Welcome to our weekly breakdown of the minutia of Kurt Sutter and Elgin James’ Sons of Anarchy spin-off, Mayans MC. While Kimberly Ricci provides her always excellent coverage of the series (here’s her write-up of the third episode), here we’re going to endeavor to look deeper into the episode and excavate some of the details viewers may have missed, callbacks to Sons of Anarchy, and posit questions explore theories about the direction the series.
1. Let’s start with the obligatory: The title, ‘Buho/Muwan,’ is “Owl” in Spanish and Mayan, which of course explains the presence of an owl in this episode.
There were a lot of moving parts in this week’s episode, and with all the different factions, alliances, and side partners, unless you have the time to stop, rewind, and process everything that’s going on, the relationships can sometimes be confusing. So, let’s clear also up a few questions viewers may have had after the episode.
2. The flashback added a lot of insight into EZ’s backstory. In last week’s episode, we saw EMTs placing a body inside an ambulance, and we surmised that the body was that of EZ’s mother. I think this week’s flashback takes us back to the events right after that, which sees EZ trying to chase down his mother’s killer. Unfortunately for EZ, his pursuit is halted by a police officer, and in the chaos of the gun battle with the killer of EZ’s mom, EZ inadvertently turns and shoots the cop, which is what put him in prison.
3. At first, when I saw that the DEA Agent had hidden a “Happy Anniversary” card for Felipe inside the newspaper, I thought it was just a random card he’d chosen to disguise the fact that he was giving him a new phone number. But in the next scene — before the flashback — when EZ solemnly said to Angel, “Strange day, man” and Angel responded, “Oh man. I forgot,” I put two and two together and concluded that the “Happy Anniversary” referred to the anniversary of EZ’s mother’s death, as well as the death of the cop EZ accidentally killed. In other words, that Happy Anniversary card was a total dick move.
4. Why exactly was there a DEA Agent, Himmler, “babysitting” Felipe? Basically, because there’s a war going on between the Galindo cartel and the rebels, DEA Agent Jiminez worries that Felipe might get caught up on it, should someone decide to use him as leverage in the way that the rebels are using Emily’s baby as leverage. Himmler is there to ensure that doesn’t happen, so while he isn’t exactly a good guy, he’s not a “bad” guy, either. We should also just call him Redshirt DEA Agent, too, because if someone comes for Felipe, he’s gonna be the first to die.
5. The phone number that Jiminez gave to Felipe (310-369-4951) is actually a real working phone number. It’s a voice message from Katey Sagal that says, “Hi. You’ve reached the Teller-Morrow garage. No one is here to take your call because we’re all f–king dead.”
6. Does anyone find it strange at all that Adelita — the leader of Los Olvidados rebels — is funding an operation to take down the heroin-selling Galindo cartel by … selling heroin? Anyway, Los Olvidados (Spanish for Forgotten Ones) is also a 1950 Mexican film about a group of destitute children and their neverending misfortune, despair, and poverty. I suspect the Los Olvidados in Mayans MC may have been inspired by the film, only here the Galindo cartel and their heroin trade are responsible for the despair and poverty.
7. Speaking of the rebels, in case it wasn’t clear from the way that Miguel swears kids into the Galindo cartel — by slicing their hand and applying blood to his face — the kid that Adelita picked up was not actually the orphaned son of the man who was burned in the last episode. That kid — as evidenced by the scar on his hand — is a spy for the Galindo cartel, and Adelita just let in a kid who can help the Galindo cartel locate the rebels, as well as Emily’s baby, and potentially bring down their whole operation.
8. The most confusing subplot in the episode involved Jimmy’s role with the Chinese. Basically, the Galindo cartel directed the Mayans to go the tribal casino to smooth things over with the prison guards, who were worried about shipments after the Samoans robbed the Mayans of the Galindo heroin. In addition, the Chinese asked the Galindo cartel to use the Mayans to kill a rat in their midst, which is why Bishop shot Jimmy in the back of the head.
This came as a huge surprise to Coco, EZ, and especially Angel, because Angel had brokered a deal to sell the heroin stolen from the Galindo cartel by the Mayans to Jimmy, who was running the side deal that got him killed. Angel’s concern, of course, is that if the Chinese ferreted out their rat, Bishop might find the rat within the Mayans. Angel obviously doesn’t know how many people Jimmy told about their side deal before Bishop killed him, so Angel, Coco, and EZ are concerned that the Mayans will find out that they have a side deal going with Adelita and the rebels.
9. Finally, in case you missed it, EZ added a wad of cash to his go-bag, which he presumably plans to use to get the hell out of Dodge once he settles with the DEA. That wad of cash came from Coco, who gave him half of his gambling proceeds, because EZ was helping Coco count cards while he was playing Blackjack. (It still doesn’t answer why Coco asked his mother to get into the car last week, a storyline that was not picked up in this week’s episode).
