The Lie of the Truth

Season

1

Episode

9

Air date

January 2, 2022

Writer

Taylor Sheridan

Director

Stephen Kay

Episode guide
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The Devil is Us	This Piece of My Soul

The Lie of the Truth is the ninth episode of the Paramount+ series, Mayor of Kingstown^[1]. It aired on January 2, 2022.

Synopsis[]

Tracy has good news for Kyle. Mike and Iris spend a peaceful day at the cabin, unaware of the trouble escalating back in town.^[1]

Plot[]

A fire fight breaks out as the police raid Duke's hideout; shooting a number of occupants dressed in clean-room suits. Later, only two people are escorted out alive.

At the cabin, Mike makes breakfast by whisking some eggs and measures flour for German pancakes for himself and Iris.

Back in Kingstown, Kyle tries to rush out of the house, ignoring his mother's request to join her and his wife for breakfast. Mariam gets angry at his refusal to participate in family moments and tries to offer advice. As it turns out, Kyle recently missed the ultrasound where his wife found out they were having a son, who is due on February 29. Kyle complains he has no good choices, but his mom points out that the ones he has made keep pulling him away from the things he loves. Eventually, Kyle suggests they name their son Mitch, after his murdered brother.

Mike checks in on Iris, who tells him that no matter how much she scrubs, she can't get rid of the residue from the people who assaulted her. The two sit down for the home-cooked breakfast that Mike made, only Mike's already eaten and Iris says she can't eat in front of Mike. After Mike leaves to wait out Iris' breakfast on the porch, Iris comes out to join him and the two chat about bird names and Mike becoming a chef. Iris asks Mike for a favor, which turns out to be holding her, fully clothed, in bed while she sobs herself to sleep.

Elsewhere, ghe prison guards review footage of the recent stabbing incident with the Warden. The guards are convinced that the inmates are working together against the guards and suggest that this is a result of the Warden legitimizing their complaints. While the Warden agrees to move the suspects to county, he refuses to put the prison on lockdown. The guards squabble among themselves about how much information on the guards' actions should be revealed to the Warden, who's only a politician and not on the front lines like they are.

The guards go to collect the prisoners they suspect of murdering their colleague, beginning with P-Dog. The process of shackling the man is extensive, beginning with hands and feet but ending with a gag and netted hood. Meanwhile Kyle and Ian arrive at the prison to oversee the transfer of Milo, handing over an abundance of weapons they brought with them, including brass knuckles.

Mariam takes a meeting about the woman who stabbed a guard recently. The cops think that she's lying about claiming self-defense and have asked Mariam to have a compassionate conversation with the inmate to see if she can identify any inconsistencies or get her to share any additional information. Mariam initially hesitates, unwilling to doubt the woman's testimony or risk the relationship that she's established with the inmates, but eventually agrees.

When Kyle and Ian arrive to pick up Milo, they are stopped in the same room as the shackled P-Dog and a number of custodial workers who appear to be friends of the inmate. Before the cops have a chance to grab their target and get out of there, the inmates go on the offensive. They beat the cops and guards, tasing them and using pepper spray, while Milo looks on. As P-Dog goes to leave, Milo helps him identify which key to use but suggests they open the weapons locker to arm their escape and of course Milo will help with that if they uncuff him.

The group arms themselves with pistols and rifles, using them on the first wave of guards that approaches. As the escaping convicts shoot their way into the control rooms, the rest of the inmates turn aggressive and fight back against being put back in their cells. As P-Dog asks the one guard they haven't killed to open up everything in the prison, Milo sneaks off into an unnoticed stairwell. Meanwhile the rushing hordes of freed inmates make easy work of the riot-geared guards.

Kyle and Ian get up from their beatings. Ian pours Red Bull into Kyle's hands so he can wash the pepper spray out of his eyes and the two move deeper inside the prison to find a place to hide. One guard looks onto the yard from the tower as it's overrun by inmates, seemingly the only one effective at suppressing the rising tide of aggression.

Mariam meets with the accused inmate, telling her upfront why she's there. The inmate tells her about her sordid history of abuse at the hands of her foster parents and how she's angry at who gets to determine what the truth is and who can tell it. Mariam asks her point blank if the guard committed a crime, giving her a chance to come clean without saying anything that would be recorded and used against her, but the inmate nevertheless sticks to her story.

Kyle and Ian make their way into what appears to be the sewer passages. They find a group of inmates hiding in the same place, afraid of retribution from other inmates now that they have guns to settle old scores. Mariam and the rest of the staff are evacuated from the women's prison as a result of the riot. As she stands outside looking onto the prison, an explosion rocks the building.

Oblivious to the nightmare unfolding in Kingstown, Mike watches Iris bathe at her request. She tells him how bathing de-mystifies and de-sexualizes the human body and that she's glad Mike's there. He tells her that she doesn't owe him anything, and that he killed those men because they deserved to die and not to win Iris' favor. She says she's had a hundred guys swear they'd die for her but none that would kill. When Mike asks what they're doing there, she says they're not doing anything, clearly meaning that even if she feels that she owes Mike, that this debt won't be paid with sex. A sense of calm comradery between the two as Mike puts his arm around Iris' shoulder while she leans against him.