Following the successes of his Yellowstone universe, as well as Mayor of Kingstown, Tulsa King, and Lioness, Taylor Sheridan’s latest project for Paramount+ takes viewers into the oil fields of Texas through the eyes of Billy Bob Thornton’s lead character, Tommy Norris. Tommy is the landman, the onsite boss who keeps the sprawling oil fields running smoothly regardless of drug-cartel incursions, pump explosions, or blue-collar personnel issues. It’s a fine continuation of Sheridan’s winning formula, and also a welcome return for fans missing Thornton’s stellar work in his fascinating prior series, Goliath.
Buy Landman: Season One Blu-rayThe series gets off to a major bang when an oil tanker accidentally rams through a drug-cartel jet and van parked on an oil field road, setting up an immediate showdown between the ruthless local cartel chief and Tommy. From there, we get a crash course in land rights vs. mineral rights, with land owners leasing the rights to potential riches underground while continuing to develop above ground however they see fit.
Writer/director/producer Sheridan takes pains to describe the world of the oil fields in realistic detail, with the incendiary mix of Mexican immigrants and blue-collar Americans drawn to the sometimes deadly oil boomtowns in search of steady employment. Sheridan makes it clear that it’s still the wild wild west down there, with lawmen deep in the pocket of oil interests and shady company owners living like kings. Straddling the line of everything is Tommy, the scruffy overseer who acts as the interface between Jon Hamm’s glitzy company president and the roughnecks, as well as the peacemaker between the cops and the cartel. Thornton is perfectly cast and utterly commanding in the role of Tommy, taking the wheel from the first scene and never letting go.
The series quickly settles into three ongoing plotlines, with the bulk dedicated to Tommy’s ongoing adventures to keep the oil fields running smoothly by any means necessary. The fairly equally weighted B and C plotlines involve the shenanigans of Tommy’s ex-wife and teen daughter, as well as the budding romance between Tommy’s son and the Mexican widow of his newly deceased crew member. Falling somewhere far below those principal stories are the contributions of the second- and third-billed Demi Moore and Jon Hamm.
In a scenario shockingly similar to Sheridan’s Lioness, the show promises big stars but only rolls them out for a few seconds each episode. Just like Nicole Kidman’s glorified cameo work in Lioness Season One, Hamm literally phones in his performance for almost the entire season, with his character Monty directing and checking in on Tommy’s progress via phone as he jets from one important corporate business meeting to the next. Demi Moore is there even less as Monty’s wife, clocking at most maybe ten lines of dialogue all season prior to the finale, very much like Morgan Freeman’s nearly invisible Lioness role. The three promoted leads have a total of one scene together in the same frame all season, a brief meeting at Monty’s extravagant estate.
On the upside, nature abhors a vacuum, and the absence of the heavyweight co-stars leaves a big opening for someone else to step up, namely Ali Larter (Heroes) as Tommy’s firecracker of an ex- and possibly future wife, Angela. She left him for a rich new husband years ago, burnt out by his unshakeable devotion to his all-consuming job, but when their flame starts to heat up again, she ditches her husband to re-stake her claim on the resigned bachelor, Tommy. Larter goes for it in the role, delivering a consistently entertaining bawdy babe who uses her body and loud mouth to get what she wants. She’s just the jolt of sassy energy the show desperately needs, a fiery dervish who plows through anything in her way.
Tommy’s kids are so opposite that they could be from different planets, with his sexy, vivacious daughter Ainsley (Michelle Randolph) following very closely in her mother’s materialistic, oversexed, high-heeled footsteps, while his scruffy, morose son, Cooper (Jacob Lofland), is so monotone and dead-eyed that one wants to poke him to make sure he’s still alive. Sheridan and team male gaze Randolph hard, creepily ogling her pert derriere in a thong in almost every episode. Conversely, the skinny, greasy Lofland is so hard on the eyes that it bends all credulity when the comely young widow Ariana (Paulina Chavez) falls for him. However, he believably fits right in on the oil fields as a blue-collar newbie learning the ropes, seemingly getting more into his occasional action scenes than any line delivery.
Other supporting characters include Tommy’s roommates forced to adjust to the presence of his ex-wife: a stuffy lawyer played by The Umbrella Academy headmaster Colm Feore and Sheridan mainstay James Jordan playing an oil field worker so indistinguishable from his ongoing Lioness role he seemingly just walked over from one set to the next.
The 10-episode season is spread across three discs in a standard Blu-ray case, but oddly discs two and three are stacked together on the right disc hub instead of being housed in separate trays, so at first glance it looks like the case only contains two discs. Blu-ray image quality is crisp and precise, while sound is offered in English 5.1 Dolby TrueHD or French 5.1 Dolby Digital.
The set is stuffed with over 85 minutes of bonus features, with most of the shorter segments focusing on interviews with the cast. The most entertaining feature is an in-depth 15-minute look at the pyrotechnics and stunts, including plenty of behind-the-scenes footage detailing how they set up the show’s biggest explosions. There’s also a slick half-hour peek inside the series that seems to have been produced as a promotional primer to air on Paramount+, along with a far more interesting half-hour look at the show’s genesis.
The season finale switches up the power dynamics of both the oil company and the drug cartel, setting up fresh intrigue for next season as it ushers out one titan and welcomes in a new one. Sheridan manages to make oil fields entertaining in conjunction with Thornton’s towering performance, updating the Dallas scenario for a new generation by getting into the gritty reality of workers in the oil fields, not just their C-suite beneficiaries. Balanced out by just enough comedic, glossy nonsense from Larter and Randolph, as well as occasional sightings of the elusive movie stars and flashy action scenes, the show is roundly entertaining and another winning achievement for Sheridan’s burgeoning empire.
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