While some audiences may have anticipated disaster in Landman Season 2’s finale, Tommy Norris (Billy Bob Thornton) and his peers salvage a win, opening up an oil company called CTT Oil Exploration and Cattle. Norris pivots under pressure after Cami Miller (Demi Moore) fires him as president of M-Tex Oil, ending the season on top despite the calamities.

Landman Season 2’s finale delivered standout viewership for Paramount+, with Episode 10 garnering 14.8 million viewers in its first two days. Landman’s second season solidifies that, like Yellowstone, the oil drama is one of television’s most popular shows. Co-created by Yellowstone executive producer Taylor Sheridan, Landman overlaps with Yellowstone significantly, but diverges in its reliance on death and tragedy.

Landman Season 2 Ending Explained: What’s Next For Billy Bob Thornton’s Tommy Norris?

In the finale of Landman Season 2, Tommy starts his own oil company. Norris starts the day talking to his dad, informing T.L. (Sam Elliott) that he has lost his job. Dale (James Jordan) and Nathan (Colm Feore) wonder if their roommate will get a new one, but Tommy has a far greater prospect in mind.

After hearing from another oil executive that the maneuver he wants to pull is risky, Tommy meets with Gallino (Andry Garcia) in Fort Worth, requesting the cartel boss honor the original agreement he made with Tommy’s son, Cooper (Jacob Lofland), to fund his oil wells at the WolfCamp field. Ultimately, Tommy and Gallino strike a deal and become partners.

With $18 million in the bank to fund his new operation, Tommy gathers his closest associates from M-Tex Oil. He tells them he has formed his own company and wants Rebecca (Kayla Wallace), Boss (Mustafa Speaks), and everyone else to work for him. With the heartfelt development, Landman Season 2 ends, giving Norris a victory.

In contrast to Landman Season 1’s final scene, the end of Landman Season 2 shows Norris reveling in the day, finally feeling victorious. At the end of Landman Season 1, Norris is beaten down and dejected, almost getting burned alive by Jimenez (Alex Meraz). Still, the final episodes of Landman aren’t nearly as brutal as Yellowstone, setting it apart.

Landman Season 2’s Lacks Yellowstone’s Reliance On Death And Tragedy

Throughout the season, some fans have expressed concern online that Landman Season 2 would end with one of their favorite characters dying in an unexpected or traumatic way. In that sense, Landman audiences who have also watched Sheridan’s Yellowstone productions are conditioned to the violence that the Dutton family often faced toward the end of the season.

However, the finales of Landman Seasons 1 and 2 pale in comparison to the episodes that closed each of Yellowstone’s five seasons. The end of the Dutton family’s segments typically concluded with violence and death, as John Dutton (Kevin Costner) and his family struggled to maintain their hold on the largest contiguous ranch in the US, the Yellowstone Dutton Ranch.

Whether in the closing episode or in one of the chapters leading up to it, death would often plague the Dutton family. Moreover, Yellowstone also made a killer out of almost all of its main characters. That said, Sheridan’s audience is accustomed to violence and tragedy topping the television series he creates, with Yellowstone’s spinoffs also following the tragic trend.

Yellowstone Season 2 ends with Kayce Dutton (Luke Grimes) murdering the Beck brothers after they kidnap his son. While Ariana’s (Paulina Chavez) brutal encounter in Landman Season 2 was disturbingly violent, and Cooper kills a man to protect her, the altercation was on the record, and the oil series doesn’t rely as heavily on those situations to tell its story.