Landman
Genre: Drama
Created by: Taylor Sheridan, Christian Wallace
Based on: Boomtown by Imperative Entertainment Texas Monthly
Writer: Taylor Sheridan
Stars: Billy Bob Thornton (Tommy Norris), Ali Larter (Angela Norris), Jacob Lofland (Cooper Norris), Michelle Randolph (Ainsley Norris), Paulina Chávez (Ariana Medina), Kayla Wallace (Rebecca Falcone), James Jordan (Dale Bradley), Demi Moore (Cami Miller), Andy GarcÃa (Danny “Gallino” Morrell), Sam Elliott (T. L. Norris), Stefania Spampinato (Bella Morrell), Francesca Xuereb (Cheyenne), Guy Burnet (Charlie), Jay Huguley (Barrett Ramsey), Deidra Shanell (Margaret)
The series is available for streaming on Paramount+
* * *
Season 2 – Episode 10
Episode title: Tragedy and Flies
Original release date: January 18, 2026
Episode plot: Following his firing from M-Tex, Tommy Norris secures Cooper’s lease contracts before Cami can claim them. Cami offers Nate the company presidency, but he resigns instead, warning her the offshore drilling venture will fail. Cooper faces potential murder charges after beating Jonathan Reasner to death while defending Ariana from sexual assault. Rebecca arrives at the police station and threatens the investigators, while Tommy pressures the county attorney to drop the case. The authorities agree to attribute Reasner’s death to a heart attack.
Tommy meets with investor Dan Gallino and negotiates financing for a new independent oil company using Cooper’s productive wells. Dan agrees to a 70/30 split until he recoups his investment, then 50/50 thereafter, but warns Tommy he will destroy everything he loves if betrayed. Tommy gathers his crew at Cooper’s oil field and announces CTT Oil Exploration and Cattle, naming Cooper president and distributing 25% of profits among employees. Ainsley reconciles with her roommate Paigyn at college.
* * *
Better the Devil You Know
On the season 2 finale of Landman
The season finale of Taylor Sheridan’s Landman—titled “Tragedy and Flies”—plays like a man backing himself into a corner and somehow karate-chopping his way out, except the karate is mostly just knowing the right people to call and having the moral flexibility to shake hands with the devil when it suits him. Billy Bob Thornton’s Tommy Norris spends this hour running on fumes and spite, and watching him scramble to salvage his career, his son’s freedom, and his self-respect all at once is the kind of exhausting, exhilarating viewing that reminds you why certain actors become stars in the first place. Thornton has that weathered quality now—the eyes that have seen too much, the voice that sounds like it’s been marinated in bourbon and regret—and he uses every bit of it here, giving Tommy the weight of a man who knows he’s probably going to lose but refuses to stop swinging.
The episode opens with Tommy having just been fired by Cami, Demi Moore’s grieving widow who inherited an oil company and proceeded to make decisions based on feelings rather than spreadsheets. Tommy sits with his father T.L.—Sam Elliott, magnificent as ever in his late-career mode of grizzled wisdom—watching the Texas horizon like they’re both waiting for something that isn’t coming. The conversation they have about retirement and savings and the impossibility of starting over at this age cuts closer to real working-class anxiety than most prestige television bothers to get. Tommy jokes that he doesn’t have enough saved to retire because of his wife, and there’s a wry laugh between him and his father that acknowledges the absurdity of men who’ve worked their whole lives and still have nothing to show for it but complicated women and bad knees.
What makes Sheridan’s writing work when it’s working is this willingness to let his characters exist in a moral gray zone that would make most network executives nervous. Tommy isn’t a good man, not by any conventional measure. He’s spent his career as a fixer—cleaning up messes, making problems disappear, greasing palms, and threatening the right people at the right moments. But he’s also fiercely loyal to his crew, genuinely loves his family despite being terrible at showing it, and possesses a pragmatic intelligence that the show presents as its own kind of virtue. When Cooper, his son, beats a man to death for attempting to rape his girlfriend Ariana, Tommy’s response isn’t moral outrage or hand-wringing about the law—it’s a series of phone calls to sheriffs and county attorneys, calling in every favor he’s accumulated over twenty years in the oil patch.
The sequence where Tommy strong-arms the local authorities into dropping any investigation into Cooper is brutal in its efficiency. Tommy walks into that room with the detectives and the county attorney and essentially tells them that the dead man was a rapist, the victim is part of his family, and if anyone wants to make a fuss about it, he’ll take the whole thing to the press and watch everyone’s careers burn. The line that lands hardest is when he asks one of the detectives about his daughter—isn’t she about to graduate?—and the implication hangs there like a threat. Every man in this room, Tommy is saying, has a woman in his life who could be in that alley. The dead man forfeited his rights the moment he laid hands on Ariana. End of discussion.
Some viewers will find this scene morally repugnant, and I suspect that’s precisely the point. Sheridan has never been interested in giving us heroes we can admire without complication. His characters operate in systems that are already corrupt, and they survive by being more ruthless and more connected than the people trying to destroy them. Is it vigilante justice? Absolutely. But the show frames it within a world where the official channels have already failed—where a “big-time pipeline supplier” can assault a woman and the police will drag their feet because money talks louder than bruises. Tommy doesn’t trust the system because he’s seen the system from the inside, and he knows that waiting for justice to arrive is just another way of saying you’re willing to let your family suffer while bureaucrats shuffle papers.
The other major plot thread involves Tommy’s business maneuvers after being cast out from M-Tex, and here the show demonstrates its understanding of how power actually works in corporate America. Stripped of his job, Tommy still has leverage—the wells that Cooper discovered, the relationships he’s built over decades, the knowledge of where all the bodies are buried (sometimes literally). He approaches Bob at Chevron, who respects him but won’t make a move until Tommy’s position is solid. Then he pivots to Dan Gallino, Andy GarcÃa’s cartel-adjacent investor, who has his own reasons for wanting to hedge his bets against Cami’s increasingly reckless management of M-Tex.
The deal Tommy strikes with Dan is a perfect encapsulation of Sheridan’s worldview: sometimes the only way forward is through the monster’s mouth. Tommy has spent the entire season keeping Dan at arm’s length, treating him like contamination. But when you’ve been fired, when your son is facing murder charges, when the company you’ve given your life to has decided you’re expendable, principles start to feel like luxury items. Dan offers him the capital to start his own operation—CTT Oil Exploration and Cattle, named for Cooper, Tommy, and T.L.—and Tommy takes it, fully aware that he’s signing up for a partnership with someone who will come for everything he loves if he ever steps out of line.
What elevates this beyond cynicism is the final gathering at Cooper’s oil field, where Tommy assembles his inner circle and lays out his vision for the new company. Twenty-five percent of profits distributed among all employees. Cooper as president, Tommy as senior vice president. Dale, his loyal tool-pusher of twenty years, heading up exploration. Rebecca, the fiery lawyer who just intimidated an entire police department into submission, as chief operating officer and general counsel. Even T.L. gets a role overseeing drilling—never mind that he can’t climb a ladder anymore; everything’s computerized now, and Cheyenne can help him work the joystick. (Tommy’s crack about Cheyenne’s joystick experience lands exactly as juvenile as it should, and the assembled group groans and laughs in the way people do when they actually like each other.)
The utopian element here shouldn’t be overlooked. Amid all the corruption and violence and moral compromise, Sheridan keeps returning to this vision of work as community—a crew that’s loyal to each other, a family business in the truest sense, an enterprise where the people who do the actual labor share in the rewards. It’s an old American fantasy, the idea that you can build something from nothing if you just have grit and the right people beside you. That it requires partnering with a dangerous investor and covering up a killing and manipulating law enforcement doesn’t seem to bother the show much, which tells you something about what Sheridan thinks of how things actually get done in this country.
