Mike (Trevante Rhodes) is facing the fallout from his divorce from Robin Givens (Laura Harrier). Charges of abuse are thrown at Mike in the press, but he doesn’t have to worry, because Don King (Russell Hornsby) is going to take care of him.
Right around this time, the Mike Tyson’s Punchout video game for Nintendo is released and Mike has a lot of fame and money pouring in. The wealth of cash coming from Nintendo, and an ongoing winning streak in the ring is bringing Mike into superstar status in boxing, and public attention no matter where he goes. He’s so wealthy that Mike can have a hot tub installed in his limo and rebury his dead mom.
Mike Tyson in the present part of the story looks back on his relationship with Don King and knows that Don didn’t care about him, just the money. Everyone wanted a piece of Mike, except his sister Denise (Chedra Arielle).
Blowing through thousand of dollars at the club and buying expensive toys wasn’t what interested Denise. She just cared about her brother. While his sister wonders about Mike’s financial situation and starts to question Don King’s intentions, Mike blows off Denise saying hurtful things that he wishes he could take back.
The biggest fight for Mike is coming up in Tokyo. His competitor Buster Douglas is no match for the fierce animal that Mike Tyson is. Except, as Mike explains it in the future setting, the Mike Tyson who entered the ring with Buster Douglas was in poor shape, had terrible cardio, and spent more time carousing with women than training for the fight. The result was that Mike got knocked out.
A loss in the ring, turns into a loss of his image on the video game, and now Mike is lost personally. Desperate for a father figure, and without his championship belt, Mike Tyson wonders who he is, if he’s not the champ.
Bill’s Perspective
There is a lot to unpack in this episode. Mike is at the height of his game, but the wheels have come off the track, and we know the loss to Douglas is a foregone conclusion. Mike Tyson doesn’t have his head in the game, and everything comes crashing down.
The difference here is that Mike doesn’t have anyone who is interested in him as a person. As the episode suggests, Mike is the meal ticket, not a person. The one person who shows some interest is his sister Denise, and Mike pushes her away.
The heart of this show falls on the shoulders of Trevante Rhodes and he does a masterful job at bringing a real-life performance to a superhuman athlete. He makes the audience care about Mike Tyson, and Rhodes he is certain for many awards contention in 2023.