In the “Mayans M.C.’ season 4 finale, EZ wants to wipe the Sons of Anarchy off the map, Alvarez meets with an old friend and Miguel Galindo seeks revenge…
By Damon Martin — Editor/Lead Writer
It’s safe to say that the “Mayans M.C.” season 4 finale may be among the best episodes of the entire series.
Not only did the extra length episode help wrap up many of the biggest storylines from the season but it also set the stage for what can only be described as an explosive future, assuming “Mayans” gets renewed for season 5 on FX.
It’s been noted that EZ Reyes has seemingly been following a path similar to Jax Teller on Sons of Anarchy as he’s made a fast rise up the ranks before eventually taking on the role of vice president. The differences between the two characters couldn’t be any further apart after witnessing the kind of ruthlessness that EZ has used throughout the season as he’s made his ascension up the ranks.
While Jax’s journey to become president of SAMCRO almost felt like his fate — a legacy that he didn’t necessarily want — EZ has decided to take his power by blood. All season long, EZ has continued to walk down a darker and darker path and now it’s clear that there’s no coming back for him.
EZ’s thirst for power and vengeance has also put him in direct opposition of club president Marcus Alvarez, who is no longer the trigger happy boss that we met back in “Sons of Anarchy” season 1. These days he’s a family man, who is trying desperately to keep the club he founded together while simultaneously watching it be ripped apart at the seams.
The finale also brought back fan favorite character Tig Trager (played by the great Kim Coates), who returns for the first time since “Sons of Anarchy” ended seven years ago. Tig comes back because he’s seen the flawed logic in this war with the Mayans but his desire to stop what’s happening may already be too late, especially given a particular villain who returns to the canvas in this episode.
There’s a whole lot to dig into so let’s recap the “Mayans M.C.” season 4 finale titled “When the Breakdown Hit at Midnight.”…
You Didn’t Deserve Him
The episode opens with Coco’s funeral as his friends, family and brothers in the Mayans lay him to rest after he was shot and killed in the spark that helped to ignite the war with the Sons of Anarchy.
With each handful of dirt placed upon his casket, Coco’s daughter Letty feels the sadness and animosity grow inside of her, which finally bursts when she lashes out at the club members as she tells them that they didn’t deserve him or the life he gave to wear that patch on his back.
When Letty returns home, she’s still alone until Coco’s former dealer Louie stops by the house to pay his respects. Louie was the one who fed Coco the drugs he wanted while he was an addict but he also never wanted to see the man die under such tragic circumstances.
Letty doesn’t seem all that interested in his apologies but Louie came to the house with a purpose.
He wants to return the Chevy Nova that Coco traded him for drugs not that long ago but now Louie feels like it’s only right to give it to his daughter as one final token so she can remember her father. Letty ultimately accepts the keys and tells Louie thanks for returning Coco’s car.
Later that night with Hope about to shoot up heroin alongside a group of punk rock junkies, Letty pulls up in her father’s car. Letty says that she refuses to allow Hope to abandon her and she needs to put down the needled because that’s not what Coco wanted for her.
Hope decides to give up the drugs and say goodbye to the junkies after telling them that she’s going home before getting into the car with Letty as they move forward together in the wake of Coco’s death.
Back in San Bernardino, a familiar kutte from the Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club Redwood Original strolls through the hospital on the way to a room. The kutte belongs to SAMCRO vice president Tig Trager, who has come to visit Terry — the vice president from the San Bernardino chapter who so desperately wanted war with the Mayans.
Tig doesn’t seem particularly happy with Terry because this war has cost a lot of lives already and it doesn’t appear the bloodshed will be stopping any time soon. Tig also reminds Terry that his act of war has managed to break back that “fucking demon from the desert,” which references the monstrous character that was teased a couple of episodes ago.
The man who sponsored Terry to get into the club in the first place has risen from the ashes with a desire to do as much harm to the Mayans as possible and that’s the last guy Tig wanted to see get involved. We find out the identity of this horrific figure a little later but first Tig nearly kills Terry before a nurse interrupts them.
