I think you have to give it to Mike McLusky that no matter what the situation, this man is always calm and composed. Well, there’s a reason behind it. He’s the man who comes in with a plan. Even in the midst of utter chaos, Mike knows a way out. But why am I explaining the obvious? You all saw for yourself how Mike rose from the ashes after hitting rock bottom. And now that he’s got back his power and influence, Mike’s only objective is to clean up the city and restore peace in the valley. In the ninth episode of Mayor of Kingstown season 4, Mike finally targets the King of Detroit, Frank Moses, because his downfall will not only help him get his brother out of prison but also bring things back to normal. However, you might be wondering why Mike’s not too worried about Merle Callahan. He killed his sister-in-law in the previous episode, and Mike should go after him instead of Moses, right? Well, the thing is, with Tracy gone, there’s no one left in the family whom Callahan can hurt, which is why Mike wants to secure Kyle first and then go after Callahan next, so his brother can have his revenge. I’ve said this earlier, and I’ll say it again: it isn’t Mike who’s going to kill Callahan. It’s Kyle who’s going to do the deed, so he can silence the demons inside him, something Mike hasn’t been able to do since the death of his eldest brother, Mitch. I think Mike knows what Kyle is going through, and how it is going to impact him. This will not only turn Kyle bitter but also cold and heartless. In short, he’s going to become another Mike McLusky, and someone who’s already in such a position won’t wish this nightmare upon his worst enemy. So will Mike be able to protect his brother? Well, let’s find out in this breakdown of the ninth episode.
Spoiler Alert
Robert Is Dead
Yeah, no surprise here. Robert Sawyer died two episodes ago. Ian had orchestrated his death, but the show hadn’t confirmed the kill. Well, the ninth episode began with Kingstown PD removing Robert’s body from the garage. However, you might be wondering how the police found out about his death. I think it was likely his wife, Patty, who might have informed the cops. Maybe she was trying to contact him, but he didn’t pick up her calls, so she rang the station to check on him. Or maybe it was Ian himself who left an anonymous tip at the station. Whatever the case might be, Robert was gone for good, and Mike knew that it was Ian who was responsible. However, he didn’t want Ian to feel sorry for him. Everyone knew that Robert had brought this upon himself. He was broken beyond repair, and there was nothing they could have done to save him. If they had left him alive, he would have definitely come after them sooner or later.
Furthermore, Robert’s death gave Mike the chance to push forward his deal with Evelyn. The District Attorney wanted Robert Sawyer, but with him dead, her hunt for this monster finally came to an end. Now she didn’t have any reason to keep Kyle in prison. Evelyn’s plan was to turn Kyle into a state witness so he would testify against Robert. But Kyle refused to talk and took the fall to protect his brother and his friends. Long story short, the root of all issues had bit the dust, and there was no point in them stretching this matter out and complicating things for each other. Mike told Evelyn that he would deliver Frank Moses to her as promised, and in exchange, she needed to get Kyle out of prison. And before leaving, he told her to keep the papers ready because, as I told you earlier, “this man already had a plan.”
Mike Sets A Trap For Moses
As per Mike’s deal with Evelyn, Mike had to give her a prosecutable case so she could put the King of Detroit behind bars for the rest of his life. However, this meant Mike couldn’t just get rid of Moses the way he executed his best friend, Lawrence LJ. Mike needed a smarter plan to catch the bigger fish. He knew that Moses was still mourning his fallen general, the man who’d stood beside him for the past 50 years. For Moses, LJ was more than just a sidekick. He was family, and Mike knew that Moses wouldn’t let his friend’s death go unavenged. Moses was blinded with fury. He believed that Mike would show him the right path to exact his vengeance, but Mike was no saint or preacher. He was the “Satan” and the “Judas.” Mike held Moses’ hand and led him straight to hell.
You should notice that Mike didn’t tell Moses immediately that he was going to help him find his friend’s killer. Instead, he played the emotional card and told him about his sister-in-law. That made Moses realize that Mike wasn’t there as a business partner, but had visited him as a friend to share his grief with him. Maybe Moses thought that Mike had the right intentions in mind, because just like him, he had lost family too, and therefore this man could be trusted. Well, Moses apparently took the bait and listened attentively to what Mike fed him next. He told Moses that he would use his connections in the KPD, find the person who had shot his best friend, and bring the killer to him, because that’s what friends do. But we all know that Mike’s no friend to him.
