WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Mayans M.C. Season 4, Episode 6, "When I Die, I Want Your Hands on My Eyes," which aired Tuesday on FX.So far, Mayans M.C. Season 4 has been setting up the titular club's upcoming war with the Sons of Anarchy in a big way. Last week's episode Mayans M.C., "Death of the Virgin," saw the Sons of Anarchy killing Coco as part of an attack on the Oakland charter in retribution for the death of Allesandro Montez. Now, the latest episode of Mayans M.C. Season 4, "When I Die, I Want Your Hands on My Eyes," has taken their war to the next level, with the show's titular club declaring war on the Sons of Anarchy. However, that choice may destroy the show's title club in the end.
In "When I Die, I Want Your Hands on My Eyes," Marcus Alvarez -- the Godfather of the Mayans M.C. and the current president of the Santo Padre charter -- does absolutely everything he can to prevent a war with the Sons of Anarchy. Early in the episode, Alvarez learns from Hank that Oakland was able to positively identify its attackers as being from the Sons of Anarchy. However, Alvarez asks Hank to keep quiet so he can figure out how to proceed. This angers Hank, who wants to get revenge for Coco right away. Later, EZ Reyes asks Alvarez for an update on the situation, but the Godfather avoids answering him clearly. Instead, Alvarez emphasizes just how dangerous a war could be and that it's not worth the cost. Alvarez makes clear he wants to get revenge for Coco, but an all-out fight with his killers isn't something that's going to help the situation.
In the end, the Santo Padre Mayans get confirmation from Manny -- a member of the Yuma Mayans -- that the Sons of Anarchy are responsible for the attack on Oakland. Alvarez still tries to convince them not to go to war, but the Santo Padre charter makes clear they won't be dissuaded. EZ even reveals a plan to kill a number of Sons of Anarchy higher-ups at UC Davis to get revenge. EZ's thinking here is, essentially, that the Mayans will hit the Sons of Anarchy hard enough that they'll regret ever coming after them in the first place. EZ, Angel and Manny -- the same people who killed El Banquero's accountant -- end up tasked with the mission. Alvarez gives his go-ahead, and so the Mayans are indeed officially at war.
Alvarez is, in many ways, right. The Godfather keeps emphasizing the need to investigate what happened before jumping into a war. The Sons of Anarchy attacked the Mayans because they believe the group killed Montez. They don't know the Mayans weren't responsible for the character's death. Instead, El Palo, the now-deceased president of the Vatos Malditos Motorcycle Club, killed the Sons of Anarchy Road Captain. While Taza hiding Montez's body and kutte in a barrel on the Santo Padre clubhouse's property would certainly have some consequences, that's not the transgression the Sons of Anarchy think they're paying back. A lot of problems in this situation can be ameliorated just through proper communication. However, the Mayans are now going to hit back against the Sons of Anarchy, thinking the group attacked them essentially unprovoked. The two groups are once again getting caught in a cycle of violence in which they kill each other to avenge those they've lost.
A war of this kind is certain to be bloody, and the Mayans M.C. may not come out on top. The group is still reeling after its civil war, and the various charters are still incredibly mistrustful of each other. Knowing the reason for the violence started with Santo Padre may very well doom that particular charter, but that's assuming the Sons of Anarchy and Mayans M.C. can ever really sit down and hash things out. There's a good chance the violence is going to get to the point where a weakened Mayans M.C. ends up against a powerful Sons of Anarchy, and it may just be that the show's titular club ends up getting dealt a blow it can't survive.
New episodes of Mayans M.C. air Tuesdays on FX. The next episode of the series, "Dialogue with the Mirror," releases on May 24.