The subplot involving Tommy’s daughter Ainsley and her college roommate Paigyn comes to an unexpectedly satisfying conclusion. After the culture-war tension between the sheltered cheerleader and the progressive activist, the two actually sit down and figure out how to live together. It’s presented as a simple matter of communication—Ainsley stands up for Paigyn against some genuinely obnoxious students, Paigyn helps Ainsley with her ankle support during practice, and they agree to find middle ground. The show has taken some heat for how it’s handled this material, and not without reason—the initial clash between the girls felt heavy-handed and designed to confirm certain viewers’ priors about coastal elites and heartland values. But the resolution suggests that Sheridan’s point was always about the possibility of coexistence, which is more generous than his critics have given him credit for.
The final scene between Tommy and Angela, his ex-wife who still functions as his wife in every meaningful way except legally, encapsulates the show’s bittersweet philosophy. They sit together watching the sunset, and Tommy starts talking about tragedy—about the day that’s coming when one of them gets cancer or loses their mind or wraps their car around a tree. Angela stops him. You win every day, she says. You just don’t see it. The camera holds on Tommy’s face as she walks away, and you can see him trying to believe her, trying to set down the weight he’s been carrying for the entire episode, for the entire season, for what feels like his entire life.
Landman has had its wobbly moments—subplots that went nowhere, characters who felt like types rather than people, dialogue that leaned too hard into folksy wisdom. But this finale lands with the force of a show that knows exactly what it’s doing. Sheridan has built a world where success always comes with a cost, where loyalty is the only currency that matters, and where the flies are always circling, waiting for something to die. Tommy Norris walked out of this season with his family intact, his own company, and a dangerous new partner whose shadow will hang over everything that comes next. Whether that’s a happy ending depends on how you define happiness—and on whether you think a man can outrun the devils he’s invited to dinner.
* * *
Transcript
Note for Students & Writers: This transcript is archived here for educational purposes, critical analysis, and screenwriting study. All rights belong to the original creators.
[radio DJ 1 over radio] It is gonna be a scorcher.
[radio DJ 2 over radio] Hundred and nine.
[radio DJ 1] Yeah, in the shade, no less.
[radio DJ 2] “Surface of the sun” hot.
[radio DJ 1] “Fry an egg on the pavement” hot.
[radio DJ 2] Hotter than a two-dollar…
[radio DJ 1] Oh, whoa, whoa, whoa. This is a family show.
[radio DJ 2] Bicycle.
[radio DJ 1] That is one hot bike.
[radio DJ 2] Stolen, I say. We need some “cool me down” music.
[radio DJ 1] And a “tall drink of water” tune.
[radio DJ 2] Play it.
[“Needle Fall Down” by Charles Wesley Godwin playing]
♪ Time in the evening ♪
♪ I pulled out my gun ♪
♪ Prepared for what’s after ♪
♪ I pour something strong ♪
♪ I yearn for the road ♪
♪ And lady’s sweet voice ♪
♪ Sing me my last words ♪
♪ I won’t sing along ♪
♪ Needle fall down ♪
[door opens]
♪ Sing me a song ♪
♪ It’s been a long life ♪
[door closes]
♪ And it all went wrong ♪
[Tommy] Pop.
♪ Needle fall down ♪
♪ Sing me a song ♪
♪ It’s been a long life… ♪
[T.L.] You’re in my chair.
[Tommy] Well, actually, it’s my chair. So are the rest of ’em. Well, I take that back. Technically, this chair belongs to my ex-wife’s ex-husband, just like every other stick of furniture in that fucking house.
[T.L.] It’s too early in the morning to contemplate what the fuck that means. You’re up early.
[Tommy] Yeah. I got fired yesterday.
[T.L.] For what?
[Tommy] For trying to run the company like a business instead of a memento or a dream or whatever the hell motivates her.
[T.L.] What are you gonna do?
[Tommy] Well, got a meeting with the president of Chevron this afternoon. So, finding another ship to jump on ain’t the problem.
[T.L.] What’s the problem?
[Tommy] Not sure I want to jump on somebody else’s ship.
[T.L.] There another option?
[Tommy] Yeah. Do what I used to do. Hunting leases. Be a landman. Tell you the truth, I don’t know if I have the energy for it anymore. I damn sure don’t have the savings. Too damn old to be chasing my tail around.
[T.L.] You haven’t saved enough to retire?
[Tommy] [scoffs, chuckles] You know my wife.
[both chuckle]
[door opens, closes]
[T.L.] Ex-wife, last I checked.
[Tommy] Yeah. Hey, Dale.
[Dale] Fellas. You know, I can make some calls. You know, get the word out.
[Tommy] Well, trust me, bud, the word’s out.
[Dale] Yeah.
[Tommy] What do you got today?
[Dale] I’m just prepping the next workover at your son’s field. That’s it. Unless you tell me to walk.
[Tommy] [scoffs]
[Dale] I go where you go, Tommy.
[Tommy] I appreciate that, buddy. Thank you.
[Dale] Yes, sir.
[T.L.] Well, if that don’t warm your toes…
[Dale laughs]
[T.L.] A little loyalty left in the world.
[Dale] Well, shit, we been together, what, 20 years?
[Tommy] Right at it. Yeah.
[Dale] And besides, M-TEX, they wouldn’t last a year without him. Fucking mark my words. No, sir.
[gentle music]
[Tommy] Hey, Nate.
[Nathan] I’m gonna talk to her, Tommy. It was an emotional…
[Tommy] Is the buyout on Cooper’s leases executed?
[Nathan] Well, soon as you sign it, or I guess Cami needs to sign it now.
[Tommy] Give it to me. Give me the contract.
[Nathan] [stammers] I’m not sure I can do that.
[Tommy] Nate, Cami didn’t negotiate it. I did. She has absolutely no fucking knowledge of that transaction.
[Nathan] We’ve already paid the money on his behalf, Tommy.
[Tommy] You drafted that agreement, right?
[Nathan] ‘Cause you asked me to.
[Tommy] Exactly. And I presented it to a 22-year-old kid without presence of legal counsel. He had absolutely no fucking legal guidance whatsoever. Now, if that’s not the very definition of “diminished capacity,” I don’t know what is.
[Nathan] Well, he still initiated a drill crew by falsely representing himself as a representative of our company. There are extreme civil and criminal consequences to that.
[Tommy] [sighs] Just give me the day, Nate. Give me the day, and I will hand you a check or the contract. I mean, if I hadn’t earned your trust by now…
[Nathan] [groans] God.
[Cheyenne] Morning.
[Tommy] You have got to be shitting me.
[Cheyenne] You’re the one that said “hand job.”
[door opens]
[Tommy] Hey, Pop?
[Cheyenne] Can I grab coffee?
[Nathan] By all means.
[door closes]
[phone buzzing]
[Nathan sighs]
[Tommy] Is there something you forgot to tell me about?
[T.L.] Nothing comes to mind.
[Tommy] How about a five-foot-three blonde with an ass like a breadbasket?
[T.L.] Oh, yeah. She spent the night. The battery died in her car, and we needed jumper cables and a truck to jump it with.
[Dale] I got both.
[Tommy] All right.
[door opens]
[Tommy] What else did she do?
[door closes]
[T.L.] Number one, it’s none of your fucking business. And number two… Number two is none of your business either. [chuckles]
[Tommy] Are you fucking with me?
