TL;DR: Landman Season 2, Episode 5 is a masterclass in slow-burn tension, deepening character arcs, and corporate dread. Sam Elliott’s T.L. adds emotional weight, Billy Bob Thornton delivers one of his most restrained performances yet, and Andy Garcia’s Gallino continues to loom like a smiling executioner. Not explosive, but absolutely essential viewing as the storm approaches.
Landman season 2
I’ve reached the point with Landman Season 2 where I no longer sit down to watch an episode so much as I brace myself for it. Episode 5, titled “The Pirate Party,” is the kind of hour that sneaks up on you. On paper, it doesn’t look like a seismic chapter. Nobody gets shot. No rigs explode. No cartel goons kick down a door with automatic weapons and a bad attitude. And yet, when the credits roll, I felt that familiar Taylor Sheridan knot in my stomach, the one that tells me everything is about to get much, much worse.
If Season 1 of Landman was about chaos crashing into Tommy Norris’ life like an 18-wheeler with no brakes, Season 2 has been about inevitability. Episode 5 is the moment where the walls start closing in, not with violence, but with smiles, contracts, wine glasses, and polite conversation. In some ways, that’s even more terrifying.
Five episodes in, Landman Season 2 has proven it wasn’t just a fluke follow-up riding on goodwill. It’s confident, patient, and deeply uncomfortable in the best way. “The Pirate Party” feels like the true midpoint of the season, the calm where you can see the storm clouds lining up perfectly on the horizon.
Let’s start with the biggest new-old presence in the room: T.L. Norris.
Sam Elliott Walks Into Midland and Instantly Owns the Room
Sam Elliott joining Landman felt like the most obvious casting decision in the history of prestige television, and Episode 5 confirms exactly why. As T.L., he’s not here to steal scenes with monologues or grand gestures. He’s here to exist, and somehow that’s enough to anchor entire sequences.
There’s a quiet gravity to Elliott that no amount of dialogue can manufacture. When he shares space with Billy Bob Thornton’s Tommy, it feels like watching two eras of the American West collide. These are men shaped by land, by deals made with handshakes, and by mistakes that never really go away. T.L. isn’t some grizzled sage dropped in to dispense wisdom. He’s broken, cautious, and strangely hopeful, which makes his presence in Midland feel earned rather than indulgent.
What struck me most in Episode 5 is how T.L. subtly shifts the emotional temperature of the show. Season 1 leaned heavily on Angela and Ainsley for levity and emotional release. T.L. now fills that space in a more grounded way. Every scene he’s in feels like the show exhaling for a moment, letting the audience breathe before tightening the screws again. In a series dominated by corporate brinkmanship and looming cartel shadows, those moments matter more than ever.
Tommy Norris Is Losing Control, and He Knows It
Billy Bob Thornton has always played Tommy as a man who thrives in chaos. He’s at his best when everything’s on fire and he’s the only one who knows where the exits are. Episode 5, however, makes it painfully clear that this is a fire he can’t put out with charm, experience, or sheer stubbornness.
With Monty gone, Tommy is juggling the impossible. He’s president of M-Tex in everything but title, trying to keep the company solvent while shielding Cooper from the financial noose Gallino has wrapped around his neck. What’s fascinating here is that Tommy is finally confronting the limits of his influence. For once, knowing the land, the people, and the angles isn’t enough.
The episode quietly reinforces a brutal truth: Gallino isn’t just a problem. He’s the solution. And that’s eating Tommy alive.
Every interaction between Tommy and Gallino crackles with unspoken threat. Andy Garcia plays Gallino with a disarming warmth that feels weaponized. He smiles too easily. He listens too patiently. He plays golf in his office like he’s got all the time in the world, because he does. Tommy knows exactly who Gallino is and what he represents, but knowledge doesn’t equal power anymore. For the first time in Landman, Tommy feels reactive instead of proactive, and Thornton sells that internal panic with subtle brilliance.
Cami Norris Steps Into the Abyss
If Episode 5 belongs to any character beyond Tommy, it’s Cami. Michelle Randolph continues to evolve Cami from grieving widow to pragmatic survivor, and the transformation is both compelling and deeply unsettling.
Cami’s desperation isn’t loud. It’s quiet, calculated, and rooted in pride. She refuses to let Monty’s legacy collapse under her watch, even if saving it means shaking hands with the devil himself. Tommy tries to explain Gallino’s true nature, the cartel ties, the inevitable cost. Cami hears him, but she doesn’t listen. To her, surrendering M-Tex is worse than whatever consequences might come later.
This is where Landman Season 2 gets truly interesting. The show isn’t framing Cami’s potential deal with Gallino as naïveté. It’s framing it as choice. A rational, if morally compromised, choice made under immense pressure. Episode 5 all but confirms that she’s ready to take Gallino’s money and move forward with the gulf rig, setting up what feels like an unavoidable explosion in Episode 6 and beyond.
The terrifying implication is that once Gallino has legal footing inside M-Tex, Tommy’s usefulness diminishes. And in Gallino’s world, diminished usefulness often has permanent consequences.
Gallino Looms Larger Without Lifting a Finger
Andy Garcia’s Gallino remains one of the smartest additions to Landman. In Episode 5, he doesn’t threaten, shout, or intimidate in any obvious way. He doesn’t have to. His power comes from patience and inevitability.
What I love about how Landman handles Gallino is that the show understands restraint. The tension isn’t in what he does, but in what he hasn’t done yet. He’s still playing the role of benevolent businessman, letting Cami and Tommy talk themselves into his terms. But the cracks are there. You can feel him waiting for the exact moment when his leverage becomes absolute.
The episode makes it clear that Gallino’s endgame isn’t just a piece of M-Tex. It’s control. And once he has it, the series will likely pivot back toward the darker, more dangerous territory that defined parts of Season 1. The cartel threat hasn’t disappeared. It’s just gone corporate.
The Pirate Party as a Statement Episode
The so-called pirate party serves as more than just a tonal flourish. It’s a mission statement. This is Landman at its most confident, blending drama, dark humor, and simmering dread without leaning too hard into any single genre. Where other shows feel the need to constantly escalate with spectacle, Landman trusts its characters and its world.
There’s something almost audacious about how little “happens” on the surface in Episode 5, and yet how much changes underneath. This is the kind of episode that rewards attention, that understands momentum doesn’t always mean explosions. It means decisions being made that can’t be undone.
As the number one trending show on Paramount+, Landman feels like a series that’s fully settled into its identity. Killing off Jon Hamm’s Monty could have crippled the show. Instead, it forced Landman to grow up, to shift its focus from a singular charismatic force to a broader, more dangerous ecosystem of power.
By the time the credits roll, I felt that familiar sense of dread creeping back in. The chaos of Season 1 hasn’t returned yet, but it’s warming up backstage. If Cami follows through with Gallino, and all signs point to yes, the second half of Season 2 is going to get ugly in ways that contracts and lawyers won’t be able to contain.
