Series Review: Mayans M.C. – Season 2 (2019)

That’s right, two posts in one day. A rare occurrence here. But today it happens. Now either this is a blessing or a pain, depending on your point of view. Either way, let’s talk about Hispanic bikers.

Ladies and gentlemen… “Mayans M.C.” season 2.

Set several months after the first season, as EZ Reyes (JD Pardo) has a lot of problems to balance. From familial tensions, to problems hitting the club, to the constant antagonistic pressure from federal prosecutor Lincoln Potter (Ray McKinnon). Secrets are discovered, drama occurs, it’s more “Mayans”. And I thought the plot here was great. There’s a lot of threads going on here, but they never feel like a fucking mess. And seeing it all unfold is quite engaging. Sure, some of its social commentary (while being shit I agree with) can be a bit on the ham-fisted side at times, but it never full on detracts from the overall storytelling of the show.

The characters here are flawed, layered, and overall quite interesting. JD Pardo returns as EZ Reyes, prospect within the Mayans M.C. He deals with a lot of personal shit this season around, after a revelation at the end of the first season. And combining that with some of the stuff happening this season makes for a compelling arc. And Pardo is once really good in the role. Clayton Cardenas returns as his brother, Angel, and he also has a great arc here, with Cardenas giving a great performance. Sarah Bolger returns as Emily, former love of EZ, current love of gangster Miguel Galindo. She’s got a lot going on too. And Bolger is really good in the role. And with supporting work from people like Ray McKinnon, Michael Irby, Danny Pino, Edward James Olmos, Carla Baratta, Richard Cabral, Emilio Rivera, Ada Maris, and many more, you get some damn fine performances rounding out the cast.

Just like with season 1, the score for season 2 was composed by Bob Thiele Jr, and once again it’s great. A lot of guitars, some others strings, overall it manages to create a sound that honor some of the Mexican culture, while also capturing the feel of a gritty biker drama. There’s also plenty of licensed music used throughout, and it all fits very well, while also just in general being pleasing to my ear.

The show was created by Elgin James and Kurt Sutter, with writing and directing by both of them, along with a bunch of other cool people. And the craft here is top notch. There’s a strong vision for how they want the episodes to flow, which comes through both in writing and in camerawork. Season 1 was a strong, decently confident start. Here in season 2, their confidence is clearly a lot higher, which makes their craft feel even stronger. These guys know what the fuck they’re doing, and the way it comes through in the show makes it such a standout in today’s tv.

This season/has show has been well received. On Rotten Tomatoes it has a 100% positive rating. On Metacritic it exists, but has no score. And on imdb.com it has a score of 7,5/10.

Season 2 of “Mayans M.C.” improves on what was set up in the first season, even if some of its social commentary can be slightly clumsy at times. It has a great plot, really good characters, great performances, great music, and great writing/directing. Time for my final score. *Ahem*. My final score for “Mayans M.C.” season 2 is a 9,50/10. So while it borders on a lower rating, it still gets the “SEAL OF APPROVAL!”.

My review of “Mayans M.C.” season is now completed.

’cause a beaten dog never forgets.

Series Review: Mayans M.C. – Season 1 (2018)

In 2008, a show called “Sons of Anarchy” started airing. It was created by Kurt Sutter, and ran for seven seasons, ending in 2014. I loved that show. And in 2018 we got a spin-off. And in 2019 I finally watched it. So let’s talk about it.

Damas y caballeros… “Mayans M.C.” season 1.

Set a few years after “Sons of Anarchy” ended, we follow EZ Reyes (J.D. Pardo), a prospect within the Mayans motorcycle club. And throughout the show we get to see him take part in the club’s various dealings with various criminal elements, as well as the law. So now we have our biker crime-drama. Early on it’s easy to tell that it’s a bit more focused than it’s big brother, “Sons of Anarchy”, at least in terms of first season stuff. There is more of a central through-line here that makes it a bit more compelling in parts. But it’s not free of faults, as there’s a lot going on here. They set up a few face-to-face conflicts early on (cool), but they also then have a lot of sneaking around going on, making it a little convoluted at first. I did settle into it after a few episodes, but I feel like dumping that many separate plot threads early on is a bit much at the start, ease people into your world, then expand. Though like I said, I did settle into it soon enough, and I did find the overall plot quite compelling, especially when things started ramping up towards the end of the season.

