In Landman Season 2, Episode 4, Ariana reunited with Cooper after their brief breakup, which was caused by the possibility of the latter becoming a billionaire in the foreseeable future. But when Ariana realized that maybe she had overreacted, because Cooper hadn’t suggested he’d do anything along the lines of uprooting Ariana from the life she had made for herself, she decided to give their relationship another chance, and Cooper was more than willing to accept that. In the middle of all that, they also attended Dorothy’s funeral, which was a bittersweet affair because, on one hand, Thomas got to meet Tommy’s friends and family, and on the other hand, Tommy was extremely rude to Thomas due to their sordid past. Even though Tommy and the rest parted with Thomas on a sour note, Angela advised Tommy to bring Thomas home, because she felt that her father-in-law didn’t deserve to die alone in Prairie View. Tommy’s reaction to that was filled with anger, but since he’d seen the level of empathy that his own daughter, Ainsley, was capable of, he decided to bury the hatchet and bring Thomas to his house. Thomas, despite being a very stubborn individual, embraced this offer with open arms. In addition to all that, Rebecca got frisky with some guy instead of looking into a suicide and a traffic collision that happened on M-Tex property. How were these plot threads furthered in the latest episode? Let’s find out. Spoiler Alert
Angela Attends a Fake Birthday Party
In episode 5 of Landman Season 2, Nate asks Tommy how long Thomas is going to be living with them in that house, because he thinks that, given Thomas’ age, he’d be better off at a retirement home. His opinion is quickly shot down by both Tommy and Angela, because they feel that Thomas should be with his family as he is nearing his end. Nate then brings up the topic of Tommy doing the work of a landman as well as serving as the president of M-Tex, and says that he should hire someone to take over his duties in Midland while he focuses on Fort Worth. Tommy assures Nate that he can handle both. Hence, Nate hands Tommy a massive stack of bills and invoices to deal with. Since work-related stuff doesn’t usually show up at his house, Tommy is confused as to why those documents have reached his doorstep instead of the office.
Given how Tommy has announced that he has the ability to handle everything, Nate leaves it up to him to solve that mystery. This professional conversation is interrupted by Angela, whose plans for the day are to attend a fake birthday party at Western Skies retirement home and arrange a welcome dinner for Thomas after that. She is so accommodating that she even asks Thomas about his food preferences so that she can center the theme of the dinner party around that—they settle on seafood and pirate-themed decorations. On that note, Angela and Ainsley head out to attend the party, Nate takes off too, and after having a conversation about the land and the impending supper program with Thomas, Tommy hits the streets too. The event at Western Skies goes pretty well, as Angela is showered with love and all kinds of weird gifts. I would have called this behavior attention-seeking, but since Angela and Ainsley are clearly bringing so much joy into the lives of these oldies, I can ignore her lying about her birthday.
Tommy Gives Cooper The Lowdown
Cooper and Ariana are seen having an elaborate conversation about getting married. To check if Cooper is really serious about this, Ariana tasks him with getting her father’s permission to marry her. Ariana’s dad lives in Corpus, which means that Cooper has to embark on a pretty long journey before taking on the daunting task of confronting Ariana’s father. Ariana adds a disclaimer on top of that: if Cooper decides to go through with the meeting with her dad and he marries Ariana too, he has to make sure that this relationship stays intact forever. Ariana has already been through one relationship, and she doesn’t want to endure heartbreak and abandonment again. Cooper essentially says that he is committed to being with Ariana for the rest of his life. So, he will meet his own dad to deal with some work-related issues and then head over to Corpus to ask her dad for his daughter’s hand in marriage. Cooper meets Tommy at The Patch, where, after a brief conversation about beers and breakfast, they arrive at the topic of Cooper’s intention to marry Ariana.
Tommy obviously thinks that Cooper should deliberate on this matter, but as soon as he realizes that the kid is too determined to marry Ariana, he moves on to the discussion about Cooper’s professional woes. There’s a lot of technical and financial jargon used during this exchange, but what I got from it is that Cooper is under the impression that Sonrisa, which is Dan’s company, is covering the drilling costs and, well, every other bill in existence. Whereas in reality, Tommy is being billed (hence those stacks of invoices at his house) because Cooper blurted out that he is Tommy’s son while drawing up the contracts for his drilling units. Cooper is understandably embarrassed as he realizes how badly he has handled this whole affair. Tommy says that there’s a way out of this situation: M-Tex will buy the leases for the lands that Cooper is currently drilling on. Which means that Cooper won’t be becoming a millionaire anytime soon, as he’ll be working as a landman at those wells instead. In the meantime, M-Tex will be profiting off of Cooper’s acumen, which has led to the discovery of so many high-yielding oil reservoirs.
