In Landman Season 2, Episode 6, Cooper arrived at the decision to marry Ariana. Cooper had already gotten the green light from Ariana’s dad, Mr. Barrera. Tommy wanted to proceed cautiously, but he didn’t do anything to impede the union of young souls. Angela was over the moon regarding Cooper’s decision to get married and even decided to give away her own wedding ring so that he didn’t have to spend a fortune. But before proposing to Ariana, Cooper had to pass one last test, which was Isabela, Ariana’s ex-mother-in-law. Due to Cooper’s display of honesty and vulnerability, Isabela gave him the thumbs up to help Ariana start the next chapter of her life. While these two were entering their marriage phase, Rebecca and Charlie commenced their work-situationship phase, because Rebecca wanted Charlie to head the offshore drilling project as soon as possible in order to save M-Tex from getting sued for insurance fraud while also trying to get into his pants. Since that project required money, and it’d take Alan and Tommy a long time to acquire the funds that belonged to M-Tex but weren’t readily accessible, Cami was ready to join hands with Dan, who was more than eager to join the oil business. Tommy was obviously against that happening; however, Cami was too determined to be dissuaded. Hence, Tommy was left with the choice of siding with Cami or retiring from the business—which was seemingly becoming dependent on robots and AI instead of humans anyway—to spend more time with his family. What happened next? Let’s find out.
Spoiler Alert
Tommy and Thomas Have Several Hilarious Arguments
In Landman Season 2 Episode 7, Tommy and Angela’s weekend at Fort Worth starts off on a hilarious note, as the couple gets into a tiff after Tommy accidentally flashes the waitstaff and responds to Angela’s scolding by threatening to perform carnal activities with her omelet, quite literally. Hence, the drive to the airport turns out to be a quiet one. Thomas doesn’t ask any questions regarding the tense atmosphere, because he’s old enough to understand that something is wrong. Ainsley tries to address the elephant in the room, but is met with silence. It’s only after Angela gives Tommy the finger before boarding the jet that Ainsley understands that something has gone wrong, and she assures her father that she’ll try and calm her mother down. When both the women are out of earshot, Thomas finally asks Tommy what’s going on between him and Angela. Tommy responds by bringing up the omelet, and Billy Bob Thornton’s dry dialogue delivery and Sam Elliott’s nonchalant reaction make this exchange really hilarious. That’s not all, though. After hitting the road, Tommy and Thomas get into an argument about the latter wanting to take a leak. When Tommy refuses to stop, Thomas says he’s going to carry out his business on the seat of his pickup truck, which finally forces Tommy to make a pit stop.
When Thomas goes to urinate in the open fields, he sees a rattlesnake right before him, but he is so unbothered that he invites the snake to send him into the afterlife if that’s what it wants. The snake is seemingly so offended by this man peeing on him that it silently takes off without hurting Thomas. Then they go to a cafe to grab a bite, and Tommy starts berating Thomas about the speed at which he eats his food. This is where things finally get a bit serious, because Thomas uses the eating pace as a teaching moment about how one should enjoy life. He says that Tommy is always in a hurry, and, so far, that hasn’t solved anything. So, he should try taking things slow for a change. Maybe it won’t bring about any massive difference in his professional life, because there are a lot of external factors affecting the oil business, but at least it’ll give him the space to introspect or grant him some quality time with his friends and family. The mood lightens up again when Tommy and Thomas get home, and Thomas is so deep asleep that Tommy has to pull his mustache to wake him up. At the cost of sounding repetitive, Thornton and Elliott’s comedic timing is perfect.
Charlie Points Out The Issues In The Offshore Drilling Project
After engaging in some post-coitus flirting, Rebecca and Charlie arrive at the topic of the offshore gas drilling mission. Rebecca says that she wants Charlie to talk to Tommy, Cami, and the rest of the people who are on the board to educate them about what’s at stake and how they can move forward with this project. And Charlie says something surprising: he can tell his bosses how the drilling can be done, but he can’t promise that that rig will yield any gas. Rebecca is confused, because she is under the impression that the reason why the rig has been damaged and has stopped producing gas is because of Hurricane Francine. But Charlie correctly points out that a hurricane stays on the surface and can’t affect the reservoir, which is underneath the seabed. So, it’s possible that the rig was built atop a spot with very low chances of yielding quality gas, and once that became apparent, the hurricane was blamed for the debacle. It’s possible that Monty thought that he could get away with it and also get the insurance payout. But since Blanton and his company have lawyered up, M-Tex is in a fix. Now, if M-Tex spends $400 million to drill again in a spot that offers nothing, then that’ll just add to the mountain of debt they are already under. Charlie says that he can try his best, even find a different spot with a better gas reservoir, but he doesn’t want to raise Rebecca’s hopes only to watch them come crashing down.
Rebecca meets Nate and conveys all the stuff that Charlie has told her. Based on that, Nate surmises that it’s possible that Monty knew that the site wouldn’t yield any gas. So, he tried to invest less in the drilling process and hoped to earn tons of money from the insurance payout; well, at least that’s what I think Nate is talking about. Nate decides to double down on Monty’s approach and take the insurance company to court. Rebecca thinks that if they draw a good jury, then M-Tex may have a chance of winning this case. The major hurdle lies in the form of Cami. Nate thinks Tommy will understand what they are trying to do, but since Cami has already shaken hands with Dan, she might oppose this idea to “respect” her arrangement with Dan. Rebecca says that she’ll get everything ready, including Charlie, for the presentation, but Nate goes on a tangent about Rebecca and Charlie’s workplace romance. This upsets Rebecca a lot, and she takes off with tears in her eyes.
