lost cause? If even Kyle could eventually be swept under, what was Mike fighting for?

But Mike would never ask those questions without Kyle and Tracy. He may not have intended to become the mayor, but he did because he had to, and he’s continued to do so because he’s doing what has to be done. He hasn’t had any real reason to doubt until Mayor of Kingstown Season 4. And he was due to ask; with as much as the writers put him through the wringer every year, he needed to get to a breaking point. It would be unrealistic on a show that has been so real and so honest not to let him crack. He needed a crisis of conscience and the only true way to get there was through Kyle.

Plus, by utilizing Merle Callahan, the creative team gave Mike (and fans) a chance to look back at Mike’s past in the most warped way. Kyle became this sort of stand-in for who Mike used to be. Season 3 had introduced Callahan and started explaining more about Mike’s time in prison, but Season 4 positioned Kyle between Mike and Callahan, and gave Kyle the same choice Mike had: to ally with Callahan or not? Kyle made the better choice—he said no—but he also benefited from Mike’s experience. Conversely, Callahan’s friendship saved Kyle’s life in Mayor of Kingstown Season 4, Episode 6, so he cannot be entirely condemned. Viewers now have this almost firsthand perspective of Mike’s time with Callahan through Kyle. They have a greater appreciation of what Mike overcame because of Kyle, because Mike went through that largely on his own.

Between his own individual story and how his absence impacted the other characters, so much of Mayor of Kingstown Season 4 came back to Kyle. The biggest portion of that, of course, happened with Tracy’s murder in Season 4, Episode 8. Viewers can still have mixed feelings on that plot choice; to be honest, it’s a decision that really falls on both sides of the line. But killing Tracy destabilized not just Kyle, not just Mike, but all of Mayor of Kingstown because of Tracy’s importance to the series as a whole. To remove her set Kyle on a character path that he will never come back from. Even if he opens Season 5 having recovered and is quietly raising baby Mitch, he’s still going to have purposefully killed someone. That’s different from Season 2; yes, Kyle fired the shot that led to his mother’s death, but that was an accident in the middle of a shootout. Murdering Callahan was a choice that Kyle will have to live with. How does he see himself? From an audience point of view, he was totally justified on every level—but will Kyle agree and accept that darkness inside himself, or will he feel guilty because he crossed a line no one ever thought he could?

Is the one good man in Kingstown still a good man now? And who makes that decision?

By centering Mayor of Kingstown Season 4 on the downfall of Kyle McLusky, the creative team turned the perspective of the entire show. They removed the safety net that fans have always had, and to an extent, the characters had because they also knew that Kyle was a good man they could count on. Season 5 now has an almost completely clear playing field, and it’s exciting because audiences want to see how Kyle is going to recover. They’re rooting for him to heal and to get back to the Kyle they know and love. But there’s also a strong chance that he doesn’t, and that would be perfectly understandable.

Kyle McLusky was the closest thing viewers had to an audience stand-in, and in Season 4 through him they were truly plunged into the darkness of Kingstown. But as terrible and terrifying as that was, it also gave fans a greater appreciation for what Kyle brought to Kingstown, and for what actor Taylor Handley can do. Season 4 unleashed him and his character even if it came in the most painful way imaginable. If you can say one thing about Mayor of Kingstown, this show never plays it safe. And if Kyle isn’t safe anymore, then literally anything is possible.

Mayor of Kingstown Season 4 is now streaming on Paramount+. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Paramount+.

Article content is (c)2020-2026 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.