Warning! SPOILERS about Mayor of Kingstown season 3, episode 7 ahead.

Establishing early in the episode how the bus tragedy wasn’t an accident, Mayor of Kingstown season 3, episode 7 didn’t explicitly reveal who was behind it, instead dropping hints on who stood to benefit the most from it. The tragedy hit most of Mayor of Kingstown key characters badly, with Ian and Iris bearing the brunt of it due to how close they were to the investigation and the victims’ story respectively, and Mike doing so too, as the tragedy risked making things even more unstable. Indeed, the bus tragedy culprit remaining unknown ups the stakes for Mike in Kingstown.

Mayor of Kingstown season 3’s introduction of new villains was necessary after the only major gang leader since season 1 who was still standing by season 2’s ending was Bunny. Konstantin Noskov and Merle Callahan’s arrival to Kingstown nonetheless brought with them a new set of challenges for Bunny, KPD and Mike alike. With their deal managing to remain a secret until Mayor of Kingstown season 3, episode 5, Konstantin and Callahan proved dangerous foes to Mike and Kingstown’s peace. This is highlighted even more by the bus tragedy, which had a clear target but a much less transparent culprit.

The Bus Tragedy Directly Hurts Konstantin’s Operation

Whoever Did It Knew It Would Be Seen As An Attack On Konstantin

With the working site pushing off the bridge a bus full of girls who had debts with Konstantin and the Russian mobster’s underlings, Konstantin’s operation is undoubtedly the one attacked in the ordeal. However, it’s much more unclear whether the aim of the operation was to effectively hurt Konstantin’s new venture or to make it look like he was the target. After all, seeing the bus left Konstantin and Roman relatively unfazed, already looking for others to smuggle into Kingstown, while Ian and KPD were anxious to find the culprit, even if choosing the wrong one only created more chaos.

The attack was surgical, with the perpetrators knowing where they would have found the bus on the bridge and when. This shows that whoever was behind the bus tragedy must have known about its arrival in advance, or they wouldn’t have had time to prepare for it in a way that made it difficult to be uncovered. Their plan for the disaster effectively sowed more chaos in Mayor of Kingstown season 3, episode 7, making anyone a suspect and starting a race against time to find whoever was responsible, as such a crime couldn’t remain unanswered, without someone to blame.

Konstantin & Bunny’s Feud Makes It Easy For KPD To Believe Bunny Is Behind It

Mayor Of Kingstown Season 3 Established How Konstantin & AB Both Attacked Bunny

Mayor of Kingstown season 3’s surprise partnership tipped the balance against Bunny’s operation, making it easy for anyone to assume he could have retaliated against Konstantin by knocking over the bus. Indeed, Bunny has all the reasons to fight both Konstantin and Callahan, as the first supplied the drugs to the second so that the Crips’ drugs would end up being contaminated, and the second’s latest orders even caused Bunny’s own cousin to be brutally killed in an AB hit. However, Bunny already retaliated against Konstantin by having his underlings hit Cavo in Mayor of Kingstown season 3, episode 5.

Bunny’s main focus since Mayor of Kingstown season 1 has always been drug dealing, making it unlikely that he would hit any part of Konstantin’s operation that wasn’t related to drugs. Moreover, Mayor of Kingstown season 3 showed multiple times how Bunny’s new venture involved a vast and new arsenal of various different weapons, making it more likely for his organization to hit others head-on like they did with Cavo in Mayor of Kingstown season 3, episode 5 rather than by sneakily pushing buses off bridges.

Bunny’s ongoing feud with Konstantin nonetheless makes it easy to blame him for the bus tragedy, as his involvement would be the simplest to guess given his ongoing fight with both the Russian mafia and AB. The grief potentially clouding his judgment after Rhonda’s death could also make him act recklessly. However, because of how precise whoever pushed the bus off the bridge had to be in every step of their plan, Bunny would be the last possible suspect, as his retaliation proved reactionary and messy in season 3, episode 5, and could be even more so after Rhonda’s death.

The Bus Accident Causes More Chaos & Breaks Up Durable Alliances

Mike Never Doubted Bunny Before But His Questions Destroyed Their Bond

What the bus tragedy’s aftermath achieved best is creating even more chaos in Kingstown. If the KPD parking bombing already sowed chaos with KPD nor Mike being able to ascribe it to one specific gang despite the multiple doubts Callahan was behind it, the bus tragedy created even more of it. With fourteen victims and twelve of them underage, the tragedy shook Kingstown, making it imperative to find the culprit quickly. The bombing was overcome, after all, only after the bombers were found, making it unlikely for Kingstown to move on from such a gruesome act without someone to blame.

Because of the grisly nature of the crime, the bus tragedy shocked Mike to the point of making him even doubt Bunny, when their friendship had always been the cornerstone of Mayor of Kingstown. While Mike never shied away from asking Bunny difficult questions, asking him whether he was behind the bus tragedy in Mayor of Kingstown season 3, episode 7 was the last straw. Indeed, with Mike hitting Bunny’s supplier and Bunny feeling he wasn’t being kept in the loop by Mike, Mike’s question came at the worst possible time, especially considering Bunny had just buried his cousin.

While Mike was never sure Bunny could be behind the tragedy, having been blind to Bunny’s accumulation of weapons made Mike doubt him, especially with Ian being certain about Bunny’s involvement only because of Bunny’s very public fight with both Konstantin and AB. The chaos the tragedy caused thus prompted to misstep those who were never easily swayed, with Mike’s questions having terrible timing and Bunny’s awful state making him rush to name Mike as his enemy from that moment on, essentially making Kingstown the most unstable it ever was since Mayor of Kingstown season 1.

Callahan Is The Only One Who Benefits From The Bus Accident

AB & Callahan Are The Only Ones Better Off After The Tragedy

The only one ostensibly absent despite everything that happened was Callahan. While Ian was right to admit it would be foolish of Callahan to “bite the hand that feeds him,” it wouldn’t be so if Callahan’s plans included more than just distributing Konstantin’s drugs in prison. The instability caused by the bus tragedy, after all, makes it easier for a war to start, and Callahan wanted one ever since arrival in Anchor Bay, as AB had been suffering in Kingstown ever since Mayor of Kingstown season 2’s second half while other gangs thrived.

Dealing with Konstantin made Callahan the one to be least suspicious of on paper, making it easier for Callahan to know about Konstantin’s plans and plot the perfect crime that would sow chaos without being attributable to him. While Konstantin’s operation was hurt and Bunny was the perfect suspect, Callahan’s standing wasn’t diminished after the tragedy, instead making him more secure as few would have thought of him as the possible culprit. Callahan was also the first Mike suspected in Mayor of Kingstown season 3, and KPD would be smart to trust Mike based on his far-reaching knowledge of Callahan.

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