When Rebecca arrives at Tommy’s place, she still looks pretty distressed. So, Tommy asks her what’s wrong. He thinks he is going to hear that someone has died, which is why he cracks up after hearing that she is crying because her relationship with Charlie has been exposed. Tommy makes it very clear that he doesn’t have any problem with what Rebecca and Charlie are doing in the sheets; he just wants them to be efficient and productive on the streets. Rebecca is glad to hear that, and when she is about to take his leave, Tommy asks her the name of the individual who had convinced her that the workplace romance is such a big issue. Rebecca says it was Nate, and Tommy implies that he’ll handle him the way he deserves to be handled for upsetting his favorite litigator. Tommy stays true to his promise, and, before sitting down for dinner, he tells Nate not to make mountains out of molehills because their real enemies are M-Tex’s competitors, not their own employees. Nate tries to stage a protest, but Tommy just shuts him down so that he can eat his tacos in peace. When Angela serves Tommy an omelet—that’s a really good payoff to the couple’s ongoing tiff—he realizes that he needs to pacify her all by himself, because his daughter has been unable to do the same. It doesn’t take much to calm Angela down though. Tommy says some sweet nothings to Angela and assures her that she’s the love of his life, and Angela melts into Tommy’s arms. Ainsley makes an apt observation: despite her parents’ age, they act exactly like teens.
Boss Holds A BBQ Party
At M-Tex’s employees’ quarters, Ben and Russ are woken up by the sound of their Mexican colleagues partying around with their custom cars. They realize that they have to hit the streets before the Mexicans, or else they’ll be stranded by the traffic jam caused by all those cars. Where are Ben and Russ going? Well, the Mexicans aren’t the only ones partying; Boss has arranged a BBQ party in order to celebrate his bonus payout. That’s where we get an update on Jerrell, who has apparently been discharged from the hospital, but his vision, which was hampered by the H₂S leak, is still a big question mark. Dale joins all of them later too, and before digging into the delicious food, he gives Boss a Rolex Daytona Panda to commemorate 20 years of hard work at M-Tex. This somehow makes Boss extremely melancholic, and he starts remembering all the near-death experiences he has had on this job.
It seems like Boss had already decided to retire soon, but it is at this party that he finally says out loud to his colleagues-turned-friends that he’ll be out of M-Tex and Midlands by the next summer. So, if anybody wants to catch up with him, they’ll need to come to Houston. While talking about the philosophy of working in the oil business, Dale said that one should always make the most of it and then get out instead of staying in this circus for their entire life, which is quite similar to Tommy’s perspective. Hence, Boss asks Dale when he intends to retire. Dale says that this job isn’t a job anymore for him; it’s a sweet addiction that he can’t get rid of in this lifetime. I don’t know about you, but all of this sounds like subtle foreshadowing for some deaths at an oil rig. I mean, we are in episode 7 of Landman Season 2, and there haven’t been a lot of deadly mishaps, especially in comparison to Season 1. Therefore, yeah, I think the writers are preparing us for a heartbreaking debacle, which may or may not take the lives of one who wants out of this profession, Boss, and one who wants to die in this line of business, Dale.
Cooper Proposes to Ariana
Cooper surprises Ariana by speaking Spanish. He says that he’s doing it to understand what Ariana’s saying when she’s angry at him, but the truth of the matter is that he is doing the bare minimum in order to get closer to Ariana. In almost every country, it’s like a given that minorities will know everything about the majority community, while the majority community stays ignorant about the language and culture of the minorities. Minorities do a lot to bridge the gap that exists between them and the majority community, and it shouldn’t take a lot of effort for those in the majority to reciprocate that effort. Sure, Cooper is doing it for love, but everyone can do it for the sake of humanity. Anyway, coming back to the plot, Cooper informs Ariana that Isabel has approved of their relationship, which means that Ariana is finally comfortable with marrying Cooper. She advises him to not keep her waiting, but Cooper says that he wants to make the proposal special. Ariana tells him that it’s not the proposal or the wedding that makes a marriage special; it’s the way the married couple leads their life that counts. On that note, Cooper gets freaky with Ariana, and while Ariana goes to The Patch Cafe, Cooper goes to the airport to pick up his mother and sister. While going home, as promised, Angela gives her wedding ring to Cooper. Ainsley expresses her jealousy in the most hilarious manner possible, and Cooper responds to it in a humorous fashion; the writers have really nailed their sibling dynamic.
Cooper drops off the ladies at the house and then goes to the flower shop to buy some flora that he wants to use while proposing to Ariana. In the ending of Landman Season 2, episode 7, when Ariana returns home from her shift, she is pleasantly surprised to see the effort that Cooper has put into asking for her hand in marriage, even though she said that it’s not an important aspect of their relationship. Of course, she says “yes” to Cooper, and the two kiss passionately to confirm the fact that they are indeed going to embark on this journey called life together. I suppose the subtext of this whole scene is that even if your partner says that you should keep things low-key when you are in private, you should not actually be low-key. You should find a way to show that you understand how much “extravagance” your partner likes because, let’s be real, we all like a bit of lavishness. If on one end of the spectrum is proposing at a stadium full of people and on the other is texting your marriage proposal, Cooper’s method is right down the middle. It’s both intimate and slightly over-the-top, and that’s the way you should be because you won’t be proposing to your romantic partner several times. Hence, make it memorable while taking your partner’s preferences into consideration. Thank you for coming to my TED Talk. If you have any opinions on this particular topic, feel free to share them in the comments section below.
