In the ‘Mayans M.C.’ recap for the season 2 finale, EZ and his family find closure and a shocking death rocks the future of the Mayans Motorcycle Club…
By Damon Martin — Editor/Lead Writer
It’s somewhat difficult to remember when the Mayans were at war with the Sons of Anarchy considering all the years they’ve been at peace.
When ‘Sons of Anarchy’ first debuted, the Mayans were introduced as their chief rival as they were selling guns to the One-Niners — a Oakland based gang that was constantly battling for the same territory with drugs and other enterprises. A temporary truce was eventually brokered but that fell apart as well and ‘Sons of Anarchy’ season 2 truly put the two motorcycle outlaw clubs at odds with each other.
The bloodshed finally ended in ‘Sons of Anarchy’ season 3 when Clay was able to find peace with the Mayans by brokering a new deal to help them run heroin through northern California with protection provided by SAMCRO and their brother charters. While the two clubs occasionally butted heads in later seasons, Jax Teller eventually formed a bond with Marcus Alvarez by the final few episodes and when ‘Sons of Anarchy’ ended, the Sons and the Mayans were almost like family.
Unfortunately the outlaw world can get rather dirty and that played out on two fronts during ‘Mayans M.C.’ season 2 that put the two clubs against each other yet again.
The first confrontation was largely hidden from the two clubs after EZ and Angel Reyes kidnapped and tortured Happy Lowman in order to get information from him regarding the murder of their mother, Marisol Reyes. That volatile encounter ended with Happy actually providing the Reyes’ brothers with the information that eventually led them to the person who ordered the hit in the first place — a storyline that also played out in the season finale.
The second altercation may not end quite as cordially.
The close of the ‘Mayans M.C.’ season 2 finale saw several members of the Mayans standing over a dead member of the Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club Redwood Original. Because we can only see the kutte and not the person’s face, there’s still no telling which member of SAMCRO became collateral damage in the escalating war between the Mayans and the Tijuana M.C. Vatos Malditos, but it’s safe to say there is going to be hell to pay for this death.
In fact, the longstanding peace and friendship between the Mayans and the Sons may have just come to a bloody end.
With that said, let’s get to our recap of the ‘Mayans M.C.’ season 2 finale titled ‘Hanahpu’…
Sins of the Past
In the wake of the news that Dita Galindo was responsible for the hit that was ordered on Felipe and Marisol Reyes, EZ and Angel are at a crossroads with where they should go next. Knowing that Dita is protected by her son Miguel, the Reyes’ boys have to be wary about exacting revenge because anything that points back to them would be signing a death warrant from the Galindo cartel.
At the same time, Felipe is telling his sons that they will come up with a solution together, Adelita is giving birth to a baby boy at a government holding facility somewhere just north of the Mexican border. U.S. assistant district attorney Lincoln Potter watches over the new mother and child as he begins to orchestrate his next move — including ordrering a bloodtest on the new baby, presumably to discover the identity of his father.
As for the Mayans, they are still in mourning after Riz succumbed to the gunshots he took during the ambush by Vatos Malditos two weeks ago. In reality, Riz was recovering in the hospital but Taza was forced to cut off his air supply to ensure that his club never got into bed with Vatos Malditos.
Taza was previously a member of that club but he left them to move to the United States where he eventually joined the Mayans. Unfortunately, Taza obviously left some ghosts behind with his old club in Mexico because Palo, the president of the charter, called him a traitor during the initial meeting between the Mayans, Sons of Anarchy and Vatos Malditos.
Taza obviously wants to cover his tracks and ensure that the Mayans never get too close to the Vatos, which forced him to kill Riz so that a deal would never be brokered.
What he doesn’t see coming, however, is that Ramos and Canche — the other two Mayan kings from northern California and Arizona — are still in town requesting a sit down before any further action is taken.
As much as Coco wants an eye for an eye, Bishop is forced to listen to his fellow kings when they explain that burning bridges with Vatos Malditos means the Mayans lose the Irish gun trade and by extension all of the charters suffer financially. In fact, the break would be so bad that several charters have talked about breaking apart to secure the Irish gun deal on their own, which would not only fracture the Mayans M.C., it could break it permanently.
Even Angel understands the gravity of the situation after hearing rumors that the Portland chapter — the second largest charter in the country — was considering defection in order to make the gun deal work.
Inside the meeting room, Bishop is made to understand how disastrous striking back against Vatos Malditos would be for the Mayans and they convince him to take a private meeting with Palo at his grandmother’s house just south of the Mexican border. The hope is that Bishop and Palo can come to an agreement to finally settle the grudge, put bloodshed behind them and move forward as business partners.
And finally, Emily and Miguel are preparing to break ground on the agro-park that has taken up so much of their time this season. Emily is excited to launch this next phase of the Galindo family’s legitimate businesses but getting the contract to control the agro-park development has cost her a friend in Ileana, who is now leaving and moving to San Diego to take a lower ranking job just so she can get out of Santo Padre. Meanwhile, the mayor looks less than pleased at the groundbreaking ceremony, which feels more like a funeral than a celebration.
