The Mayor Discussion: Buyers Remorse & City Hall-oween

The Mayor continues to be one of the shows we can’t stop talking about. We’ve put together our discussion on Buyers Remorse, an episode that found Courtney realizing the town is constantly going to need to know, “What have you done for me lately?” and City Hall-oween which puts Courtney at odds with the Police Chief.

1. There seems to be a theme of the show wherein Courtney Rose learns a lesson at the end of each episode. How do you feel about this formula?
Roz: After three episodes it feels too forced, but I appreciate that the show is trying to be like some of my childhood favorites. Courtney does have lots to learn in this job, but the bloom is starting to wilt. He can only be a fish out of water before I want to tune out.
Melissa: I’m OK with it because it serves as a method to show the American public how government works and why “common sense” or “simple” solutions aren’t always the effective. So far the lessons keep coming back to “listen to each other”, which is valuable always but especially now.
Cara: I think the lessons have worked, but I agree that we need to move past such formulaic lesson learning. The show would go nowhere if the characters weren’t learning, but it doesn’t always have to look like this. Like Melissa said, I think the show does a great job of showing how things work and how common sense isn’t always going to work, but we can see that in how they respond to crisis and issues, rather than always stemming from a lack of knowledge about how things work.

2. Courtney Rose has some great people in his team. So far who is your MVP of thr group and why?
Roz: Dina for the win! She’s the mature one, but she knows how to best get everyone involved while not seeming too much like the mom she is.
Melissa: Yep, Dina. I hope I can pick someone else in a year because of character growth, but for now…Dina all the way!
Cara: Dina is amazing, but I have a soft spot for T.K. I like how they’re moving away from the side characters being clueless towards being more light-hearted. As T.K. said this week, not childish, but childlike.

3. We always seem to get great guest stars here. Let’s talk about Kristen Johnson’s police chief.
Roz: I loved seeing her on my TV again! As chief she has real issues in the city to address and I wanted did Courtney to get a win with less crime on Halloween. I think I want an episode of all the other people Courtney has to deal with discuss his success.
Melissa: Oh, I hope she becomes a recurring character. An experienced white female police chief trying to work with a newbie black mayor? We already saw how the show can use that dichotomy to touch on a provocative subject – i.e. the relationship black men have with the police – with honesty and humor. She also got to call out T.K. for being sexist, so we know this isn’t going to be one-sided. Intersectionality done with authenticity, heart, and occasional irreverence could be The Mayor’s real legacy.
Cara: Kristen Johnson is great. I don’t think this was her best performance, but I think the character has great potential as someone Courtney has to learn to respect and work with. I’m so used to her being goofy, it was fun to see her as the straight character for once.

4. Valentina is still hard for me to read. What do you want to see from her?
Roz: I always want more sass, especially since the boys seem to pay her little attention until she has wisdom on politics to share. Can she get her own story?
Melissa: We learned a bit more about her in this episode – she’s a child of divorced, distracted parents who raised her three younger sisters, which I can relate to – and that explains a lot about her personality. She’s there to keep the boys on track, but I think she’s also there to stumble around issues of race and privilege. It’s a conversation we’re trying to have nationally, and a lot of white people are discovering that while they think they are accepting and open, they actually misstep a lot. I think Valentina represents the white audience who wants to do better but doesn’t quite know how.
Cara: I think Melissa makes a great point about the role she plays in the show. I like the character more than I thought I would. I think the episode where she got all giddy over the numbers guy won me over a little bit, and I like how she pays attention to her missteps and tries to do better. Plus, she got T.K. and Jermaine pretty good at the end of this episode, so I think we’ll see more sass going forward.

The Mayor airs Tuesday 9:30/8:30c on ABC