Simply Murder – The story begins with a young boy (Lochlan Ray Miller) working out with dumbbells. The boy’s mother is passed out on the sofa and his dad, Kenny Miles (Billy Lush) is cooking meth in the kitchen. He puts his lit cigarette in an ashtray near flammable liquids. He goes out to get some missing ingredients, as the boy continues to play. The fallen cigarette ignites and the camper blows.

Mike McLusky (Jeremy Renner) is sitting in traffic when he spots an ambulance.

Kingstown police and fire department arrive at the scene. Ian (Hugh Dillon) says Kenny Miles is on the lease, he is missing. Kyle McLusky (Taylor Handley) releases vile curses when he sees the boy’s charred body. Kingstown Police Chief (Jason Blicker) arrives at the scene. He wants to give the case to Kyle as long as he doesn’t become a trooper in three weeks. Kyle says he is going nowhere. The Chief greets Mike. Ian does a rundown of Kenny, his ex-wife, and the 5-year-old boy, thanks to Mike. He says to put Mike on the payroll as a CI because he doesn’t understand what he does for a living.

Captain Richard Heard (Rob Stewart) doesn’t want Kenny to live for his day in court. Mike says he can go to county where he will never see his arraignment. An officer wants to hang him to a tree. Mike questions if they know what they are asking. The captain responds, “I’m not asking anything, you are.” Mike asks the Corner’s aide (Subhash Santosh) if he can see the boy’s charred body for “motivation.”

Kingstown Police had set up roadblocks to catch Kenny. Robert (Hamish Allan-Headley) checks on his son. Ian, Kyle, Mike, and Stevie (Derek Webster) are preparing to serve warrants at a crack house on 134^th Street and Woodmore. Robert arrives and Ian asks him to treat the situation like it’s Afghanistan. He agrees. Mike tells Kyle to be safe.

Mike calls Bunny to set up a talk in an hour. They bust in the crack house. Stevie laughs as Robert tases Spivey (Erik Knudsen). Ian threatens him with 10 years of life behind bars for felony charges. They demand to know where Kenny is hiding. Kyle isn’t pleased with what is going down. Ian tells Spivey there are no good cops present. Spivey agrees to talk to Kyle because he is a McLusky.

 

Mike arrives at Peterford Trucking, where he is frisked before he is permitted to talk to Duke (Andrew Howard). Duke says he isn’t ours, you can have him. Mike asks him to take him back, so he will feel safe.  He calls Kenny “poison.” Mike thinks Kenny will be put in county until his arraignment. Duke says the public defender will put him in protective custody. He asks Mike if they want Kenny finished before his arraignment. He says they want him bad. Duke says everyone must want it, but Mike should plant a knife and shoot him. He says it will be a deal with the devil. He agrees to alert Mike if Kenny comes his way.

Iris (Emma Laird) arrives in Kingstown to do a job for inmate Milo Sunter (Aidan Gillen).

Mariam McLusky (Dianne Wiest) is at the prison teaching female inmates about the first African king and slavery.

Mike is in his vehicle when he receives a call from Kyle. He calls Bunny to let him know he is not coming. Kenny is sobbing, calling himself bleeping stupid, and hitting himself in the head.

Mike is sleeping on the sofa in his office. Rebecca walks him with a cup of coffee. She would go to his house and get him a fresh suit, but he lives in the woods somewhere. He has two waiting rooms full of appointments. Carlos Jimenez (Jose Pablo Cantillo) enters Mike’s office. He is the uncle of Mitch’s killer. Mike grabs a gun attached to his desk. Carlos says, “If you hadn’t done it, I would’ve.” He calls him a “disappointment. He begins to discuss Kenny who cooked for him.

Kyle’s wife, Tracy (Nishi Munshi) is examining her abdomen in the bathroom when Mariam walks to the door. She tells her Kyle is bringing Mike to supper. She asks her if Kyle knows and quickly retracts.

Mike meets Kyle, Ian, and other officers at The Red Carriage to discuss Kenny. They do not want him in protective custody. His parole officer could send him back to prison. Mike says the guards would have to be on board, just shoot him in a raid. Ed arrives and says to send Kenny to them, there is nothing to manipulate. The whites will kill him to make a statement. Mike asks at what cost, none of this is free. He says it could put them in business with 2,000 criminals who would hold it over their heads. They can’t understand why Mike is trying to protect Kenny. Ed says he can put him anywhere in the prison. He doesn’t feel sorry for Kenny. He is concerned it will leave them owing all the criminals something and when they cannot pay them back, there will be no more thin blue line. They all agree to take care of Kenny. The captain says he doesn’t care about the consequences.

Mike calls Rebecca from his car to get Carlos’ phone number. He calls Bunny to ask him how he likes his hamburger.

At the dock, the officers are discussing Kenny when the parole officer arrives. He wants to know why he is there, and Kenny isn’t. Kyle cynically asks, “You kept a real tight leash on your boy, huh.” Kyle asks him if he ever visited Kenny’s trailer with a meth lab. They get into a shoving match. Robert breaks them up and says he owns them until the job is done. He angrily asks the parole officer is this how you act after 20 years of service then he tells him about Kenny burning the boy alive. He tells Kyle he is taking it too personally. Stevie says it is never their fault. Ian tries to help the parole officer off the ground, but he refuses.

Mike arrives at the hood. They talk about the 5-year-old victim. Mike says he is reading too much into it. Bunny says he sees it, not reading it. He suggests putting him in Ad-Seg. Mike says they have agreed to put him in the gym. Bunny says, “they pin the murder on some fool.” Mike says they will look the other way as long as everyone is on board. The whites are in, and Mike doesn’t like it. Bunny says sometimes, you have to let the levee bust wide open and then nothing. The Crips are in.

SWAT and Kingstown Police raid a crack house.  A suspect shoots an officer in the head through a wall. Most of the suspects are shot and killed. An injured female begging for help is ignored.

Mike arrives at his office where he finds Kenny. He hits and chokes him in the head with a tire iron. He angrily calls him an “idiot.” Mike suggests he go to the police department and turn himself in. The cops will put him in protective custody and at trial, he should plead guilty and ride it out on death row. Mike refuses to give him a ride.

Mariam and Tracy have dinner alone. Ian comforts Kyle after the raid. He arrives home distraught and apologizes about being late. Tracy asks him if he would like to hear something, it would make him feel better. He doesn’t want to feel better. She joins him in the shower and places his hand on her stomach. He caresses her stomach and smiles. He shouts, “We’re having a baby.”

Kenny arrives at the Kingstown Police Department. He is aggressively apprehended and put in a squad car.

Mike is in his office on the phone. He asks if Kenny was booked. He angrily slams down the phone and begins to know stuff off his desk. Kenny is in the shower. Ed walks in and tells the officers to get their riot gear and walk him over to the gym.

Rebecca takes Mike an alcoholic beverage.

Kenny is attacked while walking through the prison. He runs to the gym, where he is beaten, stabbed, and killed while the guards look on.

 

Mike visits the gravesite of the boy. He wants to know if anyone is going to do anything for the boy. The workers say “no” and offer him some drugs, which he refuses. Mike watches the workers cover up the wood casket from the outside of his car.

The Mayor of Kingstown Review

The episode was action packed, eventful, and deep. It appears the writers and others involved are trying hard to make SWAT look empathetic, ruthless, and robotic. People who work SWAT are no different than any other law enforcement officer. While Kingstown police are corrupt, it is unclear why it is necessary to make them look inhuman. Sadly, the woke dialogue is back, enough said. Billy Lush’s performance was outstanding. He even had me feeling empathy toward him at times. The episode deserves a 6.8.

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