Cooper Meets Ariana’s Father
The way Tommy sees it, if Cooper sticks with Sonrisa, Dan will stab him in the back and leave him with a mountain of debt. And even if Cooper manages to recover from that, his name will be tainted, and he won’t be able to assemble another crew for drilling in this lifetime. Cooper understands that this is the only way out if he wants to have a future in this profession and accepts Tommy’s advice. Tommy says that he’ll tell Nate to draw up the new contracts and get Cooper’s signatures on them. Cooper says that he’ll get on that once he’s done meeting with Ariana’s dad in Corpus. Tommy gets a call from Nate regarding the insurance issue and the accident. So, he has no choice but to let Cooper deal with his personal problems on his own. Moments later, we see Cooper arriving at Ariana’s father’s house. It’s seemingly an all-Mexican neighborhood; hence, Cooper immediately feels out of place. On top of that, Ariana’s dad, Mr. Barrera, turns out to be this big hulking dude who can tear Cooper in half with his bare hands if he wants to. Once Barrera is sure that Cooper isn’t there to give him some bad news about Ariana, he takes him to the backyard for a beer and a chat. Barrera tells Cooper that Ariana can decide for herself if she wants to marry someone or not; she doesn’t need her dad’s blessing.
This whole expedition was a test to see if he’d actually put in the effort of meeting Ariana’s family, and he has passed it. That doesn’t make him special, though, because Ariana’s first husband, Elvio, passed the test too. What matters now is that Cooper stays alive long enough to give Ariana the support she needs to fulfill her dreams. So, Barrera advises Cooper to not do anything that’d put Ariana through another round of loss and suffering. Given how Cooper has essentially accepted Tommy’s offer to work as a landman, I think he won’t be running into any deadly situations. That said, you can also see this as some subtle foreshadowing for Cooper’s death, especially because Dan is still in the picture. It’ll be cruel for the writers to put Ariana through another bout of bereavement, but I’m just saying that it’s not off the table yet. In addition to all that, Barrera gives Cooper the cliche warning of not turning into a physically abusive husband. With all that out of the way, Barrera tells Cooper to stay the night because Midland is too far away from Corpus. Cooper realizes that he has already become a part of his future in-laws’ family; hence, he accepts the invite.
Tommy Shares His Woes With Thomas
Nate notifies Tommy that he and Rebecca are boarding the plane to Fort Worth for a meeting with Blanton’s attorneys regarding the insurance issue. Tommy wants to join them, but since the meeting is going to take place in the next hour, Rebecca and Nate can’t wait for Tommy. So, Tommy just tells him to not commit to anything until he has approved it. Nate acknowledges that and then directs Tommy’s attention to the suicide in a pickup truck and the collision between a truck and said pickup truck. Tommy is absolutely shocked to learn that he hasn’t been kept in the loop about so many things. Nate tries to defend himself by saying that since such incidents weren’t handled by Monty, he thought that he shouldn’t let Tommy take care of situations like that accident as well. But Tommy reminds him yet again that he’s capable of being the president of M-Tex and doing his job as a landman simultaneously. Hence, whenever something happens, no matter how minor it seems, he should be informed about it. Hilariously enough, when Tommy reaches the crash site and talks to Walt, he has to reiterate that point yet again, because even Walt called Rebecca first instead of Tommy, because Walt thinks it’s not right to complain to the president of a company regarding an accident and a suicide.
With that out of the way, Tommy focuses on ensuring that the narrative around the incident is airtight and M-Tex doesn’t end up getting the short end of the stick for no fault of their own, especially when Walt keeps insisting that the truck driver was driving beyond the speed limit. As if that’s not enough, Tommy then learns from Dale about the H₂S poisoning fiasco, which hospitalized Jerrell and killed a bunch of hunters before Dale and his team got there. That finally causes Tommy to throw a fit, which is totally understandable. During his drive to Fort Worth, he gets a call from Thomas because he has been locked out of the house. Before Thomas can explain the issue that he’s facing, Tommy goes on a rant about what he’s going through, thereby turning a chat that would have lasted a few seconds into an endearing (and mildly hilarious) mini therapy session. However, that’s followed by an awkward conversation between Thomas and Shelby. But Thomas is so impressed by Shelby that when Angela and Ainsley return home with their seafood haul, he tells Ainsley to invite Shelby over for dinner because it’s ultimately an event for the Norrises’ friends and family. By the way, while watching Angela and Ainsley talk about the party, Thomas makes 2 observations: he is really enjoying the company of his family, especially because they are so chaotic and messy, and Ainsley looks exactly like Dorothy.
Dan Silences Tommy
Nate and Rebecca’s meeting with Blanton’s attorneys, McDougal and James, doesn’t go really well, because Nate and Rebecca try the old tactic of feigning ignorance and beating around the bush to delay making any kind of commitments regarding the insurance issue. But this time around, James and McDougal refuse to fall for those tactics. They are also not intimidated by Rebecca’s “I will be offended if you even breathe the wrong way” approach to the conversation because they know that the only thing she can do is scare them; she can’t act on her threats. James gives Rebecca and Nate the ultimatum to start extracting oil from the rig in question in the next 45 days or face the consequences. Rebecca tries her best to turn the tables in M-Tex’s favor, but it becomes pretty clear that McDougal and James have done their homework and won’t back down. When they notice that Rebecca and Nate have run out of moves, they lay down all of their terms and conditions and send the dynamic duo packing with their tails between their legs.
