Mayans M. C. 1.9: Simplifying the Chessboard

Well, nothing is simple in the complex plot within plot that is Mayans M. C., but in last week's episode 1.9 - the penultimate episode, with the season finale looming next week - we could say that the chessboard was simplified, with the death of a semi-major character and a character a little less important than that, but still significant, and the letting loose of a decisive family secret.

The death of both characters comes from Miguel's alliance with Adelita, who is seeking revenge from the murder of her family, as the price of her professional union with the Galindo cartel.  The objects of her revenge are the current priest who as a younger man sold out her family, and Devante, Miguel's current consigliere, who as a younger man was a "lieutenant" in the attack on Adelita's family.  Miguel's discovery that Devante lied about the death of Miguel's brother years ago was the last straw in his giving Devante over to Adelita's revenge.  This results in the loss of Devante's head.  Significantly, Miguel's mother is not on the scene, but Emily is.  This also speaks to the profound change of power in the Galindos, or maybe a consolation of a change that was already underway.

The secret concerns Emily's one-time lover, E. Z.  To make a powerfully played story short, E. Z. has no power stop the diabolical Potter from revealing to brother Angel that E. Z. has been serving as a spy for the Feds.  Angel has due cause to be more than furious.  Not only does that violate the profound principle of most criminal organizations not to be a stooge - hey, Whitey Bulger was just murdered in prison, in his 80s, because of that - but Angel is now personally on the line if anyone in the M. C. finds out that his younger brother was feeding the DEA any information.

Angel's learning this secret certainly makes the chess game a little more clear, but with Potter nothing is ever clear and no one is out of danger.  We'll see this week how the Reyes' family and everyone connected with them deal with the steeply priced deal Potter has offered the brothers.

As for episode 1.7, it was one of the best episodes of the series, as next-to-last episodes often are, and amidst all the great scenes, I though the most emblematic was the motor bikes scaring a mouse off the road into the mouth of a snake.  Yeah, those Mayans are a powerful bunch.

See also: Mayans, M. C. 1.1: Pulling Us In ... Mayans M. C. 1.2: The Plot Thickens ... Mayans M. C. 1.3: Two Presidents ... Mayans M. C. 1.4: Finger and Face ... Mayans M. C. 1.5: "Not Fredo" - "Putas and Plata" ... Mayans M. C. 1.7: The Conversation
 

Mayans M. C. 1.7: The Conversation

An excellent episode 1.7 of Mayans M. C. last night, the most significant part of which, I thought, was a conversation between "Felipe" (in quotes because it's not his real name) and "Adelita" (not her real name, either) who comes to kill him.  (Last week's episode 1.6 was outstanding, too, but I didn't have a chance to review it.  Please don't tell the Club.)

Back to Adelita and Felipe, she comes to kill him on a mission of revenge, to kill the traitor who sold out her father, resulting in his murder and along Adelita's mother and brother.   Felipe sets her straight.  He was her father's partner.   But there was a third partner, and he was the one who sold Adelita's father out.   The conversation ends with the two of them pledging to pool their resources.  This could be the most important new alliance so far in Mayans M. C.   And the mixing of prior and current generations and secrets revealed is consistent with the motif of Sons.

As a result of this new alliance, Galinda and his son are released, and the family is joyfully reunited.  But their joy is short lived.  Lincoln Potter and his team descend upon the Galindas like a nest of angry hornets, and the episode ends with Galinda in far worse shape than he was in the Mexican prison.

This is also consistent with what was so compelling in Sons of Anarchy: our heroes (or anti-heroes, and heroines) never run out of mortal enemies.  They come from rivals, from presumed and/or former friends and allies, from family, from the past, and of course from the law itself.  This means that every one of our characters is in a state of perpetual jeopardy.  The only way you can be liberated from that - other than being killed - is to leave the area, as some main characters did in Sons, especially at the end.   But it doesn't look like anyone is about to do that in Mayans, which means we're in for some pretty powerful viewing in the episodes and seasons ahead.

See also: Mayans, M. C. 1.1: Pulling Us In ... Mayans M. C. 1.2: The Plot Thickens ... Mayans M. C. 1.3: Two Presidents ... Mayans M. C. 1.4: Finger and Face ... Mayans M. C. 1.5: "Not Fredo" - "Putas and Plata"

 

Mayans M. C. 1.5: "Not Fredo" - "Putas and Plata"

One of my favorite parts of Mayans M. C. are the conversations - cool and wise, literate and tough, all at once.  Episode 1.5 last night had plenty of this, especially in the conversations between E. Z. and Angel, the brothers Reyes.

