In the ‘Mayans M.C.’ season finale recap, EZ and Angel prepare to carry out Lincoln Potter’s orders and a shocking tie between the Mayans and SAMCRO is revealed…
By Damon Martin — Editor/Lead Writer
Prior to Tuesday night’s season finale of ‘Mayans M.C.’, creator Kurt Sutter promised there would be a game changing intersection between this spinoff and the original series ‘Sons of Anarchy’.
What unfolded was one of the most unexpected shockers after the Mayans renewed a relationship with SAMCRO on some gun running with the Mexican cartel but the revelation at the end that it was a member of the Sons of Anarchy who murdered EZ and Angel Reyes’ mother could rattle this show to its core.
There will be a much deeper explanation in our recap, but all season long there have been teasers and flashbacks to eight years earlier when EZ Reyes was arrested and sentenced to prison after shooting a police officer dead while he tried to chase down the man he believed killed his mother.
There were deep ties between EZ and his family as he desperately tried to find the man responsible for gunning down his mother in what appeared to be a smash and grab robbery at his father’s butcher shop. For some reason, EZ never completely believed that his mother’s death was just the result of some random act of violence and he allowed her murder to consume him until he was the one who ended up in jail.
In the season finale during the closing moments of the episode, EZ finally locked eyes with the person he was chasing that night eight years ago who he believes killed his mother — and it was none other than Happy Lowman, the sergeant-at-arms of the Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club Redwood Original.
That stunning end could send massive reverberations in the relationship between the Mayans and the Sons of Anarchy depending on what else is revealed when season 2 debuts in 2019. We’ll dive a little deeper into that moment later in our recap and why exactly Happy may have been involved in that crime.
Add to that there was another shocking moment in the finale when Marcus Alvarez, the founding member of the Mayans Motorcycle Club hung up his kutte to join his friend Miguel Galindo as an advisor to his new criminal empire.
All of this will lead to a much different dynamic in the power structure in ‘Mayans’ season 2.
As you can tell, there’s a lot to unpack for this first season finale so with that let’s recap the last episode of ‘Mayans M.C.’ season one titled ‘Cuervo/Tz’ikb’uul’…
Store Bought Pie
Less than 24 hours after receiving the message from U.S. assistant district attorney Lincoln Potter, EZ and Angel Reyes are on a mission to kill their cousin and former DEA agent Kevin Jimenez or the floor will fall out from under them. If they succeed in assassinating Jimenez, EZ’s previously deal with the DEA will be wiped from the books like it never happened, which frees his brother from certain execution for introducing him to the Mayans in the first place. Carrying out Potter’s orders will also keep the brothers from facing a potential murder charge after they were found driving around with a dead body in their trunk.
Waking up the next morning after a night spent at a casino in Arizona, EZ is already on the road back home so he can consult with his father about what has to be done to gain his freedom. Angel is also heading back because he knows the job that he has to complete if he wants to break free from Potter’s control.
When EZ tells his father Felipe what’s expected of him, he implores his son not to go down that road. The problem is EZ knows that if he doesn’t carry out Potter’s orders by the end of the day, his deal with the DEA will be exposed and that’s basically like signing a death warrant for both his brother and himself.
Knowing the weight that is pressing down on his son, Felipe attempts to carry out the execution himself after inviting Jimenez to his butcher shop to talk. Felipe knows that Jimenez was threatening to become a whistleblower on the DEA and with the U.S. government just striking a new deal with the Mexican cartel, they can ill afford that kind of exposure so that’s why he has to die.
As much as Felipe tries to pull the trigger, he just can’t do the job and Jimenez leaves his shop alive. Soon after, Angel shows up trying to track both his brother and Jimenez and he tells his father he has to find them if they hope to survives. Felipe gives up Jimenez’s location in hopes of saving his sons while likely sacrificing his own soul because somebody else is going to have to die.
Back at the clubhouse, ‘El Padrino’ Marcus Alvarez is back at the table to lock up the remaining deals needed to secure this new partnership with the Galindo cartel. They settle on a series of gun running operations both above board with the government funding the cartel and then a new partnership forged with the Sons of Anarchy to continue funneling guns through an illegal channel.
One key thing that Alvarez mentions ahead of the vote is that he promised Jax Teller before he died that he would maintain the peace between the Mayans and the Sons and help that relationship continue to flourish. That’s a key element to remember when thinking about the shocking cliffhanger at the end of this episode.
