MAYOR OF KINGSTOWN: SEASON FOUR
Starring: Jeremy Renner, Hugh Dillon, Tobi Bamtefa, Taylor Handley, Derek Webster, Hamish Allan-Headley, Nishi Munshi, Necar Zadegan, Laura Benanti, Lennie James, and Edie Falco
Creators: Taylor Sheridan and Hugh Dillon
QUENTIN
With a soft reboot in its fourth — and, by some reports, penultimate — season, Mayor of Kingstown has emerged as the best and most consistent of Taylor Sheridan’s seven(!) Paramount+ properties (I am, admittedly, still catching up on Landman’s second season). Jeremy Renner’s star power and relatable too-old-for-this-shit energy, alongside new cast additions Edie Falco and Lennie James, goes a long way, but the character chemistry, layered storytelling, and willingness to not play it safe makes the bleak exploration of gang warfare and enduring corruption endlessly compelling, if not relentlessly grim. It’s easily the best season so far, just in time for (maybe) a stretch run.
ROBERT
Paramount+ is boosted by three entities: NFL football, CBS procedurals, and Taylor Sheridan. He creates and writes gritty American stories, with one of his best being Wind River. From his work on that came a relationship with Jeremy Renner and Mayor of Kingstown. By Season Four, the show knows what it is, but unfortunately, it coasts off its mature rating and star power, with conclusions coming too easily and silly character decisions undercutting plot threads spun out over multiple episodes. I respect how danger lurks constantly and no one, outside of Renner, feels safe to see another day, but otherwise, Kingstown feels inconsequential.
