Mayans – The Final Season – Underwhelming End to a Great Tale! #UnSpoiled

No Spoilers here! This is a series of reviews I’ll do where I’ll review a season or episode of a show, or a movie or sometimes even a game without spoiling the story.

That doesn’t mean I won’t focus on the flaws that come with it, I’ll be judging things like continuity, character development and of course, writing and pacing in general. I don’t want to spoil the story, but I want to tell you if it’s worth a watch – and that’s exactly why I’m doing #UnSpoiled reviews!

So what better way to start than jumping into a show that I had always admired for character development and pacing – Mayans.

I have to be honest, I didn’t like Sons of Anarchy the first time I watched it, I got 15 minutes into an episode and thought it was boring and slow and left. A year or two later, I watched it again, except this time, for some reason – The pacing worked.

And before I knew it, I was going through SAMCRO’s story and when it ended, I did the logical thing and started Mayans. And soon I was binging my way through the seasons that told the tale of the Reyes brothers.

And a gripping tale as well, while it’s a slow burn, in fact slower than Sons of Anarchy, the character development was done much better. I know I might be in the minority saying that but honestly, I felt Jax Teller didn’t have the depth that EZ Reyes had towards the end.

I’ve only seen one other story carry that sort of character development, and that’s Michael Corleone played by the one and only Al Pacino in The Godfather (you can consider the trilogy as well but just the first part in itself is a true masterclass in character development).

Mayans had very slow pacing but at the same time, the more you watched, the more you were invested. And that’s exactly why this last season felt like an anti-climactic experience. A stanza that reached the crescendo, only to be cut off completely right at the peak.

The season starts off well enough, but as soon as the 2nd episode starts, the pacing picks up. Usually, it would be exciting, a show racing toward it’s finish but the change in pace was extremely uncomfortable. It felt like it lacked purpose.

Don’t get me wrong, I know exactly why it had to ramp up the pace. There was not going to be a season 6 but sadly, at the end of the day, it felt like the writing, especially in the last 2 episodes felt like it tried to sum up two seasons worth of ‘growth’. On the one hand it’s heartbreaking to have cliffhangers be the end for shows (Las Vegas having the most abrupt end comes to mind), but on the other, a story that was built on character development and the journey of the Reyes brothers feels… cheapened at the end.

While the ending is written beautifully, everything that came before that in Season 5 felt rushed, and at the end of the day lacked any sort of soul.

Sadly this means that this season of Mayans, in spite of the excellent acting by the case and some great moments of writing, for my eyes is only a 6/10. Watch it if you’ve watched the others religiously and have followed to show. Only good thing about the season is closure, everything else is left with the most underwhelming taste.