This episode of Mayans MC was intense and the strongest installment thus far. Let's Discuss.
Secrets Revealed....Sort of.
Coco's evasive moves when it came to his mother were finally revealed this week and it was a doozy that I for one did not predict. The pieces of the reveal were peppered in past episodes and when the reveal happened, it made perfect sense. The look on Coco's face in episode two when they caught Louis and he said something about his little sister, Coco logging into an internet pornography site and looking devastated by the girl staring back at him and finally him picking up his mother in episode 2 and insisting they talk. All of these moments led to the reveal that Coco is the father of a 17 year old girl named Leticia and his mother has been 'raising' her as her own. Coco was in no capacity to raise a baby as he was getting ready to serve five years in jail and her mother was addicted to drugs. He had tried to convince all parties that the best thing for the baby was adoption so she could have a better life, but his mother insisted she stay in the family and has now ruined another child's life with her stellar parenting. She even decided to drop the truth bomb on Leticia as a way to snipe back at Coco, resulting in the girl running off with a trucker. This reveal was shocking but also is extremely compelling as to what Coco does from here. He has carried the weight of the secret alone and doesn't want to the club to know, the reasoning for this I am sure will be revealed. Richard Cabral was captivating in this scene, he played the emotions of a father wanting to jump out of his skin at the sight of what his daughter has been exposed to but knowing he could not because he never earned that title so well. If this is any indication as to what he will do with this storyline going forward, I will be mesmerized watching him play this. Coco was not the only one hiding something though.
Ever since we've met Felipe there has been something bubbling just below the surface that made him intriguing. Yes, he is the father to our two main characters, but he himself has remained a mystery when it came to backstory. This week, we learned something big about him that could turn his world upside down and damage his relationship with Angel and EZ. In a move to convince EZ to flip his former love Emily, Jimenez from the DEA threatened to expose a dark secret Felipe keeps locked away if he couldn't get his son to comply. It appears that EZ and Angel may not have the last name Reyes, but rather Cortina because Felipe Reyes did not exist before 1985. It also seems that their mother may have been living under a different name as well. In the end, Felipe refused what Jimenez was demanding and in the episode's closing act he sifted through some memories stored away of this past life.
Collision Course?
There had to be a way to bring EZ and Emily back into the same orbit and the pieces are falling together to do just that. EZ has been MIA from meetings with Jimenez thanks to Felipe and the pressure is on Jimenez to deliver or EZ's deal with the DEA will be rescinded. Felipe does tell EZ about the meet ups and him being followed, and the fact that they are close to finding out about Emily and Miguel's missing son which could be the reason things are heating up on the border. Once EZ meets with his handler, there is a new condition, get close to Emily again to make her flip on Galindo or he gets a one way ticket back to Stockton. EZ scoffs at the request and basically tells Jimenez to slap on the bracelets if needed because he is not going to put Emily in danger. Jimenez's final play was what is mentioned above and he found out how stubborn and loyal father and son really are to what and who they hold dear. Suprisingly all of these demands took a toll on Jimenez and he tossed his cookies after being so stern with Felipe. It could have something to do with the loose family connection that Jimenez and EZ share as second cousins. I guess when he had EZ exchanged pleasantries in the first episode and EZ called him 'coz' he meant that literally. This could be a positive thing down the line should the DEA get really pushy and start to be less careful with EZ's cover, his handler cares about him enough to possibly protect him. If EZ does eventually relinquish at the request of his pop, the Emily and EZ reunion will be poisoned from the start. On his end, he is being ordered to get close and has seen her son and for her, the complications of being fierce mother and part of the Galindo family could have molded her into a person that EZ doesn't know. These elements are not the ingredients for an epic rekindling of a lost romance.
Speaking of Emily, she decided to stop playing offense and get in the game to find her son. This move gave us a glimpse at how cunning Emily can be when pushed to the brink. She brings research to the Galindo planning table about terrorist groups like
Isis and tells her husband and Devante that
Los Olividados may be taking a page from their playbook. They come into places in ruin under the guise of saviors and convince the locals that they are answer. She suggests to Miguel and a skeptical Devante that Galindo shows their face at a local religious celebration across the border and manipulate a crisis of their doing to pick up the pieces and swing the court of public opinion their way. This move will make the rebels look like the ones that are the poison infecting their society. The planning is very hush hush and Miguel's mother Dita warns Emily that she cannot play both ends, she either needs to be in and put emotion away or be out and feel it all. Emily doesn't seem like one to sit around and have things taken so that is why it seems unlikely she follows Dita's path. By the end of the episode, their play is revealed as a nun with Galindo'a name literally written all over her is found dead in a church with
Los Olividados propaganda fliers littering the floor and the chapel torn apart. It also looked a little too realistic because in the chaos, Emily was trampled by terrified festival attendees. Emily's first jaunt into Galindo business was rough and I wonder if she knew that the dead nun was part of the ruse or that was Devante or Miguel's idea. She may be in a vulnerable place after getting injured and this could open the door for what the DEA is wanting EZ to do should he agree. This event could also push EZ to agree because he wanted her to be safe and she clearly was not after this happened. Oh the angst that awaits us!
