NOTE: this post contains spoilers for Mayans M.C. season 5 episode 2, "Lord Help My Poor Soul." Catch up by reading the Mayans M.C. season 5 episode 1 recap.
Adelita (Carla Baratta) visits a small house where workers in the fields harvest the seed pods needed to make heroin. She's picking up money for the cartel. Angel (Clayton Cardenas) doesn't know she’s doing this. Later on when Adelita drops the money to a woman working for Soledad (Selene Luna), the woman tells her she'll be making other pickups for the cartel as well.
EZ (JD Pardo) and the others gather for an update on Creeper (Joseph Raymond Lucero). He's alive, but in bad shape. EZ knows they can't let this attack go unpunished. Hank (Frankie Loyal) was there when Creeper was attacked, but since it happened after visiting hours he didn't see anything. Angel points out half of the corrections officers and cops at the prison belong to Iron War, so they must have known that the attack was planned before it happened. Everyone is looking to EZ to step up and lead, but he's struggling.
In the prison's hospital, Creeper is visited by ATF agent Kody (Stella Maeve). She wants to put Creeper in protective custody but he says no. Instead, Creeper wants her to find out who the informant inside the club is. That's the only way he will be safe.
EZ, Angel and the rest of the Mayans ride up to the prison hoping to find out what happened to Creeper. They arrive at shift change, when both the president and vice president (the guard with the Joker smiler) of the Iron War club are there.
The two clubs face off, trading insults. But backup arrives for the Iron War when some of the officers on duty come out to support them. The leader of Iron War taunts EZ, saying the Mayans were a great club when Alvarez (Emilio Rivera) was in charge. With everyone questioning his leadership, that hits EZ hard. Angel tells EZ to let it go, knowing it's not the time for a fight. But EZ tells the Iron War members if they let Mayans get hit inside, the Mayans can get them at any time on the outside.
EZ looks for guidance in the military strategy book he was given for his birthday. He knows he's losing the battle for the pipeline and proving he can lead the Mayans. He has to find a way to start winning.
EZ isn't the only one looking to form alliances. Soledad and Miguel (Danny Pino) have lunch with Mr. Villar-Fuentes, a no-nonsense cartel boss who sees right through them. Miguel admits that Lincoln Potter (Ray McKinnon) has sent them to Villar-Fuentes to work out an alliance. Villar-Fuentes agrees to an alliance so the factions can build a stronger network and operate independently of the US government. But then Miguel sees the thug who killed Tomas, Martin's son, in Mayans M.C. season 4. He can't let the murder of a child go unpunished. In the bathroom he attacks the murderer and leaves him twitching on the floor.
The Mayans kidnap the vice president of the Iron War. They beat him mercilessly for Creeper and to find out who is running the heroin pipeline. But the man won't talk, so EZ starts to lose control, almost attacking his brothers in an adrenaline-fueled rage. EZ tells the others to dump their victim when it's clear he's not going to tell them anything.
At home, Miguel has a family dinner with Emily (Sarah Bolger) and his son, but it's clear that Emily's situation isn't exactly voluntary.
Packer steps up his assaults on the Mayans by going after the Inland Empire Mayans. He and some of the Sons force the president to choose between his wife and child's lives or that of his vice president. He tells Packer to just kill him instead of making him choose, but Packer refuses. The president chooses to protect his family, and the vice president is shot in the head. Inland Empire is out of the alliance after that, leaving the Mayans with very few friends.
EZ goes to Alvarez for advice. But after being ousted as president by EZ, Alvarez tells him to get off his land. He's not about to help EZ after how things went down.
Angel is visited at home by Cole (Branton Box), the mercenary with military connections Angel has dealt with in the past. Cole warns Angel to back off and stop looking for information about the pipeline before something bad happens. He aims his gun on Angel's son to make his point. Cole is involved in the pipeline, which is how Soledad's people are getting high end military weapons.
The remaining Mayans regroup and discuss their position. Trust in EZ is almost gone. Angel tells EZ they are done looking into the pipeline; he won't risk Maverick's life. But EZ insists they're just getting started. He doesn't want to work for the cartel anymore: EZ's plan is to bring down the cartel.
New episodes of Mayans M.C. season 5 air Wednesdays at 10 pm ET/PT on FX, then stream on-demand on Hulu.
