Mayans M.C. Season 2 Episode 9 Recap: “Itzam-Ye”

Mayans M.C. Season 2 Episode 9
JD Pardo as EZ Reyes and Clayton Cardenas as Angel Reyes in ‘Mayans M.C.’ season 2 episode 9 (Photo by Prashant Gupta/FX)

Season two episode eight left the fates of Coco and Riz in the air after the attack on the Mayans by the Vatos Malditos. FX’s Mayans M.C. season two episode nine opens in the hospital with Coco (Richard Cabral) already being discharged from the hospital. He’s sporting an eye patch and in a rotten mood, but otherwise alive and well.

Coco explains the doctor believes he’ll eventually get his vision back, but for now he’s out of the sharpshooting business. He wants every member of the VM dead.

Elsewhere in the hospital, the club stands vigil at Riz’s bedside. Riz (Antonio Jaramillo) is out of surgery and still asleep, but he’s expected to pull through. Bishop (Michael Irby) jokes about Riz’s hair still being in place after the shooting, but Taza’s serious when he calls his friend a warrior. (You’ll remember Riz threw himself in front of Taza during the VM ambush.)

Bishop’s told the “kings” of the Mayans will be gathering in Santo Padre the next day. (Marcus Alvarez originally set up the Mayans to be ruled by three “kings,” with Bishop now in the lead chair.)

Over at the Galindo place, Emily (Sarah Bolger) is having a difficult time sleeping. Miguel (Danny Pino) wakes to find he’s alone in bed and Nestor informs him Emily’s been outside by herself for “about a half a bottle of Merlot.”

Miguel admits to Nestor he’s lost sight of what’s truly important by playing a shadow game with Potter. It’s ripping his marriage apart.

Bishop meets with the guys at the hospital, telling his club he’s sitting down with the kings in the morning. Although the Santo Padre charter was attacked, because of the deal with SAMCRO Bishop needs to work things out with all of the Mayans charters. His men aren’t happy about this because they were attacked after a sit-down on tribal land, and Tranq (Frankie Loyal) suggests they figure it out once they’re back home.

The kings meet and it’s made known that Chibs and Sons of Anarchy are pissed about what went down after they left. The Mayans’ leaders understand how upset Bishop is but warn him he needs to look at the big picture. The gun transfers won’t work without the VM, and they need that deal to continue to help out Mayans charters that are struggling financially.

Bishop’s enraged when he’s reminded that if Riz pulls through, then none of his guys died and the score is settled. Yuma’s president says to Bishop, “Your charter makes the call. They decide on retaliation. But if there is, it becomes a club-wide problem. You need to make that clear at your table, as their president and as a Mayans shot-caller.”

The kings leave the clubhouse, but they’ll be hanging around town until everything’s sorted out. Coco wonders what needs to be sorted since if he loses his eyesight, he might not be able to ride a motorcycle again.

Bishop explains there are millions of dollars at stake for the Mayans, but Coco’s having none of it. Angry, he accuses Bishop of treating the club like a corporation with a CEO making all the decisions for its employees. “I hope that involves a f**king health plan because I’m going to need it,” says Coco before leaving the table and getting a hug from his daughter.

All the guys pretty much agree this whole situation is screwed up.

And in the midst of all this, Felipe (Edward James Olmos) shows up to meet with his sons. Felipe talks about his childhood and how he grew up in a dirt-poor town with the Galindos. His grandmother took in a bastard son of the family, a favor Jose Galindo never forgot.

Fast-forward 20 years and as a Federales on an undercover sting, two innocent people were killed. That should have been the end of his career. It wasn’t…thanks to Jose Galindo making it go away. But that put Felipe in Jose’s debt.

Felipe reveals he knows his sons have been investigating their mother’s murder. EZ realizes the only way he would know that is through Emily, and Felipe confirms she talked to him about what she’d found. Felipe adds that what she dug up has left her terrified.

EZ confesses to his pop they know who pulled the trigger and that the murderer is a member of SAMCRO. Angel (Clayton Cardenas) has remained silent throughout this conversation, letting EZ take the lead but he finally speaks up. He asks Felipe what exactly Emily found.

Felipe doesn’t answer and instead tells his boys to bring everything they’ve dug up to his house that night. When Angel asks why he can’t just answer, Felipe replies, “I made a promise that all parties would be there. We all have a different piece of the puzzle.”

EZ’s concerned for Emily, and Felipe assures him he’ll get her to the house without Miguel knowing what’s going on.

