'Landman' Season 2 Episode 1 Recap & Ending Explained: Who Is "T.L." Thomas?

Landman Season 2, episode 1 opens with an epic rant from Tommy about how breakfast is capitalist propaganda pushed by companies that only make breakfast food. His point is that breakfast isn’t the most important meal of the day, and it’s just companies making people believe  it is because they want to sell cereal and frozen waffles. But his stance on this topic starts to wobble as it becomes apparent that he’s saying all that because he’s actually nervous, hungry, high on caffeine, and craving cigarettes; maybe if he had some food in his belly, he wouldn’t have said all that stuff. Why’s he so nervous, though? Because the following day, there’s a ceremony to address Monty’s passing and chart the future of M-Tex Oil. As that moment arrives, Tommy gets into a tiff with Danny, because the latter has a problem with taking orders from Cami, Monty’s wife. Danny is of the opinion that while Cami will be signing off on key decisions, it should be Tommy who calls the shots like he always has, even when Monty was alive. Yet, if Danny wants to make a mountain out of a molehill, then he has to lawyer up. As they go back and forth, it becomes clear that a new era of M-Tex Oil has begun, and with Monty gone, everyone, including the company’s lessors, has to deal with the ruthlessness of Tommy. What happens next in the episode? Let’s find out.

Spoiler Alert

Cami Gives a Fiery Speech

At the aforementioned ceremony, Tommy runs into Bob. He wants to know what Tommy plans to do with the gas fields in Kilgore that M-Tex has taken on lease, and Tommy says that that area isn’t exactly high on his priority list. Bob says that he wants to lease that land, and even give Tommy a fat check for it. After some brief negotiation, Tommy agrees to give away Kilgore to Bob for 400 million dollars (they are talking in millions, right?). That’s when Bob reveals that he’s hungry for more. So, Tommy puts the land in Louisiana on the table, and Bob asks him to email the details of that area to him, so that he can make it a part of his contract with M-Tex too. After all that, much like Danny, Bob brings up Cami, because he’s afraid that she’s going to push M-Tex towards bankruptcy with her business decisions and pour water over all these contracts that Tommy is promising him. Tommy assures him that Cami is tougher than she looks. That’s when the episode makes a hard cut to Cami, who is bawling her eyes out in the bathroom. 

As if the misogyny happening in the main hall isn’t enough, she gets an unhealthy dose of internalized misogyny from two young girls, Lexi and Stormy. Cami doesn’t retaliate immediately, but makes them a part of her speech at the luncheon. Before taking the podium, though, Cami has a brief chat with Tommy, who tells her that M-Tex has almost half a billion dollars in debt service, and the presidents of every bank that are holding that contract, who are in the main hall, are looking for Cami to give them an excuse to pull it. Hence, Cami has to pull off a miracle to make them all stay. When Cami takes the stage, instead of beating around the bush or talking about philanthropy and philosophy, she says that the way she’s going to function will be similar to Monty, except she’s going to be way meaner than him. So, the only mistake that everyone in that room can make is if they underestimate her just because she is a woman. And on that note, Cami tells everyone to enjoy their lunch and exits the stage. Tommy is mighty impressed by that, and he asks her how she got the motivation to give such a fiery speech. Cami says that she wanted to cancel the vacations of the girls who insulted her in that bathroom by forcing their respective sugar daddies to focus on work.

Cooper Strikes Gold

Cooper bids goodbye to Ariana and Miguel (Ariana’s child from her previous relationship), and heads off to work. Then we get a montage of the drillers working at the rig, while Cooper looks on, and it really looks like an extended version of that video of those muddy men that goes viral on social media every time someone uploads it with a caption that’s ignorant of the poor working conditions. Cooper periodically checks how deep they have drilled, and his assistant, Marty, says that when the pressure valve “starts singing,” that’ll mean that they have reached the oil they need to extract. When that valve begins twitching, Cooper informs Marty, and after assessing the dig site, he tells Cooper that they’ll be able to get around 6200 units of oil from that spot alone, which essentially means that they have struck gold. After taking a good look at the rig, Cooper rushes home to give Ariana the good news. Since that’s not enough, he brings Ariana and Miguel over to the rig so that she can hear the same from Marty. 

Cooper notices that Ariana isn’t grasping the gravity of what they have achieved. Therefore, he proceeds to do the math, and it’s only after Ariana hears that they’ll be making around $10 million a year that she begins to realize how drastically their lives are going to change. However, it seems like Ariana is a bit skeptical about it because, well, life has a habit of throwing a plot twist your way right when things are improving. She has been dealing with misery, abuse, and abandonment for quite a while; that’s why she is thinking that all this is too good to be true. What’s going to happen when the rivals of M-Tex find out about this oil well? Are they going to attack Cooper? Will she and Miguel become collateral damage? What if the success of that oil well goes to Cooper’s head and he leaves Ariana and Miguel in search of greener pastures? I mean, these are legitimate fears. Therefore, if it seems like Ariana is being ungrateful or that Paulina Chavez is underacting, I’d urge you to look at this whole situation from her perspective.

