At the apex of society, the elite continue to extract all they need to maintain their lavish lifestyles, while the everyday worker punches the clock, simply aiming to get by. In the third episode of Landman Season 2, titled “Almost a Home,” Angela engages with Tommy over FaceTime, showcasing the most opulent bathrooms in Fort Worth. Meanwhile, Cami Miller is on a quest to uncover where her deceased husband stashed M-Tex’s wealth. This episode also reintroduces Andy Garcia as Gallino, the cartel boss, who transitions from covertly antagonizing Tommy to actively mingling with the oil and gas magnates of West Texas.

As the affluent exchange thinly veiled threats and sip expensive drinks in exclusive clubs, the scene shifts to a neglected well site managed by M-Tex. Here, workers like Dale and Boss (played by Mustafa Speaks) are thrown into a panic when their hydrogen sulfide monitors begin to blare. The wind has swept in invisible toxic gases, signaling imminent danger. These men came to earn an honest wage, but instead, they’re being whisked away in a MEDEVAC helicopter, narrowly escaping death only to return and keep the wells operational for someone else’s profit.

In his lifetime, Monty kept oil production in motion, funneling profits into his personal ventures. However, as Cami discovers, the incoming funds weren’t reducing debts but were instead sustained by a network of high-profile credit lines linked to obscure shell companies. Cami was aware of Monty’s secrets but now, as she sorts through M-Tex’s financial records with Rebecca and Nathan, she questions her husband’s true intentions. Despite the risks faced by oil workers, Cami and her daughters have financial safety nets. Yet, it frustrates her that Monty might have been another risk-taker caught off guard when everything came crashing down.

Desperate for clarity, Cami confronts Monty’s attorney at the esteemed Cattlemen’s Club in Fort Worth. In reality, Taylor Sheridan owns this exclusive venue, indicating the Sheridan-O-Verse extends beyond television. The lawyer, despite avoiding Cami’s calls, seems to have time for a leisurely meal. Cami, undeterred, throws two drinks in his face, demanding answers about the company’s finances. True to Landman‘s style, resolution comes when Tommy intervenes, smashing a bottle over the lawyer’s head and defiantly justifying his actions, perhaps because Billy Bob Thornton shares a connection with the club’s owner.

“I don’t need you to understand – I need you to do it.” This season, Demi Moore’s expanded role as Cami has been a highlight, and she gets the final word with Monty’s lawyer. However, as seen with Tommy’s aggressive tactics, M-Tex’s path to financial recovery might still depend on Cami’s leadership. Observing the confrontation from the sidelines is Gallino, who previously warned Tommy that his mercy comes at a price. In a previous tense meeting, Gallino boasted about investing in Cooper Norris’s drilling venture when Tommy declined. He claimed he was aligned with both father and son, which Tommy countered. “You bet on him to fail, so he’d owe you and I’d owe you.” As the saying goes, the first taste is always free—a common strategy among drug dealers.

The harsh words in Gallino’s office were enough to peel the paint off his modern art originals. But everybody’s happier in the plush leather booths at Cattlemen’s. Tommy introduces Gallino to Cami Miller, and when Angela arrives fresh from surveying Forth Worth’s most choice mansions, she’s quite taken with Bella (Stefania Spampinato), Gallino’s cosmopolitan, Italian-born wife. There are rounds of cocktails and the conversation turns to relationships. Their stability, and their fragility. “Most people, when they get to know their partner, they fall out of love.”   

It’s an interesting, freewheeling scene. Garcia and Spampinato establish Gallino and Bella as the city’s newest big money players. Tommy’s love-as-combat union with Angela dominates. (Cami on Angela: “Oh, if you could sell that exuberance!”) Cami herself acts as the widow whose love for her husband is separate from the continuance of her wealth and status. And through social graces and his own obvious stature – it is suggested he is the new fictional owner of Cattlemen’s – Gallino locks down his latest targets. “I’m learning the scope of your thing as you learn the scope of mine,” he says, and Cami tells him she might need an investor.         

For now anyway, it really feels like Gallino and his cartel-fueled riches will put Tommy Norris in a bind two ways. Once on the Cooper side of things, once more with M-Tex, and removing the means of escape, financial or otherwise. Tommy told Cami the single goal of the oil business, which is to get out. If you don’t get out when you can, it will bleed you dry. Which financially is better than dying. But Tommy should be wearing his own N2S monitor around Gallino, because these transactions at the top could be just as deadly toxic.

Landmania for Landman Season 2 Episode 3 (“Almost a Home”):

• The Patch Cafe might not be real, but it’s certainly a spot to make great tips, and having kicked Cooper to the curb, Ariana is filling out an application. Wildcats and landmen alike populate the Patch, and Ariana provides this episode’s second instance of drink-throwing during her first shift behind the bar. “We’re just gonna throw you to the wolves” accounts for the Patch Cafe training program.

• We’re looking forward to Ainsley Norris starting her freshman year at TCU, because Landman seems at a loss with where Michelle Randolph’s character is going. “I’m BORED!” Ainsley whines to her parents on the phone, as she’s stuck in a feedback loop of cheerleading moves. Isn’t saying you’re bored as boring as insisting you are?  

Johnny Loftus (@johnnyloftus.bsky.social) is a Chicago-based writer. A veteran of the alternative weekly trenches, his work has also appeared in Entertainment Weekly, Pitchfork, The All Music Guide, and The Village Voice.