Santa Jesus

**Santa Jesus** is the eight episode of Season 2, and the eighteenth episode of the Paramount+ series, *Mayor of Kingstown* overall. It aired on March 5, 2023.

## Synopsis

*Mike spends his version of a day off the grid. Ian goes to great lengths to solve a problem. Bunny has a gift for Raphael. Milo speaks to Iris alone.*

## Plot

Mike McLusky is starting his morning drunk. At least he has the common sense to leave his car keys and his gun with the bartender, saying that when he comes back, she should only give him the gun. While he wanders the streets of Kingstown unarmed and without his phone, his brother Kyle desperately searches for him. The only person not worried is Bunny Washington, who gets released from Anchor Bay after being thrown in prison.

Bunny's first act is to throw a huge party back on his rooftop. His second is to call Mike and extend a sort of olive branch, but then Kyle arrives and tells him that Mike has vanished. Meanwhile, Ian's serial killer friend Charlie goes along with their previously discussed plan by literally eating a rock so Ian can take him to the dentist. What Ian is really doing is bringing him to "visit" Ben, the guy informing on Robert to the District Attorney. If Ben doesn't recant his statement, well, Charlie knows where he and his family live. Ben makes the call.

Unfortunately, Ian's intimidation tactic backfires big time when Ben subsequently refers to Charlie as a rapist, a word which causes Charlie to immediately snap his neck. Ian is horrified, but only for about 30 seconds before he trashes Ben's living room to make the death appear as a robbery. Elsewhere, Mike's former friend Iris is brought before Milo Sunter so he can rhapsodize about their previous relationship and how it was so much better than her current "business transactions" as a prostitute. As Milo leaves, Iris sheds a tear.

Mike's absence does mean that his mother Mariam is forced to handle her problem on her own. Desperate to get her attacker-turned-buddy Jacob Reed out, she finds that Jacob has been transferred prematurely. But maybe Mike saving or being expected to save everyone is why he's decided to do a runner. At his third bar, he finds Allison, the widow of Terry, one of the Kingstown Prison guards who died in the riot. "You jump in the cage, you get what you get, right?" she suggests. He admits to her that he's "pretty fucking terrible" at keeping everyone under control.

Ian briefly considers shooting Charlie to further cover up Ben's death, but changes his mind when Charlie thanks him for the kindness he's shown him. Then it's Kyle's turn to start drinking as Robert tells him that Ben recanted his statement. After Robert celebrates being clear of any prosecution for his shootings during the Kingstown Prison riot, Kyle gets a call from Bunny: no one has a hit out on Mike. Instead, he's gone back to Allison's place for a random hookup. She wants to know if he saw her late husband during the riot. "I'm just so fucking angry," she confesses. Mike assures her that Terry was just doing his job on that horrific day.

The next morning, Allison is informing on Mike to the Aryan Brotherhood -- so within minutes there's a car trailing him down the street. Kyle and Ian wait in his office, which is how Ian discovers Mike ditched his cell phone in his desk. Kyle answers a panicked call from Mariam as Mike goes back to the first bar to get his gun. He advises the bartender to lock her doors because he manages to shoot the driver of the mystery car: Davidson, the Aryan Brotherhood-affiliated guard. As it turns out, Mike can't even trust Allison. He decides to wait for a bus, but Milo Sunter appears, and it's not to check on his well-being.

## Cast and characters

### Starring

* Jeremy Renner as Mike McLusky
* Dianne Wiest as Mariam McLusky
* Hugh Dillon as Ian
* Tobi Bamtefa as Deverin "Bunny" Washington
* Taylor Handley as Kyle McLusky
* Emma Laird as Iris
* Derek Webster as Stevie
* Hamish Allan-Headley as Robert
* Nishi Munshi as Tracy McLusky
* Aidan Gillen as Milo Sunter

### Guest starring

* Necar Zadegan as Assistant D.A. Evelyn Foley
* Gratiela Brancusi as Tatiana
* George Tchortov as Joseph the Russian
* D Smoke as Raphael
* Nichole Galicia as Rebecca
* Matt Gerald as Davidson
* Derek Basco as Keno
* Kenny Johnson as Charlie Pickings
* Nona Parker Johnson as Rhonda
* Michael Godere as Lewis
* Callie Thorne as Allison
* Tina Ivlev as Paris
* Blake Shields as Morrisey

### Co-starring

* Phil Rice as Digo
* Bennie Taylor as Officious Guard
* Matt Hopkins as Check-out Guard
* Caesar Gilliam as Bunny's Lieutenant

## Gallery

### Promotional Videos

Mayor Of Kingstown - Behind The Story- "Santa Jesus" (S2, E8) - Paramount+Mayor Of Kingstown - Kyle Meets Bunny (S2, E8) - Paramount+

## External Links

* Mayor of Kingstown at the Internet Movie Database
* Follow Mayor of Kingstown (@mayorofkingstown) on Instagram
* Mayor of Kingstown on Wikipedia
* Follow Mayor of Kingstown (@kingstown) on Twitter
* Watch *Mayor of Kingstown* on Paramount+