Mayor of Kingstown season 4 episode 3 ending explained: Did Cortez survive the hitmen's ambush?

The crime thriller series Mayor of Kingstown season 4 continues to dive deep into the brutal world of crime, corruption, and survival. Created by Taylor Sheridan and Hugh Dillon, the series dissects how power and punishment intertwine in a decaying Michigan town.

The show’s protagonist, Mike McLusky (Jeremy Renner), acts as the fragile link between the law, the gangs, and the people caught in between. Episode 3, titled People Who Died, delivers the perfect storm of chaos, revenge plots, betrayal inside the prison walls, and an ending that literally goes up in flames. After Frank Moses’s arrival from Detroit and Carney’s shocking murder, Mike’s world turns even darker.

The ambush that backfired

The fiery climax of Mayor of Kingstown season 4 episode 3 sees two men storming the Colombian cartel’s safehouse. Armed with a rifle and a flamethrower, they cut through the building in a brutal assault meant to wipe out Cortez, the cold-blooded killer responsible for Carney’s death.

The attack looks like something straight out of Frank Moses’s playbook, quick, aggressive, and reckless. At first, it seems the hitmen might succeed. Several cartel members are gunned down, and the safehouse is set ablaze.

But the plan falls apart when Cortez, showing the instincts that made him such a dangerous opponent, orders his men out through the back. While the hitmen believe they’ve accomplished their mission, Cortez turns the tables, emerging from the shadows to execute both attackers before calmly watching the fire consume the assailant and his safehouse.

The big takeaway? Cortez survives, and his survival sends a chilling message. Whoever sent those men, most likely Frank Moses, gravely underestimated him. Throughout the episode, Moses appears to be expanding his empire under the guise of partnership with Bunny Washington, showing off his smuggling operation hidden in Canadian trash shipments. But his motives don’t line up with his words. His obsession with meeting Mike McLusky suggests a bigger agenda.

Could the ambush have been part of a larger strategy to spark conflict between Bunny and the cartel, forcing both sides to rely on Moses for protection? Alternatively, Moses could be testing the waters, gauging the cartel’s response before launching an all-out takeover. Either way, the ambush’s failure marks the beginning of a larger war, and Cortez is now more dangerous than ever.

Recap of Mayor of Kingstown Season 4 Episode 3

The latest episode of the crime thriller series Mayor of Kingstown season 4, titled People Who Died, opens in the aftermath of Carney’s murder, a crime that rattles everyone in Kingstown. Mike delivers the devastating news to his brother Kyle, whose grief quickly becomes the opening Callahan needs to manipulate him with.

Inside the prison, Callahan provides Kyle with pills, beginning a sinister plan to turn him into a pawn against Mike. Watching Kyle succumb to the temptation is one of the episode’s most painful moments, setting up an emotional trap that could destroy both brothers.

Outside the walls, Bunny spends the day with Frank Moses, learning about the sophisticated smuggling network that moves drugs through Michigan’s garbage imports from Canada. It’s a clever system that proves Moses’s intelligence, and his ruthlessness. But as Bunny’s corner boys start disappearing, only to be found dismembered later, the peace between crews shatters completely.

Meanwhile, Mike’s instincts kick in. When Ian and Stevie find drugs and a burner phone in Carney’s locker, Mike immediately senses a setup. He warns them to keep the investigation open, suspecting Deputy Warden Torres and Warden Nina Hobbs may be involved with the Colombians.

Torres’s suspicious calm and Nina’s anxiety-driven pill use only deepen the mystery. As the episode barrels toward its violent end, Mike scrambles to stabilize the chaos while Frank insists on taking revenge for Bunny. What follows is the deadly ambush at the cartel’s safehouse, an operation that ends with fire, blood, and two dead hitmen. Cortez survives, solidifying his position as the season’s central threat.

Mayor of Kingstown season 4 episode 3 closes on a grim note, with Cortez standing victorious amid the ashes. The ambush’s failure signals a shift in Kingstown’s power dynamic, and Mike McLusky’s enemies are growing stronger by the day.