FX’s Mayans M.C.
4×01: “Cleansing of the Temple”
Directed & Written
by Elgin James

* For a recap & review of the Season 3 finale, click here.
* For a recap & review of 4×02, click here.
The Yuma charter, led by Canche who’s still alive, are at the gates of the Santo Padre clubhouse. There are molotov cocktails flying. Inside, Bishop and Taza are wrestling each other, interrupted by the rest of the crew looking for some weaponry. It’s all hands on deck right now for the coming war. EZ grabs an automatic weapon and heads for the roof to get a vantage point, gunning down a couple men before having to take cover. Canche yells out that he saw EZ before the bombing: “I‘m coming for you, motherfucker.”

Things are not going well for Santo Padre tonight. There’s already one man down in the clubhouse. Plus, Tranq’s got a bullet wound and he’s bleeding pretty bad. The lights go out when the other Mayans get to the fuse box. One woman at the bar tries to call 911 but gets interrupted by Bishop, then her phone gets smashed. Bishop takes an ammo check and they all realise they’re getting fairly low. They’re so low they have to get a gun off their dead man on the floor. That’s when one of the bartenders has the idea to toss their own molotov cocktails and “fight fire with fire.” Taza’s resigned to a bloody fate, sitting at the bar drinking. EZ goes back up to the roof with the molotovs to give Creeper cover. He’s blindsided by a Yuma Mayan. Thankfully he gets the upper hand and knifes the guy, tossing him off the roof. Then the fire starts raining down, allowing Creeper to sneak around to grab some lights from the shed.
Angel stays inside to keep cover after Nails worries about him and their baby. His little brother keeps throwing molotovs to give Creeper more time. His arm catches on fire briefly, alerting some of the Yuma Mayans not only to his position but also to Creeper on the ground. While the Mayan gunman heads into the shed he’s shot from the dark by Creeper, yet that just alerts more people to his location. Creeper gets out of there with some fuel cans right as things start popping off more. He’s forced to take cover outside and also takes a bullet in the arm. So EZ gets back to tossing molotovs, taking cover up top while Creeper makes it to one of the trucks. Creeper then guns it at the gate, squashing one Mayan’s arm and fortifying the gate. But after that he catches a bullet in the neck and another in the leg. Somehow he makes it back into the clubhouse, though the truck doesn’t stop the Yuma Mayans from single-filing their way through the gate.

What a time for Gilly and Coco to come back to the clubhouse. This means it’s time for Coco to start proving his worth to the club again. He sneaks over to a van trying to get at some weapons but a molotov catches the van on fire pretty quick. Inside the clubhouse, Creeper isn’t doing well so the bartender has to light up a knife and cauterise one of his wounds to keep him from bleeding to death. They’re still trying to get the generator going with the fuel from the shed and EZ’s able to start it.
But shit goes haywire. The scared woman runs from the clubhouse and gets shot in her gut, left screaming in the mud. Then EZ alerts everyone to the fact they can hear some of the Yuma Mayans on the roof. Taza just keeps getting drunk and accepting what he sees as fate, though Bishop tells him to shut up fast. EZ and a couple of the others go back to check access to the roof, waiting for someone to come down, then they see it’s Gilly and Coco.

They turn on the lights to blind the Yuma Mayans outside and begin firing. But ammo’s running low. Morale is running low, too. Then Canche starts yelling out to EZ again, telling him he’s going to die. The troops are rallying outside and they’re not going anywhere. That doesn’t mean Santo Padre are backing down, they just don’t know what they’re going to do. And nobody, even Bishop, has any ideas at the moment. Angel and Nails are dealing with the very real, harrowing possibility of what could happen if Yuma breaches the clubhouse. He gives her a gun and tells her not to let them hurt or the baby. It’s a sickening thought for Nails, but Angel is adamant about accepting the brutal reality. At the same time, Tranq calls his mother to sweetly make sure she calls the landlord about fixing the back porch; he’s worried she’ll fall. Jesus, this killed me. Tranq is such a quiet, good man amidst a horrible world.
The terror inside the clubhouse is quiet yet palpable. EZ sees how fast things have changed since he’d decided to leave for Lodi with Gaby only a few days ago. Now, he’s steeped in blood. Bishop’s only plan is to start shooting when someone comes through the door, except there’s barely any ammo left. He calls it the live they chose. But EZ wonders about the women there, as well as his brother’s unborn child. EZ wants to know if they’re meant to “pay for our sins.”
That’s when EZ offers himself up to Canche. He wants everyone else let go. He takes credit for the bomb. “Let my blood be the last,” EZ yells. Then he blesses himself once more, giving praise to the saint at the clubhouse door, and he walks into the open outside where the Yuma charter stand waiting. Angel comes out despite Nails pleading with him to stop. He refuses not to stand with his brother. And the rest of the Santo Padre charter come out to stand with EZ, as well. The brothers stand together, always.
But what next? EZ gets a shotgun butt to the face.

When EZ wakes up his brothers have been forced to their knees along with him. Canche’s understandably very angry, more so about his son being put in the line of fire by other Mayans; he’s not sure if his son will regain full sight after facing the blast. One Santo Padre patch gets his head blown off right away. Then Canche rages more about Ramos being killed, calling Santo Padre “rabid animals” who “need to be put down.” He promises to come after EZ’s family now, putting a gun to Angel’s throat. But then another patch gets a bullet to the head instead.
Suddenly, Alvarez shows up. He’s angry about what Canche is doing, though the latter insists they never started this situation. He also doesn’t know what Bishop has done, either. Yet he makes sure everybody knows: “This is my fucking club.” And what Marcus Alvarez decides is the law.