Episode Grade: (8.6/10)
Mike and co. experience a rare day of wins featuring Bunny’s release from prison and Robert’s ostensible exoneration from the IA investigation. The celebrations will, no doubt, be short-lived as the situation in Kingstown continues to muddy.
Plot (42/50)
After hanging on to his neutrality for just over a season and a half, Mike has finally taken a side by getting Bunny released while Gunner (AB) and Dedrick (Bloods) remain in prison. And while this development serves an important purpose for the plot, it seems a bit inconsistent with how things were progressing up until this point. Let’s assume the release forms for the leaders were not officially tied to each other, so there’s no legal problem releasing them individually. Evelyn was clearly not onboard with releasing any of them just last episode in the aftermath of the DA’s murder. Let’s say she was convinced by Mike’s argument for their release in the name of peace, how does releasing only one of the leaders achieve that goal? If anything, that’s worse than keeping them all in prison, because now that they know that the DA is no longer an issue, they will take their continued imprisonment personally. That provocation will incite violence the moment Gunner and Dedrick feel like they have nothing left to lose, and Mike is going to be at the top of their target list. Speaking of Mike, the walls are seriously closing in on him. He’s had to play out this delicate balance of neutrality the whole time, but out of desperation, he’s rocked that balance in recent episodes. Bunny’s release has turned that rocking into a complete tilt, and Mike knows it. This episode is littered with symbolism about the current state of Mike’s life. The seemingly aimless bar-hopping represents how lost he is and is seriously giving off dead-man-walking vibes. In essence, Mike chooses to ignore his problems for a day, but ignoring problems doesn’t solve them, so he’s faced with one literally the next morning. His favoritism towards Bunny has caught up to him as he’s basically labeled an enemy of the AB at this point. As a result, he’s set up by Allison, a widow who blames the black prisoners for her prison guard husband’s murder during the riot. She teams up with Davidson, who probably didn’t need a second invitation to go after Mike, in an effort to teach Mike a lesson (or worse). Mike fends him off but ends up killing him the process. This unintentional murder will further antagonize Mike in the eyes of the AB, who will almost certainly retaliate with even more violence. Might they go after Raphael now that he doesn’t have Bunny by his side? Moving on, Ian too will have to deal with the aftermath of an unintentional murder. He brought Charlie along to visit Ben in an attempt to dissuade him from testifying against Robert, and it actually works. Unfortunately, as Ian and Charlie are leaving, Ben lashes out in anger and triggers Charlie, who promptly snaps Ben’s neck. Ian acts quickly to make it seem like Ben was killed in a robbery-gone-wrong, but at this point, his entire life is hanging by a thread. Ben murder’s right after he changes his mind about testifying out of the blue will draw the suspicion of anyone with half a brain. Still, Ian’s doing what he can to cover his tracks. He and and Charlie were wearing gloves and shower caps the entire time there were in Ben’s house, so there shouldn’t be any DNA trace. He also has the alibi as he was taking Charlie to the dentist at the time of the murder. What happens if someone questions Charlie though? Moving on, it seems it’s too late for Mariam or Mike to help Jacob after he was transferred out of juvenile prison early. This was a good episode that had drama, intrigue, and suspense even with the inconsistency surrounding Bunny’s release. I’m looking forward to Mike and Milo’s meeting as we enter the final act of this season.
Character Development (14/15)
Mike was having something of an existential crisis all episode long. Learning that people he knew have been dead for a while as he wanders Kingstown is a damning testament to how insignificant his own life is, at least that’s how he feels. Think about what this is doing to him psychologically. People he knew for a long time died; his life wasn’t affected in the slightest, heck he didn’t even think to ask about them until years after their deaths. Life carried on literally as if nothing happened. Who’s to say the same won’t happen to him? He’s dedicated his life to maintaining a peace that requires near-constant maintenance because of how regularly it’s broken. He’s singularly keeping it all together, meaning that his life’s work dies with him. That peace he’s fought so hard to preserve day in, day out has no chance of surviving in his absence. In other words, his entire existence will be erased. Yikes… With that said, the amount of people looking for Mike presents an interesting juxtaposition: on one hand, it validates the notion that peace in Kingstown is entirely dependent on Mike, but on the other hand, it highlights how important Mike’s work is. There’s no denying that he’s making a difference. Even his absence has brought together people that would never work together under normal circumstances (think Kyle and Bunny). Could there be hope for peace in Kingstown sans-Mike after all? Perhaps, but it sure doesn’t feel that way to him. His mini-bonding with Allison over the misery of Kingstown was nice until she betrayed him. I wonder if he’ll piece things together and if he’ll go back to confront her if he does. Kyle and Bunny had an interesting interaction over the uncertainty of what’s going on with Mike. Bunny made it known that this panicked feeling Kyle faces right now is one they face on a regular basis. That same feeling was behind the emotional farewell between Bunny and his cousin, Raphael, earlier in the episode. Moving on the relationship between Ian and Charlie has no business being as meaningful as it is at the moment. After Charlie snaps Ben’s neck, Ian has a lot of massive decisions to make with no time to think. Ian covers his tracks as well as can be expected given the circumstances, but Charlie is a serial-killing loose end he has to deal with. For a moment, it looked like he would kill him, a la Of Mice and Men. Ultimately, he couldn’t bring himself to pull the trigger. He couldn’t bring himself to execute a guilty-beyond-words serial killer in part because of how grateful Charlie was for Ian’s good treatment of him. Charlie is guilty of the worst imaginable crimes, yet there’s an innocence about him in that moment that Ian is struggling with. This was really good stuff. Finally, the conversation between Milo and Iris served to highlight the mental dominance Milo exerts over those around him.
Theme/Messages (4/5)
- “That lie was as perfect as love can be. A perfect illusion to the one who receives and even more so to the one that gives it because the giver receives adoration and power, both. The lie never betrays you, never leaves you, never gets old, never gets cancer. It is perfect every time you manufacture it.”
- So much of a person’s feeling of self-worth is tied to their work.
- Just because life goes on without you doesn’t mean you’re insignificant.
Acting (13/15)
Jeremy Renner (Mike) and Tobi Bamtefa (Bunny) were solid as always, but it was the side characters that stole the show here. D Smoke (Raphael) put in a powerful emotional display opposite Tobi Bamtefa, as did Callie Thorne (Allison) opposite Jeremy Renner. Aidan Gillen (Milo) has always been able to do so much with so little, and this was no different.
Cinematography (13/15)
- “Can’t Find My Way Home” by Blind Faith is a fitting way to open the episode.
- Cool sequence of Raphael playing the piano that transitioned into the actor’s song, “Shame on You,” playing over a montage of the various characters’ current situations (9:55 onwards)
- “A Tale of 2 Cities” by J. Cole plays over Bunny’s celebration of his freedom
- The bell tolling for Mike as Milo approaches while “Can’t Find My Way Home” plays again in the background was a great way to close out the episode.