Everything to remember from Mayans M.C. before its season 2 premiere
Mayans M.C. will kick off its sophomore season Tuesday night, with the series diving head first into the topic of retribution after dedicating its 10-episode first season to uncovering secrets.
The drama, created by Kurt Sutter and Elgin James, takes place in the same universe as Sons of Anarchy — four years after that show’s final episode — in the border town of Santo Padre, Calif. Mayans M.C. gives audiences a closer look at the Mayans Motorcycle Club, with a focus on prospect EZ Reyes (JD Pardo). EZ is conflicted about where he belongs in the world, much like Charlie Hunnam’s Jax Teller was at the start of SOA.
Once a model son and Ivy League student, EZ seemed destined for greatness on the right side of the law. But his life was drastically changed when he accidentally killed a police officer, which cost him the love of his life, Emily (Sarah Bolger), and sent him down the same path as his brother, Angel (Clayton Cardenas), a full-fledged member of the Mayans.
Season 1 begins with EZ’s story unfolding in the present day, as he attempts to find his place among the M.C. and cope with Emily having moved on with his rival Miguel Galindo (Danny Pino). Emily and Miguel are parents to a baby boy, who gets kidnapped by the rebel organization Los Olvidados.
Los Olvidados is led by Adelita (Carla Baratta), a woman determined to avenge the murder of her family by the Galindo Cartel under the leadership of Miguel’s father, Jose. Adelita adopts children into her organization who were victims of the cartel’s violence, with the goal of bringing down the Galindos. But by season’s end, the cartel and Los Olvidados strike a treaty to work together — with a few conditions. Miguel is to hand over his consiglieri, Devante (Tony Plana), who was behind the slaughter of Adelita’s family when she was a child. And Los Olvidados joins the cartel in exchange for money that is to be donated to the poor.
Miguel has no choice but to accept her conditions after Assistant U.S. Attorney Lincoln Potter (Ray McKinnon, reprising his role from SOA) takes in his family and friends as leverage. Adelita gets her revenge by decapitating Devante, and Miguel’s mother, Dita (Ada Maris), is heartbroken by the death of her longtime friend.
The season 1 finale also gave OG Sons of Anarchy fans a reunion with SAMCRO’s Happy (David Labrava), but the reunion is nothing to smile about. It’s teased that he is somehow connected to the murder of EZ and Angel’s mom, Marisol. EZ has been hot on the case, and the answers will hopefully help bring him and his brother back together.
Angel is still upset with his sibling after discovering that EZ and their father, Felipe (Edward James Olmos), have been dealing with their cousin, DEA Agent Kevin Jimenez (Maurice Compte), behind his back. He ultimately gets revenge by putting a bullet in Jimenez’s head, beating EZ to the task after he’s ordered by Potter to kill the disgraced agent. Potter comes through for EZ by wiping his arrest record clean, but emphasizes that he is still owed a favor since a second agent was killed and that had to be cleaned up.
Angel doesn’t end the first season in a particularly good place, especially after hearing that club president Bishop (Michael Irby) will be sponsoring EZ to become a patched member of the M.C. Irby teased at the Mayans M.C. season 1 DVD release party that Angel will just have to come to terms with the way things are going.
“The Bishop and EZ relationship is going to cause some tension between Bishop and Angel,” Irby told EW. “Angel is already dealing with so much stuff between him and Felipe with EZ being the golden boy of the family. And with EZ now asking Bishop to be his sponsor, fans are going to see Angel watch and wonder where his place is at right now. The show is centered on EZ, and we’re all going to watch him grow and become who he is destined to be. Angel is going to be a little hurt, but at the end of the day he’s done a lot of stuff within the club that we saw in season 1 that I don’t know if he can be trusted. I think he may be seeing some things that aren’t even there.”
Elgin has hinted that season 2 will feature more characters from the past, but four others have already made appearances. Gemma Teller, played by Katey Sagal, returned in a flashback in the premiere. Robert Patrick made an appearance in the same episode, bringing back Les Packer for one episode.
Rusty Coones brought back Quinn in the final minutes of the season finale, in the same scene where Happy returns. Coones, who attended the Mayans season 2 premiere party, wouldn’t comment on whether he’d be back for more, but the only other SOA alums who attended the premiere are coming back, and they include Labrava’s Happy and Michael Ornstein’s Chucky.
The season 1 finale ended with the audience discovering that it was Happy’s fault EZ ended up in jail for killing a cop. As seen in a flashback, EZ was chasing his mother’s killer but ended up shooting the officer instead. Things don’t look great for Happy, and Sutter has shown that he’s not afraid to kill off anyone he deems worthy as part of his story.
Watch it all play out when Mayans M.C. premieres Sept. 3 at 10 p.m. ET/PT on FX. And you can catch-up with season one, out on DVD now.
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