As for EZ, he returns to the clubhouse just long enough for Bishop to send him out for supplies for the party they will be holding later that night when the members of SAMCRO arrive from Northern California.
On his way to carry out the orders that Potter has handed down to him, EZ spots Emily with her family and he can’t help but remember back to a time when they were together. For all the ways that Angel and Felipe keep saying how they want EZ to get back to his old life, it certainly seems like he won’t be able to return to where he was supposed to be before he went to prison until he gets Emily back or at the very least attempts to win her back.
When EZ finally arrives at Kevin Jimenez’s house, he see his brother Angel has already arrived and he’s making his way inside. Angel knocks on the door and immediately pulls his gun but can’t quite pull the trigger on Jimenez. That’s when he finds out that Jimenez’s old boss Bowen was also in the house and he gets the drop on Angel as they struggle for the gun.
EZ gets inside and he guns down Bowen and a split second later Angel shoots Jimenez in the head. It seems Bowen had gone to pay a visit to his old agent after finding out that his security clearance had been yanked and he was no longer able to access files on Jimenez or EZ Reyes.
The Reyes’ brothers call in Lincoln Potter to prove they carried out his dirty work. He’s pleased to see that Jimenez is dead but he also seems happy to know that Bowen has also been killed. Still, Potter feigns that this was an unexpected result but promises that he’ll clean up the mess. The last thing he needs is for Angel and EZ to bury these bodies on the other side of the border and he’ll finish up everything at Jimenez’s house.
Before the bodies are rolled out the door, Potter waxes on about an uneaten pie that was shared by Jimenez and Bowen before they were killed. He laments about how it’s store bought pie rather than homemade and both EZ and Angel realize that they are dealing with an entirely different kind of animal with this particular U.S. assistant district attorney. He’s not nearly as concerned about the two dead DEA agents as he seems to be about the quality of pie he’s attempting to eat.
Lincoln Potter’s peculiar behavior — and the request to kill two agents — should immediately inform Angel and EZ that he’s not done with them yet.
A New Regime
After striking a deal with the Federal government and a secret arrangement with the rebels in Los Olvidados, Miguel Galindo is finally starting to put the pieces of his operation back together again.
He returns home and breaks the news to his mother that Devante won’t be returning to his previous position because he’s been beheaded for betraying the family trust. While he would never harm his mother, it’s clear Miguel is more or less cutting her out from any influence over him or the family operation. Devante orchestrated the lie that Miguel’s older brother Cristobal had been kidnapped and killed rather than the real reason, which was that he passed away from complications due to pneumonia. Devante got Miguel’s mother Gita to go along with the lie and now he’s turning against both of them.
Miguel also begins to set up a new power structure in the wake of Devante’s death. He pulls in his old friend Nestor and tells him that he will remain in charge of security but he will not be advancing any further because Miguel questions his choice to kill the nun when he was trying to turn the tables in the court of public opinion in the war against the rebels. Nestor was the one who made the call to beat a nun to death in an attempt to implicate Los Olvidados and turn the community against them and Miguel can’t help but question his decision making.
Finally, Miguel is now relying on his wife Emily more and more as she begins to play an integral part in his business. Emily is glad to finally be part of the inner circle while Miguel’s mother Dita is obviously upset that she’s being cut out after her betrayal when she lied about Cristobal’s death.
The final piece of the puzzle will be a new right hand man who will join the Galindo cartel to become Miguel’s new advisor. More on that in a moment or two…
Happy Ending
Down in Mexico, EZ and Angel bury the two DEA agents they just murdered while also taking a couple of photos to prove to Potter that the bodies have been handled. Angel is adamant about his brother finishing up this job and then returning to tell the club that he’s done with this life so he can be gone for good in the morning.
EZ heads back to the U.S. while Angel stays behind to pay a visit to Adelita and the rebels of Los Olvidados.
After brokering a peace agreement with the Galindo cartel, Adelita has moved her rebel faction into houses where they will begin putting down roots for the first time in years. After living in tents and moving on a moment’s notice to avoid the wrath of the cartel, Adelita is still trying to settle into the idea that she has a house as a home for once. Even the little girl who she’s cared for as part of the rebels is struggling to understand this new normal but this is life for the rebels now that the war is no longer happening.