[T.L.] Her car battery died, Tommy. We slept. That’s all we did. And I got to hold a beautiful woman in my arms for the first time in 50 fucking years, and I’ll tell you something, son, today, I feel better than I’ve felt in decades. So, I would appreciate it if you would not fuck that feeling up for me.
[Tommy] Yeah, well, when you snuggle up to a good one, it does have restorative effects.
[T.L.] Good for the body, good for the soul, good for everything.
[Tommy] Yeah. Well, I think we finally found something we agree on 100%, Pop.
[chuckles]
[Tommy] What’s wrong with you? You still not used to seeing girls run around in their underwear?
[Nathan] Cami called. She wants me in Fort Worth. I guess I’m next.
[Tommy] She ain’t gonna fire you. She could do that over the phone.
[Nathan] What, then? In 11 years, Monty never called me to Fort Worth once.
[Tommy] Uh, well, it’s my guess that she’s gonna make you president. At least for now.
[country music playing over stereo]
[Cheyenne] I don’t know why it didn’t start. Car’s brand-new.
[Dale] You got a cell phone booster in it?
[Cheyenne] Mmhmm.
[Dale] Yeah, that’s probably it. They probably didn’t wire it through the ignition, so it just keeps running even when the car ain’t.
[Tommy] Hey, Dale.
[Dale] Yeah?
[Tommy] Hey, stand down on Cooper’s field.
[Dale] Stand down?
[Tommy] Yeah. Don’t drill. Don’t build a pad. Don’t do anything.
[Dale] Don’t do anything. Got it. Yes, sir.
[Tommy] All right.
[Dale] Okay.
[Tommy] Hey, hon, you might want to put some britches on. You’re driving half the neighborhood crazy, and you’re getting the other half in a shitload of trouble.
[Cheyenne] Fuck ’em. She don’t want him staring, she should give him something to stare at.
[Tommy] Good Lord. I’ll tell you what, bud. Whoever catches that one’s gonna have a hell of a time holding on.
[Dale laughs]
[Tommy] Sure as shit hope it ain’t my 82-year-old father.
[Dale] [laughs] Yeah, good luck with that.
[Tommy] Yeah.
[Dale] I’ll see you, bud.
[Tommy] You got it.
[Dale] Okay, let’s get this sucker running. I’ma show you how to burn out in it, too.
[gentle music]
[Bella] What?
[Gallino] Just enjoying the view. You want some breakfast?
[Gallino] No.
Gracias, mi amor.
De nada.
[speaks Spanish]
[Bella] I’m seeing your friend’s wife for brunch.
[Gallino] Which friend?
[Bella] Ah, the oil man in the cowboy hat.
[Gallino] Tommy?
[Bella] Yeah.
[Gallino] Huh. Interesting.
[Bella] Not so interesting. Her daughter is going to TCU now, and doesn’t have any friends here. But… she has one now.
[Gallino] Bella.
[Bella] Yeah?
[Gallino] Make sure you answer questions with questions.
[Bella] I know the game. Do you think he told her?
[Gallino] That should be the first question you ask.
[gentle music]
[door closes]
♪♪♪
[Ariana] [groans softly] Oh, fuck.
♪♪♪
[Cooper chuckles softly]
[Cooper] Put this on your eye.
[Ariana] Mm. [groans] I hurt in places I didn’t even know he hit.
[Cooper] Made you breakfast.
[Ariana] No, I don’t think I can chew.
[Cooper] Well, that’s why I made oatmeal.
[Ariana sighs]
[Cooper] Here you go.
[Ariana] Mm. You put berries in it.
[Cooper] Honey, too.
[Ariana] This is a very “white boy” breakfast.
[Cooper] No, that’s a “I just fought for my life and I need carbs and vitamins to heal” breakfast. We need to have a conversation.
[babbles]
[Cooper] [chuckles] Um… We’re getting married, right?
[Ariana] Yeah.
[Cooper] And-and you’ve been married before.
[Ariana] Where you going with this, Cooper?
[Cooper] You didn’t have a job when you were with Elvio. And if you want to work, that-that’s fine. I’m… I’m just asking… I’m begging, please don’t work there. You don’t have to worry about that anymore.
[babbles]
[Cooper] Look, if you wake up with some new passion or invent a better light bulb or-or just find something you want to do, I’m-I’m your number one supporter. Don’t worry about the phone bill and the mortgage. Just leave that to me. It’s not important. He’s important.
[babbles]
[Cooper chuckles softly]
[Cooper] You’re important. You’re… you’re everything to me. I…
[Ariana] I don’t want to go to the police station.
[Cooper] Hey. We have to file formal charges against the son of a bitch, or he’ll do it again.
[Ariana] [sighs] After what you did to him, I don’t think he’s gonna do it again.
[Cooper] He won’t do it to you again, but he’ll do it again. It’s-it’s just what he is.
[Ariana] Yeah, you’re right. Let’s get this over with. You spend more time with your abuelita than you do me. [chuckles]
[Cooper] That’s what we’re gonna fix.
[dramatic music]
[line ringing]
[pilot over phone] Yes, sir?
[Tommy] You still in Midland?
[pilot] Uh, yes, sir. About to take off now.
[Tommy] Okay, well, wait 15 minutes. I’m on my way.
[pilot] Got it.
[line beeps]
[line ringing]
[Bob] Hey, Tommy.
[Tommy over phone]
[Tommy] Hey, Bob. You in Houston?
[Bob] Uh, walking into a meeting in Dallas, actually.
[Tommy] Okay, can you squeeze another one in? It’s worth it.
[Bob] Well, that has me curious. Uh, my lunch is free.
[Tommy] All right, I’ll take it.
[Bob] Mister Charles, say 12:30?
[Tommy] Only if you let me pay.
[Bob] Not a chance. See you then.
[Tommy] All right, bud, I’ll see you there.
[line beeps]
[engine revving]
♪ Dosidon’tcha
want to dance on over ♪
♪ Let me see your Tennessee
twostep closer ♪
♪ Boot scoot,
kick a little sawdust up ♪
♪ I got moves
that I can show you ♪
♪ I know you want to
dosidon’tcha… ♪
[Ainsley panting]
[Brit] Hey. Ever heard the saying “to be early is to be on time, and to be on time is to be late”?
[Ainsley] I haven’t, but I get the gist. Sorry. I’ll be early tomorrow.
[Brit] That’s what I like to hear. No excuses, just fix the problem. Go and get stretched out.
[Brit] All right, ladies, gentlemen. Jogs to sprints. Forty meters for the jog, 40 meters for the sprint. All right, let’s go. Groups of six. Group one, go.
♪ This is my song, baby… ♪
[Brit] Group two, go.
♪ One, two, three, four,
meet me out on the floor… ♪
[Brit] Group three, let’s go.
[Paigyn] We got some slackers on the form.
[Brit] Keep that heart rate up. I want you speed walking. This is not a vacation. Group one, let’s go. Group two, get ready, let’s go. Group three, let’s go.
[Brit] Hadley, catch up. Thank you.
[Ainsley] We never worked out like this at Aledo.
[Olivia] [laughs] This isn’t the workout. This is the warmup.
[Ainsley] This is the warmup?
[Olivia] Yeah. Weight train three days a week. Today, it’s plyometrics. Lunge, box jump, core work…
[Ainsley] When do we learn the cheers?
[Olivia] We work on cheers every day. Look, high school this ain’t, really. Almost killed me my freshman year, but you’ll get used to it.
[Brit] All right, we’re gonna lunge for 40, and we’re gonna walk for 40. Knees behind ankles, let’s go. Come up a little slower than that. Keep going. Group two, let’s go. In unison, please. That means at the same time. Group three, can you do better than group two? Let’s hope so. Let’s go. Go, go, go, go.
