What was the gas in Landman Season 2? Details explored

The second season of Landman kept circling back to the brutal realities of the oil patch and the mysterious gas at the center of some of the most unsetlling moments of this season. As the show continues to explore the intricacies of the Texan oilfields, viewers have been asking if the cloud that rolls across the lease sites and drops everything in it's path is a fictional invention or something rooted in reality. The answer is nuanced, and one that requires deeper understanding.

Before breaking down the science behind it, here's everything you need to know about the gas in Landman's second season, and how it ties to reality.

The events of the gas leak in Landman Season 2

Season 2 of Landman opens its third episode with one of the show’s most alarming sequences. A team from Tommy Norris’s M Tex operation heads out to inspect an old oil well that had recently been struck by lightning. As they move across the lease, they stumble upon a field littered with dead hunters and animals. Within moments, the monitors clipped to their clothing begin sounding off. The crew tries to reach open air, but the gas closes in fast, overwhelming them before they make it to safety.

The hunters had unknowingly entered the contaminated zone first, collapsing almost immediately. When Dale Bradley and his team arrive to survey the lightning damage, a gust of wind pushes the gas toward them. Dale calls in an H₂S emergency and requests hazmat and medical support. One worker stays positioned above the tank, where the air is clearer, until a rescue helicopter arrives. Although the crew survives, the scene shows just how little warning the gas can give when conditions shift.

If the events of the episode terrified you too and had you scrambling for answers, here's what you need to know about the gas that managed to swallow everything in it's path.

So what exactly is this mysterious gas?

The gas in question is hydrogen sulfide. It is a colorless, flammable gas found naturally in crude oil, natural gas, and other geological formations. At low levels, it carries a rotten egg odor, but at higher concentrations it becomes harder to detect and far more dangerous. The gas is heavier than air, allowing it to pool around wells, pits, tanks, and low lying areas where workers may not notice it until symptoms begin. Longer term, the gas can irritate the eyes, nose, and throat, worsen breathing problems, and cause headaches and fatigue.

Landman's depiction of this aims to highlight the hazards faced by people who work in oilfields, reflecting their realities through the plot that shows this danger. The gas also harms people living around oilfields, making it a severe bio-hazard.

This year, three men in Houston succumbed to death because of hydrogen sulfide exposure, while two died last year in October alongwith thirteen others who were injured. It's a real danger, something that a large number of people live with in real life. The show is aiming to bring all of that to light, portraying a clear picture of ehat it's like to work in oilfields.

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Landman is streaming on Paramount+.

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