Rag Doll – The episode opens with the KPD doubling down on their efforts to bring down those responsible for the bombings. Mike McLusky (Jeremy Renner) joins Kyle McLusky (Taylor Handley) at the bombing site where he learns that the KPD has secured key evidence leading to a John York. Although York is a known Aryan Brotherhood affiliate, the signatures of these new bombings do not match those from Mariam’s (Dianne Wiest) funeral. Their meeting abruptly ends when a request for tactical assistance at a nearby gas station comes over the radio.

The bombings have everyone on edge, including Deverin ‘Bunny’ Washington (Tobi Bamtefa) and his crew of Crips, Donnell Costa (Mark McKinnon) and Raphael (D Smoke). Bunny is immediately overcome with excitement when he learns from the police scanner that the bombing suspects have been named as white males.

Robert (Hamish Allan-Headley) and his men quickly set up at the gas station when arriving. Just as quickly, they surround the area and breach. Despite the suspect’s surrender, Robert doesn’t give him a chance and kills him. Mike isn’t happy.

While Mike visits Kareem (Michael Beach) at home to request a meeting with Merle Callahan (Richard Brake), a shifty acting Macon (Keir O’Donnell) anxiously pleads with his mother financial help. Despite only his side of the discussion being revealed, it’s pretty clear that she isn’t willing to help. Mike’s meeting with Merle doesn’t begin on the best foot, as Merle only seems interested in reminiscing old times. Despite this, Mike gets him to agree to help if he gets him back in general population.

Mike meets with his crew at the diner where he brings them up-to-speed on Merle’s return and his claims that Gunner (Dylan Kenin) was responsible for the bombings. No one believes this and Robert takes it personally when Mike sarcastically jokes about the suspect needing to be alive to name Merle. A phone call from Rebecca (Nichole Galicia), with the news of Anna Fletcher’s (Paula Malcomson) arraignment sends Mike on other tasks.

Merle is shown briefly meeting with Norseman (B. Todd Johnston) where he requests a line to the outside. Norseman claims this will be difficult due to the lockdown because of the bombings. At the same time, Carney (Lane Garrison) is prepping his guards for their shift when Kareem interrupts and basically confirms what Norseman assumed, everything will be on lockdown and cell will be tossed to look for links to the outside. As the meeting ends, Kevin Jackson (Denny Love) asks for a few minutes of Kareem’s time.

Macon enlists the help of Stamper (Barrett Carnahan) to boost a vehicle while Kevin tells Kareem about possibly seeing an X-ray guard let a female employee into the prison with contraband. Kevin claims he isn’t 100% certain but felt it necessary to report the incident. Kareem offers to help with future incidents but spends several minutes making sure Kevin fully understands the implications of his actions.

Mike appears disgusted and walks out of the courtroom when Anna not only pleads guilty but tells the Judge (Gisla Stringer) she would make the same decision a hundred times over. Although Evelyn Foley (Necar Zadegn) follows Mike out of the courtroom and listens to him advocate for a lighter sentence for Anna, she claims her hands are tied. Even after learning Mike associated Anna and her son’s situation with his and Miriam’s, she appears unsympathetic and claims her hands are tied. The discussion doesn’t get much further because Mike receives a call from Ian (Hugh Dillon), with the news of a sighting of Macon in Crip territory.

Kareem briefly meets with Merle and also fails to learn why he’s chosen to return to Anchor Bay. At the same time, Stevie (Derek Webster) and Ian chase Macon. The chase ends with Stamper crashing into a telephone phone near Bunny’s base of operations. Along with Kyle, Steven and Ian manage to catch Stamper but Macon is now nowhere in sight. It isn’t long before Robert and Tactical are on the scene as well. Much to everyone’s surprise, especially Robert’s Kyle immediately takes the lead and negotiates Stamper’s surrender.

Mike receives a call from Bunny with the announcement that he has something he might be interested in. It isn’t long before Mike arrives at a warehouse and finds Macon under the close watch of Caesar (Caesar Gilliam) and Digo (Phil Rice). Although they are on the ground floor, Macon is soon escorted to the roof where he meets alone with Mike. Mike introduces himself to Macon and tells him what a horrible position he’s in. Macon offers little reaction until Mike pulls out his pocket knife. Mike tells him to relax and cuts his restraints. Despite Mike’s promises to get him safe, Macon not only practically laughs in his face but vilifies him for turning his back on his race for a payday. This is about how the entire conversation goes until Mike becomes frustrated and pushes him off the roof.

While celebrating their win at the bar, Robert’s conversation with Ian suggests he’s impressed by Kyle’s actions with Stamper earlier. Despite this, Ian shows little interest in the conversation. Robert then directly approaches Kyle and asks if he knew Stamper was unarmed. Kyle says he didn’t.

Merle appears surprised when Mike returns to visit him. Mike promises that he’ll be seeing a lot of him now that he’s local. Merle is further surprised when he learns that Mike honors his agreement, despite bringing Macon to justice without Merle’s help. Although Merle is clearly disgusted when Mike claims it was the Crips who threw Macon off the rooftop, his first question is what information Mason gave up. Mike assures him that Mason didn’t speak a word. Their meeting ends with Mike agreeing to work with Merle.

The episode ends with Merle being returned to his cell where he then places a call to Konstantin (Yorick Van Wageningen). Konstantin refers to him as his friend and tells him they are going to do great things together.

 

Mayor Of Kingstown Review

Although some important things came out, the entire episode almost felt like a waste. I understand why catching the bombers had to be a central theme, but for me, I felt like a waste. This isn’t saying I didn’t like it because I did enjoy parts of it. Kyle has always been a bit of a whiner to me, but it was nice to see him step up. What little more was revealed about Mike, his time in prison, and his connection to Callahan was interesting.

Several things in the episode just didn’t make sense to me. Take Robert’s killing of the first bombing suspect. I understand that the creators want to bill him as a rash, pull-the-trigger-before-you-think character, but I just don’t see how this could be justified. Even if he was rash, wouldn’t it make more sense to keep him alive for questioning? Wouldn’t Robert want to bring the bombers to justice rather than dole of revenge? The second thing that didn’t make sense was Macon being taken to the rooftop. Was this an intimidation tactic? Despite this, I thought the episode was fairly interesting and would give it a 5.4 out of 10.

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