After exiting Blanton’s office, Nate passes on the important parts of their exchange with McDougal and James to Tommy, and he underscores the fact that they need to track down the missing revenue of M-Tex as soon as possible and get that rig running, or else they’ll be punished by Blanton and his people. Nate and Rebecca head to the Fort Worth office, and before joining them, Tommy makes a pit stop at Dan’s office. Why? Because he has to tell Dan that M-Tex has bought out Cooper’s leases, and, in response, Dan essentially admits that he was going to scam Cooper. Tommy tries to put that business in his rearview mirror and move on, but then Dan brings up his conversation with Cami and how M-Tex is in dire need of a partner. Tommy makes it clear that, regardless of how bad things get, he’s never going to allow M-Tex to collaborate with Dan. That’s when Dan gives a detailed breakdown of how bad things are for M-Tex and how bad things are going to get for the company. That basically means that Dan’s partnership with Cami is inevitable; it’s only a matter of “when.” For the first time in a long time, Tommy is rendered speechless.
Cami Intends to Work With Dan
Tommy silently exits Dan’s office and goes to the M-Tex office to join the meeting between Cami, Alan, Nate, and Rebecca. Again, there’s a lot of technical jargon, but what I understand is that in order to avoid paying any income taxes, the profit that M-Tex makes is channelled through an insurance company, M. Miller Insurance and Casualty. So, $400 million (and then some) is in M-Tex’s hands, but it’s inaccessible because of the rules and regulations they’ve been taking advantage of to avoid paying taxes. To get access to it and start the aforementioned drilling rig, M-Tex has to file for bankruptcy. That’ll somehow clear all of the company’s debts, but M-Tex will lose the leases and the royalties on the owned mineral rights. Hence, as predicted, Cami brings up Dan because, to her, he seems like the easiest available solution. Tommy realizes that he needs to take the gloves off and have a serious conversation with Cami. Therefore, he tells Alan to arrange a meeting with him again so that they can go over this insurance business one more time—thereby proving that it’s not just confusing for me but for Tommy as well—and he tells everyone, except for Cami, to leave the office. Once everyone’s out, Tommy tells Cami the story about his tryst with a drug cartel (in the previous season), and that Dan is its head.
Hence, if M-Tex takes a $400 million loan from Dan, the company will look like a cartel’s money-laundering machine, and that’ll put them on the radar of the FBI and almost every other law enforcement agency. Now, since M-Tex holds the leases to cartel-owned land, technically, they are already doing business with Dan. So, Cami thinks that they should take an “in for a penny, in for a pound” approach and simply go all in on Dan and see what happens. For Cami, saving M-Tex, without losing its leases and royalties, is of utmost importance. If the cartel is the way out of this conundrum, in Cami’s opinion, so be it. Tommy tries to dissuade her, but it seems like Cami is in no mood to listen to Tommy anymore. By the way, I don’t think Cami is just desperate. I think she’s starting to sense that even though Tommy tries to defend her from sexist attacks, he is being a little sexist himself by calling all the shots. Cami feels that she understands this business well enough to be at the helm of affairs, and hence, regardless of how caring Tommy tries to be, he comes off as a male chauvinist.
Tommy Enjoys the Pirate Party
Tommy feels that it’s time to call it a day because, firstly, he won’t be able to stop Cami from working with Dan, and secondly, there’s only so much he can tolerate over a period of 12 or so hours. Hence, he heads home, takes a pit stop at The Patch, has a hilarious chat with Barney, has a sweet exchange with Ariana, and then, in the ending of Landman Season 2 episode 5, he finally arrives home to enjoy the lavish and over-the-top pirate-themed party that Angela has arranged for her people. I suppose the reason why the episode decides to end on this note is because it shows that the time you spend with family and friends can make everything a little more tolerable. Everything beyond that house is a mess for Tommy. To be honest, calling it a mess is an understatement; it’s hell. He knows that M-Tex is staring down the barrel at a very dark future, especially if Cami shakes hands with Dan.
Tommy has saved M-Tex from many complex situations. However, he has a feeling that Dan is a storm that he won’t be able to weather. I mean, Dan is one of the few people in Texas who can silence Tommy. So, yeah, that’s dangerous. And this thought is weighing so heavily on Tommy’s mind that he drives all the way from Fort Worth to Midland, instead of joining Rebecca and Nate on the flight back home, in order to let off some steam. I think he assumed that he’d blow a gasket while attending Angela’s party, thereby destroying everyone’s morale, because he already had a rough day and he thought that he just wanted some alone time to think. Surprisingly enough, the party was exactly what he needed to forget about his issues and enjoy himself by laughing, having a few drinks, and eating seafood. This won’t solve Tommy’s problems or make them disappear. That said, this little break from the harrowing aspects of his profession will certainly recharge Tommy’s batteries and motivate him to fight whatever lies on the horizon. Anyway, those are just my thoughts on the episode. If you have any opinions on the same, feel free to share them in the comments section below.
