‘Mayor of Kingstown,’ a great watch
Never before has a prison riot been better portrayed than in this production
It is safe to say that Mayor of Kingstown, at least for this reporter, is one of the best series of the last few months. The series stars Jeremy Renner ― who has come a long way since The Bourne Legacy ― Taylor Handley and the magnificent Dianne Wiest. The story is set in an imaginary small town where the main local business revolves around prisons. It is so fictitious that although it is supposed to be in Michigan, it was actually filmed in Kingston, Brantford, Toronto and Hamilton, all located in the province of Ontario, Canada. It’s all about the budget!
Created by Taylor Sheridan and Hugh Dillon, seldom has a prison riot been better portrayed than in this series. Moreover, Sheridan has long since become one of the greatest talents in the American audiovisual industry. His movies include blockbusters such as Sicario, Hell or High Water and Wind River, also starring Renner and showcasing his peculiar and contemporary vision of the far west, although the series that brought him into the limelight was Yellowstone.
Mike McLusky (Renner) is a kind of mediator or go-between for the various urban gangs that populate the local prisons and the police. His mother (Dianne Wiest), more enthusiastically than effectively, attempts to spread the message of culture to a select group of delinquents who encounter a brief respite from their daily grind in her classes.
Of course, the series is violent from the very first episode of the 10 that make up the first season, and this violence, either on scene or implied, suffuses all the episodes of the two seasons shown on SkyShowtime. It is in an environment that is naturally violent as life itself, and if anyone is in doubt they should watch the documentary that was made about the 1971 Attica Prison riot in New York State that resulted in 43 deaths and 80 wounded.
If what you long for is something relaxing, even something beautiful, you can always re-watch The Durrells or Brideshead Revisited, the feature film or series based on Evelyn Waugh’s novel. But in television, you have to remember that you can encounter everything under the sun.
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