Mayor of Kingstown season 4, episode 2 review

SPOILER ALERT: The following contains spoilers for Mayor of Kingstown Season 4, Episode 2. It also contains discussion of suicide.

Mayor of Kingstown Season 4 is making sure that no one gets comfortable, and that includes the audience. After the first episode established the new world order and the new players involved, Episode 2 gut-punches the viewers just to be clear that things aren’t ever going to be the same again.

“Promises to Keep” sets the tone right away, as new Anchor Bay prison guard Cindy Stephens (Laura Benanti) faces a prisoner who self-harms before dying by suicide right in front of her. The only thing that has to do with the main story is that Kyle McLusky has to snap Cindy out of her shock. But that sequence of events is so disturbing that it raises the tension for the whole rest of the hour. There are three plotlines across the episode, all of which converge into an ending that proves all of the changes in the season premiere weren’t just for show.

First and foremost, Mike is understandably enraged that Kyle has been attacked on his first day (more like first hour) in Anchor Bay — and he’s out for blood of his own. Mike reprimands Carney for not keeping a better eye on Kyle, but is unable to get to the prison before Nina Hobbs, which leads to…