As soon as Mike left Moses’ fortress, he immediately called Lamar and told him that he had fixed everything for him, and now he should report back to duty like nothing ever happened. Mike wanted to make Lamar feel safe so he would step out of his apartment, where he had been hiding since the day Bunny was hit. And as soon as Lamar left his apartment, Bunny’s men abducted him in a black van. The reason I believe it was Bunny’s men who had kidnapped Lamar was because if it was Moses’ men, then Moses would have brought him to one of his locations instead of taking instructions from Mike. Am I right?
So, what Mike was actually doing here was playing each of these pawns just like a game of chess, and once everything was in place, he executed the plan. He revisited Moses and told him that it was Lamar who shot LJ on the sidewalk. Moses had a few questions in mind. He wanted to pin the blame on Bunny, because Lamar was Bunny’s man. You have got to be kidding me, Moses. You just lost your best friend, yet you are more interested in a piece of territory than anything else. He wanted to pin the blame on Bunny so he’d have a reason to take him out, but Mike knew that he had already pulled that trick before. He shut him down by telling him that they didn’t need to pretend anymore. He knew about the games he had been playing all along. He told him that he knew that he was the one who tried to have Bunny killed so he could take over Kingstown. Moses was quite stunned because his grand plan was out in the open. He was exposed and therefore kept his mouth shut and just listened. Mike told him that he would send him the address where he could find Lamar so he could get justice for his friend. This was the same address Mike shared with Ian and Stevie, so that they could catch Moses in action. However, it’s strange that Mike presumed that Moses would show up at the location alone and not with his army. It all seemed very convenient to me.
Ian Catches Moses Red-Handed
As I said earlier, for some stupid reason, Moses went on his own to the address Mike had given him. I mean, seriously? I don’t know why, but his approach to this situation felt a bit odd to me. You see, Moses is like the big bad villain of season 4. He’s the King of Detroit, whom the show creators called “a devil in disguise.” I know most of this build-up around his character has been done through dialogue, as we never actually saw Moses showing off any real power, except for that one short flamethrower scene, but still, it doesn’t look good when your most vile and vicious antagonist is visiting dubious places without security. I accept the fact that he’s mourning the death of his brother and wants to bring him justice all by himself, but this move looks plain stupid, especially when your best friend was just gunned down on the sidewalk the previous night. I mean, you can literally take a bodyguard with you, dude. You are the boss here; maybe act the part. But nah… Either Moses was a fool, too proud to believe that anyone could hurt him, or the creators of the show were in a hurry to wrap things up and forgot that Moses wasn’t just some random gangster. Whatever the case might be, Moses showed up at the house on 864 Eastern Avenue and found Lamar all tied up on a chair in the basement. Bunny’s men made sure he wouldn’t dare open his mouth, as he might reveal Mike’s grand plan to him. Moses, on the other hand, who would rarely get his hands dirty, just tried to finish the job as quickly as possible. So he shot Lamar in the head and killed him on the spot. And as soon as Stevie and Ian heard the gunshots, they ran towards the house and arrested Moses for the murder of Lamar. I still can’t believe that all this was so easy.
CO Breen Is Dead
If you remember, in episode 7, Ian told Mike that every man had their breaking point, and they eventually turned into a monster once they crossed it. I know Ian was talking about Robert at the time, because he was talking about killing Mike. But if you revisit the scene, each and every word Ian said about Robert fits perfectly well for CO Breen. Since the past few episodes, Breen had been trying to impress Cindy in Ad Seg, but when an inmate brought up his past and embarrassed him in front of the girl he was trying to get, Breen lost his cool. He ended up beating the hell out of this inmate and sent him to the infirmary, for which Warden Nina Hobbs put him on restricted duty and transferred him to the armory. Well, that’s not really the right place for a man with a loose screw. Things were okay for the time being, until CO Clyde, from Ad Seg, decided to push things further and humiliate Breen more. He called the armory to send Breen to Ad Seg with a mop to clean a cell. An inmate, Terry, had soiled the floor with feces, and because Breen was on restricted duty, everyone thought he should be the one cleaning. But he couldn’t do it. The other inmates started shouting his name and made fun of him, which pushed Breen beyond his breaking point. He immediately went to the armory and pulled out a shotgun and shot down Clyde and almost all the prisoners in the Ad Seg who were laughing at him. It was a massacre and, honestly, one of the best scenes of this season.
