In the ‘Mayans M.C.’ recap, Lincoln Potter reveals his true agenda for Miguel Galindo and EZ is pulled into Coco’s family drama with disastrous results…
By Damon Martin — Editor/Lead Writer
Assistant U.S. District Attorney Lincoln Potter never forgot about the case he built for the better part of three years against the real IRA and the Mexican cartels only to have his hand slapped away just moments before he was about to pounce and make a lot of arrests.
Last week on ‘Mayans M.C.’, Potter re-emerged with the full muscle of the Justice Department at his back as he swooped into arrest Miguel Galindo and his entire network after he returned home following his detainment at the border where he finally sat down with the leader of the rebel faction that’s been tormenting him for months.
The latest episode was tied directly back to ‘Sons of Anarchy’ season 4 when Potter spent months building a case against the M.C. by using their ties to the Galindo cartel and their gun running operation through the real Irish Republican Army. Potter talks about his failure to execute his plan seven years ago after the CIA came down like a winged angel of vengeance and crushed his case by revealing that they were partners with the Galindo cartel, which meant the Sons of Anarchy and the Irish gun source was protected from prosecution — at least for the time being.
Obviously, Potter never forgot about that infamous day because he spent five years in Mexico learning the culture and getting to know the power players in the cartels before returning to the U.S. with a brand new objective.
Rather than bringing down the cartel, Potter wanted his own partners that he could use at his disposal to crush rival gangs, use those drug connections whenever he wanted and hopefully stamp down some of the brewing violence at the border.
Potter is no longer interested in destroying the Galindo cartel — he just wants them to work for him instead of the CIA.
Needless to say, Potter is willing to do anything and everything to get that deal in place and he pulled out all the stops this week to ensure it was done.
With that said, let’s recap the latest episode of ‘Mayans M.C.’ titled ‘Rata/Ch’o’…
A Rat at the Table
Last week’s episode ended with Coco showing up to his mother Celia’s apartment and drowning her in her own bathtub because he believed she was abusing his daughter Letty. In reality, Letty was angry at her grandmother and she hurt herself to make it look like Celia was the person responsible before returning to her father bloodied and bruised.
Letty decides to come clean about her lie and she tells EZ about what really happened. EZ knows that Coco was already off the chain about what his mother did so he rushes to find him before something bad happens.
Sadly, EZ arrives along after Coco already killed his own mother and now he’s been drawn into this family drama. EZ doesn’t tell Coco about Letty’s lies but he sticks around to help figure out what to do next. EZ is left behind after Angel calls and tells Coco that he has to return to the clubhouse for an important vote.
To ensure the club didn’t find out that Angel was leading a faction that was working with the rebels against the cartel, he decided to give up another member keeping something from Mayans hierarchy, which would hopefully get them off the trail where they now believe Coco was the rat feeding Los Olvidados intel on their activities.
That means Mayans club secretary Riz had to be sacrificed because he was working an unauthorized tunnel between the Mexico and U.S. borders that ended at the brothel he was running. The club finally confronts him over the tunnel after busting him in the action and Riz explains that he didn’t build it but rather it’s been there since before his grandfather was around.
Riz claims he’s only using the tunnel to help the girls at the brothel go back and forth with their families and he’s not making any money from it. Bishop eventually enacts a vote to strip Riz of his secretary patch and institute a rather harsh penalty that the brothel will start paying to the club as penalty for keeping the tunnel a secret.
Riz is obviously angry but he’s even more irate that Angel sold him out rather than talking to him about what was happening.
Even Coco and Gilly are upset that Angel took this course of action without checking with them first. Angel has to then explain that the club was looking at Coco as the rat at the table and this was the only way to throw Bishop and the others off his trail. When Riz confronts Angel about ratting him out, Coco and Gilly pretend they were in on the decision the entire time while telling their brother that what he was doing was wrong and it had to be reported.
Angel knows he dodged a bullet this time but with Miguel Galindo being picked up and arrested the previous night, he has to let Adelita know what’s happening so they can plot their next move. Of course, Angel has no idea that Adelita struck a deal with Galindo to work together on a common cause to help the people of Mexico rather than turning the streets bloody with even more conflict.
It will be interesting to see how Angel feels about being played for Adelita’s long game to partner with the cartel rather than actually dismantling the organization.
Debt Repaid
Following his surprise meeting with Adelita last week where he learned that she was seeking vengeance for her father’s death at the hands of the cartel, Felipe Reyes is forced to visit an old friend to give him a warning about the bloodshed that may be landing at his door very soon.
It turns out Adelita’s father Pedro was the partner Felipe had back in Mexico when they were decapitating people who crossed them while working as agents of the government while secretly taking cartel money on the side. Adelita believed that Felipe was the person who sold out her father and got her entire family butchered but it turns out there was a third person involved in that operation.
A priest named Rodrigo worked alongside Pedro and Felipe in Mexico and now he’s relocated to a church in the United States where he’s still active today. Felipe pays him a visit and warns him that Adelita may be coming for him after selling out Pedro to the cartel.
Felipe thanks Rodrigo for helping him escape that life in Mexico and assisting him to set up a new beginning in the United States with his wife and unborn son. Now Felipe has repaid the debt by warning Rodrigo that Adelita will almost certainly be coming for his head now that she knows he’s responsible for selling her family out and essentially getting them killed.
Rodrigo may be a man of God but he’s not interested in walking through those pearly gates any time soon so he calls for backup to stop Adelita before she can get to him.
That’s when Rodrigo makes another call to his old friends at the Galindo cartel and Miguel’s hit squad leader Nestor shows up for a meeting with the priest. Rodrigo promises to get Adelita out into the open so the cartel can strike back at her with the full might of their power.