Miguel, with encouragement from Nestor and Marcus, has decided to attempt reconnecting with Emily. When she interrupts a meeting he’s having with Marcus, Miguel opens up about what he’s working on. He lets her in on the fact he’s located a woman who has a young son by Potter. Potter apparently fell in love with her and it turns out she was a key witness in a murder case that was “one of Potter’s first big wins when working with the Mexican government.”

Emily’s stunned Potter slept with a witness and wonders if this information leaking would get the case overturned. Miguel’s sure that’s why Potter’s kept this relationship – and his son – a secret. Emily and Miguel believe the release of this information would put an end to Potter’s involvement in anything to do with Mexico.

Miguel admits he wants to use this info to help Adelita, claiming he doesn’t want any more secrets. He tells Emily she’s what’s important – as is his son and his life in America – and he doesn’t want any more lies between them. He promises to tell her whatever she wants to know and requests the same from her.

Miguel asks Emily what’s actually going on with Felipe and EZ, reminding her it also seems to involve his mother. She tries to lie again, saying she only visited Felipe to pick up steaks. Miguel knows that’s not the truth, but changes the subject to ask what really happened to the county clerk who killed himself.

Emily acts indignant, swearing that was a suicide. Miguel continues to dig in and Emily calls him on it. “You don’t trust me? Fine. Put a f**king tracker on my ankle,” she spits out as she leaves his office.

After she’s gone, Miguel instructs Marcus to dig into the Reyes family.

Speaking of the Reyes’, EZ and Angel accompanied Coco and his daughter to lunch. Why? Because EZ wants to see Gabriella who’s working at the restaurant. It turns out she’s not actually working in a restaurant; she’s working in her uncle’s food truck. Either way, she’s as happy to see EZ as he is to see her.

They make small talk about her family and then EZ finally gets around to sort of asking her out. She cuts him a break when he can’t actually manage to ask for a date and says she’ll go out with him.

Dita opens up to Emily, confirming she wanted to die in the fire because she no longer felt as though she had a purpose in life. She also confesses she feels partially responsible for the divide between Emily and Miguel. She warns her daughter-in-law marriages can’t take that much distance and survive.

Their chat’s interrupted by a phone call from Felipe. He asks Dita for a big favor.

Mayans M.C. Season 2 Episode 9
Frankie Loyal and Michael Irby in ‘Mayans M.C.’ season 2 episode 9 (Photo by Prashant Gupta/FX)

Bishop meets with Marcus to fill him in on what went down. Bishop’s talked to Chibs and Chibs understands it’s Bishop’s call. But if he moves on the VM, the Irish will take their deal elsewhere. Bishop’s stuck between a rock and a hard place, and the club’s pretty much split. Coco wants revenge, but others are willing to look at the big picture.

It all comes down to Bishop. Marcus reminds him the Mayans are bigger and more profitable than ever before and asks Bishop if he’s up to the challenge. Bishop is.

After his meeting with Bishop, Marcus pulls EZ (who’s just arrived back from his lunch) aside. He grills him about what’s going on with Emily, Felipe, the dead clerk, and Dita. EZ claims innocence, although he acknowledges he’s known Emily for a long time.

Marcus continues to probe for answers and gets EZ to admit he’d help out Emily any time she asks. EZ says he cares about Emily, but he refuses to say if Emily asked him for help on the agri-park project. EZ thinks any information Marcus wants on that needs to come directly from Emily.

Marcus issues a warning, telling EZ he likes him but he better not be lying.

Bishop gathers Tranq, Coco, Angel, and Gilly (Vincent Vargas) around the table. He begins by reminding his men he’d take a bullet for any of them, but also admits Santo Padre is now the center of the Mayans empire. “Every charter will look to us for direction. We set the tone,” Bishop explains to the men, three of whom are on the side of hitting back at the VM.

He asks them to vote with their heads, not their hearts since so much is at stake. Gilly and Angel remain firm in seeking vengeance. Tranq is on the side of allowing business to move forward without vengeance. Coco doesn’t hesitate and also asks for vengeance.

“If Riz had died or Coco what happened to you was permanent, I would not hesitate to strike back,” says Bishop. He asks them to look again at the bigger picture for the entire MC and says he believes they shouldn’t retaliate. He also confirms Taza and Creeper have voted not to hit back. Riz is unable to vote, but even if he did it would be Bishop’s vote that broke the tie.

Coco wants to know who the Mayans are now. How will Bishop be able to sit at the same table with the VM and just act like this never happened? He’ll only be doing so because of money. Coco is enraged by the decision and yells at Bishop that he’s wrong as are those who voted against vengeance.

Coco leaves the table and Angel’s about to follow when Bishop calls him back. Bishop doesn’t believe Coco can hear anything right now and Angel comments, “No offense, Bish, he really can’t see anything either. We’re not living with the fear of that shit like he is.”