Tig plays it off like they were enjoying some asphyxiation sex play — which would be such a Tig thing to do — but really he’s just threatening Terry to remind him about the deadly choices he made that have now doomed the entire club.
At the Santo Padre clubhouse, the various members are sitting down for drinks when they get confirmation that leadership from the other charters in Yuma, Oakland and Stockton are having a secret meeting at a roadhouse in California. Bishop and the others recognize that this is another attempt to wipe Santo Padre off the map but the conversation gets a little too loud because Jess — the waitress who ratted out the Mayans to the Sons of Anarchy in the first place — overhears everything about this meeting.
She rushes outside to make a call — a move that Nestor notices but doesn’t quite recognize what’s happening — but Jess is obviously alerting her sister and by extension informing the Sons about this secret meeting between Mayan leaders.
It turns out that collective meeting, which includes new Yuma vice president Manny, is all about the suspicious circumstances surrounding Canche’s death during that raid on the Sons of Anarchy clubhouse in San Bernardino. Of course, EZ Reyes shot and killed Canche — finishing a beef they’ve had for months — but he played it off like the Sons got the drop on the Mayan president before he finished the job.
While Manny just can’t believe EZ would do it, the rest of the members are sold that a final act of vengeance is what killed Canche and not a stray bullet from a dead Son. Just when it looks like Manny is coming around to their way of thinking, a shotgun blast rings out and one of the Mayans is killed.
A split second later, the roadhouse is filled with members from the Sons of Anarchy, who have arrived to ambush the Mayans and send a message back to the rest of the club that this war just escalated.
Finally that night, EZ meets with Jay-Jay, his former friend from prison who is now seeking a payday to keep his family afloat. Jay-Jay discovered that EZ got out of prison by striking a deal with the Federal government but he’s not seeking to rat out his fellow ex-convict.
Instead, Jay-Jay just wants a job that will help make ends meet so he can provide for his family, although blackmailing EZ seems like just about the worst way to go about it.
Jay-Jay finds that out the hard way when EZ lures him to a meeting under the guise that he’ll be doing a job for the Mayans. Instead, Jay-Jay finds a bag filled with $80,000 and a gun with a single bullet loaded in the chamber.
EZ tells Jay-Jay that he can use that gun to put a bullet in his own head and the $80,000 will find its way to his wife to provide for his family. If Jay-Jay refuses, EZ will still kill him but then his family doesn’t get a dime.
Just when it looks like Jay-Jay is going to pull the trigger, he turns to point the gun instead and EZ quickly fires a round into the former inmate. Jay-Jay learned the hard way that crossing EZ right now when he’s at his deadliest is probably not a great idea, especially when you’re attempting to extort him for money.
After killing Jay-Jay, his wife shows up at EZ’s trailer looking for him but Sofia answers the door. She explains that EZ was with her all night long so whatever meeting he supposedly had with her husband never happened.
Sofia is quickly becoming EZ’s most dependable soldier and she’s not even a member of the Mayans.
Old Friends, New Enemies
In Los Angeles, Marcus Alvarez meets with his old friend Tig Trager to discuss this ongoing war between the Sons of Anarchy and the Mayans and what they can do to stop further bloodshed.
During the conversation, Alvarez admits that he’s undergone a lot of changes over the years and he no longer has a taste for war, especially at the cost of so many of his brothers. Alvarez is also thinking about his son Esai — who was a member of the Mayans back in “Sons of Anarchy” season 1 — and the ways he failed him as a father.
As a reminder, Esai was carrying out orders to kill Clay Morrow and Darby, the leader of the white supremacist Nord crew, except he failed on both accounts. In the end, Alvarez agreed to give up his son, who was then murdered by Happy, but now he’s realizing how much all of that was just his fault.
With Alvarez expressing his regrets and revealing the truth about his desire for that war to end, Tig begins to realize that the Mayan president who once served as a huge rival has now a much different person. Tig remarks that Alvarez has become a good man but that’s a dangerous thing in the bad world where they operate.