Talking about The Godfather, E. Z. says he wouldn't want to be Fredo.  Can't argue with that.  But the deeper import of that conversation is the meta-point that Mayans M. C. is another retelling of The Godfather story, just as Sons was a retelling of Hamlet.

And, in another highlight, Angel tells E. Z. that if they succeed in their plans, they'll have "putas and plata".  Nothing more I can say about that great line, except how's that alliteration.

Another conversation, one I won't tell you too much about, features Angel holding up a severed head - shades of a different part of Hamlet - and telling E. Z. and Coco what he'd like to do with it.  (Yeah, it's better scene than described.)

But I will tell you that I thought the rescue of Adelita was a fine piece of work.   And the closing scene, in which Miguel and Emily go at it, and she's fantasizing about E. Z. in Miguel's place, was a fine scene, too.  In fact, Mayans M. C. is top notch in just about every scene, with only three more episodes left this season (hey, did you see the news?  it's been renewed for a second season).

So far, no really major characters - ones we've come to know and love or hate - has meet his or her fate.   I find all of these characters so compelling that I almost hope none of them do.  But that's not likely to happen.   And, like Chucky - good to see this Sons alumnus in his second Mayans appearance - I'll be somewhere on the sidelines watching, though totally off-screen.

See also: Mayans, M. C. 1.1: Pulling Us In ... Mayans M. C. 1.2: The Plot Thickens ... Mayans M. C. 1.3: Two Presidents ... Mayans M. C. 1.4: Finger and Face

 

Mayans M. C. 1.4: Finger and Face

Mayans M. C. keeps getting better and better, with an altogether excellent episode 1.4 in all sorts of ways.

First, it has my favorite line in the series so far, a line which perfectly typifies the mix of brutality and cool that is the essence of the narrative.  It comes from Angel, who tells E. Z. to cut off a dead guy's finger, so they can have continuing access to his phone.   E.Z. objects with "seriously?" And Angel replies "you're lucky it's a not a new phone, you'd be cutting off his face".  What can I say?  Brutal and ugly, yes, but thoroughly hip to the latest tech.

Meanwhile, the big continuing reveal in the plot is that there is a lot more to Felipe than even was revealed last week, when we saw how handy he was with an old-fashioned gun.   Tonight we learn that Reyes was an identity he assumed in 1985.  So, who was he before?  My guess is some kind of very powerful drug cartel leader, but we'll just have to see.   The Reyes are one complex and compelling family.

Also significant is Coco's sister really being his daughter.   The Reyes may be the most complex, but it's looking like no one in the M. C.  has a straightforward family life.   The advice that Marcus gives E. Z. to be loyal to club above family may make sense, but it will be difficult if not impossible to follow for just about everyone.  Just as it always is.

And last but not least, there's the tunnel that Angel's company literally falls into.  Tunnels are always good conduits of storylines - in reality like El Chapo as well as in fiction - and it will be fun to see what this tunnel brings to the Mayans M. C.

See also: Mayans, M. C. 1.1: Pulling Us In ... Mayans M. C. 1.2: The Plot Thickens ... Mayans M. C. 1.3: Two Presidents

 

Mayans M. C. 1.3: Two Presidents

An excellent Mayans M. C. 1.3 this week, in which what struck me as the most potentially provocative thing in this explosively provocative series was the two Presidents of the two Mayan motor clubs.

One is Bishop, well played by Michael Irby, and head of the Mayans club in far-southern California.  The other is Marcus, well played by Emilio Rivera, head of the club more up north, and someone we saw in Sons of Anarchy.  The focus in Mayans M. C. is on Bishop's club, but Marcus's presence is not insignificant.

And this week we saw an important exchange between them.  After Bishop shoots and kills Jimmy - the surprise killing in this week's episode (almost every week has one) - he asks Marcus why Marcus did not want Bishop to tell his club about the planned killing beforehand.   Marcus's response indicates he doesn't trust Bishop's crew - Marcus suspects that someone in the southern chapter may be a rat.

