Mayans M.C. review: The devil you know

The walls begin closing in on EZ as Galindo makes a new deal with the feds on this week’s Mayans M.C.

Making a deal with the devil is never a good idea, but especially not when that devil happens to be Miguel Galindo. This week’s episode of Mayans M.C. focuses on the Ivy-League-educated cartel boss as he slinks his way out of yet another prison, this time making an ill-fated deal with the feds in exchange for his freedom.

If you’ll remember, last week’s episode ended with Lincoln Potter (Ray McKinnon) hauling Galindo off in handcuffs. The villain from Sons of Anarchy has had a bone to pick with the cartel for a while now, so Galindo’s arrest felt like a final nail in his coffin. As it turns out, Potter is more interested in forming a partnership with Galindo than putting him behind bars, but this episode takes a while to finally explain his motives.

Instead, we spend time see-sawing between EZ’s brief life on the run, Coco’s dead mom problem, and some serious club business.

First up is EZ, who learns his deal with the DEA is pretty much trash now that Potter has taken over the investigation. Both his father and his case handler urge him to run, maybe even create a new identity, in order to escape the wrath of Galindo, the club, and more time behind bars. Of course, EZ can’t do that, because his escape would put Angel in jeopardy. The club would almost certainly blame his big brother for patching him in, and Angel’s already having a tough enough time living his double-life as a spy for the rebels.

Instead of hitting the road, EZ heads to Coco’s after getting a call the club member might need some help. He finds Coco sitting near his mom’s corpse, smoking a joint. Of course, the two take some time to get high and wax philosophic about their choices in life. Coco exhibits no remorse for his mother’s murder, even suggesting EZ bury her in a penis-shaped grave, and he imparts a bit of wisdom on the prospect before he heads back to the club. According to Coco, EZ was never meant to go to Stanford — he was always meant to be right where he is.

This idea of fate taking precedence over a man’s choices is not a new theme for Kurt Sutter’s shows. Sons of Anarchy was always tied to Jax Teller’s fight to avoid his own father’s fate, even as he actively made choices that put him down the same path. It’s an easy thing, to believe that there’s an inescapable force controlling our lives instead of taking responsibility for our own choices, but it’d be nice to EZ buck that trend and go a different route than Jax did. The truth is somewhere in the in-between, a combination of circumstances and personal decisions that makes the trajectory of life more complicated. Perhaps EZ will figure that out by the end of this season, but he’s got a long way to go.

Galindo, on the other hand, is a man who firmly believes his destiny rests in his own hands, which is why the cartel boss eventually agrees to a deal with Potter in exchange for his wife’s freedom and his own. With Emily being interrogated next door, already admitting to failing to report a child abduction, Galindo decides the best thing for him to do is to tell Potter what he wants to hear: he’ll help the feds take down the rebels.

Of course, we know that Galindo’s made a deal with Adelita already, one it sounds like he has every intention of honoring, if only because Potter’s proven himself a nastier threat than Los Olvidados at the moment. Galindo is smart enough to be able to play both sides, and it’s an interesting twist to see his trajectory match EZ’s in a way. Both men are forced to live a double life to stay out of prison and protect their own. Personally, I think Galindo is better suited to the task, but this all feels like the build-up to the inevitable EZ/Galindo showdown.

Before that happens though, EZ’s going to have to extricate himself from another sticky spot. The episode ends with EZ and Angel transporting the body of Coco’s dead mother to the desert, where they plan to bury her. Of course, a broken taillight and a cop on a power trip thwart their plans, and the episode ends with the brothers in trouble with the law, again. Either they make a run for it or kill a member of law enforcement. Neither option sounds particularly great, but if they hope to stay out of jail — and, let’s be honest, with only two episodes left the show is not sticking either one of these guys behind bars just yet — they’ll do what they have to do.

Thoughts From The Table

• Was it just me, or did we all think Bishop’s ominous speech at the table was in reference to EZ? I’m still not sure who Bishop has focused his ire on, but at least it’s not the prospect.
• Emily finally knows EZ is the one informing on her husband, and I’m still unclear just where her loyalties lie. She ends the episode reaffirming her commitment to Galindo, but there’s so much history between herself and EZ that she decides not to tell him about the prospect’s betrayal. That will most assuredly come back to bite her in the end.
• EZ makes some discoveries of his own this episode, most notably, the reveal that his father is not who he says he is. Felipe goes for a drive to warn a friendly priest that Adelita will be coming for him soon and forgets to put away his box. You know, the one with photos of him standing near severed heads. EZ finds it and the papers that detail his dad’s double-life, and I have a feeling the next family get-together is going to be awkward.