Spoilers for Landman Season 2, Episode 3 are ahead! Read with caution, and watch the show with a Paramount+ subscription.
Business is bad on Landman. Following Monty’s death, Demi Moore’s Cami is new position of power, and she and Tommy are learning that M-TEX was not in as good a place as they’d thought. On top of that, Cooper got covered in oil and broke big; however, that success came with a sketchy business deal with Andy Garcia’s Galliano. Now, in Episode 3, the Ocean’s Eleven actor has appeared in person for the first time in Season 2, and I’m thinking about one thing he called Tommy on regarding this mess that could impact everything going forward.
So, it’s revealed earlier in the season that’s airing on the 2025 TV schedule that a company called Sonrisa is funding Cooper’s oil venture. And after some digging, it’s revealed that Galliano is the man behind the money. That is very bad news, objectively, or as Tommy tells Cooper, it’s “a real fucking problem.”
To solve this problem, Tommy goes to meet with Galliano, or Danny Morrell, as he introduces himself in this episode. They bicker back and forth about the deal Cooper made, and Tommy makes it clear that he is very opposed to this situation his son has found himself in. However, Danny sees what Cooper did differently, and even calls Billy Bob Thornton’s character out for not supporting his son more, saying:
I don’t understand how you’re not more proud of him. You thought it was luck, no? But now you know it’s not luck. It’s a blind spot in the industry, and you’re angry that he found it.
Through this conversation, it became clear to me that Galliano, or Danny now, I guess, sees a potential in Cooper that Tommy either can’t see or refuses to acknowledge. While Tommy is rightfully uneasy about this deal and thinks Garcia’s character has set him up to fail, I do think the businessman made a valid point.
Obviously, the deal Cooper made was bad. However, the fact that he’s hit so many times and got rich so fast proves that he’s on to something. I think Tommy needs to accept that fact, and clearly, he’s not.
This kind of apprehension feels like it could cause a rift between the father and son that could be catastrophic and impact the rest of the season. Meanwhile, if Tommy did figure out how to make good out of what Cooper’s done and see his son’s potential, it feels like his discovery could help M-TEX (which it needs).
All around, things aren’t looking good for Tommy and the business. As Cami said, M-TEX doesn’t have the kind of money they thought they had. As the rest of the episode proves, they’re also in dire straits to figure out how to solve the issue regarding this lack of money. Then, when Danny says he can help her, it seems to put him right in the middle of all the problems surrounding Tommy and the oil.
So, now it feels like Cooper’s business and the work going on a M-TEX are on a collision course. To make sure it doesn’t explode in everyone’s faces, I think Tommy needs to accept what his son is doing and acknowledge how much potential he has.
If he does that, it could change the course of the business, and if he doesn’t, it could be catastrophic. So, yeah, Andy Garcia calling Tommy out for how he thinks of his son did hit hard, and I do think this situation could impact the course of the show.
To see what happens on this front, you can watch new episodes of Landman every Sunday on Paramount+ (which has a pretty killer Black Friday deal going on right now).