This post contains spoilers for episode 6 of season 2 of “Landman,” “Dark Night of the Soul,” which premiered on Sunday, December 21 on Paramount+.
Well, “Landman” fans, a lot happened in this episode. T.L. (Sam Elliott) punched a man who disrespected his wife; Rebecca (Kayla Wallace) realized that a man she slept with was her subordinate; and Cami (Demi Moore) seems to no longer trust Tommy (Billy Bob Thornton) at all. The power dynamics are shifting rapidly!
Creators: Taylor Sheridan, Christian Wallace
Stars: Billy Bob Thornton, Ali Larter, Jacob Lofland
There are two series that coexist somewhat awkwardly within Landman, almost as if they were designed for different audiences and genres. The first—and arguably the more compelling—is a corporate drama with elements of thriller, crime, and behind-the-scenes intrigue, set in the West Texas oil and gas world. In this series, Billy Bob Thornton shines as Tommy Norris, a kind of fixer in the oil industry, a man who works for one of the big companies and oversees the complicated day-to-day operations of drilling, production, and maintaining the profitability of the wells. The other series, which orbits around the first, follows Tommy's complicated family life, especially his on-again, off-again relationship with his ex-wife and children. And there, with a few exceptions, the series adopts a comedic tone that rarely fits with the rest.
However, the dominant tone is that of financial and criminal drama. At the end of season 1 (SEASON 1 SPOILERS), Monty Miller (Jon Hamm) dies, and his company passes into the hands of his widow, Cami, a character that Demi Moore had previously played mostly in the background. Cami is strong, self-assured, and determined to keep the company afloat despite her grief. The problem is, she has very little idea how to run an oil company in the Permian Basin, and even less about the financial messes and suspicious figures left behind by her late husband.
That's where Tommy comes in, carrying the company on his shoulders, relying on both his deep knowledge of the industry and his ruthless negotiating skills. Meanwhile, Tommy's son, Cooper (Jacob Lofland), after making multiple mistakes, suffering accidents, and navigating dangerous situations last season, seems to have caught a lucky break: a set of wells he invested in are starting to generate profits unusually quickly. But nothing is ever that easy. The unexpected fortune creates friction with his girlfriend Ariana (Paulina Chávez) and draws him into a potentially dangerous situation involving Galino (Andy Garcia), a billionaire with cartel ties who also has a decidedly unhealthy connection to Tommy.
The third storyline in Landman is the lightest and most problematic. It revolves around Tommy's ex-wife, Angela (Ali Larter), who bursts back into his life with her usual intensity, and their younger daughter, Ainsley (Michelle Randolph), portrayed as the stereotypical "dumb blonde": a college cheerleader whose world revolves around her team, her appearance, and a rather questionable command of the English language. Angela's volatility and Ainsley's exasperating superficiality are clearly intended as comic relief—a duo of clichés—but most of their scenes come across as more embarrassing than funny.
There are moments when Angela's presence generates something useful: a large gathering of the main characters at the end of episode 3, a funny confrontation with local authorities in episode 2, but overall, you could fast-forward through their subplots and not miss anything important. Larter gives it her all, but an actor can only do so much when the script hands them a bunch of nonsense. As for Ainsley, aside from singing her college team's fight songs, very little of what she says is coherent or memorable. Tommy's expression of irritation whenever they're around perfectly mirrors the audience's feelings.
On the other hand, Landman works quite well as an "oil industry thriller," weaving together shady business dealings, suspicious money flows, legal troubles, and even the darkest corners of that world: ties to cartels, hydrogen sulfide contamination, and all the dangerous working conditions that come with drilling and hydraulic fracturing. This isn't a series particularly interested in analyzing the global consequences of oil extraction—after all, it's a Taylor Sheridan project, aimed at an audience that prefers stories, and often politics, with a traditional or conservative approach—but if you set aside environmental concerns, the series immerses you in the daily chaos of a multi-billion dollar industry.
The series also has other strengths. The portrayal of the West Texas oil region is very vivid: the archetypal characters, the country music bars, the expensive steak restaurants, the local customs. Sam Elliott appears as Tommy's father, and even with limited screen time, his presence is a great asset. Another standout performance is that of Kayla Wallace as the lawyer Rebecca Falcone, who shines in almost every scene she's in and delivers the series' strongest female character, along with Moore. And the rest of the weight falls on Billy Bob Thornton, a seasoned and somewhat cynical businessman who always seems to know how to handle the situation, even though he feels completely lost at home. And, to be fair, the audience connects with him.
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