The meeting is supposed to facilitate a cease fire of some kind with Tig promising to go back and explain the situation to Chibs but not before finally revealing to Alvarez how this whole thing started. He tells Alvarez that Montez’s body was found on Mayan property and his Sons kutte was returned to them by some girl looking to score points with the club.
Obviously, Alvarez has no idea how Montez ended up buried in an oil barrel at the Santo Padre clubhouse — that was Taza’s actions after his former friend Palo killed Montez and dumped the body there a season ago — but that’s the spark that lit the fire between the two clubs. Now Alvarez desperately wants to put an end to the war but Tig warns him that the situation just escalated because a former member has returned.
Apparently, the “demon” from the desert and Terry’s sponsor also happens to be the younger brother of Packer — the president from the Sons of Anarchy San Bernardino chapter — and he’s hungry for Mayan blood. This psychopath is so dangerous that he even scares Tig and if you remember even 10 percent of all the weird shit he’s into should probably tell you just how terrifying this guy must be.
When Alvarez returns to the clubhouse, he has an impromptu meeting with EZ where he tells him that an attempt is being made to end this conflict. That doesn’t sit well with EZ, who is determined to wipe the Sons of Anarchy off the map.
Alvarez reminds him that the Sons have three times as many members, which means this fight will probably only end one way. Still, EZ can’t be reasoned with and he’s only angered more when Alvarez refuses to accept the deal with Soledad to begin dishing out that massive amount of heroin offered to them as partners.
EZ believes the heroin will give the Mayans the advantage and the cash they need to wage a winning war against the Sons but Alvarez doesn’t want any part of it.
That’s when EZ pays a visit to his former president Bishop, who has largely been ostracized all season long after he refused to back down from the civil war he started inside the Mayans. Bishop’s conflicts have gone far and wide but he has a big problem with how Alvarez is attempting to forge unity between the various charters despite members killing each other during the internal strife in the club.
EZ then tells Bishop that he was unfairly stripped of power and it’s time for them to take this club back from leaders who are unwilling to do what needs to be done, which means it’s time for Alvarez to go — permanently.
We Are Family
With Angel still serving as a doting father to his baby boy, Adelita is keeping a secret from him — the fact that Lincoln Potter has returned and he’s using her in his new war with the cartels.
Adelita’s first order of business involves eliminating a rival on Potter’s orders.
Down in Mexico, El Banquero — the leader of the Lobos Sonora New Generation cartel — is swimming in his pool when he gets up from the water and asks for a towel from his maid. The woman leans down and whispers something in his ear instead while telling El Banquero to say hello to his mother and father before slitting his throat.
As El Banquero bleeds out in his own pool, the woman holding the knife is revealed as Adelita.
She then joins El Banquero’s sister Soledad and the motorcycle riding gunwoman nearby as they overlook a city down below. Soledad then tells both of them that it’s time to really get started because with her brother eliminated, she can begin bringing this cartel back to full strength.
Back in the states, Emily Galindo is attempting to dye her hair black as she seeks to move to a different city while still on the run from her husband. She gets a call from her sister’s phone after not hearing from Erin for the past day but Emily is traumatized when the voice on the other end of the line belongs to her wayward husband, Miguel.
Not only that but Miguel has their son Cristobal with him and it doesn’t take long for Emily to figure out that her sister has been murdered.
Miguel informs his wife that it’s time to come home so they can become a family again. He’s ready to forgive her past transgressions but she needs to return home, especially if she wants to see their son again. Emily falls down crying because the man she’s tried so desperately to escape is back and seemingly more powerful than ever before.
That night with Felipe Reyes cleaning out the last remnants of his butcher shop while talking to his dead wife, Miguel appears to pay him a visit.
Miguel is finally ready to exact revenge against the people he holds responsible for his mother Dita’s death and he knows Felipe was involved somehow due to his past as the Galindo head of security. Miguel recognizes that Felipe was the man tasked with protecting his mother many years ago but now she’s dead and he wants to know why.
Felipe confesses to killing Dita — choking her to death and then setting her on fire — but he offers no explanations other than accepting responsibility. It appears that Miguel is ready to put a bullet into Felipe but he also reveals that there were two sets of motorcycle tracks near Dita’s body, which means he knows EZ and Angel Reyes had to be there to help their father.
