Landman's Tommy Goes Rogue, Angela Lets It Ride — Read Episode 8 Recap

Cami and Tommy don't agree on a crucial business matter yet again in this week's "Landman," which is getting to be the new normal. This time, though, I'm much more interested in how Tommy acts afterward.

Since Monty's death, when Tommy and his boss don't see eye-to-eye, he's generally gone along with her decision — regardless of whether or not he thinks her direction is a good idea. But in Episode 8, he leaves her office after a tense meeting about the Gulf gas rig and goes directly to Gallino — who's now an MTex business partner, remember — to beg him to undermine the choice. Do I, too, think Cami made the wrong call? Sure! But is Tommy's patronizing, "don't worry your pretty little head"-slash-"I've gotta think about the company first" take the right way to go? It probably is not. Though I am very interested to see what will happen when Cami finds out...

Read on for the highlights of Episode 8.

Nate does the risk analysis on drilling the well versus getting sued by the insurance company, and comes up with this sobering assessment: "We're pretty f**ked either way." Tommy takes his morning cigarette out to the back yard and finds that T.L. has fallen into the poolBcause of his various mobility issues, he can't get out. As the older man sits in the shallow end, he cries about how his body is too worn out to have any hope left. Tommy comes to sit near him and suggests that they just need to get him some physical therapy to help him regain a little quality of life, but T.L. is despondent. When Tommy eventually gets him to his feet and helps him walk out of the pool, T.L. pauses and hugs his son tightly. Even without knowing everything we've learned about their relationship so far this season, it's clear that this hasn't happened very often in their shared life.

After Tommy sets off for work, Angela FaceTimes him, wearing a red string bikini. When he asks about her attire, she says it's part of her plan to entice him into giving her $10,000 to take the seniors on a casino field trip. He grumbles. She plays with the string at her hip. He relents, and she promises him sex in return. "Ten thousand dollars buys Saturday-night sex, so you better lock them f**king extensions down," he says, in what amounts to a Shakespearean love sonnet between these two.

As soon as they hang up, Tommy drives by a strip club — the same one where Angela and Ainsley took the seniors last season — and abruptly decides to turn in. Given the hour, the only people there are busy cleaning the poles and counting the cash. He approaches a woman sitting on the stage whom he determines is a dancer, then offers her a job: teach T.L. some stretches and such. She (and I) think he's nuts. Why not just hire a physical therapist? "My pop is as stubborn as a jack mule," Tommy reasons, "but he can't say no to a pretty woman." Tommy throws a couple more hundreds into the pot, specifies that it would be a twice-a-week thing, and she's in... though still highly skeptical.

A man approaches Cami at a bar during lunch and, within moments of saying hello, makes the choice to wipe some salad dressing off the corner of her mouth. She grabs his hand and (correctly) tells him he has no right to touch her. He apologizes as she stalks off to the ladies' room to wipe her face and pull herself back together; the interaction has left her shaken.

She's recovered by the time Tommy, Rebecca and Charlie arrive at her office to brief her on the Gulf situation; Nate joins via Zoom. Essentially, Charlie tells Cami what he told Rebecca in the previous episode, and Tommy lays it out for the big boss in plain speech: "He's saying there's no guarantee... that the drill will be successful. You could spend $400 million and have absolutely nothing to show for it." But Cami asks if that's the only outcome, and Charlie says that there's a chance that the well will be insanely profitable, as well. Nate quickly follows that the likelihood of that happening is 10 percent, which is not great. "We believe the reason that Monty didn't drill was that he felt a litigation against the insurance company was a safer strategy." Tommy and Rebecca lay out the reasons they think that an eventual settlement is the best option. But Cami is bothered by the whole thing. "If we never keep our word, what's our word worth?" she wonders. "Nothing. Nobody's is," Tommy replies. "That's what the lawyers are for."

Cami point-blank asks Charlie if he thinks the gas is there. He does; the question is whether they'll be be able to find it. But he thinks he's got a good idea of where it is. And that seals it for her. "My word will be worth something," she says. "Go find it."

In the hallway outside Cami's office, Rebecca rips into Charlie for making the possibility of finding gas seem so attractive. He refers to their relationship. She says they don't have one, and they won't be having sex anymore. He tells her that if she cuts people off when they don't do as she says, "what a lonely woman you're gonna be." It's low and hurtful, and he knows it the minute it comes out of his mouth. Yet he doesn't apologize.

Cami knows Tommy disagrees with her, but she has no friends, so she confides in him about the man who touched her face at lunch. He hugs her and offers once more to sell MTex for her. "I want success," she whispers. "Get that for me." She kisses his cheek. "I'm trying," he replies.

Thing is, his definition of success means saving the company in the way he sees fit. And that doesn't jibe with hers, given that he goes directly to Gallino's office to let him in on the 10 percent chance they have of hitting gas. "You're going to lose every penny of your investment in this venture," Tommy says. Gallino counters that it might work, and even if it doesn't work, Cami will be fine... though MTex will be over. Tommy ruefully admits he would've drawn up the same agreement were he in Gallino's place, and they both agree that Monty was good at his job... but didn't make many plans for the day he'd no longer be in control.

Rebecca and Charlie aren't sitting together by the time Tommy boards the MTex jet, and she's on the verge of tears by the time Tommy joins her in a nearby seat. "What he said is true," she admits, "and it hurt." Given that Tommy wasn't privy to their conversation, I expect him to ask some follow-ups, but he doesn't. OK then!

Tommy returns home to find T.L. and his "physical therapist" Cheyenne peacefully zenning out in the pool, Angela working on a baseball theme for dinner, and Ainsley proudly smiling near the a six-digit casino-funded return her mother secured on his investment: $317,622.68, to be exact.

Now it's your turn. What did you think of the episode? Sound off in the comments!