Ainsley Is Going To College

Angela and Ainsley show up at (name of university) for the latter’s admission. The admission counselor in question is Greta Stidham, and the first thing she says after looking at Ainsley’s grades is that they are acceptable but not impressive. Then they go on a whole tangent about Texas Tech University, Texas Christian University, cheerleading, dating, and whatnot until Ainsley gets overwhelmed and starts crying. Although Greta doesn’t want to accept Ainsley’s candidature, since she’s a “priority walk-on” and only has to meet the minimum requirements, Greta gives her the admission letter. Ainsley thanks Greta very enthusiastically and then conveys the news to her mother as well with the same level of excitement. While the mother-daughter duo is busy with this, Tommy is busy teaching Cami the ropes. He advises her to just defer to him. Cami doesn’t want to do that, because that’ll keep her from learning how to run M-Tex. Tommy understands Cami’s concerns, but he tells her that Monty died without resolving a lot of the issues that he had created, and now they have been passed on to him and Cami. It’ll be too overwhelming for Cami to deal with that pressure. So, for now, she needs to let Tommy handle things. When the situation gets stable, I am guessing he’ll let Cami call the shots. 

This conversation is interrupted by a call from Cooper, who obviously wants to talk about the oil well. Tommy doesn’t want to have that discussion over the phone and tells him to come home, and then they’ll talk shop. Then Tommy joins Ainsley and Angela in their private jet so that they can head back to Midland. As they are getting comfortable in the plane, Angela says that when Tommy comes back to Fort Worth in a day or two to look after work, she’ll accompany him. Why? Because she needs to find a realtor. Why? Because she wants to shift base to Fort Worth and live close to Ainsley. Tommy can already sense that Angela isn’t doing this out of concern for Ainsley; her tendency to go bankrupt has been activated now that Tommy is the president of an oil company. And if Tommy doesn’t put a stop to this—either by explaining to her that at M-Tex, business isn’t exactly booming, or just by refusing to entertain her—Angela is going to end up being a huge problem. Their romance is pretty toxic. So, there’s a pretty good chance that Tommy will fail to do anything, and then he’ll have to break up with Angela again after she crashes and burns.

Thomas Is A Relative Of Tommy’s

At Prairie View, an assisted living home, we see an individual (played by Sam Elliott) named T.L., or Thomas, watching the sun set from the backyard. That’s interrupted by one of the members of the staff, Denise, who wants Thomas to come in for supper. Thomas refuses to go, because he wants to watch the sun set fully. Denise seemingly doesn’t understand how important this is for Thomas, and she keeps pestering him. This agitates Thomas, and he throws a full-on fit. Hanks takes over for Denise, and he takes a relatively measured approach when it comes to dealing with Thomas. He relaxes the rules of the institution and tells Thomas to take as much time as he needs. That calms Thomas down, and once the sun has fully set, he decides to go in with Hank. But before taking him inside, Hank informs Thomas that they got a call from Memory Care in Amarillo informing him that someone called Dorothy has passed away. This causes Thomas to break into tears, and although Hank tries his best to console him, Thomas continues to grieve. The scene then shifts to the Norris household, where Angela is throwing a party in honor of Ainsley’s college admission. Cooper joins Angela, Ainsley, Tommy, Nathan, and Dale for dinner, which has been personally cooked by Angela. She is undeniably proud of her work, but as she explains how much she has spent on the raw material, everyone gets critical, especially because the final product isn’t very appetizing. Then, as Angela starts to ramble about her plans to splurge on property, Tommy makes an insensitive remark. This causes Angela to freak the hell out, and she begins trashing the dinner table. Cooper informs Tommy that they’ll have their discussion on the oil rig some other day; for the time being, he is leaving. Tommy approves that decision. Ainsley, Nathan, and Dale retire to their respective rooms, leaving Tommy to bear the brunt of Angela’s ire, which makes sense because he’s the one who started it. 

In the ending of Landman Season 2, episode 1, right when things between Tommy and Angela have cooled down, and they have started to make out, Tommy gets a call. He learns that his mother has passed away. It’s pretty obvious that Thomas is related to Tommy. I can’t say if Thomas is Tommy’s brother or his father. I mean, there’s an 11-year age gap between Sam Elliot and Billy Bob Thornton. So, can Thomas be Tommy’s brother, father, stepfather, or just some distant relative? I don’t know. With Dorothy gone, I’m guessing there’ll be a funeral, where the Norrises and Thomas will be in attendance. That’s when we’ll get a good idea of the dynamic between Tommy and Thomas. If Tommy put him in an assisted living home, I don’t think their relationship was great. Will Thomas play an active role in Tommy’s life? I am not sure. There’s a chance that Tommy will be worried about Thomas’ mental health, which has been affected by the news of Dorothy’s death. So, maybe Tommy will move him into his house so that Thomas can spend the last few days of his life with his extended family. I don’t know if Angela will appreciate that though, because she has some other plans, and that’ll undeniably lead to friction between the couple, which in turn will impact Tommy’s professional life. 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.

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