What I Love And Hate About Landman
One of the hottest shows of 2024 is Landman on Paramount and Paramount Plus. It’s from the creator of the highly popular series Yellowstone, Taylor Sheridan If you’re familiar with that show than you’re going to see the similarities between the two shows even though Landman is not a spin-off but rather a entirely different show.
Landman stars Billy Bob Thornton as the old wise “land man” Tommy Norris who has spent his life in the rough and tumble oil business. He works for the ever handsome and super stressed big boss Monty Miller played by John Hamm, who is married to a non stressed Demi Moore.
The first episode we are introduced to Tommy Norris apparently has been abducted by the very bad cartel who still want to use the area for their nefarious drug running business. Tommy is handcuffed to a chair with a burlap bag over his head all the while telling the cartel as he is in the driver’s seat.
Tommy is a grizzled, 3 pack a day kind of guy who is quick with a comeback for anything that is said to him, no matter how threatening. His sheer toughness and constant “been there done that “ attitude crosses over to the absurd and into an almost cartoon character area.
Tommy’s ex wife Angela, played by Ali Larter comes back into his life, because she misses his warmth and charm, just kidding that can’t be it. We’re not sure what she misses about him but, she leaves her multi millionaire husband and all of her belongings to rejoin. Tommy has an oil Landman’s wife.
Angela is written in such a highly sexualized persona, but you can only wonder what show creator Taylor Sheridan thinks of women. This is really the main problem with Landman, Sheridan writes scripts that are at best hard to believe and at worse, very low rent. When it comes to his female characters, they seem to either be bitchy, dumb or obsessed with their bodies and sex.
Tommy’s 17 year old Aynsley is played by Michelle Randolph, who in real life is 27 years old, and maybe that explains why the character is a tad over played as a typical teenager. Let’s put it this way. If this girl was your daughter, you would lock her in her bedroom at night, and also consider hiring an armed guard to keep boys out of her room and her in it.
Landman is still a good watch
The reason I watched the entire 10 episodes, even though the writing was sometimes too hard to believe and the characters were mostly people you wouldn’t want to associate with, it is a fascinating story.
A good show will teach you things that you didn’t know, and that’s exactly what happens with Landman is you learn about the oil business from the bottom up, and how rough that life can be, whether you are working in the field or betting at all on oil speculation.
Consider this a tepid recommendation of the show. When it’s all said and done, it is very entertaining and as you get into it, you will begin to enjoy the characters and learning about the oil business. You will also begin to understand why Old Billy Bob smokes 3 packs a day. Oh boy. Still give it a watch because you will learn about not only the oil business, but you will also learn from the wisdom that is Tommy Norris.
