‘Landman’ Takes a Dark Turn as Ariana Is Attacked & Cooper Retaliates

[Warning: The following post contains MAJOR spoilers for Landman Season 2 Episode 9, “Plans, Tears, and Sirens.”]

The penultimate episode of Landman‘s second season took a very grim turn when Ariana (Paulina Chávez) was violently attacked and nearly raped in the final moments.

At the time, Ariana was working the late shift at the cafe bar and went out back to call her mom and check in on her son. In the darkness, she was then confronted by the same man who was previously banned from the bar for harassing her earlier in the season. After calling her a racist slur, he then physically attacked her and attempted to force himself on her. Though she fought back against him, he ultimately got her pinned down and started to unbutton his pants before Cooper (Jacob Lofland) arrived on the scene just in time. After proving to Ariana’s boss that he was her fiance with a phone picture, he was pointed in the right direction and stepped in to stop the attack before it could become worse.

Cooper immediately began to wail on the creep’s face until Ariana begged him to stop so that he wouldn’t get into trouble for killing the guy, and Ariana’s boss arrived to help deal with the attacker and summon the police.

The entire incident was captured on camera, so it’s likely the police will see that Cooper’s brutality was justified by what happened to Ariana, but we’ll have to wait and see what becomes of this very upsetting incident in next week’s finale.

For now, what we do know is Cooper’s fate is also tied up in his decision to push Boss (Mustafa Speaks) to drill one of the wells further without permission from his dad or anyone else. If it fails, it’ll cost the company millions and put Cooper’s own neck on the line.

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Elsewhere in the episode, Rebecca (Kayla Wallace) swallowed her pride enough to apologize to Charlie (Guy Burnet) for snapping at him and admitted that she wanted to continue their relationship, even as he headed out to live on a deep-sea oil rig for six months. And Cami (Demi Moore) decided to part ways with Tommy (Billy Bob Thornton) over his naysaying about her “rush and exhilaration to the risk” of drilling the new-old well: “The president of my company can’t be averse to the very thing that built it,” she said. “I’m saying you’re fired.”

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What will M-Tex be without Tommy in the driver’s seat and Cami running the show with Gallino (Andy Garcia) at her side? Looks like we’re about to find out.

Also, Angela (Ali Larter), who was absolutely despondent over dropping Aynsley (Michelle Randolph) off at a week-long cheer camp at TCU — a precursor to her eventually moving there full-time for college — was delighted to be needed by her daughter once again shortly thereafter. As it turned out, Aynsley’s assigned roommate was a major mismatch, as this person immediately demanded that she not have meat, music, air freshener, and a number of other things in their “safe space” and didn’t seem concerned at all about how that would affect Aynsley’s use and enjoyment of the room. To get Aynsley out of it, she made a deal with the snippy admissions officer to give Aynsley an off-campus waiver and set her up at a ritzy nearby hotel where she and the other cheerleaders could play “Margarita Marco Polo” as the gods of college truly intended.

Aynsley wasn’t the only one having fun in the sun, either; T.L. (Sam Elliott) awoke to a surprise when his personal “physical therapist” arrived during his nap to spend another day chatting and swimming in the pool to raise his spirits, and, once again, it absolutely worked.

Landman, Sundays, Paramount+

If you or someone you know is the victim of sexual assault, contact the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network‘s National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673). If you or a loved one is in immediate danger, call 911.

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