While Taylor Sheridan’s Mayor of Kingstown might be a major hit with audiences, the crime thriller has never been able to win over critics, as evidenced by its shockingly low Rotten Tomatoes score. Taylor Sheridan’s crime thriller, Mayor of Kingstown, started its fourth season recently, and the show has not been slow to shock its audience.
With a brutal, unexpected character death in only its third episode, Mayor of Kingstown season 4 maintains the same gritty atmosphere as earlier outings of the series. It’s a tone shared by many of the shows in the Taylor Sheridan universe, although Tulsa King is arguably more lighthearted despite featuring just as much bloody violence.
However, while Mayor of Kingstown has a lot in common with other Sheridan projects, a few things make the crime thriller stand out. Unlike Yellowstone and its many spinoffs, the show isn’t a traditional Western. While Tulsa King is something of a Neo-Western, Mayor of Kingstown is more of a straightforward crime drama.
Mayor of Kingstown Has Taylor Sheridan’s Worst Rotten Tomatoes Score So Far
Unfortunately for the show runner, that is not the only thing that makes Mayor of Kingstown stand out in his canon. With only 53% from critics, Mayor of Kingstown is also the worst-received of Sheridan’s shows on Rotten Tomatoes. The series follows Jeremy Renner’s Mike McLusky, a mediator between the titular city’s many criminal gangs.
While Mayor of Kingstown takes an admirable stab at looking at the ways in which the carceral state feeds corruption and increases crime, the show ran into a problem that critics found all too familiar in its genre. Like Low Winter Sun before it, Mayor of Kingstown was too gritty, gloomy, downbeat, and dour to win over reviewers.
Critics complained that it was tough to get invested in a cast of characters who scarcely seemed to care about their own lives, and that the show’s constant violence had a numbing effect as opposed to an enlivening one. The critical rating of the series dropped further in its second season, reaching as low as 50%, although this improved in its third outing.
While Mayor of Kingstown season 4 got even darker than its predecessors, this didn’t stop fans from flocking to the show. As far back as his screenplay for 2018’s disappointing sequel Sicario: Day of the Soldado, Sheridan has been a divisive figure among reviewers but a fan-favorite for audiences.
Why Mayor of Kingstown Struggled With Critics
His 2021 survival thriller movie, Those Who Wish Me Dead, underperformed with both reviewers and audiences alike, but Yellowstone and 1883’s mixed reviews never hurt its massive audience numbers. Similarly, Lioness struggled with critics almost as much as Mayor of Kingstown, earning only 56 % on Rotten Tomatoes.
While Lioness’s critics also said the show lacked stakes and action, this wasn’t the only criticism leveled at Mayor of Kingstown. Instead, it was the show’s perceived lack of originality that caused season 1 to struggle, leading to unflattering comparisons to classics like The Wire, The Shield, and We Own This City.
Those three shows all took on corruption at multiple levels of law enforcement and criminal gangs alike, but critics argued that they brought more originality to the table than Mayor of Kingstown season 1. Although Mayor of Kingstown’s villains have been some of the best in Sheridan’s shows, a great antagonist isn’t necessarily enough to keep viewers invested.
What made The Wire so impressive was its ability to bounce between various protagonists seamlessly, creating a rich, immersive portrayal of its setting. Similarly, The Shield’s ability to get viewers invested in the story of some truly repugnant, corrupt cops was a big achievement, as this effectively left the show with no discernible heroes.
Mayor of Kingstown’s Critical Struggles Haven’t Hurt Its Popularity
Despite this, viewers cared where its story was going, earning The Shield critical acclaim throughout its run. Reviewers argued that Mayor of Kingstown avoided the hard questions posed by both of these shows in favor of dramatic action and excessive grittiness to cover up a lack of depth.
To be clear, Mayor of Kingstown’s low Rotten Tomatoes score is not a problem for the show’s longevity. Like Tulsa King and the ever-growing Yellowstone universe, Mayor of Kingstown is still one of Sheridan’s biggest shows. This is no small achievement considering how much work the show runner puts out and how successful his other shows are.
As such, it should not come as a shock if the planned ending of Mayor of Kingstown is reached before the series is canceled. There is no reason to worry about the show’s future despite its critical struggles, since Sheridan’s audience has consistently supported the show since Mayor of Kingstown began four years ago.
For the reviewers who want the series to delve deeper into its characters, Mayor of Kingstown may continue to come up short in comparison to the shows it takes inspiration from. However, for fans of Taylor Sheridan, Mayor of Kingstown clearly holds some enduring appeal regardless of what the reviewers say.
- Release Date
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November 14, 2021
- Network
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Paramount+
- Showrunner
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Taylor Sheridan
- Directors
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Stephen Kay, Guy Ferland, Christoph Schrewe, Clark Johnson, Paul Cameron, Tasha Smith, Taylor Sheridan
- Writers
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James Arcega Tinsley
