Welcome to our weekly chronicling of Mayans M.C. episodic moments that live up to the depraved mindset of the series’ co-creator, Kurt Sutter, whose ‘Sons of Anarchy’ previously included some seriously depraved gems over the course of seven seasons. Be on the lookout later this week for Dustin Rowles to expertly read too much into this episode while diving deep into callbacks and theories about where this new club goes from here.
After laying extensive club groundwork earlier this season, Mayans M.C. has been diving head-first into wild and crazy scenes. In “Cucaracha/K’uruch,” the seventh episode, Galindo cartel head Miguel spends most of his time in detention after the rebels tricked him with a baby blanket full of drugs. The club’s trying to figure out who picked him up and why, and (as the translated episode title suggests) roaches plague several characters throughout ongoing events. That includes Miguel, who stands his ground while likening a fellow detainee to la cucaracha before choking the guy out with his shirt.
Yes, Miguel asserted his physical prowess, probably more for the viewers at home because characters already seem to know that he’s a drug lord. As for the less prosperous EZ, he’s still enduring an equally sticky time as during the last episode, given that the feds have put out a BOLO on him after yanking his deal to infiltrate the Mayans border charter. As a result, the prospect is officially in the wind, which presents a number of issues, but foremost, he’s gotta make sure that the cops don’t blow his cover with the club. And of course, the cops spot EZ while he’s helping the Mayans during a gun run with some Sons, so EZ does what he’s gotta do.
EZ blazes down the highway in what’s swiftly becoming a welcome routine for him. He hits a roadblock and gets beaten to nightstick hell by the cops, all while he begins to transform into a legend back at the clubhouse. As far as the Mayans know, he gamely sacrificed himself to take heat off the club while realizing that reckless driving or other such misdemeanors wouldn’t get him into much trouble. Even Angel is unaware of EZ’s double-crossing, but Bishop declines to reward the prospect’s little stunt. Was that a real lecture to EZ to warn him away from going rogue, lest he get the boot? It’s evident that Bishop feels differently about this prospect on an almost day-to-day basis, so this threat likely won’t be carried out, and maybe the club’s president wants to preserve his own rep by swinging his manhood all over the place.
A bit of good news — we didn’t have to wait long to find out what Assistant U.S. Attorney Linc Potter’s doing on Mayans M.C.. He’s in charge of the Galindo investigation now, and after Miguel gets the baby back (we’ll talk more about that soon), the Galindo family’s joy is short-lived, due to the arrival of Potter and an army of federal agents, who arrest the family, including Emily (who Potter observes as “the fierce mother”) during the episode’s closing moments.
Before this happened, we got a glimpse of Potter in his war room, looking bored and patronizing Agent Jimenez over his hygiene while praising his “fire.” Clearly, Potter’s appearance means that Jimenez is out, although Potter does mercifully (at least, for now) drop the BOLO on EZ. And he dances.
Still no blow-up dolls from Potter, but the series is still young.
Teenage Letty is turning into a major source of trouble, although the Mayans don’t yet realize her deceptive ways. Through a combination of retaliation, frustration, and (possibly) pure evil, Letty repeatedly introduces her own head to this toilet with the intention of framing grandma.
Prior to this scene, Coco proudly introduced his daughter to the club. Later, though, Coco’s mom tries to warn Letty about him and orders her to turn tricks. Evidently, that dead body was still in grandma’s car after EZ ditched it, and grandma is justifiably pissed off. Not that she’s a reasonable criminal, mind you, especially after Coco says he’ll buy her a new car, and grandma still wants to go to the cops. So when a busted-up Letty surfaces, Coco races to grandma’s house for what turns out to be a violent altercation and a fatal one at that. No clue on how Coco’s gonna hide dead grandma after drowning her, and he’s the only club member with a visible personal life, although he could probably live without this mess. Well that, and Bishop doesn’t appear to be entirely convinced that Coco isn’t the mole. Not yet, and this bathroom has seen some sh*t.
On the rebel side of things. Adelita steps out of the shadows for a few outings, including conversations with Felipe (in front of whom she fondles the ashes of his dead wife), who reveals photos that prove that her dad (along with Felipe, whoops) once worked for the Galindo cartel, and Miguel.
To Miguel, she proposes a partnership (which seems like an unexpected move from the writers in the first season, right?) after showing him live footage of his warehouses and fields going up in flames. Adelita concedes that taking down the cartel would likely only create a vacuum for another overlord to take over the flow of drug supply and demand. She pledges that her rebels will become the eyes and ears of the cartel in exchange for part of Miguel’s profits, all to help those in need. Such a supposed fixing of the broken system could lead Miguel to the quasi-Michael Corleone status that he craves. Miguel is thrilled to then be reunited with his son, but as we saw above, the good times didn’t last.
‘Mayans M.C.’ airs Tuesday nights at 10pm EST on FX.
