Hailing from “Yellowstone” co-creator and Academy Award® nominee Taylor Sheridan and Hugh Dillon, “MAYOR OF KINGSTOWN” follows the McLusky family, power brokers in Kingstown, Mich., where the business of incarceration is the only thriving industry. Tackling themes of systemic racism, corruption and inequality, the series provides a stark look at their attempt to bring order and justice to a town that has neither.

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Video Quality

Mayor Of Kingstown: The Complete First Season arrives on Blu-Ray courtesy of Paramount Home Entertainment with a terrific AVC encoded 1080p transfer. Due to the dour and gritty aesthetic of the series, it does not replicate the visual splendor of a series such as Yellowstone, but it captures the look of the show exactly how it is intended. The show has a slightly muted color palette that expertly showcases the decaying city and grimy prison interiors. There are some impressive instances of more lively colors popping off the screen, but do not expect a Technicolor spectacle. Skin tones appear very natural across the entire cast with even the most minor facial details on display.

The level of subtle detail in this presentation is tremendous, as all of the smallest aspects of the costumes and grimy production design are razor sharp. Black levels are appropriately deep and give way to a nice amount of detail in shadows with only a discrete amount of noise in some shadowy moments. Bright whites do not fall victim to any blooming in this presentation. There are no notable instances of aliasing or compression artifacts detectable here. Once again, this presentation is a step up from the streaming version of the show, which suffers slightly from being overly compressed. This Blu-Ray is another home run for Paramount.

Audio Quality

This Blu-Ray comes with a dynamic Dolby TrueHD 5.1 lossless track that brings the series to life quite nicely. The score from Andrew Lockington perfectly establishes the mood for the story. Music is consistently presented with flawless fidelity within the mix. While the show may not have huge action pieces every minute of every episode, kinetic moments are given a notable power in the mix when it counts. There are some standout moments throughout the season that present a forceful showing in the low end such as action in the prison. Environmental sounds are an enduring aspect of this track as it shows off the natural sounds of each location. These ambient sounds are precisely placed in the surround channels with some effective panning when applicable. Dialogue always comes through perfectly clear without being stepped on by the score or any sound effects. The audio presentation here is simply great. There are English SDH subtitles provided.

Special Features

Behind the Story: Every episode is given an accompanying in-depth featurette which gives you a closer look at certain characters, an analysis of plot developments, highlights from the episodes and more. These are fun additions that are worthwhile for fans.

- The Mayor Of Kingstown (7:57)

- The End Begins (7:07)

- Simply Murder (6:52)

- The Price (9:02)

- Orion (4:57)

- Every Feather (8:22)

- Along Came A Spider (6:47)

- The Devil Is Us (7:47)

- The Lie Of The Truth (6:12)

- This Piece Of My Soul (7:12)

Perdition – Making Mayor Of Kingstown: A 35-minute featurette that provides a very in-depth look at the origins of the series, the narrative arc of the season, cast and character dynamics, the atmosphere on set, behind the scenes footage, the construction of key moments and more. This is surprisingly meaty and worth checking out as a supplement to the show.

Zero Sum Game – The Finale: A 13-minute featurette which takes a more focused look at the developments of the finale and what it means for the series.

Inside Mayor Of Kingstown: A minute-long promotional video which gives a basic rundown of the series.

People of Kingstown: Brief character-specific videos are provided which give an overview of the McLusky clan including Mike (1:02), Mitch (1:02) and Mariam (1:02).

Cast Favorite Scenes: Another collection of brief videos in which the cast discuss their favorite scenes from the season including Nishi’s Favorite Scene (1:01), Aidan’s Favorite Scene (1:01), Hugh’s Favorite Scene (1:02), Emma’s Favorite Scene (1:02), and Tobi’s Favorite Scene (1:02).

Final Thoughts

Mayor Of Kingstown finds Taylor Sheridan once again creating a very specific look at American values and dynamics. Throughout this first season, there are some growing pains which seem to be fine tuned as the story goes along. Some of the storylines feel firmly established and considered, while others need a little more love to elevate this series to the level of prestige it seems to be chasing. The performances are terrific all around, and even when flawed the series rarely becomes an uninteresting watch. If the right lessons are taken away for future installments, this could be something really special. Paramount Home Entertainment has delivered a Blu-Ray that offers a truly excellent A/V presentation and some surprisingly in-depth special features. If you are a fan of Taylor Sheridan’s writing, or simply love the performers involved, this is worth a look. Recommended

Mayor Of Kingstown: The Complete First Season is currently available to purchase on Blu-Ray and DVD.

Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray.

Disclaimer: Paramount Home Entertainment has supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.