'Landman' Season 2 Episode 4 Recap & Ending Explained: Did Tommy Reconcile With Thomas?

In episode 3 of Landman Season 2, Dale, Boss, Ben, Jerrell, and Russ visited an abandoned oil well to see if it could be repaired and made functional again. Unfortunately, they fell victim to an H₂S leak. While all of the M-Tex employees were severely affected by the poisonous gas, Ben and Jerrell were hit the worst. Later on, Dale informed Nathan that Ben had been discharged from the hospital, but they wanted to keep Jerrell overnight, thereby indicating that his situation was quite dicey. What Nathan wanted to know, though, was if the oil well was worth investing in. Dale stated that it would be a headache to fix the oil well; however, since the yield would be really high, he was of the opinion that they should consider it anyway. Tommy had no idea about all of this, because he was busy breaking up the deal between Cooper and Dan while also searching for M-Tex’s missing money with Cami. Tommy riled up Dan by telling him to his face that he didn’t want a gangster to do business with his son. Then he went to the Cattlemen’s Club, where he tag-teamed with Cami to rough up Alan, the guy who was supposed to be handling M-Tex’s finances. Coincidentally, Dan was at that club, and after observing Tommy and Cami’s actions, he offered a helping hand to M-Tex. Tommy refused it, because he didn’t want someone like Dan to enter the oil business, but since Cami was hellbent on saving M-Tex, she seemed relatively open to accepting Dan’s offer. What did she finally decide to do? Let’s talk about episode 4 of Landman Season 2 to find out.

Spoiler Alert

Rebecca Goes Off the Rails

In episode 4 of Landman Season 2, things got a little too morbid when an M-Tex truck crashed into a parked pickup truck at an oil well. No, the pickup truck wasn’t doing donuts or any other stunts like that. Actually, the guy in the pickup truck was trying to die by suicidal carbon monoxide poisoning, and the truck driver seemingly didn’t see him and collided with the pickup truck. Both the truck and the pickup truck flip, and while the suicidal guy was already dead, the truck driver tragically died in this freak incident. Rebecca gets all this information from Walt while she is boarding a flight. Since she can’t exactly do anything about this mishap at the moment, she tells Walt that she’ll call back Walt once the flight lands. I don’t know what exactly happens after that, but the writers seemingly push her into one of those romcoms where an uptight lady meets a charming man, which is Charlie Newsom in this case, and starts acting totally silly. This affair is kicked off with the plane (that Rebecca and Charlie are on) experiencing a lot of turbulence, thereby causing Rebecca to scream like a baby. FYI, she’s the only woman on that packed private jet, and she’s the only one who goes hog wild, while everyone else stays calm, because only her character out of all the characters in there has a history of not performing well in turbulent flights. 

Rebecca then proceeds to get drunk on Charlie’s special concoction (no pun intended) and even fornicates with him at his house, because it clearly doesn’t matter to her that an employee of her company has just died and she promised Walt that she’d call him back to talk about it. I don’t want to read too deeply into this, but maybe this is foreshadowing for Rebecca’s eventual departure from M-Tex. Remember when she met those attorneys to talk about the insurance issue, and they offered her a higher-paying job because they knew that she wasn’t getting the money, the attention, or the type of cases that her skills deserved? Rebecca said that she was dedicated to M-Tex, and one of the attorneys replied that she can claim whatever she wants to claim, but deep down she knows that she is on a sinking ship. So, yeah, I think that those words stuck with Rebecca, and she is trying to find an exit route without making it seem like she is abandoning M-Tex. No, I’m not saying that she is creating grounds for her firing by sleeping around with someone who is probably associated with M-Tex or a rival group, but maybe she is doing so subconsciously.

Ariana Reunites With Cooper

During her shift at The Patch Cafe, Ariana steps out for some fresh air. Barney joins her to get an idea of how she’s doing. Ariana sounds quite negative, because she thinks that this job is going to make her an absent mother to Miguel. Barney suggests that she count the tip money that she has earned in one shift before deciding to quit. So, just like any parent who doesn’t want their child to struggle, Ariana starts thinking that if she powers through her stint at The Patch Cafe, maybe she’ll be able to collect enough money for Miguel and give him a future where he won’t have to work at a place like this. When Ariana returns home, she sees Cooper sleeping in front of the garage door because he wanted to get his jacket for Dorothy’s funeral ceremony. Yes, he had the keys to Ariana’s house, but he thought it’d be wrong of him to waltz in there after she kicked him out. Anyway, Ariana lets him in, he collects his jacket, and when she learns what the jacket is for, she decides to attend the funeral with him because Cooper was by her side during the low points in her life. Cooper is understandably confused because one moment Ariana wants him out of her life, and in the next moment, she wants to go to a family event with him. 