[Paigyn] You see blondie? Blondie in line two? Her ankles ain’t strong enough yet.
[Brit] Push it back.
[Paigyn] You see, she’s got to keep cocking her feet like 45 degrees off?
[Mitch] Yeah.
[Brit] All right, everybody.
[Brit] Gather in a circle. We’re gonna do some floor work. Let’s go, let’s go.
♪ Dosidon’tcha
want to dance on over ♪
♪ Let me see your Tennessee
twostep closer ♪
♪ Boot scoot,
kick a little sawdust up ♪
♪ I got moves
that I can show you ♪
♪ I know you want to
dosidon’tcha ♪
♪ I know you want to
dosidon’tcha ♪
♪ Don’tcha ♪
♪ Don’tcha. ♪
[Brit] All right, everybody, go grab some water. Gonna line up for box jumps. I’m gonna need Kennedy, Sophia, Miller, Evan, Jack, Blue.
[Paigyn] Norris? Norris? Ainsley Norris? Have a seat on the bench.
[Ainsley] For what?
[Paigyn] Just put your feet up. It’s your ankles. You have to strengthen the ligaments and the muscles in your ankle. You won’t last a week if you don’t.
[Ainsley] Can I strengthen them in a week?
[Paigyn] It’ll take six weeks or more to make a difference, so I’m gonna wrap ’em for now. And I’ll write out a workout regimen, give it to the strength coach. Do it at the end of your workout, not the beginning. I don’t want your ankles fatigued before you lift weights or practice routines, okay?
[Ainsley] Okay.
[Paigyn] Meet us ten minutes before practice, and we’ll get you wrapped.
[Brit] She already get hurt?
[Paigyn] It’s preventative, Coach. Just need to get her ankles stronger.
[Brit] All right, let’s walk her through it after practice.
[Paigyn] Dope.
[Paigyn] Drink a lot of water today, okay? You’re in shape, but you’re not in this kind of shape. Stay hydrated.
[Ainsley] Thank you.
[gentle music]
[Nathan] Not sure you should be using the plane, Tommy.
[Tommy] Well, it’s flying a dead leg. It’s going to Fort Worth whether I’m on it or not. Looks like you’re going, too. Can I bum a ride?
[Nathan] Sure.
[pilot] You know the drill. Quick 30 minutes. You got vehicles waiting?
[Nathan] Yeah.
[Tommy] Can you do me a favor and, uh, call ahead, set me a rental car? Thanks, bud.
[Nathan] You know, I don’t think she’ll make me president, Tommy. Perhaps seeking advice on finding a new one. What I will say is, letting you go is a huge mistake that she should reconsider.
[Tommy] I don’t know, Nate. I’m kind of thinking of it as fate. I got a pretty good idea. I don’t get many of those, so I’m gonna chase it.
[Nathan] Care to share this idea?
[Tommy] Not yet, but it’s coming your way, I promise.
[camera clicking]
[officer 1] So, he grabbed you, threw you to the ground, then hit you.
[Ariana] Grabbed me, and I fought.
[officer 1] Fought how?
[Ariana] Punched, scratched, anything I could do. I can’t remember if he hit me and then threw me on the ground or the other way around.
[camera continues clicking]
[Ariana] I know he hit me when I was on the ground, with a rock or something.
[officer 2] Can I get you to just lift this up, just a little bit?
[tense, dramatic music]
[officer 2] Just for a minute. Yeah, thank you.
[officer 1] Turn around.
[door opens]
[Hayes] Mr. Norris?
[Cooper] Yeah?
[Hayes] Can we have a word? Just want to clear up some of the details from last night.
[Cooper] Sure.
♪♪♪
[door closes]
[Hayes] Go ahead and have a seat right there.
[Miller] Can we get you a coffee or anything?
[Cooper] No, I’m fine. Thank you.
[Hayes] All right, so, walk us through your recollection of what happened.
[Cooper] Okay, um, I went to see my fiancée at work. Um, her boss said she was on a break outside. When I went outside, I found a man on top of her, pulling her pants down, and she was, she was pretty beat-up.
[Miller] And you know that how?
[Cooper] ‘Cause of the blood on her face and the fact she was unconscious when I found her.
[Hayes] Okay. Then what?
[Cooper] And, uh, put him in a rear choke, pulled him off of her, flipped him to the ground, and punched him in the face. And her boss and the bouncers held him till you guys got there.
[Miller] Hmm. And how many times would you say you hit him?
[Cooper] I don’t know.
[Miller] Guess.
[Hayes] Less than five? More than five?
[Cooper] I-I really don’t know. It all happened so fast.
[Miller] How about 17?
[Hayes] You hit him 17 times, Mr. Norris.
[tense music]
[Cooper] If I don’t know that, how do you know it?
[Miller] We counted.
[Hayes] Security camera in the alley.
[Cooper] So, what are you saying? If it was your wife, you would’ve done something different?
[Miller] If it had been my wife, I would’ve shot him. And that would be actively defending her. Seventeen punches to the face, he was no longer a threat, Mr. Norris.
[Ariana] Excuse me. Um…
[officer] Yeah?
[Ariana] How much longer do they need my fiancé?
[officer] Um, I-I’ll ask.
[Ariana] Thank you.
[officer] Yeah.
[knock on door]
[Hayes] Yeah?
[door opens]
[officer] Hey, the, uh, victim looks pretty ready to leave.
[Miller] We’re gonna be a while.
[officer] Okay.
[door closes]
[officer] Did you, uh, did you ride with your fiancé?
[Ariana] I did.
[officer] We can arrange for someone to take you back. They’re gonna be a while, I think.
[Ariana] Why a while?
[officer] I don’t know, ma’am. It’s not my case.
[Ariana] I’m just gonna wait.
[officer] Okay. Yeah.
[Ariana] Thank you.
[officer] Sir, you can take a seat right here. The detective will be with you in a second.
[Barney] Yeah.
[Ariana] Hey. They’re holding Cooper in a room, and it’s taking forever.
[Barney] Oh, shit. [sighs] Ariana, that guy died. Look, if you know a good lawyer, you call him up.
[Ariana] Yeah.
[tense, dramatic music]
[phone buzzing]
[Rebecca] Hello?
[Ariana] [over phone] Hey, um, this is Ariana Medina. I don’t know if you remember me. I’m Elvio’s, um, widow.
[Rebecca] I remember you.
[Ariana] Um, I need your help.
[Rebecca] My help? Okay, perhaps you don’t recall our last interaction?
[Ariana] A man tried to rape me last night. Cooper… You remember Cooper.
[Rebecca] Uh, y-yes, I remember Cooper.
[Ariana] He pulled him off me and fought him. Beat him. The man died, and the police are holding him in a room.
[Rebecca] Okay, okay, hold on. Slow down. Go back to rape. Explain.
[Ariana] Um… Uh, I was on a break from work. Went outside for some fresh air, and a customer that I was having problems with in the past, he was waiting for me. Cornered me, threw me on the ground.
[Rebecca] Okay. I got it.
[Ariana] Rebecca, Cooper saved my life.
[Rebecca] Yeah. He has a habit of doing that, it seems.
[Ariana] [scoffs] Pretty good habit.
[Rebecca] So detectives have him in an interview room?
[Ariana] Yeah.
[Rebecca] Okay, put me on speaker. I need you to walk into that room, do not knock, tell Cooper to stop talking. Set the phone on the table. Go, now.
[Ariana] Okay.
[dramatic music]
[Hayes] Whoa, m-miss, you can’t be in here. Hold on. Hold on!