Emily does take time out of her day to meet with EZ to hand over the blackmail information that Miguel had gathered on Lincoln Potter. She exchanges the information for a promise from EZ that no harm will come to Miguel.
Little does she know that EZ already figured out that Miguel wasn’t involved in his mother’s murder but instead it was Dita Galindo behind everything.
EZ takes the blackmail information to his brother Angel where they decide how this can best be used. They can only use this leverage once so they better make it count.
The choices are to free their father from Potter’s wrath where he’s threatened to have him deported or they could use the information to force the over zealous U.S. ADA to free Adelita along with her child. As much as Angel wants the woman he believes is carrying his baby back, he knows that Adelita would never sacrifice herself in exchange for Felipe’s life being ruined. So the Reyes brothers’ resolve to use the blackmail to force Potter to protect Felipe so he can never be threatened with deportation again.
Sleep Now in the Fire
Revenge is a messy business, especially when emotions are involved, which is why Felipe is so desperate to keep his sons away from Dita Galindo after learning that she ordered the hit that got their mother killed. Felipe decides to meet with Dita on his own to confront her about the information that was gathered along with EZ’s memory when he saw her at a town fair, which finally confirmed she was the person who paid a hitman to kill them after discovering her former lover/bodyguard and his wife had started a new life in the U.S.
When Felipe speaks with Dita, she confesses to ordering the murder — partially out of jealousy after he moved on without her but also due to fear that at some point or another Felipe may reveal to Miguel that he is actually his father.
In a rash decision, Dita ordered the murders but after Marisol Reyes was killed, she couldn’t move forward with a second attempt on Felipe’s life. Dita knows this confession all but seals her fate but she’s already reconciled with her own death.
In fact, Dita tells Felipe that she wants him to be the one to put her down.
Meanwhile, EZ and Angel meet with Potter, who is as smug and as confident as ever when he meets with the Reyes’ brothers because he believes he will finally receive confirmation that Miguel Galindo has been double crossing him. Instead, EZ presents the file that was initially gathered for Miguel that proved Potter engaged in an illicit affair with one of the witnesses in a major criminal case and he also fathered a child with this woman.
If the information was ever revealed, Potter would almost certainly lose his job but worse yet, almost every conviction that he’s secured would suddenly come under scrutiny because this initial case could easily be overturned because of his involvement with the witness, which is seen as tampering.
Potter finally loses his cool — something that rarely happens — but when he calms down he receives his marching orders from EZ and Angel.
Not only does Potter have to guarantee that Felipe won’t be deported but he has 24 hours to secure documentation making both of their parents citizens of the United States. If Potter can’t come through, the information will go straight to the Department of Justice, thus ending his career.
Potter agrees to help while EZ and Angel return to their father’s house where they receive some unexpected news.
Felipe tells them that Dita confessed to killing their mother and she’s already asked for him to avenge her death. Dita obviously wants to die — she wanted to die a season ago in the massive fire that consumed her son’s home but now there’s no escaping this vengeance.
Felipe erupts at his sons when they refuse to let him go alone but he finally convinces them that this is something he needs to handle.
Before meeting him the next day, Dita spends one last conversation with Miguel where it appears she’s turning a corner with her mental health after the fire nearly killed her. Little does Miguel know that his mother is saying goodbye to him before escaping her guards the next day and meeting with Felipe Reyes where she hopes he will finish this once and for all.
While EZ and Angel weren’t initially invited, the brothers receive a note at the clubhouse telling them to meet at the same rendezvous where Dita Galindo expects to die. She knew that Ignacio Cortina could take her life but Felipe Reyes was no longer capable of that kind of blind violence. So she called upon a pair of grieving sons who wanted revenge for the death of their mother.
Dita has set all of this up to look like a suicide, complete with notes left behind at Miguel’s house.
Finally, EZ can’t stand the sight of her any longer and he chokes Dita to death with his bare hands after she utters one last prayer. Afterwards, EZ pours gasoline over Dita’s body and sets her ablaze as she’s finally consumed by the flames. EZ has now traveled down a darker path than his father or brother wanted for him while simultaneously exorcizing himself of the demons he’s been carrying around for the past nine years after finding his mother’s lifeless body following her murder.
And finally when Miguel and Emily return home they are informed that Dita has escaped her security detail and she’s nowhere to be found. Emily then discovers the disturbing suicide note in Dita’s room just as Miguel’s security detail gets a tracker on the SUV she took.
When they finally reach the location, Miguel and Emily are horrified to discover Dita’s dead body still smoldering after her death. They are both understandably distraught after seeing Dita’s body but Alvarez can’t help but look around the clearing where she supposedly committed suicide.
That’s when Alvarez finds a lone tire track — like the kind that would belong to a motorcycle — dug into the dirt on the outside of this clearing. He points it out to Nestor but then quickly dusts it away with his foot so Miguel doesn’t see it. Perhaps Alvarez is protecting his former club or maybe he wants to gather more information before unleashing an emotional Miguel on his brothers in the Mayans.
