🔥 “SHE DIDN’T SURVIVE THE FINALE, SHE OWNED IT.” — KAYLA WALLACE TURNS LANDMAN SEASON 2 INTO A MASTERCLASS IN POWER 💥

I’ve never seen a stronger response to Landman than I did this past week, watching how fans acted after last week’s surprise twist. I mean, hell, nearly everyone who tuned into season 2’s penultimate episode left thinking that Tommy Norris (Billy Bob Thornton) wouldn’t even be Mr. Landman after Cami Miller (Demi Moore) fired him. That’s how stunned viewers were following the latest cliff-hanger from creator and writer Taylor Sheridan. Tommy hadn’t even uttered a word yet and fans thought it meant the potential end of his tenure on Landman as we knew it. But a Landman without Billy Bob? Never.

Among the dozens of fan theories that I read this week, the one that makes the most sense predicted that Tommy would strike up a deal with Danny Morrell (Andy Garcia) to start his own oil company with his son, Cooper (Jacob Lofland). Much like any great mystery, the obvious answer is usually the only right answer. Still, there’s plenty more for Landman’s season 2 finale to sort through. How would Cami react to Tommy as a rival? Why did Sheridan end last week’s episode with a scary attack on Ariana (Paulina Chavez) at the bar? And if everyone’s the president of their own oil company, then who the hell is the actual landman now?

Well, kicking off this seventy-two-minute season 2 finale, Tommy immediately reminds us that Cooper’s wells are not legally M-Tex property yet. “Cami didn’t negotiate it. I did,” he says. “She has absolutely no fucking knowledge of that transaction.” So, if you bet your money on Tommy striking it out on his own with his son’s wells, it’s looking like a good theory right away.

Taylor Sheridan vs. The Police
Ariana wakes up in the morning with cuts and bruises all over her body. As you may recall, the creep from earlier in the season returned to try and rape her in the alley behind the bar last episode. Cooper arrived to save her just in time, nearly beating the man to death before the police arrived. So, in the finale, Cooper and Ariana head down to the police station to file charges against him. Once they arrive, it’s clear why Sheridan wrote this seemingly random encounter into the end of Landman season 2.

Surrounded by smug police officers, Cooper is immediately questioned as if he was the one who committed a crime. The officers tell him that he used excessive force to defend her by wailing into the attacker like he did. “What are you saying, if it was your wife, you would’ve done something different?” Cooper asks. One of the officers responds: “If it was my wife, I would have shot him—and that would be actively defending her. Seventeen punches to the face, he was no longer a threat.”

I’m sure the police have better things to do than this nonsense. Apparently, the attacker—some well-known pipeline distributor—died in the hospital. So, the cops are going after Cooper because he punched the rapist to death instead of killing him with a gun. Please. When I said the case was cut and dry last week I didn’t mean it as a direct challenge.

Tommy finds out about the attack while he’s driving to the airport, where he curses at God for making his day a living hell. “If you’ve got anything else just dump it down on me!” he says. Suddenly, a car accident happens right in front of him on the highway. A car careens off the road into another one and then a giant truck barrels through the pile-up right next to him. Tommy exits his car, unscathed, but in a rage. “That was low, God,” he yells. “That was fucking dirty!”

Rebecca (Kayla Wallace) arrives at the police station first and proceeds to tear every cop in the room a new asshole. Its par for the course for the lawyer, who often acts as a Beth Dutton-type ass-kicker whenever Landman calls for it. But in the finale, I couldn’t tell you why the cops were so hard-pressed to put Cooper in jail. Even as she bares into them about how one of the officers in the room once shot a perpetrator eleven times in the chest and called that justified, the cops remain committed to their bizarre crusade.

Part of me really liked seeing Sheridan tackle this narrative, even if it came out of nowhere. I wish It didn’t revolve around an attempted rape scene. (Women in this show go through enough when they’re not simply on screen for eye candy.) But there’s no avoiding the story that Sheridan’s telling in the finale about when its right to act in lethal self-defense and when it’s not. Even though the law might state that officers have a right to protect themselves with lethal force if they feel threatened, it doesn’t mean they don’t abuse it (and often).

There’s a bit more to Cooper’s case, obviously, than the recent incident in Minneapolis, but the lesson remains the same: The laws about lethal self-defense in this country are broken. And if you’re looking for help from the same organization that abuses that power almost every day, you shouldn’t be surprised that the officers in Landman mix up who is the real attacker and who is the victim.

It all comes to a head later in the episode when Tommy finds out the man died in the hospital from a heart attack, and not his wounds. “We’re siding with a rapist?” Tommy asks when he barges into the precinct. “If this leaks out to the press, who do you think the people of Midland are gonna side with?” Eventually, the police fold.

