FX’s Mayans M.C.
Season 1, Episode 3: “Búho/Muwan”
Directed by Guy Ferland
Written by Sean Tretta & Andrea Ciannavei

* For a recap & review of the previous episode, “Escorpión/Dzec” – click here
* For a recap & review of the next episode, “Murciélago/Zotz”  – click here
At the rebel camp, Adelita (Carla Baratta) and her people check on the state of their supplies. As they do, a convoy is headed for their location— Galindo cartel henchmen with guns. The rebels prepare themselves with their own weapons, too. They await the men’s arrival.  However, the cartel are elsewhere, finding only a pinata full of candies and a taunting message. Also inside is a calavera, marked with the name of Miguel (Danny Pino) and Emily’s (Sarah Bolger) boy Cristobal.
Angel (Clayton Cardenas), EZ (J.D. Pardo), and Coco (Richard Cabral) are actually there at the rebel camp to let Adelita know about “a buyer out of Nevada” for the remaining kilos of product stolen from the cartel. The MC’s making a run to Vegas soon, where Angel will try securing the deal in full. And he’s got to do it under the nose of their man Bishop (Michael Irby), as this remains unofficial business.
Miguel gets an update on things from both Bishop and Marcus Alvarez (Emilio Rivera). Devante’s (Tony Plana) always keeping the younger man on his toes, having served his father before him. Miguel soon receives the calavera left in the desert and told there’s yet “another video” from the rebels online. The internet’s making things worse than they are already, putting Miguel’s business directly in the public eye more than ever. We also see Marcus and Devante know one another well. They setup a meet with the Chinese, which Miguel requires the Mayans deal with themselves, as there’s an urgent problem needing a solution.
At the butcher shop, Felipe (Edward James Olmos) receives an impromptu check-in from Kevin Jimenez (Maurice Compte). The DEA agent’s worried about their boy, given things have heated up on both sides of the border. He’s brought a new private number for contact, urging the old man to tell his son to get in touch ASAP.
Crossing back over the border, Angel tries making sure his brother’s head’s in the game. The anniversary card Kevin brought Felipe has a larger significance: today’s the anniversary of when EZ shot a cop. He’s not a cold blooded killer, so the guilt’s weighed heavy on him.

“The cartel will make orphans of us all”

The Mayans head to meet with the Chinese in Nevada at a Native American casino. Everyone’s got time to spare first. While the others do their thing, Angel talks to an Asian friend named Jimmy— the potential buyer for the stolen cartel drugs. He better be careful doing his own business under the patch.
At the bar, EZ gets punked on by a local asshole cop. The prospect walks away, which the rest of the MC notices. Oh, my. Not good, especially for the fact it’s the dreaded anniversary, and not to mention they’re on business so it wouldn’t look good to draw a lot of attention. Could get ugly.
The cartel’s tracked down a group of young gangsters who’ve been treading on their territory. Miguel’s henchmen have brought one of them back for the boss to interrogate. He asks for the boy’s hand, proceeding to cut his palm open. He spreads a bit of blood on his face and tells the young man: “You are now part of us.” Sangre por sangre, no? Merely Miguel showing us that, while his own son’s taken hostage, he’s not slowing down with his corruption of the Mexican youth.
Emily begs her mother-in-law to help her get to the square across the border. She wants to go look for herself. She hopes there may be a clue, a sign, anything that’ll lead to their finding Cristobal again. Simultaneously, Adelita’s in the square doing some shopping, as are some of the rebels, including the kids. They cross paths without ever knowing.
At the meet with the Chinese and their “prison contacts,” Alvarez and Bishop try assuring everything with the rebels is the “price of doing business” in cartel land. After a bit of worrying the others are assured by Bishop, with the help of some financial greasing of the wheels, everything will be fine. Not perfect, but better than business falling apart. Things are settled, then everybody kicks back for a nice drink of single malt together in celebration. That is, before Bishop pulls a gun and executes one of the Chinese— it’s Jimmy, because he was running unauthorised game on the side under his crew’s nose. Doesn’t bode well for Angel’s little side gig, neither does EZ dig it.|
Felipe continues noticing people watching him. In his garage, he takes out an old footlocker. Inside are remnants of a past life, including several guns. He takes one of them to confront a man watching his house, discovering Jimenez is keeping a close eye on him. The DEA are feeling pressure and putting the pressure on them.
Before leaving the casino, Bishop and the boys want EZ to handle his “unfinished business” with the mouthy cop. The prospect confronts the guy, punching him in the face. It brings on a PTSD-like flashback to when he shot the cop years ago. Back at the clubhouse, Marcus and Bishop talk about why the Chinese hit was kept secret. Alvarez says there’s a leak somewhere along the line, given what happened with the Samoans recently. Uh oh. Never good to have paranoia running wild.
Loving the series and can’t wait to watch all the layers unfold even further.
“Murciélago/Zotz” is next time.