Ariana argues that Cooper essentially wanted her to erase everything that’s synonymous with her past and her identity and become a part of the empire he is about to build with all the money he is going to get from those oil wells. And since Ariana didn’t like that, she decided to sever her relationship with Cooper. At the same time, she’s mad at Cooper for not coming up with an option where she would be a part of his life without losing what made her unique. I guess what she’s trying to say is that she didn’t want to be known as “Cooper’s wife.” She wanted to preserve her individuality, and she was afraid that Cooper and his oil money wouldn’t allow her to do that. By attending this funeral, Ariana is giving Cooper another chance to come up with an alternative. Now, pardon me if I sound dumb, but when did Cooper say that Ariana would have to “uproot” her whole life and become his trophy wife or something like that? Did I miss that scene? It just seems like Ariana had an argument with an imaginary version of Cooper in her head, came to the conclusion that Cooper was a potential villain, and then kicked him out of her house. And now that she sees that Cooper isn’t some maniacal money-hungry monster, she is starting to realize that maybe she overreacted. However, since she can’t admit that she is in the wrong, she just bosses Cooper around.

Cami Meets Dan

Cami pays Monty’s grave a visit, where a new tombstone is being installed. Before heading out to a restaurant for a meeting with Dan, of all people, she tells her assistant to put her house up for sale. But in the last episode, didn’t Nathan say that the house is mortgaged? So, how can one sell a house that’s already on mortgage? Well, Cami isn’t meeting with Dan for some casual banter; she wants to bring him on as an investor. Bella is present at the restaurant too, but she leaves the scene so that Dan and Cami can “talk shop.” Cami doesn’t hide the details of the pit that M-Tex is in. She says that she needs to drill an existing well. The rig that was installed to do the job was destroyed in a hurricane. Which means that they don’t have to spend any time on finding where the gas is because they already know that. The time, money, and energy will instead be spent firstly on repairing the rig and secondly on drilling all the way to the oil reservoir. Cami says that if they start drilling in the next 90 days, they’ll take about 10 months to reach the oil, and the whole process will cost somewhere between $325 million and $350 million. After hearing that amount, Dan asks Cami if Tommy should be the one sitting opposite him and negotiating the deal. Cami responds by stating that if she is the owner of M-Tex, she should be the one tackling the mess left behind by her predecessor and husband, Monty. 

Dan goes off on a tangent about animals and birds to illustrate the point that he doesn’t want to face Tommy’s ire. As long as M-Tex exists, Tommy will be associated with it. If Dan becomes a part of its operations by cutting a bad deal—or what Tommy thinks is a bad deal—with Cami, then Tommy won’t stop tormenting Dan until he feels that Dan has paid for his transgressions. Dan has had a sum total of 3 interactions with Tommy, and he already knows that he isn’t someone who should be trifled with. That’s why he respectfully requests Cami to keep this deal on the backburner until Tommy is available. There’s no doubt that Dan wants to invest in M-Tex; he also understands the position that Cami is in, but he doesn’t want to move ahead without Tommy’s blessing. Now, this decision of Dan’s must’ve poured cold water all over Cami’s plan to sell her house. I think she wanted to secure Dan’s investment, use that money to pay off the mortgage, sell the house, move in somewhere more economical, and then invest the rest into M-Tex. But if Dan doesn’t want to make any commitments yet, Cami can’t do anything either. All they can do is wait and hope that M-Tex does not implode in the meantime.

Thomas Meets Tommy’s Family And Friends

Back at the Norris household, Tommy, Angela, Ainsley, Dale, and Nathan hit the road too. They get into a fight about Angela’s choice in music, and the highlight of this tiff is Billy Bob Thornton’s rapid blinking, as if he’s trying to wake up from a nightmare. Somehow, they make it to Prairie View in order to pick up Thomas without killing each other or crashing the car. Ariana and Cooper have gotten there before them, though, and, in the brief conversation she has with Thomas, it seems like he has taken a liking to her because of her no-nonsense attitude. Of course, Thomas doesn’t know that Cooper and Ariana are going through a break, and yet he senses that something’s wrong between them, which is why he suggests that Cooper learn how to hold on to Ariana, because she’s the real deal. Thomas maintains this positive spirit when he sees Angela and Ainsley. He even partakes in some sarcastic banter with Nathan and Dale. But as soon as Tommy opens his mouth, the mood of the room plummets immediately. 

So, instead of wasting any more time on “getting to know each other,” everyone heads to the cemetery in Panhandle to attend Dorothy’s funeral. The priest asks Thomas to say a few words to God about Dorothy, but he refuses to do so because, in his opinion, he has already told God about Dorothy, and he doesn’t need to repeat himself in front of the public. After the funeral proceedings are over, the group goes to The Bucket to grab a bite. Ariana notices that everyone’s talking about Angela and Ainsley’s dietary choices and the circumstances that led to Thomas moving to a retirement home—drought and wildfire destroyed Thomas’ house and the rest of the block—and she wonders why nobody’s talking about Dorothy. In her opinion, these post-funeral meets are usually meant for the mourning party to talk about the recently deceased so that they can remember the best parts about them and then move on in life.

