Season 1 is a slow burn that ends with a shocking uprising that promises to change the lives of everyone involved. "Mayor of Kingstown" explores the racial inequalities of the American corrections system, and it raises interesting questions about cyclical violence and how it erodes empathy, desensitizing those surrounded by violence to the horrors of it. Further complicating Mike's life is his strained relationship with his mother, Miriam (Dianne Wiest), and an old adversary who wants to use him to further a mysterious agenda.
He longs to escape Kingstown, but the brutal murder of his brother, Mitch (Kyle Chandler), forces Mike to step up, wrangling deals to keep the lid on a powder keg and brokering peace between people just looking for any excuse to act on their darkest impulses. Mike is tethered to the Rust Belt town, a violent, bleak hellscape where misery loves company. The show stars Jeremy Renner as Mike McLusky, whose family is involved in the "business of incarceration." Mike's job is to serve as a go-between amongst the prisoners, their families, law enforcement, and the heads of the warring factions behind bars. Season 1 of "Mayor of Kingstown" ends with a bang, begging the question: Are there enough story arcs left open-ended to warrant a Season 2? The series, created by "Yellowstone" co-creators Taylor Sheridan and Hugh Dillon (who also plays Ian), is set in Kingstown, Michigan, where there are seven prisons within a 10-mile radius.