Mayor of Kingstown

This show blew my expectations out of the water! It is excellent in every way, especially where 90% of current shows lack most good qualities. Jeremy Renner just proves he is an elite actor, and deserves full recognition! The acting ALL AROUND is flawless, from 15+ characters! Let show that had that was Man in High Castle and 24. The plot is realistic, gritty, and never predictable. It does what few shows, show a surreal and realistic pictures of the depravity of men and their sin nature, how man treats his fellow, and how fools reap their folly. Mike plays a Christian peacemaker, even though he makes no claim to be one. The show gives Mira lessons every episode, of virtues and vices, of principles and temptations, and every life "is a series of choices" as the Mom says. I LOVE the character Mike exemplifies, which is not found in any other show or recent movie. Cons: Too much profanity and far too graphic depiction of violent gore when the viewer can easily decipher what is about to happen Ex: the dog getting balls cut!

Antoine Fuqua is a top notch director who deserves TOP respect!!!

Brutal, bleak, relentless, thrilling, brilliant TV. The grubby underside of the American Dream laid bare. Superbly acted and filmed without pity. I've knocked one star off for the extremely irritating Diane West character whose virtue signalling is utterly extraneous.

Criminal dramas aren't something new. They are usually cheap to produce and are based on cliches. That's why majority of those are bad.

Mayor of Kindstown takes an interesting variation of a plot, and sticks to it, presenting a story that goes through the series, rather than a set of standalone episodes.

Pros: * good acting. Good for Jeremy Renner to switch from the weakest avenger to a strong hero himself.

* consistent story. Flawed characters stay true to themselves and consistent.

Cons: * some unnecessary dramatization. I find the role of hero's mother to be annoying and useless. Why would a prison fund lessons that provoke racial tensions among inmates?

* the concept "police ignores criminals for convenience" allows Deus Ex Machina to appear at any second, which is usually a cheap move. Season 1 avoided it, but I'm worried that the final developments in Season 2 would make it worse.

I'm excited to see where they are taking this. The general plot is a great idea and leaves open a kind of Sopranos-SOA-Justified-Shield-ish type vibe where it can go a lot of places and show a lot of angles. Ignore the negative reviews, anyone who writes off a show based on one episode, or the first 15 minutes of one episodes has no business leaving reviews because their opinion becomes invalid from a lack of depth.

Renner is perfect in this roll. He is the brother of the Mayor. The mother plays a depressing, liberal history teacher who hates the world. Lots of good stuff, some nudity, some violence. A well balanced cops and robber drama. This one has legs.