So Miguel plans to kill Felipe and then wipe out EZ and Angel.
But before he can pull the trigger, Felipe tells Miguel the truth that executing him, EZ and Angel would only mean eliminating even more of his family members. Miguel is stunned by this news, although he clearly has no idea exactly what that means.
As a quick reminder — Felipe Reyes is Miguel Galindo’s real father.
Felipe had a torrid affair with Dita Galindo back in the day and Miguel was the result of that relationship because Jose Galindo was sterile and couldn’t produce children. When Felipe left and started a new life in the United States, Dita eventually tracked him down and attempted to kill him and his wife Marisol. In the end only Marisol was killed and EZ ended up in prison but none of that negates the truth, which is Felipe Reyes is Miguel Galindo’s father.
That bit of information stops Miguel from killing Felipe but it remains to be seen how he handles the truth about his real father and his new brothers.
Solely Responsible
After learning the truth that his girlfriend Kody was actually an undercover cop named Katie, Creeper is called to a meeting with her about what happens next.
Katie explains to Creeper that thanks to surveillance footage and recordings from their time together, she has him on tape confessing to numerous murders that she wants to use to bring down the Mayans. Katie promises that Creeper will be cleared of all charges because they’re not after him — they want the whole club and he can help them do that.
As he hesitates to agree, Katie then reveals that there’s another member of the Mayans who has already turned rat, although she’s not sure which one it would be. But she says that should reassure Creeper that he would only be following another of his brothers into this life as an informant.
It’s not totally clear if Katie is referencing EZ’s past deal with the Federal government or perhaps if there’s another member working with police right now.
Regardless, Creeper can only stand in stunned silence after he realizes just how much trouble he’s in right now, especially if the club ever finds out that he brought an undercover cop into their house.
Before splitting, Creeper asks Katie why she targeted him in an attempt to find an informant. Katie explains that Creeper was the perfect fit — a loner without many connections — while many of the other members just didn’t fit the profile. They had families or they were too old or just plain old lunatics not to mention the Reyes brothers, who the cops knew would never turn on each other.
That left Creeper as the perfect candidate.
After finishing with club business that day, Creeper returns to the cops to meet with Katie and her handlers after he decides to work with them on these various charges. He declines having a lawyer in the room with him and the cops are nearly foaming at the mouth to hear his confession.
Rather that rat out his club, Creeper describes in graphic details all of the murders that the Mayans have carried out but he takes full responsibility for each one on his own. Creeper says he’s the only person to blame for all these murders and the club had no knowledge whatsoever about his actions.
Katie can’t believe what she’s hearing because Creeper just doomed himself to about 15 consecutive life sentences in prison just for the sake of protecting his club.
Mayans Against All
After promising to take Sofia for a ride, EZ and his new girlfriend are cruising down the highway when a car approaches them from behind with gunshots ringing out. EZ quickly fires back after recognizing that these men are members of the Sons of Anarchy seeking to take out the sitting vice president from the Mayans chapter in Santo Padre.
Thankfully, EZ manages to escape thanks to a tractor trailer jackknifing, which in turn takes out the car being driven by the Sons. For good measure, EZ walks back and puts a bullet into the brain of every member of the Sons of Anarchy inside.
While EZ was defending himself, several of his brothers were dying nearby.
In an open field, Manny is down on his knees with an entire can of gasoline being dumped on his head. A second later, a member of the Sons of Anarchy leans down to talk to him and the big bad wolf is finally revealed.
It’s none other than Isaac — the strange, charismatic leader from Meth Mountain, who was constantly tempting Coco with drugs while also keeping some very interesting company around him. In the season 3 finale, Isaac took a bullet in the neck as Coco escaped the Meth compound but obviously he survived his injuries.
Back then, Isaac was revealed to have a Sons of Anarchy tattoo on his side and now his true identity has been uncovered because he’s the monstrosity who scares both Tig Trager and Terry from the San Bernardino chapter. Isaac has come looking for vengeance against the Mayans but he still can’t help himself but to torture Manny a little bit after covering him in gas.