Back at the Galindo place, Dita announces she’s made a day spa appointment for them. Emily tries to get out of it, saying she doesn’t have time but Dita won’t take no for an answer. Dita also wants them to have dinner with Miguel afterward at a restaurant just down the street from the spa. Emily gives in and Nestor confirms he’ll tell Miguel their plans.

Creeper’s still by Riz’s bed when Taza delivers the news the vote came down on the side of no retaliation. Creeper believes Coco and Riz are going to hate them for that decision.

EZ’s at his dad’s place when Angel arrives with news of the vote. EZ thinks it’s probably the right decision. He then fills Angel in on his talk with Marcus about Miguel and Emily. He’s aware Marcus didn’t believe him when he tried to play dumb.

They were supposed to be meeting with Felipe at 7pm, but he’s nowhere to be seen.

Nestor and the driver deliver Emily and Dita to the day spa. Dita walks Emily through it and out the back, handing her off to Felipe who’s waiting in his truck. She reminds Emily she has an hour and a half before she’s due back.

Felipe apologizes for the subterfuge but didn’t have any other way to get her free to talk.

They return to Felipe’s place while over at the Galindo estate, Marcus informs Miguel he didn’t get anything specific from EZ. Marcus wonders if Miguel’s sure they had something to do with the clerk’s death, which leads Miguel to question if Marcus has conflicts because it involves the club.

Emily lays out what she discovered in the ledger along with the copies of the checks. Emily thinks the checks, signed by Dita, were used by Jose to avoid DOJ scrutiny. Felipe’s silent until EZ asks why Jose would want him dead.

Felipe confesses he had an affair with Dita after she lost her son. He was her protection and her confidante, but he let it happen even though he knew it was wrong. He ended it and then met their mother, but Dita couldn’t let it go.

Felipe didn’t trust Dita to not tell Jose and that’s why he left for America and why they changed their names to Felipe and Marisol. It took 20 years, but Jose finally discovered Felipe’s whereabouts 10 years ago when Miguel moved to the area.

Emily’s convinced Miguel’s innocent in all this. EZ and Angel are not. Angel thinks Jose told his son everything when Miguel stepped up and took over the cartel. There’s no other explanation for the timing.

Emily demands to know what happens next, but no one answers her.

EZ drives her back and there’s very little talk as they head to the spa. Emily knows he’s been chasing this revenge for a decade but doesn’t want Miguel hurt. EZ confesses he doesn’t know what he’s going to do but that she should do whatever it is she needs to do.

As they’re driving, EZ receives another text from Potter. Because Emily knows about his connection to Potter, EZ tells her the truth that Potter wants to deport his dad if they don’t do what he asks.

They arrive at the spa and Emily has come up with an idea. She’ll help him with Felipe if he promises to leave Miguel alone. She’ll give him info on Potter he can use to get Potter to back off. She warns EZ that Miguel’s ready to use this same info on Potter to help Adelita, so he has to decide soon if he’ll back off on seeking revenge against Miguel.

Meanwhile, over at the hospital Creeper’s stepped out and left Taza to watch over Riz. Taza is wracked with emotion as he bends over and gives Riz a kiss on the forehead. He asks for forgiveness and then cuts off Riz’s air supply. Riz’s body reacts by jerking around in his sleep.

The monitors plummet to zeroes as the doctors rush in to try and save Riz’s life.

A short while later, the guys are drinking at the clubhouse when Bishop delivers the news that Riz has died. Bishop then tells Tranq to call the kings and inform them the vote is null and void. “We’re going to war,” says Bishop.

Miguel joins Emily and Dita at the restaurant following their “spa” outing. (The steak knives would have a rough time cutting through the tension at the table.)

At the same time, EZ’s rushing into his dad’s place. He immediately begins rifling through the locked box. Angel and Felipe ask what he’s doing, and EZ explains he’s looking for a photo of Miguel’s mom. EZ has pieced together a memory he has of them at an amusement park and of seeing his dad kiss his mom. Felipe tells him where to find an old photo of Dita, and the photo matches EZ’s recollection of that night when he and Angel were teenagers. He remembers watching his parents kiss and seeing a woman lurking in the background watching Felipe and Marisol.

EZ realizes it wasn’t Miguel who knew Felipe and Marisol’s whereabouts…it was Dita. Angel’s confused as to why Dita would have told Jose about the affair, and EZ understands she didn’t.

Dita ordered the hit because she could never let go of Felipe. Felipe breaks down in tears, apologizing to his sons. He and EZ hug as the gravity of the situation sinks in.