Spoilers below for both Mayans M.C.'s Season 3 premiere and Episode 2, so be warned!
After an extremely long wait between Mayans M.C. seasons, with Season 3's renewal coming back in November 2019 on the day before its Season 2 finale, the FX hit finally returned to audiences with a super-sized double-episode premiere. While the show didn't kill off any major characters in those two installments, showrunner Elgin James and his creative team definitely set the stage for tons of (mister) mayhem to come for just about all the main characters, from J.D. Pardo's EZ Reyes to Danny Pino's Miguel Galindo to Michael Irby's Bishop.
Let's rev up our brains to talk about all the biggest takeaways from Mayans M.C.'s "Pap Struggles with the Death Angel" and "The Orneriness of Kings." What better place to start than with the connective tissue that started it all, Sons of Anarchy.
We Still Don't Know Which Sons Of Anarchy Member Died
Mayans M.C. featured a wild twist in its Season 2 finale when viewers saw there was a Sons of Anarchy club member who was killed at the birthday party the Mayans shot up. But anybody hoping to discover it was a big important character in the Season 3 premiere was shit out of luck. It sounded like Montez referred to a "Tommy" going missing – the screeners I watched did not have subtitles – but there aren't any obvious characters that went by that name in SAMCRO. Unless, of course, he was referring to Jax Teller's son Thomas, but that seems more than a little ridiculous.
Coco Done Lost His Damned Mind
It was clear that Richard Cabral's Coco had drug problems around 0.0001 seconds after he first showed up in the premiere, but he dove off the fucking deep end both mentally and physically in Episode 2 by single-handedly attempting to rob the leader of Meth Mountain. Unsurprisingly, he got his ass beat down for such a baffling transgression, but Mayans M.C. went into zombie-movie mode in that sequence, having all the meth-heads attacking Coco's car and pulling him out of it. I can't imagine he gets fully clean in Episode 3.
Bishop And EZ Are Fully Clay And Jax 2.0
While some comparisons between Sons of Anarchy and Mayans M.C. are clearer to make than others, the Season 3 premiere definitely lined up Bishop and EZ to take the generational baton from Ron Perlman's Clay Morrow and Charlie Hunnam's Jax Teller. Bishop's chest is getting a little too puffy for his cut as he sets his eye on bigger prizes, and he's getting scheme-friendly advice from the smarter-than-everyone EZ, which is very much how the Clay and Jax dynamic worked before it completely rotted away.
Miguel Will Soon Run Out Of Scapegoats To Murder
Miguel Galindo isn't making any friends in Season 3 of Mayans M.C. His mother's death is gnawing at his brain and causing him to blame others, to the point where he's straight up murdering people that didn't actually have any direct influence on Dita's fate. Plus, he's blaming her psychiatrist and her driver for things that he himself would also be guilty of, had Dita actually killed herself. But it's not like she hung around tons of people, and he soon won't have anyone left to bear the brunt of his anger. Which I guess means he'll end up somehow discovering that they Reyes family was involved, which will obviously create major complications for EZ and Edward James Olmos' Felipé, as well as Clayton Cardenas' Angel. Hopefully his golden gun will continue to jam up and save potential victims some time.
Gaby And EZ Are Almost As Cute As Gaby And Felipé
While Season 3 doesn't start off strong for EZ and Felipé's relationship, Sulem Calderon's Gaby is there to fix everything. Not only does she bring a lightness and a certain amount of mental levity to EZ's life, but she's also selfless, adorable and eager to keep happy thoughts present in those around her. Case in point: even though Felipé's depression keeps him in bed and away from life, Gaby helps out by cleaning and cooking for him, eventually inspiring Felipé to come out of his shell, if only during the moments where EZ isn't around to remind him of Dita's death. Part of me is instantly fearful that Mayans M.C. will kill Gaby off, but I really hope she's around for the long haul.
Taza Needs To Get Popped By Somebody
After previously proving himself to be something of a double agent, Raoul Trujillo's Taza committed the ultimate M.C. sin by killing off one of his club brothers, Antonio Jaramillo's Riz. And while he may have had his reasons for doing so, I'm hoping those reasons will soon be discovered by Bishop and the other Mayans, so that they can deliver justice in ways only this franchise can.
Emily Is Probably About To Snap On Miguel
Much like everyone else in Miguel's life beyond those he's actively sleeping with, Sarah Bolger's Emily is another target for him to rule over with a traumatized iron thumb. He's not physically romantic with her anymore, he leaves her to tend to their screaming child on a daily basis, and to add familial insult to injury, Miguel called upon Emily's impulsive sister to temporarily stay with them to help out with childcare. Emily can only suffer through so many tearful mornings, afternoons and evenings before she puts a big dent in Miguel's offensive front, either with an argument or with her car.
Alvarez Appears Ready To Call It Quits
Emilio Rivera's Marcus Alvarez is treated with much respect in the world of Mayans M.C., having previously served as the Oakland charter president on Sons of Anarchy before shifting allegiances and paychecks over to Miguel Galindo's cartel. But from the few moments Alvarez factors into the first two episodes, it appears as if he might be losing his enthusiasm for this dark and dangerous world. I wouldn't be surprised if Alvarez has transitioned once more to a less hectic home life by the time Season 3 comes to a close, which would likely mean he's also going to die, since nobody truly leaves this life for good.
Everyone Should Be Afraid If Adelita Can't Readjust
Carla Baratta's Adelita certainly isn't an innocent party within the murky political waters of Mayans M.C., though she seems to be suffering more than other characters whose actions are far more selfishly malicious. (Lookin' at you, Miguel.) Thankfully for her sake, Adelita was traded off to a less horrifying living situation, where viewers witnessed just how traumatized she was by her imprisonment, as well as losing her child, so to speak. Of course, she's still Adelita, so it wasn't so surprising to learn that she'd already made a big escape. Where will she show up next, though? I'm guessing she'll find a way to reconnect with Angel, although he might want to curb the promiscuousness before that happens.
Mayans M.C. definitely gave viewers other things to think about, such as "What the fuck, Steve?" But for those most part, the points above are all the big topics we'll be thinking about until another new episodes pops up on FX next Tuesday night at 10:00 p.m. ET.
