Barbarians At The Gate – The episode opens with a Homeless Man (Ken Bray) discovering Tatiana (Gratiela Brancusi) and her baby in the dumpster. It’s not long before both, Ian Ferguson (Hugh Dillon) and Kyle McLusky (Taylor Handley) are on scene as well. Shortly after that, Mike McLusky (Jeremy Renner) shows up but almost instantaneously leaves in a fit of rage, racing toward the Russian Bar. Mike is so caught up in the moment that he even ignores an urgent call from Deverin ‘Bunny’ Washington (Tobi Bamtefa). Despite Mike quickly going through three of his men, Konstantin Noskov (Yorick Van Wageningen) remains unimpressed when he meets Mike. Their introduction is short, sweet, and straight to the point thanks to the approaching sirens.
Raphael’s (D Smoke) meeting with the Columbian shot caller, Roberto Cruz (William Guirola) to replenish his supply doesn’t begin so well. Even with the presence of the new arrival, Merle Callahan (Richard Brake) lingering, the shot caller appears hesitant to strike a deal with Raphael. It is eventually the mention of Bunny returning the favor, along with uniting the blacks and browns against the whites that ultimately convinces him. Attention is soon returned to Merle when he is hailed by CO Mullen (Corey Ronald Walter) for a meeting with Warden Kareem Moore (Michael Beach).
Merle and Kareem’s meeting reveals that they are old acquaintances but certainly not allies. Kareem probes him for information about his sudden return and the recent death of Gunner (Dylan Kenin). All Merle gives up is that Kingstown is closer to his niece and Gunner’s death was old business between him and Head (Derek Johnson).
While Iris (Emma Laird) continues to sit in lockup and remain uncooperative, Raphael immediately begins to feel the effects of losing control of the drug trade. He nearly pays for it with his life but manages to narrowly escape. Mike learns about this shortly after when Bunny pays him a surprise visit at the office. The meeting also leads to Mike learning that the whites are under new management, Merle.
Kyle is brushing up on his shooting at an outdoor range when he receives a call from Mike, inquiring about Iris. Although Kyle has nothing to report, the training suggests that Kyle has ignored Robert Sawyer’s (Hamish Allan-Headley) advice about him not being a good fit for Swat. Their brief discussion also reveals that Tatiana’s baby will make a full recovery. The call ends when Mike receives word from Rebecca (Nichole Galicia) that Ian has requested his attendance for a visit to Anchor Bay.
Minutes later, Mike and Ian are reviewing the Anchor Bay security footage from Sharon’s (Naomi Terrell) murder when Kareem shows up, outraged with Mike’s presence. After Ian and Kareem spend several minutes bickering over jurisdictional authority, Mike asks to speak with Kareem alone. Although the gist of their discussion is a jurisdictional debate as well, they compromise after learning they may have a common problem, Merle. Before leaving, Mike is quick to note that Merle’s return wasn’t likely just about Gunner.
Ian briefly meets with Charlie (Kenny Johnson), who mentions having bad thoughts but apparently isn’t ready to talk about them yet. That’s as far as that goes and ends with Ian promising to return with burgers. At nearly the same time, Merle receives a surprise visit from Alex (Bria Condon), compliments of Konstantin. Their meeting is brief but suggests that Konstantin proposes an alliance.
Mike receives a call from Kyle with news about Iris’s arrest at about the same time he realizes he’s being tailed. He makes a quick U-turn at an on-ramp to gain some distance on his pursuer. Although the maneuver provides Mike the opportunity to stage a setup in an alley, the attacker appears much more capable than your average Joe. After a brief struggle, Mike ends up killing him. Mike not only takes quick note of the Russian tattoos on the guy’s chest but he uses the attacker’s phone to return a call to what appears to be the only listed contact, which is momentarily revealed to be Roman (Mark Ivanir).
Mike visits Ian at KPD shortly after Evelyn Foley (Necar Zadegan) bursts into Captain Walter’s (Robert Kirkland) office to complain about Robert. As Mike inquires about Iris and tells Ian about just being attacked, he overhears Evelyn and Walter’s argument. Although Ian isn’t happy about the attack, he offers to take care of the dead Russian for Mike but Mike says he’ll use the death as a calling card of sorts. That doesn’t make Ian any happier.
There is a bit of joking around when Mike finally reunites with Iris but things immediately sour when he tells her that he can get her out in an hour if she agrees to give her prints. Without explaining, she simply tells him that she can’t. He doesn’t ask anything further but promises to see what he can do before leaving.
Matters do not improve for Mike when merely seconds later, he learns that Evelyn isn’t going to drop her persecution of Robert. She’s apparently taking Morrisey’s (Blake Shields) death personally and is all but convinced that Robert was involved.
Iris’ past sins aren’t revealed but whatever they were are implied to be bad because Ian promises her that Mike will never need to find out. In exchange for the favor, she tells Ian that Konstantin would have reason to want to hurt Tatiana. She also later tells Mike that she dated a judge in New York on Konstantin’s behalf to keep him out of trouble. Mike never asks, but Iris claims that she isn’t Konstantin’s type.
Much later that evening, Mike returns to the Russian Bar for a much less physical meeting with Konstantin. He practically tells him that if he wants to operate in Kingstown, he’ll need his approval, alive or dead.
The episode ends with Ian, Stevie (Derek Webster), and Keno (Derek Basco) casually joking as they leave KPD. Shortly after stepping foot in the parking lot, cars start blowing up.
Mayor Of Kingstown Review
This was by far the best episode of the season and I personally would contribute this to several things. First, would have to be the shorter runtime. Although the majority of Iris’s scenes and Ian’s meeting with Charlie felt needless, the shorter runtime eliminated a lot of that. Secondly, there was much less Bunny, Kyle, and KPD/Prison stuff. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy Bunny and Mike’s scheming as well as their relationship but I have felt the show had grown too dependent on them. This episode proved that is not the case at all.
I’m not a Hugh Dillon fan, although I do feel he is a decent actor. I also don’t mind Kenny Johnson, despite him being a horrible actor. The way he killed Morrisey and how he ended up there in the first place was a laughable joke to me. Despite what Iris has been through, her character feels immature and whiny but I must admit, the prospect of whatever she’s hiding is intriguing.
Mike practically knows everything about her, so what could be so bad that she wants to hide it from him? Is she his daughter or related to him, perhaps Mitch’s daughter? More importantly, who keeps planting car bombs? The Russians? I’d give the episode a 6 out of 10.
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