‘Mayor of Kingstown’ Recap, Episode 6: ‘#081693’

When Frank Moses was first introduced in Mayor of Kingstownseason four premiere, I originally assumed he was in cahoots with the Colombian hitman Cortez and planned to destroy Bunny Washington. Then, in the very next episode, Frank gave Bunny a helping hand, and I felt like a drug addict. But even in this summaryI hedged my bet on the Frank-Cortez connection a bit by writing, “By the way, that doesn't mean Cortez is definitely not working for Frank. We get a few scenes with Mr. Moses this week, and while he explains his plans in Kingstown very seriously, he remains somewhat of a mystery.”

I'll be honest: By the end of this week's episode, “#081693,” I can't quite tell which of the Kingstown newcomers—Frank, Cortez, Warden Nina Hobbs, and her lackey David Torres—are allied with. I'm not even 100 percent sure anymore whether Cortez is a loyal Colombian soldier. I'm pretty sure guard Cindy Stevens isn't part of any larger conspiracy (other than helping Mike track Kyle). But everyone else? No guesswork. Not anymore.

This week all the old conventional wisdom will be tossed aside thanks to Frank, who is clearly up to something useless. After Cortez's men hijacked and set fire to Bunny's gun shipment last week, Frank and Mike gather to assess the damage, noting that the hijackers purposefully burned the train's contraband shipment rather than stealing it, and that their planning for this operation included access to the dead man's railroad switch. Although nothing is directly proven in this episode, the hijackers' knowledge of the train station suggests that Frank must have been an accomplice in the crime.

Meanwhile, as Bunny heads to the scene of the accident, a mysterious car forces his driver Lamar (Zuri James) to drive down a side road amid a hail of bullets from masked gunmen. Bunny is shot and hospitalized in critical condition. When Mike later interrogates Lamar, he realizes that Frank paid the driver to turn into the ambush.

However, before accusing Frank of anything, Mike should check in on Cortez, who still eats at the same restaurant in Kingstown every morning but otherwise stays out of KKE's sight. Cortez (who suddenly speaks perfect English, which annoys Ian to no end) answers Mike's questions about the train, noting that many Colombians died during the mission. But if Cortez feels betrayed by someone he trusted, he doesn't seem to care. He tells Mike that Bunny is just a pawn, and that the people he works with are after knights, rooks, kings… and “mayors.”

This brings us back to Frank, who seems suspiciously calm about the train hijacking and Bunny's subsequent hospitalization. He assures Mike that this disaster will not cause him much financial harm. (“I put losses before profits. I'll pay them back even if I have to rip them out of their skins.”) He seems more concerned when Mike suggests that the police might want to question him, given that he owns a warehouse. Frank's whole point is that he stays away from the criminal aspects of his organization. He was never arrested.

So Mike manages to show yet another Kingstown newcomer just how much authority he has as “mayor.” Last week, he ordered a stop and search of Nina's car. This week, to prove to Nina that he could be of use to her, he ordered the KPD to bring Frank in for questioning. He warns Frank ahead of time so the gangster can have his lawyer ready and avoid a “dragged away in handcuffs” scene that could get messy. But the arrest does occur.

But when Frank arrives at the station, he finds another Colombian hitman there, armed and angry. He survives the ensuing shooting, but the shooting itself again raises questions about who is working with whom in this city. (Also, do the cops just let anyone with a gun walk in and take over?) If I had to guess, I'd say Cortez ordered Frank killed in revenge for the men he lost in the hijacking. But like I said… I should probably take a break from Mayor of Kingstown plot-solving case.

The big question I have whenever the narrative gets confusing on shows like this is: writers know where they're going or are they just twisting the plot for the sake of it to kill time before the season finale? And I think that Mayor of Kingstown here people control the narrative, even if they enjoy teasing their audience too much.

Additionally, the sudden twists in the story are quite effective at creating excitement. This is certainly one of the most intense episodes this week, as Kyle (“#081693” in the episode title) nervously navigates GenPop. While Cindy urgently tries to alert Mike that Kyle is missing from his cell – and doesn't show up as transferred – Kyle remains on alert, keeping a wary eye on all the prisoners who seem to know him.

The scenes with Kyle are unnerving because it is not entirely clear what the warden had in mind when she took him away from AdSeg. When he tries to appeal to the guards, telling them that he is a police officer and should be locked up, they first mock him and then drag him into the basement, where prisoners are waiting to beat and rape him. Throughout his entire ordeal, the only people looking out for Kyle are the Aryans, who protect him in the cafeteria and then chase away his bullies. (Presumably, since Merle has Nina's overall blessing, she either approved of the Aryans' actions or assumed they would intervene. But again… no need to guess.)

When Kyle finally returns to his cell, Merle wonders aloud whether Kyle appreciates having someone looking out for him—implying that Mike has done a pretty poor job of keeping his brother safe. This is not entirely fair for two reasons: 1. Kyle's abandonment and rescue were obviously deliberately planned; and 2. Mike can't help himself. anyone safe.

However, it's notable that Mike spends a lot of time this week focusing on Bunny. In his spare time, he takes the time to personally tell Bunny's sister that her brother is in the hospital. And when he realizes that Frank wants to kill Bunny, he heads to the hospital himself to sit at the bedside of his unconscious friend.

I know Mike says he wants the best for everyone in Kingstown, but he always seems to go the extra mile for Bunny, doesn't he? Sometimes I wonder if the reason Mike hates Merle so much is because during his time in prison, Merle turned him into a racial warrior, fighting against the guys he grew up with and cares about the most.

• In other Cindy news, her creepy co-worker Will Breen (Matthew Del Negro) sits in his car after work and watches her walk across the parking lot while he tries—and, perhaps more alarmingly, fails—to please himself. Oh gods.

• ADA Evelyn Foley doesn't have much time in this episode, but we do see the devastating moment when she realizes her jury witness is AWOL and that her case against Ian has likely been torpedoed. (If she ever learns that the witness is dead in the river, the case must be reopened.)

• Ian has a funny moment where he erases lottery tickets and dreams of moving to Montana. This got me thinking. Earlier in the episode, we see a fancy CNG helicopter arrive at the scene of a train hijacking, which isn't surprising given what we know about how much money and equipment flows into local police departments. But given that Ian is also corrupt, do we really think he's short on money?