The Price

Season

1

Episode

4

Air date

November 28, 2021

Writer

Taylor Sheridan

Director

Ben Richardson

Episode guide
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"The Price" is the fourth episode of the Paramount+ series, Mayor of Kingstown^[1]. It aired on November 28, 2021.

Synopsis[]

Everyone wants something from Mike, who reminds them who is in control. Iris visits Mike’s office. Mariam and Mike discuss Kyle's future.^[1]

Plot[]

Milo is in his prison cell, reheating a drink by building a fire out of a torn paper cup and matches he apparently has easy access to. As he sips, he stares at the wall that is empty except for a torn newspaper clipping advertising a Michigan land auction.

Later, Mike is shown having sex with a woman in a bathroom, who mentions that she cannot be seen with him when he suggests they grab food from the food court afterward.

In front of a class of college students instead of inmates, Mariam lectures about early colonial travel to the western part of the U.S. After her class, Mike approaches his mom. It is while still on the campus that Mariam tells Mike that his brother's wife is pregnant after punching and slapping Mike for his ignorance about the situation, right in public and surrounded by students. She suggests that Mike help Kyle make the right choice and take a different job away from the family business; one that is less likely to leave his wife a widow.

Meanwhile, Bunny calls Mike to get him to come over for a discussion, preferably with White Castle. Mike tells him that an FBI van is listening to their in-person conversations so they could just as easily talk on the phone, but agrees to come in person anyway. Bunny says that his guys inside want payment for their role in helping to kill the child murderer, but Mike pushes back. He tells Bunny that the guards are going to loosen up on things in the prison for a while but that no one can be asked for these specific favors. It's clear that both Mike and Bunny are figuring out how to deal with the aftermath of the guards sanctioning an inmate’s murder and how to navigate who owes what as a result.

Meanwhile, Mike receives a call from Pete ordering him to put his crew at the top of the line for handouts after their involvement in the prison murder. When Mike calls into his own office to let his assistant Rebecca know he won't be in, he learns that there's only one person waiting for him. After they hang up, this sole visitor is revealed to be Iris, the sex worker that Milo called into Kingstown from New York. As she leaves, Iris tells Rebecca that she's beautiful, a kind deed for what must be thankless work.

When Mike arrives at Pete's office, he throws a trash can through the plate glass window to announce his presence. Mike tells Pete, as he told Bunny, that there are no favors. The guards will loosen things up but there's no list of people getting handouts for their involvement.

Back at his cabin, Mike smokes while the bear that once brought him so much fear sniffs around the fake bear that Mike used for arrow target practice. Mike promises that the fake bear isn't meant to be him, but the bear runs when Kyle drives up. The two brothers sit on the porch drinking and talking about Kyle's future. Kyle is hesitant about accepting the safer job offer in Benton Harbor, and as much as he and Mike always talk about getting out, he thinks this opportunity may not be the right one.

Back at the office, Rebecca reminds Mike that for them to stay in business and pay their bills they have to take on clients. Mike hasn't been in for days and Rebecca worries that it's because Mike's been taking things personally. She also suggests that starting his day with alcohol in his coffee sets a bad precedent. Mike tells her that he's not as good at this job as Mitch was but that he'll work on bringing in more money, but what he puts in his coffee doesn't concern her.

Later, Mike meets with one of his prison guard friends to let them know what the inmates and gangs are requesting as favors. To remind everyone of the easy treatment they've been getting as thanks, the two hatch a plan to tighten everything back up in the prison.

Mike then heads to the Kingstown police department to get an address for Carlos Jimenez to get in touch with the Mexican gang.

At the women's prison, Mariam is heading to teach a class when a fight breaks out between inmates in the hallway. While the guards deal with the fight, Mariam is stuck in the classroom with the previous class' instructor and the two seem to butt heads about whether this is an inconvenience for the instructors or the sign of something much worse.

Finally, Mike makes it back into his office and Iris gets a chance to meet with him. She tells Mike that Milo wants to make up and offers him her body as amends. Mike gets angry at the prospect and tells her that this town is full of wolves that will destroy her. He turns her down but has her tell Milo that they had fun. That night, Mike heads to the dog-fighting arena where Carlos has been hanging out. He learns that Carlos was picked up on a warrant for nearly $4,000 of unpaid child support. The police will hand Carlos over to Mike if he makes the not insignificant payment. After making Carlos' bail, the two discuss reining in the favor of requests coming from the Mexican gang.

When Mike calls Kyle, he finds that Kyle is at a pizza place that's being cased. Kyle has Ian come through the back door to take out what they think is an addict who's about to rob the place, but when the owner opens fire they take him down instead.

Cast and characters[]

Starring[]

Guest starring[]

Nichole Galicia as Rebecca
James Jordan as Ed Simmons
Jose Pablo Cantillo as Carlos Jimenez
Andrew Howard as Duke
Necar Zadegan as Assistant D.A. Evelyn Foley
Derek Basco as Keno

Co-starring[]

Ryan Rosery as Latrell
Sophia Walker as Janelle
Feaven Abera as Karen
Louco St. Fleur as Tyson
Ulysses Montoya as Chavez
Nabeel El Khafif as Prison Guard
Joe Parro as Greaser
Jesse Bostick as Young Man
Cody Hill as Prisoner #1
Mark Patterson as Prisoner #2
James Edward Campbell as Man at Peterford Trucking #2
Tristan Paul Hernandez as Deputy
Connor Smith as Loner
Dru Viergever as Guard #3
Jorge Molina as Mexican Cook

Notes[]

On November 28, 2021, the day this episode premiered, Cameron K. Lewis, a storyboard artist for the series shared storyboard of the pizzeria sequence that he worked on.^[2]
- Also on this day, it was revealed that starting with this episode, Fans who went straight from watching “Yellowstone” to “Mayor of Kingstown” won’t be able to find it on CBS anymore. Starting Nov. 28, “MOK” will only be available on Paramount Plus. The President and CEO of MTV Entertainment Group, Chris McCarthy, released a statement about the shift from cable to streaming only:Mayor of Kingstown is the #1 original scripted drama on Paramount+ since its rebrand and the number-one new scripted cable premiere since Yellowstone in 2018,” McCarthy said in a press release. “More importantly, it’s already outpacing Yellowstone in key demos … which is why we’re confident our franchise strategy is working and Mayor of Kingstown will continue to thrive after it moves exclusively to Paramount+ on November 28th.^[3]