Mayans M.C. review: No one saw that coming

This week’s episode of Mayans M.C. saw a shocking death and a surprise alliance that just completely changed the game. We’re breaking “Cucuracha/K’uruch” down.

It’s rare that a TV show can truly shock fans, especially now that the internet is teeming with sleuths ready to theorize and pick apart clues on Reddit and social media. Even big reveals on shows like Game of Thrones and Westworld have fallen victim to online detectives with a bit too much time on their hands. All of this is to say the fact that Mayans M.C. was able to shock us not once, but twice this week is a real feat in storytelling that the show should be proud of.

Let’s begin with my favorite new character, Lettie. The girl is a psychopath, no doubt about it, but she’s also ruthless and cunning in a way I just didn’t expect. Coco’s mother, Lettie’s grandmother, was never the role model either needed growing up, but her willingness to pimp Lettie out for rent money seems like it might have been the final straw for the young teen. Not only does Lettie concoct an elaborate story, telling Coco her grandmother abused her and causing him to fly off the handle, she does it meticulously and methodically, beating her head against a toilet to really sell the con.

Now, Coco’s wild reaction — drowning his own mother in a bathtub — may have been more extreme than Lettie anticipated, but we doubt the girl feels particularly bad about having her own kin’s blood on her hands. It sure does seem like cleaning up dead bodies is becoming some kind of father-daughter bonding experience for these two, doesn’t it?

Speaking of fathers and daughters, it turns out Adelita’s old man was Felipe Reyes’ partner, back when the two were chopping off heads for the cartel. It paints Adelita’s relationship with Angel in a nasty new light — has she been working him all this time in order to get close to his father?

Probably, but the result feels a bit anti-climactic. Felipe explains that it was Adelita’s friend, the Bishop we met a few episodes back, not him, that ratted his dad out and caused her entire family to be massacred. Whether I believe that story or not, I can’t help but be disappointed in where the show has taken Edward James Olmos’ character this season. Felipe doesn’t have to be a good guy — there really are no good guys in Kurt Sutter’s world — but I’d at least like to be interested in his dark side. Maybe it’s because the show dragged out that reveal, using his relationship with the DEA agent to tie together storylines that didn’t need to be connected, but at this point, I’m bored with Felipe and his murky past. Adelita confronting him, possibly killing him, felt like a way to push this plot device along, but now that Felipe has wormed his way out of the line of fire, I just don’t see the point of this convoluted bac story.

But Felipe isn’t the only bad guy Adelita’s having heart-to-hearts with this episode. After framing Galindo and sticking him in a Mexican jail, the Los Olvidados leader meets with the cartel boss to talk about, wait for it … an alliance.

That’s right, kidnapping his son, disrupting his supply chain, and threatening to run his brand of evil out of Mexico has just been part of a larger game plan to join forces with Galindo. Seems like an odd way to go about starting a partnership, but Adelita knows she needs leverage on the guy if she’s going to use him to make changes in her home country. It turns out, you can’t get rid of the devil. You can only make sure he stays focused elsewhere, which is why Adelita wants to use Galindo’s money and clout to construct her own regime.

It’s not a completely bonkers plan, but it is a surprising move from the woman who’s spent this entire season on a quest for revenge against Galindo’s army. I knew Adelita was cunning and capable enough to take down a man as educated and powerful as Galindo, but I thought I understood her reasons for doing so — reasons that were more personal, less big picture. Turns out, Adelita may just be the most ruthless character on this show, and with Galindo once again in handcuffs thanks to Potter’s reappearance, expect her to run the show, at least for the next few episodes.

Speaking off, we only have three weeks left until the season finale. I’ll probably be sharing my thoughts on the season, as a whole, once the final episode airs, but can I just say how excited I am to see the action finally ramping up and some of these periphery storylines being pulled in before this show wraps? Pacing has been one of Mayans M.C.’s biggest challenges, but it feels like the writers are finally getting into a groove that works and I’m happy to be along for the ride.

Thoughts From The Table

• I’m calling it now, with Galindo back behind bars, Emily will step in to run the cartel in her husband’s absence. She’s just this close to having a mental break and switching to the dark side — who can blame her — and she’s being groomed by Galindo’s adviser anyway. There has to be a reason the writers leaned in so heavily with Emily’s decision to know everything about her husband’s dealings instead of remaining ignorant like her mother-in-law. This is it.
• Coco, I love you, but a little self-preservation and some time to think before you act will go a long way, my dude. Now that your family’s dirty laundry is out in the open, you’re no longer on Bishop’s hit list — but you were close to winding up in a hole in the desert. Now you’re flying off the handle and killing your mom because Lettie turned on the waterworks? Be smarter, Coco! We need you to make it out of this season alive.
• EZ continues to feel like a secondary character on this show, which is a real shame since J.D. Pardo is a capable lead and so good to look at. Here’s hoping next week’s episode gives him more to do.