FX’s Mayans M.C.
4×02: “Hymn Among Ruins”
Directed by Elgin James
Written by Debra Moore Muñoz

* For a recap & review of the Season 4 premiere, click here.
* For a recap & review of 4×03, click here.
We skip ahead four months.
EZ’s working out in the clubhouse yard. Angel’s home in bed with Nails watching her belly grow and thinking of the future. Yet he can’t stop thinking of everything he had with Adelita, as if this is all just a way to replace it. Then there’s Coco, who’s doing a lot better and back in the club’s good graces; he’s also with Hope and they both seem to be well.

At the clubhouse, we see Bishop’s been reduced to wearing the patch of Vice President. Things have certainly shifted in the four months since war broke out between Yuma and Santo Padre. It’s strange not to see Bishop sitting at the head of the table anymore. The reason? Alvarez has returned to full-time duty, ditching his work with the cartel to be a biker again. At the table we hear that Yuma’s cutting coke with fentanyl and that’s been killing people. Lots of Mayans have no problem with it, whereas some of the guys aren’t happy. Alvarez insists that “Galindo is dead” and a “New World Order” is upon the Mayans’s business now. There’s a lot of division between the ranks nowadays, even if Alvarez is back.
We see that Gator’s old lady Treenie now works at the clubhouse bar and a few guys aren’t happy Bishop’s hitting on her. Meanwhile, EZ makes peace with the guy he stabbed and kicked off the roof four months ago, Manny; they’re both watching out for their own version of Cortés to come along and divide the tribes amongst themselves. But Bishop warns: “Don‘t forget where the fuck you‘re from.”
We see that EZ and Felipe aren’t really speaking, or at least EZ’s not speaking to his father, angry about what Felipe did by driving Gaby away. Felipe shows up at the clubhouse to tell his youngest boy someone came calling, but EZ doesn’t even look at him. Angel tries talking to EZ about it, though little brother isn’t keen on talking. He mostly just wants to hang with EZ because things are too moody in the clubhouse. So the brothers share a beer and talk a little about their lives. EZ advises Angel to let go of the past if he wants to make things work with Nails. He says to “bury it” or “it‘ll haunt you.”
The Sons of Anarchy have no clue about where Montez has gone, and it seems Happy’s going through some shit. Right now they’re discussing the Mayans crossing into their territory and making “a mess.” Most of the Sons don’t want war. They also know Santo Padre is on “its last legs,” so they’ll be able to pick the bones clean once the Mayans eat each other alive. But will all the Sons accept this strategy?

EZ decides he needs some company at home, so he goes to a shelter where he looks at all the dogs. He sees one dog called Sally who isn’t rushing to the cage like the others. An attendant talks about how some dogs start waiting for their owners to come back but eventually realise “no one‘s coming.” This broke me in half. Sweet dogs! Maybe EZ and Sally will find comfort in each other.
At the clubhouse, Jess the bartender’s taking abuse from some of the new bikers kicking around. She walks out angry. As she does she sees a bunch of butterflies coming from a barrel in the junkyard. She goes to the barrel and looks inside, discovering Montez’s salty corpse inside.

Creeper’s been a recovering addict for years. He goes to a meeting where he talks about having done things that haunt him. He’s not directly talking about the MC, but he is; that might be a dangerous thing. He talks about how certain things might not seem like a big deal to them, as in the club, but in reality they’re traumatic to regular folks. He’s been affected on a deep level by Steve’s suicide at the clubhouse. He’s starting to think maybe nothing was wrong with Steve and it’s something wrong with the club. After the meeting, a woman thanks Creeper for sharing and they have a nice moment together.
Back at the trailer, EZ welcomes Sally the sweet pup home. At the clubhouse, Taza tells Bishop he’s game for whatever the latter decides. He knows Alvarez and Canche don’t care about Santo Padre. But Bishop doesn’t even want to be near Taza anymore. He says only a “misguided sense of fucking loyalty” has kept Taza alive. Others can see the rift between the two, as well. It doesn’t exactly make for a great united front for Santo Padre, does it? Meanwhile, some of the Sons remain angry about Santo Padre spilling blood on their turf.
Jess goes to see her sister after she found Montez’s corpse. And by the looks of it she might’ve taken a souvenir for proof. Oh, that can’t be good for anybody. Speaking of nothing good, Tranq pays a house call to the Alvarez residence where he and Marcus talk alone. He’s there to report to Alvarez about where the “loyalties lie.” He quietly confirms that Bishop is rallying the others against the rest of the charters. And he says they need Alvarez to make them “whole again.”

EZ finally reads the note his father left about someone calling for him. This seems to transport him back to his days inside prison. He thinks about the isolation and the loneliness, as well as all the violence. When he got out of the hole after stabbing somebody, he was faced with a Black gang coming for him, but another Latino took care of him. That’s where EZ learned the workout he still does in the yard. Is this a good blast from the past? Or is it something EZ would rather forget?

We see Emily living a new life, waiting tables at a restaurant and living in a low-income apartment building. After work, she puts all her tips in a bowl on the table, then she has a glass of wine to relax in the evening. It’s a far cry from her old life as the wife of a cartel boss. Although it’s far more safe, too, in spite of how it might feel for her. At the clubhouse, Taza burns a photograph of him and David together. Then he pulls out a knife and begins to cut off his long hair. At home, Hope and Coco watch television together, falling asleep on the couch. Angel tries to commit himself fully to his relationship with Nails, deleting the photo of his and Adelita’s child to try moving on from the past. Elsewhere, Jess’s sister is actually connected to the Sons of Anarchy, so they go right to the Sons with the evidence Jess found: Montez’s cut.