Mayans M.C.
5×07: “To Fear of Death, I Eat the Stars”
Directed by Elgin James
Written by Vivian Tse

* For a recap & review of 5×06, click here.
* For a recap & review of 5×08, click here.
At the roadside, a couple of the Broken Saints find someone lying in the dirt: Leti. Later, Leti’s back at the Broken Saints compound where she’s assured: “No one‘s ever going to put their fucking hands on you again.” Johnny Panic lays out the rules for living with the Broken Saints. She says if Leti follows those rules, she’ll be protected by the Broken Saints. If not, the Broken Saints “will break you.” Hard bargain, maybe, but better than anything else Leti has going on currently in her life.
EZ keeps on reading about war and finds a haunting line: “The only peace is complete annihilation.” Not really a great path to be heading down. Nobody’s having a good day today. Angel wakes up to a missing Adelita and a sick little boy. Meanwhile, Bishop’s caught by Maggie while he’s in bed with Treenie. Maggie is deeply unhappy, obviously. Bishop manages to offend Treenie, too, saying that it “means nothing” while she’s near naked under the sheets. Brutal stuff!

Speaking of Adelita, she’s off checking on the drug farm. She warns them “Adelita is coming.” In other drug war news, EZ’s meeting with Cole and a guy called Gretton. The Mayans will be given run of all Department of Corrections throughout Cali if they give up 50% of the business inside; a steep cut.
We see Emily visiting Charlotte Buksar (Kathleen Quinlan), talking about honouring the latter’s son, Marlon; remember him? Marlon’s the one who EZ accidentally shot then was made to appear like he killed himself. Emily talks a big game, however, Mrs. Buksar sees right through it. Charlotte says she knows that Emily and EZ were both involved. She wants to take Emily away from Cristobal, just like Emily took Charlotte’s son away from her. Sadly for Mrs. Buksar, she lets the cat out of the bag and underestimates the terrible decision making Emily possesses. Minutes later, Emily smashes Charlotte over the head until the old woman’s skull is caved in. The perks of having the cartel on call!

Great use of “Oh Bondage! Up Yours!” by X-Ray Spex here. The Broken Saints are getting Leti to unleash a bit of pent up rage against a microwave, letting her beat the thing to pieces while they hang out in the yard. It’s actually functional since they need to get a few parts out of the thing. Two birds with one stone. Plus, there’s plenty of shit to smash around there, and the Broken Saints offer Leti a little more to smash. When Leti asks how one of the women ended up there things go quiet. She’s told not to ask those kinds of questions; if someone wants to talk about it, they’ll talk. One of the other women says “You can‘t pray for the wicked” all the time, and sometimes you have to “destroy them.” Leti shares a little, but none of the women are exactly sympathetic. They urge her to fight to change things if she doesn’t like them.
Soon the Broken Saints receive a visit from EZ and the Mayans. Johnny tells EZ he looks sadder every time they see each other. He’s starting to think a lot about balancing out the bad with the good, but he and the club aren’t doing enough good to keep that balance. Johnny talks about ghosts and being haunted, which is something EZ knows a lot about; they’re very similar people in a way, perhaps that’s why Johnny seems to trust EZ, at least to a certain extent.

Adelita guns down one of the women running the drug lab and takes some bags of money, then proceeds to shoot a man and walk through a crowded dining room. She ends up taking a bullet on the way out, though she fires back and takes out the gunman. She gets outside, spilling a bit of cash on the way and shooting another man. She gets to a vehicle, loads the bags, and drives off. Gunfire quickly follows. Adelita’s vehicle isn’t too badly shot up, so she makes it out of there. At the same time back at home, Angel’s struggling with Maverick, whose temperature is getting worse. He gets a bit of help from Felipe and an old home remedy. He also asks his father about Adelita, and Felipe doesn’t say much, even when his son mentions finding money left behind. “Did she leave?” Angel asks his father. But Felipe can’t answer; he doesn’t know anything for sure, he only suspects. Angel tries to assure himself that Adelita will be home when he gets back, that there’ll be an explanation for things.
Back to Adelita, she arrives at a house guarded by two little girls with guns where she drags the money towards the door. She calls out for Mini but no one responds. Soon, she’s brought indoors. She finds Mini there with some other kids. Mini asks about Adelita working for the cartel, to which Adelita responds that it was by force. Adelita says Mini should lead the farmers and be the new Adelita. But Mini says Adelita is “the Devil” and stabs her to death brutally on the floor.
Jess ends up becoming closer with Nestor, though he’s not able to do anything with women since he’s a prospect. They’re getting to be friends. Jess tells Nestor a story while he listens carefully, even asking her questions. Except it’s only a ruse. Nestor pulls out his gun and shoots Jess directly in the face. A moment later, Tranq arrives and asks Nestor if he’s okay. Nestor says “Fuck that cunt” because she was “a rat.” And then Tranq starts pouring gasoline over the car, as well as Jess’s corpse, before they’ll no doubt light everything on fire to scorch the scene. This all caught me genuinely off guard. I was wondering why Nestor was getting to know Jess all of a sudden, so it should’ve been obvious. Yet it was shocking.

What about Creeper in jail? He’s out of solitary after the incident with EZ, so what will he do with the information he learned a little while ago? The truth has the potential to destroy everything. EZ’s already headed for destruction, one way or another. Right now, Creeper heads directly for the phone to make a call. He dials Tranq, who’s back at the clubhouse ready to sit at the table with everyone. Right before Creeper’s able to say anything to Tranq, he’s attacked from behind by several men who stab him full of bloody holes and leave him bleeding out, all while the guards are watching. Lucky for EZ since it now appears to everyone else that the rat was Jess, not somebody at the table within the crew. Seems like the wound of EZ’s secret has been cauterised. Now at the table, EZ tells the others that he’s taking the deal Gretton offered. It doesn’t make Bishop, nor Tranq, happy. EZ thinks it’s necessary to have control over the prisons. “This is what will win us the war,” says the Prez. He wants to own Cali entirely starting through the prison system. He sees this as the only path forward, and nobody pushes back any further.

At night, Leti pokes around the Broken Saints compound where she sees the drugs being manufactured. Not an entirely healthy environment, like the others she’s been in for so long. We also see Nestor grappling with killing Jess, as he stands outside the clubhouse where they were earlier talking; after all the murders he’s committed, he’s finally starting to feel something. Inside the clubhouse, Diaz bursts in pissed off about Happy’s murder. He rages at EZ, who wants to take things to the table for a more quiet conversation. EZ says Happy was on their territory and it was “a long time coming.” He explains the new deal with Gretton that will help align them with other MCs against the Sons of Anarchy. Diaz asks about the Grim Bastards, who remain connected to SOA and have a big presence inside the prisons. EZ thinks that relationship is rocky and could be “tipped over the edge” in their favour. Diaz doesn’t love the idea of aligning with cops and Nazis, yet EZ sees the upside to it all. Plus, EZ delivers a couple bundles of cash courtesy of the new deal; something that will continue. He and Diaz part on good terms for now, so long as everything goes as planned. Right before Diaz leaves, he gets a bullet in the head from Guero in revenge for the latter’s father. This means Bishop has to kill Diaz’s man, too. A lot of Mayan blood spilled on a Mayan floor. Jesus! Things are going downhill FAST heading towards the series finale.