Boss Recap: Episode 8 - "Change"

By Michele Lenni in Arts & Entertainment on Dec 12, 2011 7:20PM

Now that Mayor Tom Kane has regained his footing there is only one item on his agenda: revenge. Those that stood against Kane and plotted for his demise as the city's top official will now pay for their lack of loyalty to him. No one is safe from his wrath.

When we last saw Kane he was about to enter his home to confront his wife. Meredith Kane had conspired against Kane in trying to pit his chosen candidate for governor, Ben Zajac, against him in race for Mayor upon stepping down from his candidacy for governor. After much prodding, Kane finally gets her to admit the truth, then issues her to squash the lawsuit stemming from the chemical dumping at O'Hare that infected many Bensenville children with forms of cancer. To do so, Meredith must sleep with city heavyweight John McGantry, who is the father of the lawyer in the Bensenville case who was to expose the suit during the primary.

With the advice of his top aide Ezra Stone, Kane continues his firm support of Ben Zajac for governor of Illinois, despite his plot against him. In an effort to further garner support, Kane goes ward-to-ward to convince the city's alderman and other officials that Zajac is the man for the job. Zajac remains the perfect candidate because he gives the "illusion of change on the surface and continuity beneath" according to Kane.

After canvassing the city Kane goes to visit his daughter Emma in prison. Emma, who was fingered as a main player in a drug trade by Kane in order to restore his reputation after the Bensenville toxic chemical scandal, is not in good shape. She managed to steal a computer dusting compressed air canister and inhaled the entire container. She is so altered by the chemical she is barely aware that Kane is there at all, making it all the more difficult for him to justify his actions.

As the primary edges closer the alderman who plotted against Kane are missing their leader Alderman Ross. Ross, who confronts his wife after receiving salacious pictures of his wife and Zajac together, decides to also confront Zajac at his campaign headquarters. When the news is announced that Zajac wins the primary, Ross punches him in the face as he walks through the audience after his acceptance speech. Zajac also comes across his still-pregnant mistress Kitty O'Neil.The two pass each other like ships in the night, saying nothing to each other.

Sam Miller, now editor of the Chicago Sentinel, is also in attendance at the rally. Miller, who announced to his staff that he still wants to ruin Kane, receives a mysterious phone call during the rally from Ella Harris, Kane's former physician. Harris, who was taken from her home and forced to relocate after hinting to Kane's diagnosis of Lewy Body syndrome to his wife, seems anxious to destroy the mayor as a payback.

During all of this, Kane is informed his father-in-law's nurse has been found in a motel, brutally beaten within an inch of her life. Kane goes directly to the hospital where she is being treated and manages to get her to mouth the person who had her accosted: Ezra Stone. Kane confronts Stone and finds that Stone was the key player in the leak of the files that fingered him in the Bensenville scandal. Stone admits to his treachery. Stone began his plot to dethrone Kane when Kane decided to back Zajac for governor and not the incumbent candidate Mac McCullen. "It became clear that you were no longer ruling for the good of the city," he tells Kane. Kane then has Stone killed by the same henchman Stone used to brutally beat his father-in-law's nurse and relocate Ella Harris.

The final episode closes as Meredith enters the home after her tryst with McGantry. She goes to Kane, but is unable to open his locked bedroom door. We then see Kane, on the floor, unable to move, apparently from a seizure.