“You came into this world screaming, cold slick with your mother’s blood. And now you’re going to leave screaming wet with daddy’s gasoline.”
~ Isaac
Manny says a final goodbye to his daughter while promising to kill Isaac in the afterlife, except the weirdly existential Sons of Anarchy psychopath doesn’t believe in that sort of thing. A second later, Isaac tosses his cigarette on the ground, which lights Manny in flames as he burns to death.
With only one Mayan still alive, Isaac tasks him to return to the rest of his club to tell them what happened. Isaac promises that every member of the Mayans will burn and he’s anxious to get the fire started.
In Santo Padre, Alvarez calls a meeting to tell the members that he’s reached a deal with the Sons of Anarchy to call a stop to the violence between the clubs. Chibs has agreed to a cease fire so long as the Mayans do the same.
That doesn’t sit well with the other members, especially after an attempt was made on EZ’s life earlier that day.
Alvarez attempts to explain that it was a rogue faction not sanctioned by Chibs or the mother charter in Charming but Gilly, Bishop and the others just aren’t buying it. EZ definitely isn’t happy because the only way he’s going to stop killing Sons is the day they concede defeat and bow down to the Mayans.
Alvarez can only scoff at that suggestion, which then forces EZ to initiate the killswitch clause — the same thing he mentioned back at the start of the season after reading the original bi-laws created when the Mayans first stated. It means that a sitting president can be impeached if all of the members of the charters vote for him to be gone.
Despite the hot tempers in the room, Alvarez believes he’s done enough to earn some good will amongst his brothers but the vote doesn’t go his way. Instead, every single member votes for Alvarez to be expelled as president while promising to follow EZ into war.
Relieved of power, Alvarez goes but not before telling EZ that it’s better this way so he doesn’t have to watch when the Mayans finally burn to the ground.
At home, Alvarez parks his motorcycle before leaving his kutte on the seat as he heads inside to be with his family while possibly saying goodbye for the last time to the club he founded.
Back in the clubhouse, EZ appoints himself president and asks Bishop to serve at his right as vice president to help shepherd them into this new chapter where they will accept the heroin deal, increase the numbers in the Mayan charters so they can all start killing as many members of the Sons of Anarchy as possible.
“With that warehouse full of heroin as our war chest, prisons will become ours. The streets will become ours. This is our state. Our nation. Our world. You can either join us, kneel to us or be crushed by us.
“Know this as your president, if you bleed, I will bleed by your side. If you tire, I will carry you. I will carry this club on my back. I will lift us to greatness. Tonight, a new day rises. A new chapter begins. Every man for himself and Mayans against all.”
~ EZ Reyes
EZ is celebrated as the new president of the Mayans Santo Padre chapter but in private, he’s questioned by his brother Angel about what exactly he’s doing right now.
Angel says ever since EZ pulled the trigger to kill his ex-girlfriend Gaby that he’s changed and he wonders how many bodies have to get piled up before his brother realizes there’s nobody left to kill.
EZ then reminds his brother about the time their childhood dog was hit by a car and he had to take it upon himself to break their pet’s neck because it was suffering so badly. All Angel could do was stand there and cry.
Now it’s the same situation — EZ is taking care of business to ensure the Mayans no longer have to suffer and if Angel isn’t committed to the cause, he should just quit, get out of the way or risk being rolled over. When Angel asks if that’s a threat, EZ can only squeeze his shoulder before leaving the room without saying another word.
Of course, EZ’s presidency gets off to a rocky start after an unknown assailant breaks into the warehouse where all the cartel heroin has been stored, douses everything with gasoline and then sets the whole thing ablaze. The person who set the fire stands outside and watches it all burn down but we never learn who’s hiding behind the hood.
It appears EZ’s war chest has already crumbled and he’s going to have plenty of problems on his hands going up against Isaac and his special brand of insanity as the war between the Mayans and the Sons of Anarchy continues to escalate.
As of now, “Mayans M.C.” has not been renewed for another season but hopefully that changes sooner rather than later!