Tommy Talks About Dorothy

In response to Ariana’s query about why nobody is talking about Dorothy, initially, Tommy says that he doesn’t have any good memories of his mother, which is why he doesn’t have any anecdotes to share. He sees the funeral as a formality, and he has fulfilled it. But then he talks about the time when, as a kid, he found a drunk Dorothy drowning in the bathtub. When he saved her life, she looked at him as if he were a stranger and then kicked him so hard she broke his nose. While she focused on making herself another drink, Tommy packed his bags and left Panhandle. He returned because he had to choose a casket for his mother and oversee her funeral. On that note, he exits the restaurant and tells his family and friends that he’ll wait outside until everyone finishes their meals because he can’t tolerate sitting beside Thomas, someone who chose to be away on offshore drilling sites so that he didn’t have to deal with his belligerent wife, thereby forcing Tommy to face the brunt of her abuse. After Tommy leaves the table, Thomas shares a memory of Dorothy, which is relatively more delightful. 

However, Thomas isn’t delusional, and he accepts that he wasted too much time waiting for Dorothy’s state of mind to improve. And during that wait, he lost not only his wife but his son as well. When it’s time to leave, except for Tommy, all the attendees bid farewell to Thomas. Angela urges Tommy to say goodbye to his father, but he doesn’t. And on that bittersweet note, everyone goes their separate ways. After dropping off Ariana at her house, Cooper resumes their conversation about what she wants from him. She basically says that she doesn’t want to move into some opulent neighborhood for Cooper. In the neighborhood she is in, everyone knows her, and she doesn’t want to lose that. More importantly, she wants Miguel to grow up where her community exists. Cooper clearly understands that; it’s just that he isn’t very communicative and she is an overthinker. So, they need to reach some kind of middle ground where Ariana can tell Cooper what she wants and Cooper doesn’t just “obey orders” but opines as well. Anyway, for the time being, Cooper and Ariana get busy getting into each other’s pants, and we get a brief glimpse of Jerrell, who has gone blind on a temporary or permanent basis because of H₂S poisoning (yeah, I know, that’s a jarring transition).

Tommy Reconciles With Thomas 

In the ending of Landman Season 2, episode 4, at the Norris household, Tommy spots Ainsley crying while watching a Julia Stiles movie (please, let me know in the comments what she’s watching) and goes to console her. No, she isn’t in tears about the movie; she has been thinking about her dad’s anecdote about his mother, and that has angered her to the extent that she is literally weeping. She is such an empath that she can’t handle the fact that her father had to endure all that. That prompts Tommy to change his tune a little bit. So far, he has presented himself as Dorothy and Thomas’ number one hater. However, as he notices that his hatred towards his mother and father is hurting his own daughter, he reveals an important piece of information that he has been ignoring so far. Why? Because it doesn’t allow him to detest his parents unabashedly. Tommy reveals that he isn’t Dorothy and Thomas’ only child; he had a sister. She died of SIDS, and that’s what broke Dorothy’s spirit. And seeing Dorothy spiral affected Thomas so deeply that all he could do was focus on his work to make it through the day. Hence, Tommy had such a tragic childhood. Then why does he resent them after all these years? Maybe because he thinks that that’s the only lens he can use to look at his parents. That said, when Tommy realizes that his own daughter can be empathetic enough to feel so deeply for his dad and also forgive her grandmother for hurting Tommy, even though she’s never seen Dorothy, he begins to think that it’s time to bury the hatchet. This thought is fueled by Angela, who says that they should move Thomas out of Prairie View and bring him home so that he can spend his last few years with his family. 

Surprisingly enough, Tommy heeds Angela’s advice, and he takes Thomas to his house. In the first episode, I had predicted that Thomas will live with the rest of the Norrises, and that Angela will revolt against that decision. I guess that was my Hindi-soap-opera-pilled brain talking, because I totally misjudged Angela, and I am glad that she motivated Tommy to mend his ties with Thomas. I am at that age where I am starting to understand that holding grudges isn’t healthy. Yes, you should be angry at people who have purposefully hurt you for the sake of hurting you. You should be angry at policy-makers who don’t take appropriate measures to save your block from wildfires and then do nothing to help you resettle. But if you know that you have been hurt by someone who was in pain themselves, then, after a period of time, you should try to reconcile with your supposed enemies. It’s not just about giving somebody a second chance to make amends; it’s also about giving yourself the opportunity to live a life devoid of regret. If Tommy didn’t bring Thomas home, he would have kicked himself for it after Thomas died, because underneath his hard exterior, Tommy is an empath too. Anyway, everything about this Tommy-Thomas subplot in this episode made me teary-eyed. I think it was really well-written and exceptionally well-acted. What was your reaction to it? Let me know in the comments section below.

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