[Ariana] Stop talking. Not another word.
[Rebecca] This is Mr. Norris’s attorney, the one you failed to notify before questioning my client. Cooper, did they explain your rights to you?
[Cooper] They ain’t explained nothing to me.
[Rebecca] Well, at this point, gentlemen, anything he says and anything he has already said is inadmissible in court. I’m 15 minutes away. I’ll be there in seven. Which interview room?
[Miller] Four.
[Rebecca] On my way.
[line beeps]
[Hayes] You know who calls lawyers, Cooper? Guilty men call lawyers.
[Ariana] I called the lawyer. What am I guilty of? [scoffs] How you look your wives in the eyes after all this, no idea.
[tires squealing]
[Rebecca] Call Tommy Norris.
[line rings]
[Rebecca] [sighs]
[phone buzzing]
[Tommy] Thank you.
[Tommy] Yeah?
[Rebecca] Whatever favors you have with law enforcement in this county, you need to call them in. They’re gonna hang a murder charge on your son.
[Tommy] The hell did… Did you say “murder”? Who the fuck did he murder?
[Rebecca] According to last night’s police blotter, a 59-year-old white male named Jonathon Reasner.
[Tommy] And who in the fuck is that?
[Rebecca] I’m playing catchup, too. Apparently, he sexually assaulted the girlfriend. I’m on my way to Odessa PD now. Any reinforcements you can send my way would be greatly appreciated.
[Tommy] Yeah, okay, well, you just get the lay of the land and call me back, all right?
[Rebecca] I will.
[Tommy] All right.
[line beeps, rings]
[phone buzzes]
[Walt] Tommy?
[Tommy] Walt, what in the shit is going on with my son?
[Walt] I just heard about it.
[Tommy] Well, you’re gonna have to help me fix it, okay?
[Walt] This old boy died, Tommy.
[Tommy] I don’t give a shit. I need the facts, Walt. I need the facts, I need police reports, I need everything. Every goddamn thing, so get on it.
[Walt] Heading that way now.
[Tommy] Can you give me a fucking chance?
[Angela] Bella. [laughs]
[Bella] Oh. [laughs] Ciao. Oh, my God, your dress.
[Angela] Bella. Mwah.
[Bella] Hi.
[Angela] Isn’t this just the cutest place?
[Bella] Oh, I love it. It’s my favorite in Fort Worth. And this reminds me of Soho.
[Angela] Oh. London?
[Bella] Yeah. Okay, food. There is nobody in the U.S. that can make a beef Wellington even edible, but here is Mamma mia…
[Angela] Come on, girl. That’s a little heavy for me. I am currently winning the war against my hips, and I refuse to give them any ammunition.
[Bella] Please.
[Angela] Mmhmm.
[Bella] Okay, then order the blue crab pot pie. Beautiful.
[Angela] All right. [chuckles] This is so fun.
[Bella] It is. I love it.
[Angela] Yeah.
[Bella] Is Tommy in town?
[Angela] He’s in Midland. I think. I mean, you know, Tommy runs around like a scalded dog. You never know where he is.
[Bella] Okay, I-I assumed he would be here taking meetings, though.
[Angela] He takes his share. What?
[Bella] It-it-it’s… not my place.
[Angela] I mean, secrets is no way to start a friendship.
[Bella] [sighs heavily] He was fired. Yesterday, at the river. Or-or at least that’s what Cami told Danny anyways, that they have different visions for the company. You know?
[Angela] No, uh… He didn’t tell me that.
[Bella] Okay, but-but maybe… [stammers] What do I know? Maybe I hear wrong. Maybe-maybe she’s somebody that says these things and then changes her mind.
[Angela] Excuse me.
[Bella] Okay.
[sinister ringtone playing]
[Angela] Hey, honey.
[Angela over phone] What you doing?
[Tommy] Pulling into Dallas. I got a lunch meeting.
[Angela] Yeah? Yeah, a lunch meeting or a job interview?
[Tommy] Sweetheart, when I say today’s not the day, I really mean it, all right?
[Angela] You got fired and you didn’t tell me?
[Tommy] Well, number one, I got fired on a riverbank while you were playing den mother to a cheerleading squad. Number two, I don’t talk about problems till I have solutions. So, when I find a solution, you and I’ll discuss the solution and see if the problem’s solved. Is that okay?
[Angela] [sighs]
[Tommy] Honey, it’s not 2008. I ain’t trying to drink my problems away. I’m gonna solve this. I’m gonna solve it for you and for me and for the kids. You know, I’ve done a lot of shitty things in my life, I know, but… [sighs] I’ve never broken my word. So, I give you my word. We’re all gonna be better off for this. So can you believe in that? I give you my word and you’ll believe it?
[gentle music]
[Angela] Believing in you is the one thing that I have no trouble doing.
[Tommy] Well, I can think of a few more, honey, but we’ll talk about that later.
[Angela] I love you.
[Tommy] All right, I love you, too, sweetheart.
[line beeps]
[Tommy] [sighs] Oh, and I forgot to mention your son’s being charged with murder, but I’ll fix that, too. Well, God, you got anything else? Just dump it the fuck down on me. Just give it to me, all right?
[car horn blares]
[tires squealing]
[truck horn honks]
[Tommy] Son of a…
[low chatter]
[Tommy] That was low, God. That was fucking dirty.
[dramatic music]
[vehicle door closes]
♪♪♪
[Walt] What we got here?
[Hayes] Surveillance footage. Lawyer’s en route. Gonna request it anyway. Might as well show it to her.
[Rebecca] [sighs] Let me guess, footage from surveillance cameras?
[Hayes] Ma’am, before we speak, you all should watch this. This went well past the point of defense of another.
[Rebecca] Back the footage up 30 seconds, would you?
[Hayes] That’s not relevant to this specific complaint…
[Rebecca] Everyone with a law degree in the room, raise their hand. Oh, it’s just me? Back it up and play it. That’s what I’ll be showing a jury… and they can decide how real a threat this man posed and what measure of force should be applied to stop him. I noticed, Detective Miller… you were involved in a shooting with a man armed with a pipe wrench.
[Miller] Okay.
[Rebecca] You shot the man 11 times. Why not shoot him in the leg?
[Miller] Under that specific situation, I couldn’t guarantee a shot to the leg would stop the assailant.
[Rebecca] But you’re trained to make those quick decisions, aren’t you? Cooper, how much use-of-force training have you received?
[Cooper] Um… none.
[Rebecca] According to the autopsy… all 11 rounds hit center mass, meaning the first bullet likely killed him, eliminating any threat of continued violence, yet you shot him ten more times. Let me explain what will happen if this department charges my client. I will go to the family of this man and file civil suit for wrongful death times ten based on this department’s now established policy of holding untrained citizens responsible for knowing when a threat of violence has been eliminated. Then I will go through every officer-involved shooting in this county and file a class action suit on behalf of the family members of every suspect killed in a similar fashion. You getting my drift? I will use your prosecution to bankrupt this county and every one of you. And the more you prove your case, the more you prove mine.
[Rebecca to Cooper] Stand up.
[Rebecca] Is he being detained?
[Hayes] Not yet.
[Rebecca] [scoffs] Go home, Cooper.
[door opens]
[door closes]
[Rebecca] There’s my card. Never contact my client again. Think real hard before you charge the man who saved the 22-year-old widow from rape in a back alley with murder. ‘Cause I have a pretty good feeling a jury in this county will find the man got exactly what he deserved. But… if you do… What’s the saying you guys use around here? “Fuck with the bull and get the horn”? It’s a zero-sum game for me, gentlemen. I am a life-ruiner. You go after that kid for saving his fiancée’s life? Ruin lives is exactly what I’m gonna do. Starting with yours.