Sheridan might not always have the best politics, but he’s built a reputation—both in Hollywood and in his shows— that he doesn’t hold much respect for authority of any kind. As complicated as his stories may feel at times, they always have simple, common sense solutions. Some things are just easy to see. “He didn’t value her life, and now he don’t have a life, period,” Tommy tells his son about the attacker. “That’s all this is.”

Paigyn Redemption!

I never thought we would see Paigyn (Bobbi Salvör Menuez) again after last episode’s introduction. Ainsley’s (Michelle Randolph) non-binary roommate was a lazy amalgam of everything conservatives use to make fun of people on the left: they’re a cranky vegan, a ferret-owner with a rough personality, and someone who uses they/them pronouns. Angela (Ali Larter) assessed last episode that Paigyn hates themself, so they take it out on the world. Many viewers (including this one) felt that wasn’t exactly the right message to send. If you ask me, the world makes it such an awful place to live for people like Paigyn that it’s only natural to put up a wall when you meet someone new.

So, Sheridan redeems himself (and Paigyn) a bit in the finale. At Ainsley’s first cheerleading practice, the two characters reconnect. Paigyn uses their sports medicine knowledge to help Ainsley prevent an ankle injury, and Ainsley stands up to some local bullies who make fun of Paigyn’s appearance. They chat again and find some common interests—including Lainey Wilson, of course—and then decide to bunk up together at TCU and work through their differences. Ainsley may be an airhead who walks around in her underwear, but she doesn’t carry any hate in her heart. I just wish Sheridan didn’t leave viewers with such a bad taste in their mouth last episode before finding a sweet conclusion in the finale.

So, What About Tommy’s Job?

Cami Miller took a page from Lethal Shooter’s handbook last episode when she stood up and declared, “I understand it now.” The sad part, however, was that she doesn’t understand jack shit about the oil industry. Tommy knows it, Danny Morrell (Andy Garcia) knows it, and the viewers certainly knew it from the comments I’ve been reading. So, Demi Moore shows up for one scene in the finale before Cami departs. Lawyer Nate (Colm Feore) resign from M-Tex in a meeting with the M-Tex owner as if he’s standing up and declaring “I’m Spartacus!” alongside Tommy.

“Monty didn’t design this company to outlive him,” Nate tells her. “He designed it to be sold. Tommy can help you with that. I can help you with that. Let us sell this thing, before it’s the end of you two.” Then, he walks out. Until season 3, that’s the end of Cami for now.

Meanwhile, Tommy signs a new deal with Danny—as many fans predicted. The shady investor told Tommy that they would be good friends at the end of season 1 and then partners at the beginning of season 2. Tommy turned him down both times. Now? Tommy’s changing his tune. He needs him. Danny keeps his original agreement with Cooper’s wells, but signs a deal with Tommy to start up a new oil company. “This is what you asked for, and this is what I’m giving you,” Tommy says. Danny agrees, but he responds that, “If you lose this, and then you try to fuck me in any way, the thing you love the most is the first thing I’ll take.” Good luck, Tommy. You’re dealing with the devil.

So, Tommy assembles everyone in the cast at one of the oil sites and finally relays his master plan. He names their new business CTT Oil Exploration & Cattle, which stands for Cooper, Tommy, and Thomas—his father (Sam Elliott). The cattle bit? It’s in name only. “I just hadn’t formed an LLC yet, so I needed something so stupid no one else would have it,” Tommy jokes. He works out a revolutionary new model for the oil business as well.

“Twenty-five percent of all profits will be put in a pool and reattributed to all the employees,” he explains. Cooper is the president, he’s the senior vice president, and Nate’s the treasurer. Dale (James Jordan) leads exploration, Boss (Mustafa Speaks) runs the crews, Ariana manages the office, and Rebecca’s their COO and chief council—should she want it. I imagine that her law firm pays her more than whatever Tommy is offering. Still, she accepts. They all do. As Tommy and Angela look out at the sunset, he declares, “Today, we win.”

It’s a clean break, and a quick resolution following what was easily Landman’s most controversial episode yet. For all the hubbub about what would happen next, Sheridan basically wraps everything up so tightly after Tommy was fired that this episode could serve as the series finale of Landman. Maybe it should.

Aside from the fact that Landman was already renewed for season 3, I can’t exactly say where this series heads next. All the real dramatic character work that took up much of the excellent first half of the season ended up folding under the mountain of plot he put together around it. Sam Elliott was basically a non-factor following his Emmy-worthy performance in episode 4, and—from the fan reaction last week—Sheridan didn’t introduce the most dramatic element until season 2 was basically over.

If I have any hopes for season 3, it’s that we don’t go back to the drawing board and treat this new oil company as an excuse to restart at ground zero. Much like at the end of season 1, I would love if everyone had something real (and relevant) to explore when we return. Sheridan’s built up a massive cast for Landman and it doesn’t always make sense why they’re here or what he’s going to do with them.

Much like the oil business, Landman is gold when it hits. There’s just a lot of frustration when the well runs dry.