There are a lot of moving parts involving the rebels but Adelita definitely has at least one more person going for her head and this time it’s a priest wielding that axe.
Better the Devil You Know Than the Devil You Don’t
With Miguel Galindo and his wife Emily in custody and their child Cristobal taken from them, it’s time for Lincoln Potter to make his next move.
Potter visits with Miguel and Emily in separate rooms on several occasions while quietly laying out his plans and revealing his true intentions for the cartel.
Potter laments about his sting operation that fell apart seven years ago thanks to the CIA’s deal with Miguel’s father and how that nearly drove him out of his role at the Justice Department. Instead of leaving, Potter spent five years in Mexico learning the culture but more importantly truly understanding the power structure with the cartels.
That’s why Potter wants Miguel Galindo working for him.
He promises to help support Miguel in crushing the rebels and taking down any factions that would oppose his reign as the cartel king. He also tells Miguel that he will reveal the rats in his organization that have been selling him out — and the noose around EZ’s neck immediately tightens. Potter and the government would support Galindo as the top faction amongst all the cartels and in exchange he will answer to them for whatever they might need in the future — whether that’s drugs or information to help bring down other criminals.
As for the threats against Emily, another agent was able to get her to admit that her son was kidnapped and she’s been arrested for not reporting that crime to the authorities. Potter twists the knife even more by showing Emily photos of her son in a dirty bed wearing nasty diapers with a warning that even if the kidnapping charges don’t stick, they can tie her up in court for years and during that time her son will become a ward of the Federal government.
Still Emily isn’t willing to budge to betray her husband and turn informant.
Meanwhile, Agent Kevin Jimenez is coming more and more unhinged after finding out that Miguel has been arrested and EZ’s deal with the DEA is starting to unravel. Jimenez shows up at the office where Miguel and Emily are being held and he all but threatens to release information to the press or Wikileaks about all the different leads that his informant has given to him over the past few months.
Potter knows he has to get Jimenez under control because it turns out EZ is integral to his ultimate plan for Miguel and the Galindo cartel.
When he finally revisits Emily one final time in her holding room, Potter hands over a new file for her to read. The file documents all the information the confidential informant has been handing over to the Federal government on her husband and it takes Emily about two seconds reading the paperwork to figure out it’s EZ who is the snitch.
Potter then turns to Galindo one last time for the final deal
Potter tells Galindo that he can sign on the dotted line to partner up together or he’ll watch his wife toil away in a jail cell while awaiting trial after failing to report their son has been kidnapped and their child will end up as part of the system. Miguel then watches a live video of Emily being tormented with this choice — and little does he know that her struggle comes from the knowledge that EZ is the informant selling them out.
Miguel finally concedes to the pressure from Potter and the government and he signs on the deal to become partners in this new operation. Miguel and Emily are reunited with Cristobal and they are released from holding.
On the way out, Miguel promises that he’ll never be loyal to the government deal and he has 2,000 secret soldiers ready to act on his command. Those soldiers belong to Los Olvidados after Miguel struck a deal with the rebels to partner together to bring stability and prosperity back to Mexico.
Obviously, Miguel failed to tell that piece of information to Potter and he plans on using that rebel army against him now that he’s been released. And Emily withheld the information from her husband that EZ is the person responsible for feeding information to the government about the cartel.
What’s in the Trunk?
After an unhappy end to his brief meeting with Lincoln Potter, Jimenez turns to Felipe to tell him that his son’s cover is about to be blown and he’s probably going to be a target for assassination from the cartel or his club. Felipe calls on EZ to come home right away and when he arrives, Jimenez warns him what’s coming and advises him to make a run for it.
EZ refuses to run — leaving now would only serve to put his father and brother in harm’s way because if he’s not around, the club or the cartel could seek them out for vengeance in his place. EZ prefers to face this head on and deal with the fallout himself.
EZ returns to the clubhouse expecting a hatchet to be awaiting him.
Inside, ‘El Padrino’ has returned as Marcus Alvarez rode back from Northern California to tell the club what’s been going on with Galindo. He knows that Miguel has been detained by the government and held for questioning and that Emily has been rattled by whatever they are telling her.
Marcus and Bishop then plan for a private meeting — maybe back at the casino we saw earlier this season where one of the Chinese gangsters was gunned down — and it sounds like they are planning for another hit. No details are revealed but then Marcus asks about the prospect and it appears that EZ’s days are numbered.
When the club shuffles out of the meeting, EZ is waiting for them and when Tranq approaches, he’s waiting for a bullet or worse. Instead, Tranq hands over the keys to Alvarez’s ride — after the long trip down the California coast, his Harley is spitting oil and needs some repairs.
Obviously thrown off by the request and the fact that his cover wasn’t blown, EZ is more than happy to service ‘El Padrino’s bike the next day.
Following the end of the meeting, EZ reconvenes with Angel and Coco so they can deal with the dead body currently rotting in an apartment across town. EZ and Angel release Coco to spend time with his daughter and they decide to get rid of the body themselves.
While carrying Celia’s corpse down to the car, Angel freaks out when a rat appears out of nowhere and he accidentally smashes a tail light. After the body is loaded up, Angel and EZ are driving to dump her somewhere safe when a local police cruiser pulls them over.
One of the cops is the police officer on the Mayans’ payroll but it turns out his new rookie partner doesn’t know anything about the relationship with the M.C. so he’s playing everything strictly by the book. Despite pleas to stop the situation from escalating, the cops end up opening the trunk to the car and they discover Celia’s dead body.
EZ and Angel are placed under arrest and this is a headache nobody needs right now, especially with the turmoil already festering with the Mayans, the cartel, the rebels and even the Federal government.
‘Mayans M.C.’ returns next Tuesday with the penultimate episode for the first season at 10 p.m. ET on FX.