In episode 9’s ending, Breen finally walked up to Kyle’s cell and was going to gun him down, but before he could do so, Cindy put a bullet in his head and saved Kyle’s life. The thing is, Kyle was ready to die. He’d looked death in the eye and wasn’t scared of it anymore, almost like our mayor. Actually, he was already dead inside. He had been suicidal since he lost his wife, and I think he really wished that Breen would just pull the trigger on him and put an end to his miseries, but unfortunately Kyle wasn’t as lucky as the rest of the inmates. By the end of the episode, one more antagonist of the show met his fateful end. But honestly, he deserved it.
Speaking of antagonists, earlier in the episode, Hobbs told her subordinates that her deputy, David Torres, had resigned from his post. I know that’s not true. He hasn’t resigned, he’s dead. It’s likely that Cortez killed Torres to make an example of him for Hobbs, and we might never see him again, but who knows? I wouldn’t say this with certainty though, because no death is ever confirmed until we have seen the corpse.
Kyle Is Released From Prison
In episode 9’s ending, Mike fulfilled his promise to Evelyn and delivered him to Moses in less than 24 hours, and now it was her turn to hold up her end of the bargain. Evelyn had already prepared the papers for Kyle’s release, and as soon as Moses was in police custody, she called the judge to ask the warden to let Kyle go. Mike drove to Anchor Bay to receive his brother, but things weren’t the same between them. There was a whole storm brewing inside Kyle. He was going through things he couldn’t explain to anyone, because the only person he could share his grief with was dead. And all he was left with was a soulless brother, who was no less than a grim reaper, and a son, who was too young to understand his father’s tears. Mike could relate to his brother’s condition, but he didn’t know how to comfort him. All Mike knew was violence, and he believed maybe taking Callahan down would ease Kyle’s pain. But loss and grief don’t fade away like that, do they? After Tracy’s death, Kyle had started popping pills once again to numb his pain, which begs the question: is Kyle going to become the next person to cross his breaking point? I have a feeling that’s what will happen in the finale of season 5. Kyle will either sacrifice himself to save Mike from his adversaries, or he might end up killing Mike, as somewhere in the back of his head, he believes that his brother is the root of all evil in Kingstown. In Kyle’s eyes, Mike’s no different than Robert Sawyer.
Before taking Kyle home, Mike made a stop at their usual spot, Don’s Diner, to meet Ian and Stevie. However, as Mike, Ian, Stevie, and Kyle were about to step out of the place, a man dressed as a riot policeman opened fire on them. Stevie was hit on the shoulder, but he quickly retreated, and everyone hid in the diner to protect themselves from the hail of gunfire. So, the question here is, who could this masked shooter be, and most importantly, who sent him? Okay, some theories here. Right now, Mike has three sworn enemies, that is, Callahan, Moses, and the Colombians. But I don’t think it was Callahan or the Aryans who sent this uniformed man, because it wasn’t their MO. This masked gunman had a fully automatic gun, and I hope I don’t offend anyone, but Callahan doesn’t seem like a guy who can afford toys like that. The man’s too busy enjoying his “happy meal” in Burger Barney’s. But he did get a call from someone whose identity wasn’t revealed in the episode, so this caller could be someone helping Callahan pull the strings outside the prison. Nevertheless, we are left with two other names, Moses and the cartel. It could be the Colombians who sent this attacker, because in the episode, Hobbs had told Mike that the cartel wouldn’t let her be in peace until they had found out who leaked the information on their shipment to the Crips. So maybe Cortez figured out that it was Mike, therefore equipping himself with some cool gear to smoke Mike and his friends, the same way Mike’s friend, Moses, had sent a man with a flamethrower to smoke their squatters out. However, it wasn’t exactly Mike who leaked the information, but Kevin Jackson, so it doesn’t make sense for the cartel to go after Mike and his brother, especially when he had sorted things out with the warden. So this leaves us with one last possibility, Frank Moses. He knows that Mike double-crossed him and likely suspects that it was Mike who had LJ killed, so he has all the reasons to exact revenge from Mike and his allies for framing him for Lamar’s murder.
If you ask me, I think the orchestrator of the attack is most likely Moses. Earlier in the episode, he had told Mike that he was done with showing restraint and he was going to flatten the whole goddamn town to find out who killed his only friend. So, it would make sense if he turned out to be the one who sent a masked gunman to kill those who conspired against him and betrayed him. Also, Moses has the means and power to afford those big guns. He had done it earlier, and he can do it again. And I don’t think he just sent one shooter to take down Mike and his friends but also sent another to assassinate Bunny and finish what he and LJ started, that is, to seize control of Kingstown. Well, we will find who this person is and who sent him in the next episode itself, but until then, I would love to hear your theories in the comments below.
