FX’s Mayans M.C.
3×02: “The Orneriness of Kings”
Directed by Michael Dinner
Written by Sean Tretta

* For a recap & review of 3×01, click here.
* For a recap & review of 3×03, click here.
In Santa Madre, Mexico, a couple federales are stopped by kids in masks. Then they’re shot where they sit. One escapes underneath the vehicle but he’s found. Before he’s shot, he’s told: “Long live Los Olvidados.” The masked folks, of various ages, then commandeer the vehicle for themselves. It’s the Wild West out there. Meanwhile, Galindo wakes in bed after a nightmare about his mother, and there’s news about the violent unrest in Santa Mandre on the news. He and Sederica talk about things, including her forceful rhetoric. She also warns there may be trouble coming from some of the “new generation,” though he says: “This is Galindo territory. And no one would dare.” She even calls him Cortés, which is not quite a flattering reference, especially considering Galindo’s heritage.

Poor Felipe has been wasting away. He barely gets out of bed anymore. It worries his boys, who always make sure to check on him. EZ drops by his father’s house and Gaby comes with him. The place is an absolute mess. So Gaby decides to start cleaning, despite EZ’s insistence she doesn’t need to do it. There’s already a very sweet relationship between these two; let’s hope that nothing horrible happens, too soon, anyway. EZ has things to do, but Gaby wants to stay and make some food for Felipe. Before he leaves he goes into his dad’s room and moves Felipe’s gun to a new hiding place. Probably a smart thing.
At the clubhouse, Bishop knows the Kings want him out. He’s aware the fallout comes down on the rest of the club. The rest of men at the table don’t have a problem with that. Angel particularly says fuck the Kings; EZ has something to say but decides against it. “Fuck ‘em‘s the call,” Bishop says. After the meeting, Coco starts rushing off and Creeper recognises there’s something not right with him. He continues to alienate himself while clearly dealing with a serious addiction. Nothing good will come of it. Simultaneously, EZ goes to Angel, questioning whether blowing off the Kings is the right move. Angel says his little brother should stop “acting like a bitch ass prospect” and speak up at the table instead of coming to him after the fact. EZ decides it’s time to go to talk with Bishop about “what it takes to be a king.”

As EZ and Angel expected, Felipe gets up and immediately reaches for a gun. Though the old man doesn’t find his pistol. So he goes into the kitchen where Gaby’s finishing her cleaning. Felipe’s not what you’d call friendly, telling her to get out. Gaby offers to make breakfast and tells Felipe to get a wash. He’s not fighting too hard. Maybe having some kind of feminine touch in the house, even if only very briefly, will lift his spirits. Maybe.
At the border, the DOJ are meeting with the Mexicans to hand over Adelita. Is Adelita about to face worse horrors than the Americans put her through? No, she’s free again. That’s not to say she’s happy, though. She’s taken back to safety. Sadly, she’s broken hearted and traumatised, so safety’s not the be-all, end-all. She’s filled in on everything that’s been happening. But the thought of her baby haunts her. Adelita’s destroyed when she hears Mini is gone, lashing out at her friends.

Coco’s off trying to get more oxycontin. He’s sunk to selling off Leticia’s things. When he goes to see his dealer, he hears about “Meth Mountain” and some skinny white dude. Is his addiction going to drive him to do something REALLY stupid? Won’t look good regardless, though doubly so since things have been going so poorly for the club. Speaking of things that are going poorly, Emily’s sister Erin turns up on the Galindo doorstep. It isn’t long before the sisters are arguing. Once they stop, Erin does bring up EZ and Emily quickly brushes him off.
At the clubhouse around the table, Bishop calls a meeting. Some fellow Mayans are there to talk about the heroin business. They said that if things get worse then it might lead to brothers in prison getting killed. EZ then speaks up about his plan. They’re going to “setup Tucson as the new Arizona conduit,” that way they can take away Canche’s power. EZ’s plan is to go bigger via Tucson rather than risking their asses for smaller profits. If they can “dethrone Canche” then they can do the same to Ramos. Then they can serve under one King. Will Alvarez let it slide? Bishop doesn’t care because Alvarez isn’t a Mayan anymore technically. Things could wind up getting extremely sketchy.

Nestor and his partner from the hit on Dr. Luna, Paco, go to meet with Alvarez and Galindo in the desert someplace. Galindo speaks about his mother and how she needed help. Paco insists that Miguel did all he could. But Galindo says Paco was at fault. He pulls out a golden gun and shoots Paco in the throat. The gun starts to jam, so it takes a moment or two before Galindo can fire more bullets into the dying man. A brutal death that affects even Alvarez and Nestor. Also, more evidence that ole Miguel is slowly losing his mind.
EZ’s pleasantly surprised when he gets back to his dad’s place where he finds Felipe laughing and speaking Spanish with Gaby at the dinner table. Although Felipe gets up and tells his son: “I don‘t need a fucking babysitter.” Gaby was happy to stay with the old man, offering to come back again tomorrow. This gets to EZ’s heart, obviously.

That night, Alvarez goes home disturbed by what he’s seen. His wife is waiting for him and it’s like stepping from one world into another, as she stands on the step waiting to hug him. We’ve never seen Alvarez like this between Sons of Anarchy and now Mayans M.C., so it’s pretty significant that he’s this troubled by something after everything he’s seen.
Up on so-called Meth Mountain, Coco wanders onto a property that looks like a junkyard, searching for the guy he heard about called Butterfly. He comes upon Butterfly himself strumming a guitar. He asks about oxy and Butterfly’s willing to trade. Coco offers Leticia’s iPad but gets only a couple pills in return. When Butterfly goes to grab the pills he finds himself at the end of Coco’s gun. He advises this “isn‘t going to end well for you, brother.” That doesn’t deter Coco, who asks for everything in the cabinet. He grabs it all and makes a run for it. Butterfly just whistles and there’s a whole community of tweakers chasing Coco down. Coco makes it to his car but everybody beats the car to pieces and pulls him out, carrying him back inside. Suddenly someone recognises Coco. That doesn’t save him from a baseball bat to the back of the skull.