This conversation between the Presidents demonstrates an important facet in Mayans, M. C. - there's not just one, but two, Mayans M. C, in this story, and I'd guess that sooner or later that number will be crucial.

Meanwhile, we also get a great scene from Felipe, when he takes a classic-looking gun and points it a detective keeping track of him and E. Z.   There's more to Felipe than meets the eye.  He's not only fiercely protective of his two sons.  He knows how to deal with pesky police.

Looking forward to more of this series.

See also: Mayans, M. C. 1.1: Pulling Us In ... Mayans M. C. 1.2: The Plot Thickens

 

Mayans M. C. 1.2: The Plot Thickens

Mayans M. C. continued to develop and flex its muscles and smarts in 1.2 as a complex, multi-level drama with all kinds of conflicts and connections.

The big one in 1.2 was between the cartel and the rebels, who have kidnapped cartel leader Miguel's young son.   He wants the Mayans to get him back, and since the Mayans have all kinds of connections to the rebels, this puts them right in the middle, where they'd rather not be.  Among other things, the Mayans don't like Miguel's brutal tactics, leading to one of the best scenes in the hour, when prospect E. Z. speaks out against this, and Bishop literally puts his body between E. Z., and the angry Miguel, who is menacingly advancing on E. Z.

Miguel and E. Z. have another profound reason to be at odds.  Miguel's wife Emily, loving mother of the kidnapped boy, was E. Z.'s girlfriend before he went to prison.  She seems to love Miguel now, but has problems with his business, which she'd rather not know about, but now needs to, so she can understand why her son was kidnapped.   She still has some feelings for E. Z., and he definitely has some for her, and given his connections to the rebels, this puts him a conflicted situation par excellence.

His only completely reliable ally at this point is his father, well played by Edward James Olmos.  Actually, all the parts, major and minor, are very played, including Michael Irby as Bishop, Richard Cabral as Coco, and Clayton Cardenas as E. Z.'s brother Angel, who (presumably) doesn't know about his brother's sleeper status.

All of this is riveting viewing, and I'm looking forward to more.  (Prediction from my wife Tina: Devante - great to see Tony Plana in this role - and Miguel's mother killed Miguel's father.  This is in keeping with the Sons' Hamlet motif, and makes sense.)

See also: Mayans M. C. 1.1: Pulling Us In

 

Mayans M. C. 1.1: Pulling Us In

Hey, the Mayans M. C. debut, Kurt Sutter's latest, was good, and may well have the makings of great.   My wife and I enjoyed it.

A little context.  Sutter is best-known for his series, Sons of Anarchy, also on the FX Channel.  I first heard about Sons when I was teaching a graduate course about "Television and New Media" at Fordham University in 2013.  Each student was required to choose a TV series, and follow its reception in social media.  Most students chose high-concept, sophisticated series that I was already was watching, like The Americans.  One guy picked Sons.  I'd never heard of it, but he was a bright student, so I said sure.  His reports got me interested in the series.

But I still didn't get around to watching it - which of course required watching all of the earlier seasons (Sons of Anarchy debuted in 2008), and I wasn't quite ready to make that commitment.  Our daughter, telling us about a year later that SOA was one of the best series she'd ever seen, pushed us over the top.  We watched and devoured every episode of Sons of Anarchy, and consider it one of the very best shows ever on TV of any kind.  It was indeed high concept and sophisticated and so much more.

Mayans take place in the same place as Sons, and indeed we saw some of the Mayans in Sons.  But that means Mayans has huge burden - it's in effect competing with SOA, where there was so much powerful content that I won't even summarize.  The first episode shows that Mayans could be on track to doing that.

For Sam Crow fans, we got a quick view of Gemma (Katey Sagal), in an eight-years earlier scene with E. Z. (J. D. Pardo) in prison.  And Les Packer, a character played by Robert Patrick who appeared in a couple of episodes of Sons, leads a group Sons in support of a Mayans operation.  The Mayans and SAMCRO were by and large allies in Sons of Anarchy, so that makes sense.

It's too soon to tell if Mayans will achieve the Shakespearean heights of Sons of Anarchy, but there are already some strong and tempestuous family relationships on hand in Mayans, including father and son, and brother to brother.  Sutter wove his magic in SOA, the unlikely but irresistible mix of violence and humor, and after the first episode of Mayans, we're more than ready to give this new series a shot.