The characters in this are layered, flawed, colorful, and overall quite interesting. J.D. Pardo plays Ezekiel “EZ” Reyes, the show’s main protagonist. A smart young man acting as a prospect for the Mayans M.C. He’s a good guy involved in some complicated, sometimes illegal shit, which makes it interesting to see his inner turmoil throughout the season. And Pardo is really good in the role. We then get Sarah Bolger as Emily Galindo, a woman EZ once had a relationship with, but is now married to a cartel boss. She has an interesting arc throughout the season that I won’t spoil, but it does make her quite a fascinating character. And Bolger is great in the role. We then get Danny Pino as Miguel Galindo, the cartel boss that Emily married. He’s ruthless when people make him angry, but can be a reasonable man when shit isn’t hitting the fan too hard. He has a few more sides than other, similar kinds of characters, which makes him quite interesting. And Pino is great in the role. We also get supporting work from people like Clayton Cardenas, Michael Irby, Edward James Olmos, Carla Baratta, Richard Cabral, Maurice Compte, and many more, all doing very well in their respective roles.

The score for the show/season was composed by Bob Thiele Jr. And I think he did a good job with it, using a fair bit of acoustic guitars that helps brings the biker side and the drama side into one. There are also a good amount of licensed tracks used throughout, and they work quite well in their respective scenes. So yeah, this show has some damn good music.

“Mayans M.C.” was created by Kurt Sutter & Elgin James, with writing and directing by them and a whole bunch of other cool people. And the craft here is pretty tight, building decent suspense when needed, and having a good flow between the various storylines going on in each episode. They also find a way to really get intimate with the characters through the direction, really making me feel like I’m there with them. As for the few action scenes throughout the show, they’re pretty good. Kinda standard, but still serviceable enough.

This show/season has been pretty well received. On Rotten Tomatoes it has a 72% positive rating. On Metacritic it has a score of 57/100. And on imdb.com it has a score of 7,5/10.

While starting off with a few too many balls in the air, season 1 of “Mayans M.C.” is still a highly compelling biker drama. It has a good plot, really good characters, great performances, great music, and really good writing/directing. Time for my final score. *Ahem*. My final score for “Mayans M.C.” season 1 is an 8,99/10. So I’d say that it’s definitely worth a watch.

My review of “Mayans M.C.” season 1 is now completed.

At first I was worried about a “Sons of Anarchy” spin-off. But you guys proved me wrong. Bien hecho. 

Series Review: Sons of Anarchy (2008 – 2014)

For some reason I am very interested in crime-related stories. Whether they are real or not, they just interest me. And I don’t necessarily mean reading about them on the internet, I mean read books, watch movies or TV relating to crime in one way or another. And one type of crime-related thing that I’ve always had a keen interest in is the world of biker gangs. Hells Angels, Bandidos, you name ’em. So then I found out that my parents had started watching a TV-show about a biker gang. So I got pretty interested and started watching with them. And now that it’s over I thought it could be fun to review it for you people (Sidenote: I know it finished fall of 2014, but the last episodes didn’t arrive here in Sweden until 2015).

Sons and daughters… “Sons of Anarchy”.

This show follows a biker gang in the fictional city of Charming, California, but the main focus is on member Jackson “Jax” Teller (Charlie Hunnam). And being part of a biker gang like that sounds fine and dandy… except if you recently have become a father like Jax. It also gets more difficult when he has to balance that and being part of a gang that takes part in criminal activities. The club is led by Jax’s stepfather Clay Morrow (Ron Perlman) who might be a little bit corrupt in his ways. So throughout the show we get to see Jax struggle with both being part of this criminal gang and being a decent father. Now while what I explain might sound “meh”, it is actually really intriguing. It is a great set up for a great plot and a great execution of said plot. Every season they have new obstacles to face, new enemies to fight and new situations to be part of. I love the plot and execution of the show.

