TL;DR: Landman Season 2, Episode 6 slows things down to devastating effect, setting up a major rivalry between Tommy and Cami while deepening the show’s emotional core. It’s quiet, character-driven, and very much the calm before a storm that’s going to hit hard.

I’ve reached the point with Landman where I stop expecting explosive oil-field chaos every episode and instead settle in for something stranger, slower, and honestly more interesting. Season 2, Episode 6, ominously titled Dark Night of the Soul, doesn’t roar. It simmers. It circles. It plants landmines under conversations that look casual on the surface and quietly rearranges the power dynamics in ways that are going to matter a lot when things inevitably go bad.

This episode is a turning point, not because of one huge twist, but because of how it reframes relationships. Landman has fully committed to being less about the mechanics of oil and more about the emotional rot and loyalty conflicts that come with power. If season 1 was about survival, season 2 is about fracture lines. Episode 6 is where those cracks start widening in plain sight.

The big surprise here isn’t cartel violence or boardroom betrayal. It’s rivalry. Personal, ideological, and increasingly dangerous rivalry. And the scariest part is that it doesn’t announce itself loudly. It creeps in politely, with handshakes, contracts, and smiles that last half a second too long.

Landman season 2 has been deliberately patient, to the point where I know some viewers are itching for the show to hit the gas again. Episode 6 doubles down on that patience, and I think it’s the right call. This is a neo-Western that understands tension isn’t always about gunfire or explosions. Sometimes it’s about two people realizing, at the exact same moment, that they no longer want the same future.

Dark Night of the Soul leans heavily into atmosphere. Conversations stretch out. Silences linger. Characters say one thing while clearly thinking another. It feels like a show confident enough to trust its audience to read between the lines, and that confidence pays off.

The setting helps. The inclusion of the real-world Permian Basin International Oil Show grounds the episode in authenticity, reminding us that this world isn’t just about backroom deals and shadowy figures. It’s public-facing, performative, and deeply competitive. Everyone is watching everyone else, even when they pretend they aren’t.

That sense of surveillance carries into the more intimate scenes too. Nothing in this episode feels private, even when it technically is.

The most important shift in Episode 6 is the unexpected rivalry between Tommy and Cami, and it’s handled with delicious restraint. There’s no shouting match. No dramatic confrontation. Just a growing realization that they are no longer aligned, and that trust has quietly evaporated.

Tommy can see the writing on the wall. Cami can’t, or won’t. Her decision to align herself with Gallino feels reckless in that uniquely Landman way, where characters convince themselves they’re making a practical choice when they’re really acting out of desperation. Gallino presents himself as stability, resources, and insulation from chaos. To someone under pressure, that kind of confidence is intoxicating.

But the show makes it painfully clear that Tommy knows exactly how this ends. He’s lived this story before. He understands that anyone claiming to keep their criminal and legitimate worlds “separate” is lying, either to others or to themselves. Watching Tommy realize he’s being sidelined isn’t dramatic in the traditional sense, but it’s devastating. You can feel the ground shifting beneath him.

Cami, meanwhile, comes off as impulsive and increasingly dangerous. She shoots without aiming, metaphorically speaking, and Episode 6 suggests that this trait is going to cost her dearly. The tension between her and Tommy is no longer subtext. It’s the engine driving the back half of the season.

While the corporate power struggle quietly escalates, Landman never forgets its emotional core, and Episode 6 gives T.L. one of his most raw moments yet. His refusal to let go of Dorothy’s memory isn’t just grief. It’s denial hardened into identity. Decades later, he’s still defending a version of the past that may never have existed.

The fist fight with an old acquaintance is one of the episode’s standout moments because it’s so deeply unnecessary and yet completely inevitable. T.L. isn’t fighting the man in front of him. He’s fighting time, guilt, and the unbearable truth about his life. The show doesn’t sensationalize it. It lets the moment sit in all its ugliness.

This storyline continues to be one of Landman’s most effective emotional threads. It reinforces the idea that unresolved trauma doesn’t fade. It calcifies. And when it cracks, it does real damage.

Here’s something I didn’t expect to say about Landman back in season 1: this show has become weirdly comforting. Even when it’s dealing with death, betrayal, and criminal entanglements, there’s a familiarity to its rhythms. Angela and Ainsley bouncing between the same handful of locations shouldn’t work, but it does. It creates a lived-in feeling that makes the world feel stable, even as everything underneath it threatens to collapse.

Episode 6 leans into that comfort-show energy without losing its edge. There’s humor sprinkled throughout, moments of warmth between characters who’ve been through too much together to fall apart easily. These quieter beats are what make the looming storm feel more dangerous. When the explosion comes, it’s going to hurt because we’ve spent time sitting in the calm.

The episode also continues setting up future payoffs with Ariana, Cooper, Rebecca, and newcomer Charlie Newsom. Rebecca’s workplace romance feels like it’s accelerating toward something messier, while Ariana and Cooper’s relationship is clearly being positioned for a major step forward. Landman has never been subtle about foreshadowing, and Episode 6 plants enough seeds to make the direction of the remaining episodes feel inevitable.

Gallino remains the most quietly terrifying presence in the show right now. He plays innocent beautifully, but everything about his involvement screams long-term consequences. He’s already positioned himself to cut Tommy out, and the fact that he knows Tommy’s true identity adds an extra layer of threat. This isn’t just business. It’s personal, whether Gallino admits it or not.

Verdict

Landman Season 2, Episode 6 isn’t flashy, but it’s foundational. It deepens character relationships, sharpens the show’s thematic focus, and introduces a rivalry that’s going to define the rest of the season. By choosing tension over spectacle, the series proves it understands its own strengths better than ever.

This is a neo-Western that knows the most dangerous moments aren’t always loud. Sometimes they’re quiet decisions made in well-lit rooms, with contracts on the table and smiles that don’t quite reach the eyes.