[door opens]
[pensive music]
[Walt] Why are y’all picking this fight?
[sighs]
[Walt] Somebody tried to rape my wife or yours? What would you do different?
[Hayes] It ain’t us. Guy was a big pipeline supplier. Suits don’t like the message it sends when they get beat to death in an alley.
[Walt] I don’t like the message that we charge people for beating up rapists either.
[Hayes] Take it up with the chief.
[Walt] I plan to.
[phone buzzes]
[Tommy] Hey.
[Rebecca] I have seen a video of the event.
[Tommy] All right, walk me through it.
[Rebecca] So, the perp had beat Ariana unconscious and was removing her clothing when Cooper arrived. Cooper pulled the man off and… Well, your son beat the hell out of him.
[Tommy] Just give it to me straight, Rebecca. What did the police do? What are his chances?
[Rebecca] It’s too early to say. If PD lists it as a justified homicide, then this is done. Simple as that. Can a county attorney find any sympathy for a rapist in a West Texas jury? I would think it unlikely, but the more strings you can pull before that point, the better.
[Tommy] All right, listen, I’m gonna be back by three o’clock. I need to see you later, okay? There’s more to talk about than this.
[Rebecca] I’m around.
[phone buzzes]
[Walt] Boy, your lawyer put the fear of God in ’em.
[Tommy] They ain’t seen the fear of God yet, Walt. Who’s pushing for this?
[Walt] Don’t know. I’m heading to the chief’s office right now.
[Tommy] All right, well, I want to sit with him and the county attorney this afternoon, Walt. You got it?
[Walt] I’ll tell ’em.
[Tommy] Okay.
[“I Got to Move” by Whiskey Myers playing]
♪ Come on over here, darling ♪
♪ Won’t you take my hand? ♪
♪ Wish I could stay here
forever… ♪
[Brian] Yeah!
[Kole] Whoo! Like that. Yeah.
[Brian] Give us some more.
[Chip] Like that.
[Kole] Like that.
[Brian] Yeah.
Whoo! Like that.
Like that.
[Brian] Just like that, yeah.
[Kole] Come on, baby.
[Olivia groans]
[Ainsley] Who are they?
[Olivia] High school kids. We call ’em the future douches.
[Kole] Come on, do the splits!
[Olivia] Okay, dweebs.
Yeah.
[Chip] Hey. Hey. What is that?
[scoffs]
[laughs]
A cyborg.
[Brian] Hey, what are you?
Are you a cheerleader?
No, she’s on the football team.
[laughs]
No, she’s a hobgoblin.
[laughter]
[Brian] Hey, are you a linebacker? What’s going on?
[Chip] Hey, which cheerleader’s your girlfriend?
Hey, how about y’all shut up?
[Chip] Hey, why don’t you make us?
[Ainsley] Hey!
[boy mutters]
Oh, my God, you’re hot.
[Ainsley] You think that’s cool? Insulting our teammate? Insulting us? What, you guys big, grownup boys now? All cool on your dumb little bikes?
[Kole] Cool enough to handle you.
[laughs]
[Ainsley] You think so? Okay, prove it. Whip it out.
[Olivia chuckles]
[Ainsley] Let’s see it. I bet mine’s bigger. You’re rude little boys. Girls like us don’t date boys like you. So, gawk away. This is the closest you’re ever gonna get. Bye. Have a shitty life.
[Brit] All right. Let’s pack it in for the day. Tomorrow 9 a.m. in the weight room to start.
[Brit] Norris.
[Ainsley] Yes, ma’am.
[Brit] Need your kicks higher.
[Ainsley] Okay, I’ll work on it.
[Brit] How do you work on it?
[Ainsley] Stretching.
[Brit] Standing up for your teammate like that on day one, though. I like that.
[Paigyn] I don’t hate all music. Just the kind I don’t like.
[Ainsley] Yeah, I’m the same way. I think.
[Paigyn] What kind of music do you like?
[Ainsley] Um, just depends on my mood. You know Lainey Wilson?
[Paigyn] Yeah, I dig her.
[Ainsley] Yeah, what about, um, Ella Langley?
[Paigyn] I don’t know.
[Ainsley] Oh, it’s awesome.
[Paigyn] I didn’t mean to run you off. I just… thought we should have some ground rules.
[Ainsley] Yeah, we should, but we should both come up with them.
[Paigyn] I’m cool with that.
[Ainsley] Okay. Can ferrets have baths?
[Paigyn] I don’t know, I’ve never tried.
[Ainsley] I think that’s a good place to start.
[Paigyn] Could be a real shit show.
[Ainsley] Welcome to my life.
[Paigyn] All right, well, I guess we’re gonna bathe a ferret.
[Ainsley] Freakin’ A, we are.
[Paigyn] All right.
[gentle music]
[Ainsley] Boo.
[Angela gasps]
[both chuckle]
[Angela] How was practice?
[Ainsley] [sighs] It was really hard.
[Angela] Get in.
[Ainsley] What do you think about me giving dorm life another try?
[Angela] Did you find a new roommate?
[Ainsley] I worked things out with the old one. I think.
[Angela] Y’all are pretty different.
[Ainsley] I know, but if we can get the ferret smelling better, then we have a chance. I’m sweaty, Mama.
[Angela] All grown up.
[Ainsley] [chuckles] Okay. I’ll Uber over later and I’ll get my stuff.
[Angela] Okay. Have fun.
[Ainsley] I will. I love you.
[Angela] [sighs] I love you.
[tense, dramatic music]
She can see you now.
[Nathan] Thank you.
[Cami] Oh. Nathan, come on in, have a seat. Got the keys to the kingdom right here. The reason we couldn’t find anything on the computers is… everything was in hard copy in the basement. It’s gonna take a while to go through, but at least now I know where everything is. I never thought of, uh, Monty as old-school. No electronic files, everything on paper. What would the reason be for that, I-I wonder?
[Nathan] So, if there was a criminal investigation or civil litigation, he could destroy the evidence without leaving an electronic trail.
[Cami] And you were okay with this?
[Nathan] I understand getting distance from liability, but did I approve? No.
[Cami] So what should we do? Should we scan these into the computer?
[Nathan] That’s your decision.
[Cami] Well, I’m asking your opinion.
[Nathan] I don’t have one.
[Cami] Well, the president of a company needs to have opinions. You understand what I’m asking?
[Nathan] Tommy said you might try to make me interim president.
[Cami] Well, Tommy is nothing if not shrewd. So, I assume you coming means you’re accepting?
[Nathan] Quite the opposite. I came here to offer my resignation. Monty didn’t design this company to outlive him. Read enough of those files and you’ll learn why. He designed it to be sold. Tommy can help you with that. I can help you with that, and I sure hope you’ll give us the chance. For your sake. For your family’s sake. Let us sell this thing… before it’s the end of you, too.
[dramatic music]
[Tommy] We got six pumping with a flow over 6,500. We’re set to go on seven, and we got another 28 leases. We hit on a pocket that the whole world missed. Could be 50 to 100 million barrels.
[Bob] Where exactly is this?
[Tommy] I’ll tell you where when we have a deal.
[chuckles] So, let me get this straight. $44 million gets me 50% of the existing and 75 of all new production?
[Tommy] Yeah. Or you could farm it back to us and go 60-40.
[Bob] Where did you get the money to drill?
[Tommy] M-TEX covered the drilling.
[Bob] So my deal’s with M-TEX?
[Tommy] No, your deal’s with me.
