Mayor of Kingstown S4E3 Review: Kyle’s Breaking Point in Callahan’s Deadly Game

I walked out of Mayor of Kingstown Season 4 Episode 3 feeling twitchy in the best possible way and a little skeptical in the worst. The show piles on tension and quiet power plays this week, and one guy keeps hijacking my brain: Frank Moses. He talks like a partner, moves like a problem, and leaves chaos on the table the second he shows up. Let’s talk about it.

Moses is smiling. I’m not.

Bunny gets the VIP tour with Moses, who pitches him on an expansion play: drug smuggling with a nice cut for Bunny. That’s the surface pitch. The part that doesn’t sit right? Moses wants Mike McLusky standing beside him. Why? Money and muscle are obvious, but the timing is ugly. The Colombians get jumpy right after Moses lands in town, and suddenly the temperature spikes across the board. I don’t buy coincidences in Kingstown. Not anymore.

Callahan makes his move on Kyle

From the cold open, the vibe is rancid. Carney’s murder isn’t random; it looks engineered to snap Kyle in half. Merle Callahan conveniently hands Kyle pills like a concerned friend, then watches him spiral. This isn’t revenge, it’s leverage. Callahan’s trying to turn Kyle into a pressure point to squeeze Mike, and you can see how calculated it is by the way he waits for Kyle to swallow the hook.

The smuggling class no one asked for

Moses walking Bunny through his operation is one of those strange little detours the show does well: Canada ships trash to Michigan, Moses hides product in the garbage stream, everybody looks the other way. It’s a real-world loophole twisted into a pipeline. Seeing Bunny clock the system adds some texture to their dynamic, but trust is not on the menu. Moses is playing a longer game, and that chessboard absolutely includes the McLuskys.

Mike smells the setup

Mike stays in detective mode, which is when he’s most dangerous. Carney’s locker is tampered with, and while Ian and Stevie are ready to tag Carney as a smuggler, Mike refuses to slam the case shut for convenience. He keeps it open, keeps the heat diffuse, and quietly worries about Cindy and Kyle getting pulled under. Also, those cagey exchanges with Deputy Warden Torres and Nina? No one’s saying it out loud, but there’s rot in that system.

Blood in the streets, and Cortez isn’t hiding

Bunny stumbles onto a nightmare: his corner boys hacked up like a message. The Colombians aren’t playing defense anymore, and Cortez is stepping forward as the guy to fear. The show has always been grim, but this is surgical and cruel in a way that means momentum has shifted. You feel it the second you see it.

Robert and Evelyn: the other powder keg

Meanwhile, Robert’s fixation on Evelyn is starting to look like an accelerating car with no brakes. Mike steps in and tries to head it off, but Robert doesn’t look like a man who’s going to tap the brakes. It’s messy, personal, and it threatens to knock over everything Mike is trying to stabilize.

Inside the walls: Mike recruits Kevin

Mike pulls Kevin into his orbit, and it reads as smart and risky at the same time. Kevin’s useful but scared, which is a volatile combination in a prison where eyes and ears belong to the highest bidder. Every quiet conversation in there feels like it’s happening under a spotlight.

Flamethrowers and fallout

About that safehouse hit: Moses doesn’t just posture, he escalates. A flamethrower shows up, and two of his guys go at an armed crew. They make a dent, but most of the Colombians slip away. It’s a big, loud play that raises more questions than it answers. Was this about crippling the cartel or just sending a message? Either way, Cortez walks out looking more dangerous than he did walking in.

The bigger picture, as of right now

• Moses is courting Bunny while pulling Mike into frame, and the Colombians start twitching right on cue.
• Callahan is grooming Kyle as a weapon against Mike; Carney’s murder feels like step one in that plan.
• Mike won’t rubber-stamp the Carney narrative; he flags the locker tampering and keeps options open.
• Bunny’s crew gets butchered, which hardens Cortez as the season’s rising threat.
• Robert’s fixation on Evelyn is headed somewhere ugly unless someone yanks the wheel.
• Kevin’s in play inside the prison, but every ally there is also a liability.
• Safehouse assault = splashy, partial success; most Colombians escape, stakes go up.

So... was it good?

Mostly, yeah. The tension is steady, the strategy is fun to watch, and the character beats land more often than not. The prison maneuvering works, Callahan’s manipulation is chilling, and the Moses/Bunny pairing is charged. I felt Kyle’s slide, Mike’s caution, Bunny’s unease.

But the pacing drags in spots, and a couple of threads feel like reruns. Moses’ chaos-agent thing is compelling, but his motives are muddled to the point where I’m not sure if the confusion is the point or just... confusion. Kyle’s pill spiral is effective but familiar. And Bunny’s field trip with Moses doesn’t quite hit the high bar this show can clear.

Where this leaves us

Moses looks like a friend right up until you remember he benefits most from the fire he’s setting. Cortez is leveling up. Callahan is playing dirty with Kyle. Mike is stuck doing triage with a city that won’t stop bleeding. Classic Kingstown, just meaner.

What’s your read? Is Moses a partner, a predator, or both? Does Kyle find the brakes before Callahan drives him off a cliff? Drop your theories below.

Mayor of Kingstown streams on Paramount+.