Abhiroop Das
Created by Taylor Sheridan, the second season of ‘Landman‘ continues Tommy Norris’s adventure as the new president of M-Tex in the wake of Monty Miller‘s passing. Although he already has a deal with the cartel in place as per the season one finale, this iteration of the western drama series brings a new set of challenges. While Tommy, Cami, and Rebecca work as a power trio to return their company to its former glory, Cooper sets out with his own ambitions, at the risk of repeating his father’s arc and losing his new family in the process. While the previous episode ends with the death of Tommy’s mother and the introduction of his enigmatic father, T.L., this episode, fittingly titled ‘Sins of the Father,’ expands on that thematic palette, exploring the Norris saga in a series of fresh angles. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Cooper’s Life Hits its Highest Highs and Lowest Lows in Quick Succession
At the start of ‘Landman’ season 2 episode 2, business is booming for Cooper, and the five oil wells his crew has dug into so far have all yielded success. His sixth and final well brings that trend to a crescendo, as at 3700 feet deep, the well turns out to have more oil than his wildest imagination. Before he can plug it up, the entire well shoots outward, releasing a fountain of oil that loudly declares that Cooper’s Midas touch has pulled through yet again. When he gets back to Ariana’s home later that night, however, the tone changes entirely. She has been calling him for four hours straight, but it is only after seeing him, drenched in oil and dirt, that things start to make sense. Cooper is equal parts excited and scared, as just about everything is going in his favor. For Ariana, however, this is an entirely different story. As she watches him clean up, she gathers the courage to bring up the heavy subject: she no longer thinks their relationship is a good idea.
Cooper is stumped in his tracks after hearing her words, but is hardly able to counter her explanation. Ariana points out how, in this short time, Cooper’s access to riches has changed him to the core. While he wishes for her family to wipe their slate clean and start anew with him, her perspective on any of this was hardly taken into account. With Cooper’s four-hour absence leaving her emotionally distressed, Ariana has a strong idea about how much she loves him, which makes calling it quits at the right time all the more important. This sudden turn of events forces him to look inwards and figure out what went wrong, but before he can do that, he is essentially kicked out of the house. Elsewhere, Tommy prepares for a long day ahead, much of which involves selecting a casket for his deceased mother and contacting his father, T.L. His erratic behavior becomes apparent when he begins arguing with the radio, of all things, but a phone call with Angela helps soothe him down.
Cami is Blindsided by an M-Tex Deal That Went Under the Radar
In the middle of his drive, Tommy gets a call from Cooper, who is in desperate need of both professional and relationship advice. Although Tommy’s hands are full already, he chooses to prioritize his son and turns the car around. Elsewhere, Cami’s initial days in power are on track to get much harder, as she is intercepted by a lawyer in the middle of her morning jog. It appears that the insurance company has filed a lawsuit against her, demanding answers about the mysterious settlement money that M-Tex received for the destroyed oil rig in season one. The entire team: Rebecca, Nathan, and Tommy, gets on a group call with Cami, but neither has quite the full picture at hand. Nathan breaks down the lawsuit, revealing that Monty supposedly received a 420 million dollar settlement, but with the condition that all of it would be used to construct a new oil rig, replacing the original. However, with the money nowhere to be found, M-Tex has a major problem at hand.
Anticipating that they will soon need to comply, Tommy instructs Rebecca to negotiate a dismissal of the lawsuit with the insurance company, while Nathan is put in charge of figuring out the logistics of what looks to be their newest construction project. From there, he shifts his attention back to his son, who has been planning to reveal his business plan to Tommy all along. The news that Cooper owns six oil rigs, and that they all work, comes as an absolute but welcome surprise to Tommy. However, he senses an immediate problem, as no ordinary company would have agreed to fund Cooper’s risky deal at extremely low rates, specifically an 18% cut in profits after recoupment. Although he is unable to find a blemish in Cooper’s business deal, Tommy’s suspicion doesn’t wane, and he gets Nathan on the line to inspect this mysterious company, named Sonirsa. His son’s relationship problem turns out to be easier to solve, as he advises Cooper to actually listen to Ariana with an empathetic ear.
The Norris Family’s Generational Conflict Comes Out into the Open
While Tommy and Cooper struggle on the business end of things, Angela and Ainsley wind up in some trouble of their own. With Angela heading the aerobics class cum party sessions at the local retirement facility, it is music, dancing, and booze galore, with a clear disregard for rules. However, when the health inspection officers knock on the doors a week too early, the facility barely has any time to conceal the Norris family’s shenanigans. The senior citizens turn out to be tough nuts to crack, as no one is willing to tell on each other, much less Angela. Still, the situation heats up quicker than anyone can expect, and ends with the officer aggressively charging at Angela, who wastes no time in laying him flat on the ground. This means detainment, but luckily, Tommy gets on a call with the sheriff and pulls enough strings to get his wife and daughter out of handcuffs early.
Elsewhere, Rebecca sits down with the insurance company’s lawyers for a gruelling negotiation session, where she brings up how they were the first to break protocol by handing Monty a lump sum, instead of the conventional step-by-step payment. She flexes her upper hand further by claiming that a jury will favor a mourning wife, in this case Cami, over an entire company any day. This sweetens up her options just enough, and the opposition agrees to withdraw the lawsuit, provided construction of the oil rig starts immediately. Thus, with all of the day’s additional constraints out of the way, Tommy returns to his actual goals, this time being accompanied by Cooper. Together, they make it to the funeral home, where he haphazardly chooses a casket, showing an apparent lack of care. Next up is a meeting with T.L., and as three generations of the Norris family reunite, tensions are sky high.
From the start of the conversation, it is apparent that T.L. and Tommy are not exactly on good terms, and Dorothy’s death fails to heal the duo’s fractured bond. Instead, we get crumbs of insights into Tommy’s past, revealing that his mother might have had a mental health condition that affected his upbringing. Still, neither he nor his father has much to add, and the meeting ends with an agreement on the funeral date. On the drive back home, Tommy tells Cooper that raising a son is fundamentally cyclical in nature. While he himself was beaten by his father, he avoided inflicting that same treatment on Cooper by sidelining fatherhood entirely, which he now regrets. Cooper, however, has a greater opinion of his father, and the two share a heartily emotional moment. The next morning, Nathan sends Tommy everything he gathered on Sonrisa, and the news is seemingly not good. He appears to be familiar with the owner, Dan Morrell, and the stage is set for a new potential antagonist in town.
Read More: Is Landman a True Story? Is Tommy Norris Based on a Real Landman?
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