[Bob] Okay, I’m… And I’m not making any accusations. But the term for that is embezzlement, Tommy. Even if I pay M-TEX back with interest, and I understand the sinking ship that M-TEX is becoming, and you’re right to grab a life raft, but… I run a publicly traded company. Anything we do is under the scrutiny of our shareholders, the SEC, and every state and federal regulatory agency in existence. Now, the Railroad Commission, they… may look the other way, but the FTC won’t. U.S. Attorneys won’t. [sighs] I can’t even dabble in the gray, Tommy. Now, you figure this out, you bring her back to me all cleaned up with all this mess behind it? Maybe we can have a conversation.
[Tommy] Yeah, okay. Understood, Bob. Well, I’m sorry to leave early, Bob, but I’m on the clock.
[Bob] I have no doubt. Tommy. You can just walk away from all this. Let M-TEX absorb it, and you’re clean. Do that, I will make you a vice president of production the next day. Seven-figure base, bonuses, stock options. No more chasing your tail.
[Tommy] I appreciate that, Bob, but I just got to know.
[Bob] Know what?
[Tommy] If I got one more home run in me.
[uneasy music]
[sinister ringtone playing]
[Tommy] Hey, babe.
[Angela] That’s it. I mean, she is gone. Fucking grownup and gone, with her nonbinary, ferret-owning fucking new friend.
[Tommy] That’s the job, ain’t it, honey? You get ’em grown, you get ’em gone.
[Angela] The job sucks. Now I got to drive back to Midland by myself and wallow in it.
[Tommy] Well, just meet me at Alliance and fly with me.
[Angela] Can you still use the jet?
[Tommy] Cami don’t even know about the fucking jet, and I’m gonna use the shit out of it till she does.
[Angela] Well, what about my car?
[Tommy] I’ll have it on a flatbed tomorrow.
[Angela] I’ll just drive.
[Tommy] Honey, we got a lot to talk about, and none of it’s good, so meet me at the airport.
[Angela] Okay.
[Tommy] All right.
[phone chimes]
[dramatic music]
[phone line ringing]
[Gallino] Yes?
[Tommy] Hey. I need to see you.
[Gallino] When?
[Tommy] As soon as I can get there. I’m in Dallas, but I’m on the way.
[Gallino] Okay.
[Tommy] All right.
[Gallino] I don’t know, Tommy. I don’t know. We tried this once before, and… you didn’t want me as a partner. Plus I’m… I made a pretty sizable investment with Cami.
[Tommy] An investment you’ll lose.
[Gallino] You seem so certain about that.
[Tommy] Yeah, you want to know why?
[Gallino] Yeah.
[Tommy] ‘Cause I’ve seen this a thousand times. There’s no comparable business to oil except Las Vegas. And what do they have in common? The house always wins ’cause the house can afford to lose. When BP’s Deepwater Horizon blew, it dumped three million barrels in the Gulf. That company’s fine. When Piper Alpha blew, 1988, killed 167 men. That company’s fine. Because they’re too big to fail. And now… you’re risking something that they analyze for years. On a hunch and a mandate from a fucking insurance company. Monty was a blackjack player. When he lost, he took a marker. When he won, he paid a marker. But Monty’s gone. And now his wife’s holding all your chips, and she don’t even fucking know how to play. Now, if there’s gas and if you can reach it at 30,000 feet and if you can seal the well without salt water invading and if the pressures hold and if you don’t hit an air pocket, who knows? You’re six miles under the surface of the ocean. And if you achieve all that, now you need export contracts with Europe, a region wholly committed to ridding dependence on LNG. Now you need no hurricanes, no pressure valve failures, no earthquakes, no tectonic plate shifts, and you’re at the mercy of underwater welders and engineers and politicians who fucking despise this industry, and you need all this from a person who never ran a company, let alone an oil company, and you don’t need her husband’s $1.3 billion in debt come calling on you. That’s a lot of ifs.
[Gallino] I’d say so. But those are her ifs. What are your ifs?
[Tommy] I don’t have ifs. I got six wells that are producing between 250 and 500 barrels a day. I got another 28 to work over within a five-mile radius, and I have exclusive rights to drill new ones any-fucking-where I please. We are the house. And in our little world we’re too big to fail. Now I grow the world. I need you to honor the original contract with Cooper, and I need you to extend an additional $18 million for the next three wells. You’ll recoup at 70%, then it’s 50-50 forever. Your first check for just under $6 million will arrive in less than a week, and they don’t stop coming. This is what you asked me for, and this is what I’m giving you.
[dramatic music]
[Gallino] $40 million?
[Tommy] [exhales] Forty-four. Interest on the M-TEX advance. Just make it out to, uh, M-Miller Enterprises.
[Gallino] And the $18 million? I need a name, Tommy.
[Tommy] CTT Oil Exploration. And Cattle.
[Gallino] And Cattle? Are we in the cattle business, too?
[Tommy] No, I just hadn’t formed an LLC yet, so… I needed something so stupid nobody else would have it.
[Gallino] You’re right. I may lose everything with Cami, and I won’t like it, but I’m not gonna hold her responsible because she doesn’t know what she’s doing. And I only partnered with her because of you. Because you know what you’re doing. So, if you lose this and you try to fuck me in any way, the thing you love the most, that’s the first thing I’ll take.
[Tommy] What a great way to start a partnership. Anything you lose with Cami, I’ll make it back for you in three years.
[Gallino] Like the sound of that. Let’s celebrate.
[Tommy] Oh, I can’t. I got to go keep my son out of prison.
[Gallino] It’s like I’m looking in a mirror, except I’m skinny and I wear a hat.
[pats arm]
[dramatic music]
♪ singer vocalizing ♪
[Nathan] I hoped that’s what you were doing.
[Tommy] It’s done. What about the contract?
[Nathan] I resigned. That’s what about the contract.
[Tommy] Nate, I could kiss you right now.
[Nathan] Please don’t.
[Tommy] [chuckles] Get on your computer, form an LLC. CTT Oil Exploration and Cattle. You’re the treasurer. Open an account and deposit this.
[Nathan] And Cattle?
[Tommy] Look, I’m running on fumes, buddy. Doing the best I can.
[Tommy] Hey, baby.
[Angela] I hope you had a better day than I did.
[Tommy] I’m sorry. I know what you want out of life.
[Angela] Yeah?
[Tommy] Yeah.
[Angela] What do I want?
[Tommy] You want every meal to be memorable. You want every moment to be an experience.
[Angela sighs]
[Tommy] You want every night to be a honeymoon. And I think it’s beautiful.
[Angela] Why are you saying this?
[Tommy] I can’t tell you right now, honey. The day’s not over yet.
[Angela] [sighs] Are you worried about losing your job?
[Tommy] I got another job.
[Angela] What’s the job?
♪♪♪
[Tommy] Guess who I just got off the phone with. Chief of staff at the hospital. And everybody here failed to tell me that that son of a bitch died at the ER from a fucking heart attack.
[Miller] Would he have had a heart attack if he hadn’t gotten the living shit beat out of him?
[Tommy] My back is to you for a reason, bud, because you don’t make the decisions here. Maybe he would’ve died from a heart attack raping my future daughter-in-law. Did you ever think about that? A widow with a seven-month-old. And we’re siding with a rapist.
[Ramoz] We’re not siding with anybody, Tommy. All right? We’re just trying to follow the letter of the law, that’s all.
[Devin] Criminals can be victims, too, Tommy.
[Tommy] How old’s your daughter, Devin? Isn’t she about to graduate?
[Devin] I don’t see how my daughter’s relevant to this.
