Every person is the devil in their own life. They design their doom. And no one can save them from themselves. And that is exactly what our Mayor of Kingstown, Mike McLusky is doing with himself.
Season 1 Episode 5 opens with Mike arriving at the scene of the shootout. He finds his brother, Kyle, and his partner, Ian, being questioned by an internal affairs officer. A few discussions later, it is agreed that Mike will be allowed to plant drugs on the victim to help his brother’s alibi.
Back in the office, the reluctant Mayor of Kingstown is approached by a man from the District Attorney’s office. The visitor is a man grieving for his murdered daughter and wants Mike to help stop the execution of the murderer, James Parker.
Let’s explore this further.
Who is James Parker in the “Mayor of Kingstown”
Though we aren’t told what Bunny digs up on James Parker, we know that the man is in prison for the murder of multiple young girls. From the victim’s father’s description, it is also clear that Parker is a psychotic killer who mutilates his victims.
Meanwhile, Iris returns to Josef and is put to work as an exotic dancer. Despite the club owner’s delight in having her, he is warned by her boss that Iris is not as innocent as she looks and that she will destroy him.
Iris on being questioned about her whereabouts calmly replies that she is protected by Mike McLusky. In return for information about James Parker, Mike agrees to escort Bunny’s nephew to a hockey match in a rival part of town.
Bunny’s nephew is repeatedly shoved and taunted by bigoted players and their parents, resulting in an all-out brawl which Mike and the youngster narrowly escape. Mike forms a protective bond with Bunny’s nephew and also gets the required information on the convict named James Parker.
What Mike finds strange about the case is that James Parker was supposedly a lawyer and is therefore smart enough to have his execution indefinitely delayed. However, the man seems keen on getting executed, which is scheduled to happen in two weeks.
The only way for Mike to find more information on James Parker is by revoking his death sentence. As mentioned earlier, the grieving father who comes to Mike for help wants Parker to remain alive. The father wants him to suffer through life instead of merely dying.
The Crimes of James Parker
In Season 1 Episode 7, Miko asked Mike to locate a metal case to find something of interest. Mike brought a metal detector on his hunt and ended up discovering an entire bus buried in the ground.
In the previous episode, James Parker, the serial killer of Kingstown, was sentenced by lethal injection. In Episode 8, Mike and local police officers found 26 dead bodies inside the school bus, which they believed were victims of James Parker.
The serial killer was popularly known as the “spider.” The dead bodies were wrapped in sacks and hung inside the bus in a way that symbolized that they were prey to a “spider.”
The police officers were unsuccessful in figuring out Milo’s motive for giving information about Parker’s victims. But the officers believed that the school bus was found on Mike’s property, and circumstantial evidence might point to Mike.
After the bodies were sent to the morgue for further investigation, Assistant D.A. Evelyn Foley demanded an interrogation with Milo so she could connect the dots. Ultimately, we saw Mike bashing Milo’s lawyer and threatening him to find out what Milo was planning to do.
About Mayor of Kingstown
Mayor of Kingstown is a Paramount+ series created by Taylor Sheridan of the Yellowstone fame. It’s also co-created by co-creator Hugh Dillon and directed by Antoine Fuqua.
A long list of people are executive producing the show – Sheridan, Fuqua, Dhillon, Jeremy Renner, David Glasser, Ron Burkle, Bob Yari and Michael Friedman.
The cast includes Jeremy Renner, Dianne Wiest, Emma Laird, Derek Webster, Taylor Handley and Tobi Bamtefa, among others.
Mayor of Kingstown revolves around the McLusky family and their attempt of bringing law and order to a town that doesn’t have it. It tackles real world issues such as systemic corruption, racism, and equality.
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