The characters in the show are some of the best I have ever seen. They are both incredibly well-written and incredibly well-acted. Let’s start with our protagonist Jax. I think Charlie Hunnam was the perfect pick for him. Sure, I never questioned it since I had no idea about this show until about 2010/2011. But I think he portrayed the character perfectly. He gets a lot of development throughout the show. From the not too trigger-happy rookie guy to the great leader/killing machine. That is not a spoiler since I didn’t tell you what happened to him! Now I am quickly gonna go through the main members of the club so this doesn’t get too long. Ron Perlman  as Clay is kind of like a more asshole-y version of Hellboy (Fitting since he played Hellboy). Next is Jax’s mother/Clay’s wife Gemma (Katey Sagal). She is a major bitch through the show. but I can’t deny that Sagal plays her pitch perfectly, she was awesome. Filip “Chibs” Telford (Tommy Flanagan) is the Scottish and awesome sort of best friend of everyone in the club. He is loyal, he is badass and he got an awesome accent. Robert “Bobby” Munson (Mark Boone Junior) is the sort of uncle of everyone in the club. He is a big guy with a big heart and knows how to show loyalty towards his close friends/fellow members. Alex “Tig” Trager (Kim Coates)… such a sick little bastard. I am not kidding, he is a sick fucking guy… butthat is what makes him so awesome. Don’t worry, he can be serious and a good man whenever he wants to. And finally we have Juan Carlos “Juice” Ortiz (Theo Rossi) who is the little guy in the club, but he can kick a lot of ass when he needs to. Every actor is doing a fantastic job in this show and never feel miscast. There are more characters of course, but most of them are sort of back and forth type characters… but they still play big parts. The characters and acting in the show are awesome.

The music in this show is some of the greatest I have heard. Maybe I am just biased considering the majority of the music is rock/metal… but it is still great. The soundtrack is for the most part done by the band “The Forest Rangers”. The badass music fits the badass style of the show. There are also a lot of covers of well-known rock songs such as Bob Dylan’s “All Along the Watchtower” or Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody”. We of course also have the main theme tune “This life” by The Forest Rangers and Curtis Stigers… I love it. It fits the show perfectly and is a great musical track overall.

This show is very well-directed. For one, you can see the action happen, it isn’t obstructed by shaky-cam (Woohoo!). The show also got a lot of dark humor mixed in every now and then to keep the mood nice and light-hearted if it’s needed. But the humor is often VERY dark, so maybe all people won’t like it. Another warning I might give is that the show is incredibly violent. So if you are squeamish then maybe not have a look… or have a look and see if you can take it. Here is also a little fun fact; Katey Sagal who plays Gemma is married to the creator of the show, Kurt Sutter who shows up in the show a few times as the character Otto. Another fun thing is that in a few episodes we get a cameo from the founder of Hells Angels himself, Sonny Barger… that’s kinda cool to know. I can also admit that this show have made me cry more than once… yeah, good job. I can probably also say that my favorite season might be the final one. Sure, all seasons are fantastically well-paced, but the final season is so suspenseful and great that it just becomes my favorite. So here is a question; If you have seen the show, which season is your favorite? And who is you favorite character? Mine might be either Tig or Chibs… can’t decide.

This is a show with universal critical acclaim. Now I am not able to give you the overall scores of most sites since they divide by season and have no overall score, but I can still link them. Rotten Tomatoes! Here comes Metacritic! And finally we have an overall score on the one and only imdb.com where it has an 8,7/10.

“Sons of Anarchy” got a great story with a great finale, some great characters/performances, amazing music, great directing/camera work, great action and just a great feel throughout. Final score time! My final score for “Sons of Anarchy” is a 9,92/10 which of course grants it… the “SEAL OF APPROVAL!”

“Sons of Anarchy” is now reviewed.

Ride into this world…