[Tommy] Oh, I think everybody’s daughter’s relevant to this, and so is your wife and my wife. Any rights that piece of shit might’ve had, he left at the back door of that bar. Now, is there a man in this room that would’ve done anything different if you had come in and caught somebody attacking your wife or your kid? Well, I’ll tell you what I would’ve done different. The son of a bitch wouldn’t have seen the inside of the ER with me. It’d have been straight to the fucking morgue with that piece of shit. Now what do you say? How about only one person got their life ruined today? No telling how much therapy this girl is gonna need once she heals up from her broken nose and her separated ribs or concussion and all that shit. I’ll tell you what, if this leaks out to the press, who do you think the people of Midland and Odessa are gonna side with? It ain’t gonna be that bloated son of a bitch with a toe tag. I think it’s gonna be that girl. And this feels like a situation where mayors start firing police chiefs and county attorneys don’t get reelected. So what should it be, CBS or ABC? I guess you’re just gonna have to tune in and find out.
[Ramoz] Tommy. No one’s made a decision here yet. Just trying to work it out, that’s all.
[Tommy] Well, I’ve already worked it out in my mind, and I’m telling the whole world my decision.
[Walt] Y’all just go with the heart attack. Cleans this whole thing up. For everybody.
[Devin] What about the victim’s family?
[Tommy] That would be my family! And that girl’s family. That’s the only victim! Maybe a criminal can be a victim sometimes, but not while they’re committing a fucking crime. You’re either one or you’re the other.
[Ramoz] Well… Charges haven’t been filed yet. We’re just assessing the situation, that’s all.
[Tommy] The situation’s been assessed. Don’t y’all agree?
[Walt] County’s got no problem with it.
[Devin] That means I got no problem with it.
[dramatic music]
♪♪♪
[tires squeal]
♪♪♪
[knock on door]
[Tommy] Hey, honey.
[Ariana] Hi.
[Tommy] Let me see. Well, it looks like you gave as good as you got.
[Ariana] Gave it all I got.
[Tommy] I don’t doubt that. Where’s Cooper?
[Ariana] He’s mowing the lawn.
[Tommy] That’s what I always do when I’m being investigated for murder.
[Ariana chuckles]
[door closes]
[Ariana] You think he’s gonna be charged?
[Tommy] I think that’s all behind us now. It’s gonna eat at him, though.
[Ariana] It’s already eating at him.
[Tommy] Mm, how about you? Is it eating at you?
[Ariana] Did he get what he deserved? I don’t know. But did I get what I deserved?
[lawnmower running]
[lawnmower powers down]
[Tommy] It’s quite the night.
[Cooper] I swear, trouble finds me like flies at a picnic.
[Tommy] Listen, son, I talked to the county attorney. This ain’t going no further, okay?
[Cooper] They’re right, though. I went past defending her to punishing him.
[Tommy] Cooper, look at me. Look at me. Don’t ever say that again. Don’t say it to Ariana, don’t say it to anybody. Ever. He didn’t value her life, and now he don’t have a life. Period. That’s all this is. And another thing, get her out of that fucking bar.
[Cooper] Already done it.
[Tommy] All right. I need you to come with me.
[Cooper] I can’t leave her here.
[Tommy] Well, bring her, too.
[Cooper] We got Miguel.
[Tommy] Bring the kid, the dog, the whole bunch. I don’t give a shit. It’s fine, come on.
[gentle music]
[Tommy] Hey, Cooper, I need you to Gen Z me up a group text and send a pin to your Well Six.
[Coooper] Who do you want on it?
[Tommy] Nate, Rebecca and Dale, your crew, Boss and King… What’s that other kid?
[Coooper] Uh, BR.
[Tommy] Yeah. And look up Cheyenne. It’s probably under “stripper.”
[Coooper] There’s a stripper Jasmine, Harmony, Destiny…
[Tommy] That’s all for work.
[Ariana] Mm.
[Cooper] I got it.
[Tommy] All right, well, tell ’em all to meet me at the pin. Tell Cheyenne to bring Pop.
♪♪♪
♪♪♪
[Cheyenne] Sure glad I got my car washed today.
[Tommy] Well, that’ll teach you to not tailgate, hon. Well, I think most of y’all know, my son’s gathered up all the leases around here. About seven square miles of ’em. So far, they’ve hit. Every one of ’em. So I’ve negotiated a deal with a company out of Fort Worth to finance exploration at a 50-50 split, and they’ll cover all the existing wells. Y’all know what that means? We’ve got our own oil company.
[laughing]
[Tommy] And we’re gonna drill out this whole damn field.
[Dale] Oh.
[Tommy] All right? Now here’s my proposal. 25% of the profits is gonna be put in a pool and distributed among all the employees. Now let me introduce you to the board. There’s your president right there. I’m senior vice president, unless my son decides to fire me.
[laughter]
[Tommy] Nate’s the treasurer. Rebecca, chief operating officer and chief counsel. And Dale?
[Dale] Yes, sir?
[Tommy] You’re gonna head up exploration.
[Dale] Yes, sir.
[Tommy] And, Pop, you’re gonna oversee the drilling.
[T.L.] [laughs] I can’t climb that fucking ladder to a rig.
[Tommy] [chuckling] You don’t have to climb a ladder, Pop. It’s all computerized. You just sit in a room and control the drill with a joystick.
[T.L.] I don’t know how to work a joystick either.
[Tommy] Well, get Cheyenne to help you. God knows she’s had practice.
[laughter]
[Cheyenne] Hardy-har.
[Tommy] And, Boss, you run the crew. How’s that sound?
[Boss] Sounds fucking good to me, Tommy.
[BR laughs]
[Tommy] You boys in?
[King] I’m in.
[BR] Yeah, me, too.
[Tommy] Dale?
[Dale] You don’t even have to ask.
[Tommy] All right, buddy.
[Rebecca] ‘Cause it’s been so much fun up to this point, sure.
[Dale] All right!
[laughter]
[Tommy] Now, Ariana, if you want work, I can find it for you.
[Ariana] Like what?
[Tommy] Well, we need a secretary.
[Ariana] Do I look like anyone’s secretary to you?
[Tommy] How about office manager?
[Ariana] How does it pay?
[Tommy] Son, you just got a glimpse into your future right there.
[Cooper] This thing got a name?
[Tommy] CTT Oil Exploration.
[Nathan] And Cattle, unfortunately.
[T.L.] What are we doing with cattle?
[Tommy] Nothing, Pop, it’s just legal horseshit. Don’t worry about it.
[Cooper] So, what’s CTT?
[Tommy] Cooper, Tommy, Thomas.
[Cooper] [chuckles] All right. So when do we start?
[Tommy] We already started, son.
[cheering]
[laughter]
[Boss] All right.
[gentle music]
[indistinct chatter]
[Angela sighs]
[Tommy] Hey, baby.
[Angela] Mm. I never noticed these horses. I had horses as a kid.
[Tommy] Yeah?
[Angela] Mmhmm.
[Tommy] You know, honey, the time’s coming when… tragedy’s gonna dominate our days. Maybe it’s me, maybe it’s cancer. Maybe my mind goes, I wake up one morning and I don’t have a clue who you are. Or, God forbid, maybe it’s you. Car wreck or whatever, you know. But not today. Today we win.
[Angela] Baby, I win every day. You do, too. You just don’t see it. But it’s there. I mean, it’s all around you. Just got to take the time to notice. [sighs] Like now. Like me… walking upstairs to take a bath. Nothing on but my birthday suit. It’s worth watching.
[Tommy] No. You can’t have today, bud. Today is mine.
[serene music]
♪♪♪
[gentle music]
