Mayans MC
Season 1 Episode 2: “Escorpión/Dzec”
Directed by Norberto Barba
Written by Kurt Sutter
Created by Elgin James, Kurt Sutter
Starring JD Pardo, Clayton Cardenas, Edward James Olmos, Sarah Bolger, Michael Irby, Carla Baratta, Antonio Jaramillo, Raoul Max Trujillo, Richard Cabral, Danny Pino, Emilio Rivera
FX
Air Date: Tuesday, September 11, 2018, 10pm

Last week on Mayans MC, we were reintroduced into Kurt Sutter’s world of biker gangs, this time on the Latin side. The Mayans MC were featured in the Sons of Anarchy pilot, and in return, the Sons (with a new leader) had a cameo in this pilot. Young Ezekial (EZ) Reyes (JD Pardo) is a prospect with a brother in the club, a butcher father (not of humans) who is sucked in somehow, a son and an ex who are now the family of a cartel leader, and a detective to whom he slips info to. This kid is in all kinds of trouble. And not because he’s in an MC, where everyone shoots up rivals or that they sell drugs through a dress shop front. Excited yet?

Warning! Spoilers for episode 2 below.

Mayans MC 1.2 “Escorpión/Dzec” review: The rebels follow Galindo’s (Danny Pino) family, hold them at gunpoint, and take the baby, a scorpion crawling symbolically, while Emily (Sarah Bolger) screams into the night.

Felipe (Edward James Olmos) talks to his dead wife about his worries about EZ, “Stay close my love.” He is still my favorite part of the show (but it’s only episode 2).

No word on the baby. Emily demands answers now about everything. Her husband promises her he’s gonna go to the MC.

Dogwood Louie shows up at the dog shelter/addict shelter and they give chase. They don’t know why they are chasing him. Louie flips his car over. Turns out he was running because he didn’t know Coco’s (Richard Cabral) sister was 16 and doing porn. They promise not to kill him for double the cut. But… it’s not really Coco’s sister.

The MC gets the call from Alvarez (Emilio Rivera). Galindo wants to meet. He’s asking for their help as a personal favor. EZ remembers driving by the plates at 60 miles an hour. The kid has a photographic memory. Angel (Clayton Cardenas) promises that he will make a call to Adelita (Carla Baratta) – “It’s Emily’s kid.”

A video from the rebels has gone viral, and the transcript posted everywhere. “It is time for the devil to be afraid.” They think Galindo will cave.

EZ goes to his pop, but is reluctant to burden him. “I’m all you’ve got, son.” He loves his brother and it hurts him for Angel to be involved. He tells him everything. EZ is so torn up about this.

Sons of Anarchy cameo alert! Chuck (Michael Marisi Ornstein)! No fingers Chuck! Coco checks out Chuck’s computer. That girl means something to Coco.

Galindo tortures a food truck man and his son. EZ spits out, “Maybe if you didn’t treat them like greasy fuckin’ peasants, you’d still have your son.”

The MC realizes something is up with the dog shelter, and go in guns up. Alvarez says guns down and there’s a fun rumble.

Galindo’s parents tell him the real story of how his brother dies, to tell him to let his son go and move on. Will he listen? Emily sees her father-in-law talking to one of the goons. They send a message. The food truck guy and his son are dead by fire with the flyer stuffed in their mouths. Galindo’s mom makes Gemma look like an angel. Adelita is shaken, which was nice to see as I thought that girl was an ice cube.

Emily shows up at Felipe’s to see EZ. “I need your help.” She asks EZ to give her truth. He tells her about the 2 burned innocents. He promises to not let anything happen to her son, and flashbacks to his mother’s death.

Coco picks up his mom the hooker. “We gotta talk.” That is an interesting moment. What’s going on?

This episode was better than the first. We saw more depth with EZ, as well as Bishop (Michael Irby) when he didn’t punish EZ for mouthing off to Galindo. The Galindo’s seem very much in love, but I would not be surprised at that turning ugly in an episode or two. I do want to see more chemistry with EZ and Emily. Right now, he just seems eager to please. I like that the MC cares about kids the way they do. They are not soft, as you can tell from the easy fighting and killing, but they show mercy, which is not something you see very often in this world.

Mayans MC airs Tuesday nights at 10pm ET on FX.

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