Night Raiders
There is a mysterious new player in the Mayans and Galindo's drug trafficking game and their presence further complicated what Angel is doing behind the club's back. The start of the episode shows the MC enjoying a night of cards and women at the local brothel when they hear close shots around the border. The mayor later informs Bishop that the man killed was running Oxy scripts over the border which is a problem because it is an unspoken rule that the Mayans and Galindo are the only ones who get the wide berth from authorities to do so. With the DEA bearing down on the town, this complication cannot stand and the Mayor needs it to go away. This leads our crew to the home of a woman named Alice and her son Dennis who apparently think it is okay to 'hunt' immigrants trying to come across the border for their own enjoyment and someone is now pulling their strings and asking them to take out drug mules and steal the scripts. It seems a mystery man that EZ remembers he saw in prison 5 years ago is some kind of big ex military shot caller and is present at this meeting with Alice and her boys. When Angel and the crew follows him, he refuses to give up his identity and a fight ensues. So could this mystery man be moving in on this territory and messing up the trafficking game for Galindo and the Mayans? I think so and that should complicate the lives of everyone involved.
When the Mayans want to drop in on Alice and her crew using the darkness of night to get more answers in a more aggressive manner, what awaits them is shocking. Dennis shoots first and takes off with Angel, EZ and Gilly in hot pursuit with Bishop ordering them to bring him back whole because they need answers about who is calling these shots. Meanwhile, the crew breeches the house a little too easily and discovers everyone in Alice's crew with bullets in their heads execution style. Back to the chase of Dennis, the crew tells him to stop running and when he doesn't Angel stops him with a bullet. Once Dennis is down he wants to know if the Mayans killed his guys, to which everyone is confused. He says that he has been communicating with 'Cole', once he won't give up anymore Angel takes his phone and shoots him in the head. EZ and Gilly are shocked, but Angel justifies it by saying he was going to bleed out anyway. Angel wants Cole's information and he doesn't want to share with the club because he wants to move the 6 bricks Adelita still has. Could Cole be someone that can help or should they take him out to get rid of the annoyance. Additionally, for the first time it looked as though his 3 other confidants were not convinced that he is doing the right thing and it may be time to cut ties with Adelita's crew. Angel is treading in very deep waters here, he either really believes in what Adelita is doing and wants a head start to see if this guy is legit or he is beginning to feel untouchable when it comes to his side business and that is dangerous. Angel is one of the most fascinating characters on this show, he wears the mask of a good soldier for the club whilst making moves he believes will free them from the cartel. The issue here is that his out of the loop club brothers may not see it that way, especially when he was ordered by Bishop to keep Dennis alive. Enough incidents like this will start to make others wonder and that puts him, Coco, Gilly and EZ at risk for club justice. It is times like this that I wish we could get a flashback or explanation of how Angel got involved with Adelita. If it is because he truly believes he can rid the club of Galindo, I can buy that, but if Emily is right and Adelita and
Los Olivdados are just laying the groundwork for a take over, then he has hitched his life to wrong cause. Moves like this usually sign a character's death warrant so I hope that there are twists along the way to ensure that doesn't happen because Clayton Cardenas is the breakout star of this series thus far in my eyes and I want more of Angel for years to come should we be fortunate enough to get multiple seasons of this show.
Other Odds and Ends:
* El Padrino had a conversation with EZ that is also troubling for Angel. He seems to have begun to respect EZ and told him that club brotherhood and real brotherhood are different and that if he hears something he should come to him and Bishop first. Once Marcus leaves, Angel saunters over and EZ doesn't disclose what he was just told. Did we just see the beginning of a strategy to chisel away at the brother bond between the two? I hope not.
* SOA Connection: Chucky is back again and delivering notes. For those who didn't watch Sons, Chucky, the man with fake fingers was a character in SOA with quite the colorful past. The club helped shield him at the request of one of their incarcerated brothers (Otto, played by creator of both shows Kurt Sutter). Chucky is good at cooking the books and counterfeiting money and had gotten himself in some trouble with the Chinese. Long story short, Chucky is a cockroach that always survives and the club came to trust him. As to why his hands are like that, there is no delicate way to say this... He is an impulsive masturbator and it was freaking everyone that came in contact with him out. The Chinese grew tired of it and lopped off all of his digits except for his two index fingers. When he came back into the possession of the sons and proved his worth, Gemma took pity on him and bought him fingers because his hands were freaking her out. Chucky freaks a lot of people out, but he is loyal to a fault and that may be why the Mayans have now retained his unique set of skills.
* Cristobal is sick and needs to be back home. Yes his father is a ruthless cartel leader, but he could get him the help he needs and a child could be back with his mother. Should the unthinkable happen to Cristobal, EZ will never forgive Angel or himself.
* The street rat embedded with
Los Olvidados just came through big for Galindo because he now knows who Adelita is and she has his son.
What did you think of the episode? Are you worried for Angel's life yet? What was Felipe running from? Do you think EZ will try to flip Emily? Let me know!
