Welcome to our weekly chronicling of Mayans M.C. episodic moments that live up to the mindset of the series’ co-creator, Kurt Sutter, whose Sons of Anarchy included some depraved gems over the course of seven seasons. Be on the lookout later this week for Dustin Rowles to deftly read too much into this episode while diving deep into callbacks and theories about where this club goes from here, particularly with this season’s episodes being named after prominent folklore figures from the Mayan culture.
Mayans M.C.‘s second season has stayed relatively uncontroversial, for the most part. Sure, the Sons of Anarchy ties keep building, which led to an arc where the Reyes brothers tortured Happy Lowman, but this was a means of revenge, and (presumably) Happy didn’t suffer long-term, visible damage. Also, Angel chose not to kill Opie the dog, which was important in an overall excellent episode. We then saw a sad placeholder, but this week sees a lot of action and a return to soap-opera-ville. As is customary, this week’s episode title, “Mulac,” refers to a deity from Mayan mythology with a murky significance. Depending on the source, Mulac is either a god of the Northern or Eastern skies, and perhaps that ambiguity is intentional. One thing is certain: Emilio Alvarez wasn’t kidding when he told us that Marcus Alvarez needs to “watch your back, brother.”
As the head of security for the Galindo cartel, El Padrino has a rough episode. He gets jacked and kidnapped by what looks like federally-interested parties. This spirals into disaster when Nester goes after Marcus, which turns out to be a huge mistake.
This is where poor Marcus spends most of the episode.
There’s no way the feds aren’t somehow involved here, since someone’s demanding to know how the cartel/club knew Adelita was in the station wagon that held two dead agents. Before all is said and done, poor Marcus loses a finger, gets waterboarded, and worse (he’s taunted with a snide remark about not riding anymore). Fortunately, the Mayans bust in and save El Padrino, and it’s cool to see them continue to show their specializations: Riz with the intel, Coco with the sniper skills, and so on. Angel’s superpower appears to be acting borderline suicidal during rescues — I expect that to come back in a future episode — but Alvarez is saved and kills his main torturer.
Also relevant: Happy helped the Mayans, and he stresses that Jax Teller would have wanted it this way. I’m taking this as a sign that the Sons-Mayans alliance isn’t going anywhere, at least, not anytime soon. (Fans are Happy when Happy’s around.)
We do now know that the order to kill the Reyes brothers’ parents came from Sonora, meaning that there’s a strong possibility that the Galindo cartel wanted the hit. And by using Packer, they wanted the hit to fly under the federal radar.
So, was it really Potter who had Marcus kidnapped and tortured? He stated his intent to torture Adelita, so yeah, he’s obviously down with unorthodox interrogation methods, and Miguel certainly suspects “the devil we know,” meaning the feds. However, things get extremely weird when Miguel asks Potter’s assistant if he’s directly involved in the kidnapping. Can we take this exchange — “Like the pretty little assistant you are.” “Fuck you.” “Yes, you have.” — literally? Let’s hope not. This actually mirrors a conversation that Emily had earlier while tantruming over the agripark. So while Marcus might not-so-secretly be in love with Adelita, he’s probably not having sexual relations with Potter’s second-hand woman.
However, there’s clearly some conflict between the spouses, including a confrontation between Miguel and Emily in front of the club.
Emily’s ridiculously obsessed — as a diversion from watching Miguel being obsessed with Adelita– with winning the bid for an agripark development. Until now, there’s been way too much screentime devoted to this agripark, but finally, there’s some dramatic payoff when Miguel orders his cartel men to get her the hell out of their strategy meeting. One minute later in the episode, Emily’s already blowing up EZ’s phone. And that leads to a kiss on the cheek in Felipe’s meat locker. So romantic?
Noooo, EZ. Too late. He’s never stopped carrying a torch for Emily, and she may still have feelings for him, but she also knows that he’ll do her bidding. I mean, how could she not know, when EZ’s draping his cut around her shoulders because she’s “already shivering,” one second after entering the meat locker? This makes it pretty easy for Emily to convince EZ to go “talk” to the government clerk who helped a Chinese group slide in a last-minute, superior agripark bid.
We were all waiting for the agripark business to bring some actual fallout, and we definitely get it this episode. Not only does Miguel seem to suspect what happened between Emily and her ex-high-school-boyfriend as soon as she returns home, but EZ heads straight over to the clerk’s house. Trying to play nice only leads to a massive physical altercation with the clerk, who calls Emily a “cartel whore” before accidentally shooting himself in the head. EZ’s gloved hands probably mean that his prints aren’t on the scene, but this still does not bode well for the club or cartel. (Or maybe it does, with EZ’s prints out of the game.)
It sounds like EZ might be on the down-low soon, Gemma Teller-style. Is that why Angel was shooting a water gun at crows at the beginning of this episode? No. Freaking. Clue.
‘Mayans M.C.’ airs Tuesday nights at 10 pm EST on FX.
