Mayans M.C. review: Bonds are broken on Serpiente/Chikchan

This week’s episode of Mayans M.C. saw some game-changing revelations for the Reyes family as Galindo ushered in a new era for the cartel.

It’s better to be the snake than the rat.

If anything, that message was the one hammered home on this week’s episode of Mayans M.C. “Serpiente/Chikchan” felt like a chaotic cat’s cradle with so many untethered threads woven since the beginning of the season finally tied together. We were treated to answers, a few character deaths, and a glimpse of what season two of this show might look like.

One thing’s for sure, Mayans M.C. is never going to be the same after this.

We’ll start with the Reyes family, the three men who have served as the heart of this series thus far. EZ and Angel are behind bars after being picked up by local police for driving around town with a dead body in the trunk of their car. The car and body belong to fellow club member Coco, but Lincoln Potter doesn’t mind holding it against the boys if it furthers his own ends.

Instead of shipping them off to prison, Potter makes a deal with the brothers, revealing EZ’s betrayal to Angel while recruiting them both in his plan to keep Galindo honest in his dealings with the Feds. Neither Reyes is particularly happy about this turn of events, but there’s not much choice for EZ or Angel seeing as Potter plans to keep Coco’s dead mother on ice should they stray from the desired path.

On their way home from jail, the brothers have it out, using their fists to communicate the hurt that words just can’t convey. It’s a brutal moment, especially considering the strong bond forged between EZ and Angel this season. Clayton Cardenas does some of his best work this episode, confronting his younger sibling over this heartwrenching betrayal while later having a heart-to-heart with his old man who knew about EZ’s deal from the beginning.

It’s hard not to feel sympathy for Angel. It’s obvious Felipe views EZ as his “golden boy,” and he even says as much to Angel when the two men have their chat. Angel questions if his father envisioned a life away from all this for his firstborn the way he obviously did for EZ. It’s a gut-punching moment, watching as Angel realizes his own father has been lying to him and worse, betting against him his entire life. Felipe is a good man at heart, but if this season has proven anything it’s that the Reyes patriarch has some demons he just hasn’t dealt with yet, one of them being how he failed Angel as a father.

MAYANS M.C. — “Serpiente/Chikchan” — Season 1, Episode 9 (Airs Tuesday, October 30, 10:00 p.m. e/p) Pictured (l-r): Clayton Cardenas as Angel Reyes, Edward James Olmos as Felipe Reyes. CR: Prashant Gupta/FX

While the Reyes family bonds are tested, Galindo does his own sort of housecleaning. After he and Emily decide to make good on their deal with the rebels while convincing the Feds they’re playing by the rules, Galindo has some of his own family issues to sort out. Oh Devante, you didn’t think you could lie to your boss, convincing him to go after his son’s kidnappers at the risk of losing his first-born, and actually get away with it did you?

Galindo discovers Devante’s deception — his brother died from pneumonia as a baby, not from the hands of his family’s enemies — and in a move that shows just how ruthless the cartel boss can be, he offers Devante’s head on a platter to Adelita of all people. It turns out that Devante is the man who slaughtered her family, so when Adelita chops his head off in the desert, Galindo’s debt to her is paid and they start their partnership off fresh. A win-win for everyone save Devante.

And with Devante gone, it seems Emily will be stepping in as Galindo’s right hand. We’ll admit, it’s been difficult to suss out Emily’s trajectory this season. At first, we thought her son’s kidnapping and her issues with Galindo might push her into the arms of EZ. Then it seemed Emily might be used against her husband by the Feds. Now it’s looking like Emily is a true ride-or-die. She’s sitting in on club meetings, standing by her husband’s side, and threatening her former flame with her knowledge of his deal with Potter. As cutthroat as Galindo can be, we have a feeling it’s Emily EZ should really be worried about.

With only one episode left this season, Kurt Sutter and his team did some heavy lifting this episode, tying up extraneous ends and setting the stage for an epic season finale. We doubt all our questions will be answered, and we’re sure a few more characters will meet their grisly ends, but it finally feels like we’re moving towards something on this show, even if that something is the edge of a cliff.

Thoughts From The Table

• We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: Clayton Cardenas is a revelation on this show. Angel’s been set up as this kind of dupe, a guy who doesn’t think things through, who makes bad decisions time and again, but this week we got a fuller picture of the eldest Reyes. He’s hurting, he feels second-best to his genius little brother, but he has the grit and the will to see things through. He’s not going to betray his family, even if they betrayed him, and he’s not just blindly wandering through the dark in his dealings with Adelita. We’ve underestimated Angel Reyes all season but not anymore.
• I’m curious to see what this new faction of the club actually means. Watching EZ, Coco, Angel, and that other dude get tatted up in solidarity wasn’t just some bonding moment, it was a foreshadowing of tragic things to come.
• Potter is such a weirdo. Props to Ray McKinnon for going full-out in his portrayal of the chocolate milk-chugging freak, but every time the guy’s on screen we get the creeps.