Angel shows up to pay Adelita a visit and talk to her for the first time since the peace was brokered. He’s happy to see her settled into this new home while getting everything she wanted by working alongside the cartel to give the people in Mexico a better life for themselves.
Adelita invites Angel to spend the night with her but he declines — as much as he wants to stay, he says he hates himself too much right now to feel the joy he would get by sleeping next to her.
Meanwhile, EZ meets with Potter to show him proof that the bodies have been buried and in return the proof that he was ever a DEA informant is wiped from the records. Before leaving, Potter reminds EZ that he took care of that second dead DEA agent as a favor so now he expects one in return whenever he calls on him.
As expected, EZ is still under Potter’s thumb even if he’s not required to report to him any longer.
From there, EZ returns to the clubhouse and asks for a sit down with Bishop and Alvarez to discuss something important. Outside, the Sons of Anarchy arrive to nail down the gun deal and to celebrate with their brothers in the Mayans.
Happy and Quinn along with a new prospect arrive at the clubhouse and exchange hugs with the Mayans after the long ride down from Charming.
As for Angel, he gets back from Mexico and tells his father that the job has been done while also informing him that he expects EZ to leave the Mayans and get back to his old life far away from Santo Padre. Angel has been given a promotion as the new secretary for the Mayans after Riz was stripped of his title when the club discovered he was running a secret tunnel from Mexico to the brothel that he oversees.
Bishop sits down to tell Angel about the conversation he shared with EZ except it’s not the one we all expected. Instead, Bishop reveals that EZ asked for a new bi-law to be added that blood can no longer sponsor blood to get into the club. EZ also asks Bishop to sponsor him going forward because having his brother as the person responsible for him in the Mayans, has been complicated by family ties.
Angel plays it off like this was the plan all along but he’s obviously irate that EZ didn’t tell Bishop that he was dropping out of the club while surrendering his kutte.
When Angel finally confronts his brother about his decision, EZ tells him that he’s sick of everybody telling him about the life he was supposed to lead. It seems having decisions made for him is exactly what EZ doesn’t want but becoming a prospect in the Mayans is something he’s earning and like it or not, that’s what he wants right now.
EZ isn’t leaving, he’s not giving up his pursuit of a patch and he’s not going to abandon his family in Santo Padre.
While EZ is staying in the Mayans, a founding member is leaving.
Marcus Alvarez is hanging up his kutte and leaving the club he helped create so he can take on a new role as the right hand to Miguel Galindo. Alvarez will become a key component in the new Galindo cartel and he’s leaving the Mayans behind.
That was a shocking turn of events but nothing close to those final few seconds of the episode.
When the Sons prospects asks for a different kind of beer for his sponsor, EZ volunteers to grab it and that’s when he spots the man responsible for gunning down his mother. EZ flashes back to that fateful night — chasing the person who killed his mother and accidentally shooting a cop that landed him in prison. Before the handcuffs were placed on his wrists, EZ got a brief look at the man who shot his mother and it’s none other than Happy.
To explain this — remember EZ’s mother was killed and he was arrested eight years ago. During that time, Happy was a NOMAD member of the Sons of Anarchy so he was constantly on the road and not beholden to any one chapter. Happy was essentially a gun for hire and he served as a hitman on more than one occasion. So it’s likely that Happy was paid to kill Felipe Reyes — perhaps for something he did while serving the cartel in Mexico — but ended up killing his wife by accident.
Now EZ knows that Happy was the person who killed his mother but to seek revenge against a member of the Sons of Anarchy mother charter is just inviting disaster, not to mention fracturing a very profitable relationship between the Sons and the Mayans. The situation will only get more complicated now that Alvarez has left the club to work directly for the cartel so he’s no longer there to act as a buffer against a member doing something stupid like killing one of the Sons.
This situation will undoubtedly present all sorts of turmoil when ‘Mayans M.C.’ returns for season 2 in 2019. EZ said in this episode that he’s never really known what he wanted because everybody has been making decisions for him. Now EZ has decided for himself that he wants become a full patched member of the Mayans but the one thing he’s wanted more than anything else is to avenge the murder of his mother.
And he’s finally locked eyes with the man responsible.
‘Mayans M.C.’ will return for season 2 in 2019 on FX.