Alvarez has known all season long that Dita had some kind of history with Felipe Reyes and he was convinced that EZ Reyes was lying to him regarding his own relationship with Emily Galindo. The death of Dita Galindo only furthers Alvarez’s suspicions, especially considering the evidence surrounding her suicide.
Let’s Go to War
Bishop and Tranq arrive in Mexico for the meeting with Palo to hammer out an agreement that will allow the Mayans and the Vatos to continue doing business with each other going forward. Bishop emerges from the private meeting and leaves with a handshake deal in place while Tranq was able to find out some information about a planned birthday party the next day for Palo’s grandmother.
Back in Santo Padre, Bishop holds a meeting with the entire charter where he lays down the plan he has orchestrated privately and away from the club’s purview. When the final gavel strikes down, Coco leaves the room irate but outside Ramos and Canche are satisfied when hearing that the Santo Padre chapter will stand down after striking a deal with Vatos Malditos that will allow the gun running business to move ahead as scheduled.
The next day the club gathers for one more important meeting — the vote on Ezekiel Reyes becoming a full patched member of the Mayans M.C.
As much as Angel never wanted this life for his brother, he concedes that EZ has become part of the family and he needs him now more than ever before. The rest of the members seem to agree but club tradition forces them to play a mean trick on EZ by telling him it’s bad news before finally presenting him with his full patch along with a top and bottom rocker.
EZ Reyes has officially joined the Mayans.
Bishop tells the club’s newest member to sew on his patches because they’ve got a party to attend that night.
As the Mayans ride off into the night, Felipe Reyes hears a knock on his door before an envelope is slid underneath. When he opens it, Felipe finds that he’s been made a citizen of the United States along with his wife Marisol. It seems Potter worked his magic and got Felipe and Marisol their citizenship as promised in order to keep his former flame and their child out of the crosshairs of the U.S. government.
And finally — the Mayans arrive at the party but it’s not a celebration to honor EZ after he became a full patched member. Instead, the Mayans have secretly crept up to the home belonging to Palo’s grandmother where the Vatos Malditos have all gathered.
The Mayans burst through the doors guns blazing, putting down everyone — men and women — as they slaughter the Vatos Malditos as revenge for the ambush that led to the death of one of their own members. During the attack, Taza is stopped dead in his tracks when he sees a photo of a young man who has been memorialized in a frame presumably following his death. Judging by Taza’s fear that Palo would ever reveal some dirty secret from his past, it all seems to tie back to this dead young man.
During all the gunfire, Palo was somehow able to escape and he even rescued his grandmother before the Mayans’ bullets cut them down. This is bad on so many levels because if Palo survives, he can report back to the rest of the Mayan leadership, who were assured that the bloodshed had finished in the name of business.
Outside, Angel receives a photo of a baby boy and then a phone call from Lincoln Potter.
Potter torments Angel by allowing him to hear his child’s voice in the background while reminding him that he’ll never know his son because of the life his mother and father chose before he was born. Potter can now share that same misery with Angel because he has never meet his son either.
Now it remains unclear if Potter is actually turning the screws on Angel because the bloodtest he ordered confirmed he is the father of Adelita’s baby or perhaps that’s just what he wants the Mayan to believe. It’s been heavily suggested all season long that Miguel had feelings for Adelita and a child between the leader of a cartel and the powerful rebel faction supporting him could unite a lot of factions within Mexico.
For now we’ll believe Potter has confirmed Angel is the father of the baby and he’s just torturing him with the photo and sounds of a son he’ll never meet much less raise. Still it’s something to think about as ‘Mayans M.C.’ season 3 gets rolling in 2020.
Back inside the house, the Mayans finish off anybody still breathing but that’s when Bishop makes a discovery that could change everything for the club going forward.
They not only gunned down every member of the Vatos Malditos but they also accidentally killed a member of SAMCRO, who was in attendance at the party. We never see the member’s face, although it would seem to reason that it’s Montez — the SAMCRO road captain who helped broker the partnership between the Sons and the Vatos, which would explain why he attended the party.
Bishop’s stunned reaction followed by two words — “fuck me” — tell the whole story here.
The thirst for revenge was real and the Mayans had every right to seek it after what happened during the ambush with the Vatos Malditos. Still, the Santo Padre chapter went against the orders of the other Mayan kings, not to mention an agreement struck by Bishop with those same kings that there would be no further bloodshed with the Vatos.
Killing a member of the Sons of Anarchy — accident or not — will also have far reaching consequences. Past wars between the Sons and Mayans have left charters descimated and destroyed with members dead or in jail when the bullets finally stopped flying. Somebody is going to have to answer for the murdered SAMCRO member and the price to pay will undoubtedly be very, very deep.
One more note — the song featured at the end of the episode is “A Silent House” by Joshua James, who was also frequently featured as an artist on “Sons of Anarchy” as well.
‘Mayans M.C.’ returns with brand new episodes for season 3 on FX in fall 2020.
