Warning! SPOILERS about Mayor of Kingstown season 3, episode 5 ahead.

Mariam’s death finally started to be discussed midway into Mayor of Kingstown season 3, with the character honored in the best possible way through one of her loved ones. The beginning of Mayor of Kingstown season 3 immediately revealed what Mariam’s fate had been after Mayor of Kingstown season 2’s finale left her in critical condition at the hospital, but the McLuskys only started coming to terms with their grief in Mayor of Kingstown season 3, episode 5. Despite the new criminal additions to Kingstown needing Mike’s attention, his family repeatedly remembered and cherished their late matriarch in the episode.

Mariam’s character had always been central in Mayor of Kingstown, with her staunch opposition to Mike’s role being one of her defining traits. From not wanting Mitch first and Mike later to inherit the thankless role that killed her husband, Mariam was one of the few solely positive characters in Mayor of Kingstown. Embedded within the prison system like any other Kingstown resident, Mariam always tried to make the best of it, truly believing in the possibility of the inmates’ redemption and rehabilitation. Her death greatly changed Mayor of Kingstown, and season 3, episode 5 finally showed the change’s extent.

Kyle’s Promotion Being The First Win Without Mariam Makes Her Absence Felt In Mayor Of Kingstown

Kyle & Tracy’s Moment Highlighted What The Show Lost With Her Death

Kyle and Tracy’s lives greatly changed with the birth of their son Mitch in Mayor of Kingstown season 3, but Kyle’s promotion to the SWAT team in season 3, episode 5 was the first event worth celebrating Mariam will never know about, having never been hinted at before her death. Succeeding in the test raid and being selected for the official SWAT team was Kyle’s first career success after Mayor of Kingstown season 2 already caused him to switch careers without Kyle wanting to, resulting in his return to KPD despite not even feeling ready for that development.

Becoming a father made Kyle focused, prompting him to prepare for the steps needed for the career switch after Mayor of Kingstown seasons 1 and 2 didn’t show him as particularly happy with his job as a detective within KPD. Feeling the career change like a promotion of sorts was made bittersweet by the knowledge Mariam would never know about it, making Kyle wonder whether she would be proud of him. Talking about it with Tracy finally revealed the impact of losing Mariam, after Mayor of Kingstown season 3’s first half didn’t have time to focus on the McLuskys’ grief.

Mariam’s Imprint On Mike Is Particularly Visible In His Wish To Protect Iris

Everybody Noted Mariam Would Have Made It Her Problem To Save Iris

Mike and Kyle’s discussions over Iris after her disappearance in Mayor of Kingstown season 3, episode 2, made them wonder what Mariam would have done with her, and both joked their mother would have taken Iris under her wing. Mariam herself showed Iris compassion in Mayor of Kingstown season 2, welcoming Iris into her home in the aftermath of Milo’s prison escape. Mariam did so again in season 2’s finale, in an act that damned her home to be the location of the shootout between the McLuskys and Milo’s goons, even condemning Mariam to a wound that eventually killed her.

While Mariam couldn’t do more to help Iris, the certainty she would have done so convinced Mike even more that he needed to protect Iris. Always being so protective of her that Mike often limited Iris’s agency in Mayor of Kingstown, Mike’s increasing preoccupation over Iris being part of the Konstantin sting showed that Mariam’s death increased his need for Iris to be safe, away from Kingstown. Mike only begrudgingly accepted the plan where Iris would have spied for them, showing how his fear for her safety even risked the focus he needed to successfully act as mayor.

Mayor Of Kingstown Season 3 Shows Mike & Kyle Processing Her Death Differently

Mike Took Over The Protector Role

Similarly, Kyle and Mike both put their focus on something else right after Mariam’s funeral, not spending much time feeling their grief after Mayor of Kingstown season 3, episode 1. However, grief took them by surprise in Mayor of Kingstown season 3, episode 5, with Kyle feeling the need to know if Mariam would have been proud of his promotion. His talk with Tracy about choosing to stay in Kingstown highlighted his grief even more, as Tracy made it clear they were trying little by little to improve Kingstown, just as Mariam did, having been a light that shone brightly.

Mike couldn’t avoid his grief either in season 3, episode 5. However, while Kyle focused on his career and his accomplishments that Mariam couldn’t witness anymore, Mike’s grief took the form of increased preoccupation over his mayor role and Iris’s wish to help him, when he only wanted her out of Kingstown. Despite Mike not wishing to discuss it, his talk with Ian highlighted how he understood Mike’s interest in Iris’s wellbeing and thoughts about missing Mariam couldn’t be disconnected from that, as even Ian realized how Mike’s protectiveness over Iris increased because of Mariam’s death in Mayor of Kingstown.

New episodes of Mayor of Kingstown are available on Paramount Plus every Sunday after 3am ET.