Landman Season 3 Episode 1 || Oil Empires Never Sleep, and Neither Does Greed | Yellowstone

In the brutal sprawl of West Texas, where oil rigs pound the earth day and night and fortunes are made on the backs of broken land, Landman Season 3 Episode 1 opens with a clear warning: in this world, hesitation can kill you just as fast as bad math. As MTech Oil prepares for its most aggressive expansion yet, old ghosts rise from the dust, alliances fracture, and Tommy Norris finds himself standing on the fault line between power, family, and survival.

The episode begins under a scorching Midland sun. Tommy studies a fresh survey map laid across the hood of his truck, sweat streaking down his face. The land marked in red promises staggering production—enough oil to shift the balance of power across the basin. But Tommy knows the truth better than anyone: massive returns always attract sharper enemies. Every opportunity comes armed.

Inside MTech headquarters, the temperature drops but the pressure spikes. Cammy Miller, newly in control after her husband Monty’s death, makes her position clear. This expansion isn’t a choice—it’s a necessity. Investors are lined up, the money is ready, and hesitation means losing everything. When Cammy names Galino as the financial backer, Tommy stiffens. Galino isn’t just a wealthy investor; he’s a man with cartel ties, a predator Tommy barely escaped the last time they crossed paths.

Tommy pushes back, warning that Galino never invests without demanding control. Cammy brushes off the risk, coldly reminding Tommy that he’s president now—and presidents don’t flinch. Her ambition borders on desperation, and Tommy can already see Monty’s careful legacy slipping into something reckless.

Across town, Cooper Norris stands beneath a newly operational rig, the same one he fought to bring online after an explosion killed his crew. His hands still bear scars, but his resolve is ironclad. His fiancée Ariana brings news that MTech is pushing north, eyeing leases Cooper depends on. Promises of independence suddenly feel fragile in a business where loyalty evaporates faster than crude in the heat.

At the Norris home, tensions simmer. Aninsley, older and sharper now, senses trouble brewing. She clashes with Angela, Tommy’s ex-wife and longtime confidant, over the familiar pattern: when business gets dangerous, family pays the price. When Tommy finally comes home late, exhausted and guarded, he admits the expansion could either secure their future—or destroy it. What he doesn’t mention is Galino. Some truths are too volatile to release all at once.

The threat becomes real when MTech’s lawyer Nathan calls with alarming news: a key landowner has pulled out after receiving a better offer from a shell company tied to Jimenez, Galino’s former lieutenant. Supposedly gone. Clearly not. Tommy orders a delay and drives out to confront the situation himself.

At dawn, Tommy meets the landowner, an aging roughneck named Harlon, who sits armed on his porch. Men came in the night, Harlon says—offering double the money and threatening his grandchildren if he refused. Tommy recognizes the description immediately: Galino’s enforcers. He promises protection, but as he walks away, the weight of what’s coming settles hard. This isn’t business anymore. It’s war.

Meanwhile, whispers ripple through Midland. Cooper hears rumors that Tommy is quietly maneuvering against Cammy, buying up small leases to block the expansion’s path. It sounds exactly like Tommy—playing both sides—but Cooper worries what happens if his father finally loses the game.

Cammy confronts Tommy directly after discovering the delay. She accuses him of sabotaging the deal. Tommy fires back, warning that cartel money will eventually own MTech outright. Their argument explodes into a brutal truth: Cammy needs this expansion to keep the company alive, while Tommy believes it will bury them. When she threatens to cut him loose, the line between leadership and rivalry disappears entirely.

As pressure mounts, Tommy makes a dangerous decision. He meets Cooper at a rig site and proposes a quiet alliance—buying up small, strategic leases off the books to block Galino’s advance. No MTech branding. No paper trail. Cooper hesitates, then agrees. Trust is thin, but blood still counts.

Aninsley refuses to stay on the sidelines. Sensing her father is hiding something massive, she pulls Ariana into the conversation and pushes for transparency. She knows the family has to move before Cammy or Galino crushes them all.

By afternoon, Cammy learns of Tommy’s side deals and orders Nathan to cut off his access to company funds. Loyalty fractures across MTech like a rusted pipeline. Still, Tommy presses forward, signing key leases with his own money. That night, Galino calls him directly—calm, amused, and threatening. Tommy has stepped into the sandbox without permission.

Violence follows quickly. Harlon’s property is vandalized, windows smashed, warnings left behind. Cooper gets into a brutal bar fight with one of Galino’s scouts. The cost of resistance is rising fast. Tommy finally opens up to Angela, admitting the full scope of the danger. She urges him to stop fighting alone and offers her old legal contacts. For the first time in months, the family starts pulling in the same direction.

Tommy uncovers hard evidence linking Galino’s shell companies to cartel money and shares it with Nathan. Exposing it could destroy MTech—or save it. Cammy, rattled by the escalating threats, confronts Galino herself and realizes too late that she may have invited a monster she can’t control.

As the Norris family unites—Tommy, Cooper, Aninsley, and Angela—they prepare an independent play, one that doesn’t rely on MTech or Galino. But Galino sees it coming. He orders Jimenez to escalate, to make the pain personal.

The climax erupts at a remote drilling site. As Cooper hits oil, Jimenez’s men arrive armed. Tommy steps out unarmed, refusing to back down. Just as violence seems inevitable, federal agents swarm the site—tipped off by Angela’s contacts. Jimenez is arrested, Galino’s operation exposed, and the cartel grip finally cracks.

Cammy watches the fallout from her office as the partnership collapses. She admits Tommy won this round, but the cost is undeniable. MTech pulls back from the expansion, while Tommy’s independent operation strikes oil.

The episode closes with the Norris family gathered together, bruised but standing. The rigs burn bright against the night sky, pumping endlessly. Tommy looks out over the fields, knowing the truth better than ever: the empire is bigger now—and so are the threats.

Because in West Texas, oil never sleeps.
And neither does greed.