Landman returns for Season 2 with an episode that wastes no time reminding viewers that grief, power, money, and ego collide just as violently as any oilfield explosion. Episode 1 sets up major storylines, unpacks old wounds, and introduces new conflicts, all while weaving together the personal and professional chaos surrounding M-Tex Oil. The episode builds the foundation for a turbulent season.
The premiere opens with Tommy at his most unfiltered. Instead of discussing business or the ceremony looming over him, he’s ranting about breakfast or rather, his theory that breakfast is a capitalist ploy invented by cereal companies to brainwash people into eating waffles and boxed sugar at dawn. His words come out fast, messy, and unhinged, and it becomes obvious that the speech isn’t about breakfast at all. He’s jittery from caffeine, his stomach is empty, and without his usual cigarettes, he’s unraveling under the pressure he refuses to admit he feels. Tomorrow, he will be front and center at Monty’s memorial ceremony, where decisions about the future of M-Tex Oil will be laid out for the world to hear. Tommy can clown around all he wants, but beneath the jokes, he’s terrified.
By the time the ceremony arrives, Tommy’s nerves and Danny’s stubbornness combust. Danny bristles at the idea of taking orders from Cami, Monty’s widow, who now holds the authority to sign off on major company decisions. In Danny’s eyes, Tommy has always been the real backbone of operations, even while Monty was alive. Why should that change now? But Tommy isn’t interested in stroking Danny’s ego. He warns him that if Danny wants to pick a fight, he’d better bring legal back-up because this isn’t going to be handled with a bro-to-bro chat. The new reality is; Monty is gone, and a new era has begun. Everyone, especially the company’s lessors, knows that vulnerability creates opportunity and Tommy, for better or worse, is the hungry wolf standing guard over M-Tex.
Before the ceremony’s main event, Tommy runs into Bob, who wastes no time cutting to business. He wants to know what Tommy intends to do with the gas fields in Kilgore, which M-Tex currently leases but doesn’t prioritize. Tommy treats it like a minor asset, but Bob sees a goldmine. After some quick, sharp negotiation, they strike a deal, Kilgore goes to Bob for around $400 million. But Bob isn’t done he wants more land, more leverage, more everything. Tommy tosses Louisiana into the discussion, promising to send details later so Bob can fold it into his contract.
Just when it seems like the deal is sealed, Bob brings up the name Tommy’s tired of hearing: Cami. He fears her leadership will sink M-Tex before their handshake has cooled. Tommy shuts him down, insisting that Cami is far tougher than anyone realizes.
Cut to Cami, alone in a bathroom stall, crying silently. Her grief for Monty collides with the crushing pressure of running a debt-burdened company while simultaneously fighting off misogynistic assumptions. But the world doesn’t let her hide long. Two young women, Lexi and Stormy, stroll in and mock her with casual cruelty. Instead of firing back, Cami swallows her humiliation, filing it away like dry gunpowder.
Tommy catches her before her speech, warning her that the room is filled with bank presidents who would love an excuse to pull M-Tex’s half-billion-dollar debt and collapse the company.
Cami delivers!
She takes the stage and cuts straight to the bone. No flowery tributes, no corporate platitudes. She declares she’ll lead the company with Monty’s grit but without his patience; she’ll be sharper, meaner, and absolutely unforgiving toward anyone who underestimates her because she’s a woman. Then she walks off, leaving the crowd stunned.
Tommy is impressed when he asks where the fire came from, Cami coolly admits she fueled her rage by deciding to sabotage the vacations of Lexi and Stormy by ensuring their sugar daddies get yanked back to work. If power is a language, Cami just learned to speak it.
Meanwhile, Cooper heads to work after saying goodbye to Ariana and her son, Miguel. What follows is an atmospheric montage of oil-rig life: mud splashing, metal clanking, machinery grinding into the earth. Cooper watches the drilling progress like a man guarding a future he desperately hopes is real. Marty, his trusted right-hand man, reminds him that when the pressure valve “sings,” they’ll know they’ve hit something big and soon enough, it starts twitching.
Marty runs the numbers and confirms what every driller dreams about the well is rich, holding enough oil to generate thousands of barrels. Cooper practically flies home to Ariana with the news. When she struggles to grasp the significance, he brings her and Miguel to the rig. Marty breaks it down: they’re looking at around $10 million in yearly revenue.
It’s life-changing but Ariana doesn’t let herself celebrate fully. After years of trauma, abandonment, and disappointment, she carries her joy like a ticking bomb. What if rivals attack the rig? What if Cooper becomes someone else under the weight of success? What if she and Miguel become collateral?
Elsewhere, Angela and Ainsley visit a university for Ainsley’s admissions meeting. Greta Stidham, the counselor, initially critiques Ainsley’s academic record, but because Ainsley is a priority walk-on, she’s accepted. Ainsley bursts into excitement, and Angela beams just as brightly.
Meanwhile, Tommy is walking Cami through the tangled mess Monty left behind. He advises her to lean on him for now, not because she’s incapable, but because she has no idea how deep the problems run. When Cooper calls about the oil well, Tommy refuses to talk over the phone and tells him to come by later.
Soon after, Tommy boards a private jet with Angela and Ainsley. Angela announces her plan to move to Fort Worth, insisting it’s for Ainsley, but Tommy senses the truth. Now that he’s president of an oil company, Angela’s appetite for luxury has flared up again. If he doesn’t shut it down early, he knows exactly how this ends.
That night, Angela hosts a celebratory dinner, but her extravagance becomes the butt of every joke at the table when her expensive ingredients produce a barely edible meal. Tommy makes one badly timed comment, and Angela explodes; flipping plates, screaming, spiraling into chaos. Cooper decides to postpone the oil-well talk. Everyone clears out, leaving Tommy alone with Angela’s meltdown, something he helped trigger.
Meanwhile, at Prairie View assisted living facility, an elderly man named Thomas (played by Sam Elliott) quietly watches the sun set. A staff member pushes him to come inside before he’s ready, triggering a distressed outburst. Another staffer, Hank, steps in with patience and care. Only after the sun disappears does Thomas agree to go inside; that’s where Hank breaks the heartbreaking news: someone named Dorothy has passed away. Thomas collapses into grief.
The episode ends with Tommy and Angela finally calming down; right before Tommy receives a phone call informing him that his mother has died. Suddenly, Thomas’ grief makes sense; he and Tommy are connected whether father, brother, or distant relative, a family reckoning is coming.
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