Photo: Emerson Miller/Paramount+
Perhaps I should adjust my rating scale for this season. Landmanbecause I really like it! The series' pacing isn't perfect, but it finds a decent rhythm while juggling some solid character-driven stories and dealing with crises at M-Tex. I'm definitely more entertained (and emotionally engaged) than the last couple Yellowstone seasons.
We're halfway through the season and M-Tex has been in quite a few sticky situations, starting with a driver in a pickup truck from last week's cold open. The man had already committed suicide before he was hit by the M-Tex truck, but that doesn't mean legal action is out of the question. Another cause for concern: an H2S leak at one of the company's abandoned pumping stations, which killed several hunters.
But by far the most serious and visible mess is the one Monty left behind. The missing $400 million remains a serious problem – and despite Rebecca's impressive statements a few weeks ago, lawyers for the insurance company suing M-Tex are stubbornly insistent that the new rig will begin production in the next 45 days. They will need weekly progress reports to ensure M-Tex's cooperation, and if that doesn't happen, a grand jury will determine the company's future. Heads will roll (or at least a lot of people will lose a lot of money) due to waste, insurance fraud and wire fraud.
Therefore, finding money is simply necessary. But there are no good solutions, as we see in another somewhat confusing but narratively important scene where Tommy, Cami, Nate and Alan discuss the details of their predicament. Long story short, the missing money was given to the insurance company (and Monty maxed out his home and airplane insurance coverage) to avoid paying income taxes. Currently, the money is invested in private equity funds and cannot simply be withdrawn now; withdrawing funds before the funds are claimed will mean a huge loss. So Cami has money, but she can't access it.
Alan's realistic suggestion for Cami is to file for bankruptcy. Of course, she would lose the company, along with some leases and royalties from mineral rights. But her debt will be written off. She could even go into the insurance business and buy her planes back from the bank. As you'd expect based on this compelling speech season premiereHowever, Cami is not thrilled at the thought of losing everything her husband has worked so hard for and the opportunity to blossom as a businesswoman. She'd rather get the drilling money from Danny Morrell and keep M-Tex afloat.
This is not music to Tommy's ears. He had already paid Danny a nasty visit at the beginning of the episode to tell him that M-Tex had bought Cooper's lease and would pay off all the debts, and Danny didn't like it. But I realize that neither the script nor Andy Garcia's performance does much to drive the cartel boss' fury. Sure, he screams that he's the “fucking solution” to M-Tex's money problems, but the subtext of his words is more “why don't you love me?” than “I will kill you.” He just wants to become a partner! Come on Tommy, this could be a great bromance.
The real outcome of this conflict will be a big fight between Tommy and Cami. Even after he privately explains M-Tex's recent history with the cartel and tells her about Danny's real past, she does not change her mind. She's willing to risk being seen as the cartel's top money launderer if it means saving the company and her husband's legacy. Tommy and Cami's friendship is one of the most complex and refreshing dynamics on the show, so this outburst actually carries weight, especially with her final insistence: “From now on, meetings come to me.” It's another great scene for Demi Moore, who is currently the MVP of the season.
We're finally getting to the bottom of this season's overarching storyline, but most of it Landman (and most of Taylor Sheridan's productions) is a smaller-scale domestic drama that still works well. Look, Cooper and Ariana have never been the most interesting part of the show to me, but it makes sense that these two would get serious and talk about marriage now, even if it's very early. Ariana really wants Cooper to prove himself as a gentleman, so she wants to be asked properly after Cooper gets her father's approval. However, it's 2025, even in Taylor Sheridan's America, so Cooper doesn't need his permission after all. (It was just a test.) His future father-in-law simply asks that he No die. Ariana has already experienced many losses, and her mother has cancer. She needs a break.
What's even sadder is that Cooper's get-rich-quick plans are already dying. He used the M-Tex name to get crews to start drilling, and now M-Tex has received $44 million in bills. The Sonrisa loan does not cover all of these bills; in theory he will eventually make money from the oil, but most likely Sonrisa will foreclose on his leases and sell them, leaving him with nothing. So Tommy will buy the lease, cover the costs, and rehire Cooper to run the team and learn the ins and outs of the business. That's a pretty big life change for a guy who thought he'd be rolling in dough like Huell Babineaux until the end of the month, but the news hardly seems to faze Cooper, I think, because marrying Ariana is all that really matters.
But what's most impressive is that “Pirate's Dinner” is another episode where Angela and Ainsley become tolerable. As a welcome dinner for TL, Angela decides to cook a meal for him on death row: a seafood boil. And what do shellfish remind us all of? Pirates! Thus, the “pirate dinner” theme continues to confuse Tommy.
Whether TL serves a specific purpose in the plot is unclear. But it makes sense that this episode would give him some time to relax and adjust to life with the Norris clan (including Dale and Nate). He even forms a small bond with Ainsley's friend, their neighbor Shelby (played by Audrey McGraw, daughter 1883 stars Tim McGraw and Faith Hill). I'm not entirely sure why this scene exists or why we see him later bring Shelby to Ainsley, but for now I suppose it's a nice touch.
Perhaps the most touching moment in this episode for me was TL's reaction to the conversation between Angela and Ainsley (Nate talking nonsense). He is shocked and happy just to see the hustle and bustle of home life, to see people who are “happy with each other.” And that feeling continues in the tender final scene when Tommy finally returns home after his terrible, terrible, no good, very bad day.
I was going to complain about how little we see of the titular pirate dinner throughout this episode, but maybe that event in itself isn't important. Perhaps importantly, this is a refuge that Tommy can go to after a crisis—a refuge that TL also discovers. Tommy might call this “the Broadway misery of the musical of my life,” but we see him admire Angela's (and even Rebecca's!) commitment to the episode. In the final shot, surrounded by the people he loves most, he is beaming.
• Before the pirate dinner, we have a “surprise” (in quotes because Angela knows it's coming) “birthday party” (in quotes because it's not Angela's birthday) at the nursing home. It's kind of a throwaway scene with the usual “old men are sexy too!?” Comedy – Angela is gifted with a variety of sex toys, and she learns that her older friends have recently found “naughty channels” – and I'd rather just spend more time at dinner.
• Tommy visits Jerrell in the hospital, but this time we don't even see him on screen.
• “You look a lot like her.” “Like who?” Come on, Ainsley, who do you think?
• No explicit mention of Rebecca's one-night stand with Charlie, so we'll have to wait to see what purpose it served.
• Tommy says that at age 30 he broke his nose on a mast and lost his sense of smell and taste. Does this match what we know about him? I have a feeling he's always talking about the taste of beer.
• This week we get a break from Michelob Ultra product placement with numerous reviews of EIGHT, Troy Aikman's beer.
• Tommy leaves Ariana a huge tip, which is nice.
