- Starring
- Billy Bob Thornton, Ali Larter, Jacob Lofland
- Creators
- Taylor Sheridan & Christian Wallace
- Rating
- TV-MA
- Genre
- Drama
- Release date
- Nov 17, 2024
Overall Score
Rating Overview
Rating Summary
Set in the oilfields of West Texas, Landman follows the lives of roughnecks and billionaires in the booming oil industry.
Landman (season 1) REVIEW
Landman - WolfCampEpisodes 1-9›
Another sepia-rich and gritty drama from Tyler Sheridan, the man who pays Paramount+'s mortgage and subsequently keeps modern Star Trek's lights on despite their canon-breaking, non-binary beta male bs, Landman's first season stars Billy Bob Thornton as the grizzled manager of a relatively small independent oil company in the middle of nowhere, Texas, and all of the familial and professional drama that entails.
Unlike other Sheridan programs like Yellowstone and Tulsa King, both known for their relentless and over-the-top drama, be it repeated gang wars, manhunts for kidnapped children, or dumping whole towns' worth of bodies off at the "train station," this first season of Landman feels far more grounded. This is likely due to the copious real-life dangers involved in pumping crude.
Annually, deaths for those who work in oil and gas number in the hundreds, and hospitalizations in the thousands. With this level of danger organically present, it would take very little to cross over into melodrama, which, so far, the program has more or less avoided.
Another divergence is the lead characters. Where many of Sheridan's other projects are overflowing with bigger-than-life characters like Sly Stallone's Dwight "The General" Manfredi, who is a charismatic and tough gangster right out of a Scorcese film, and Beth Dutton, who makes manic and maniacal into an art form, Billy Bob Thornton's character is far more of a no-nonsense everyman who's just trying to get through another day in one of the most dangerous professions in the world.
The one over-the-top character in the program, Billy Bob's wife, played by Ali Larter, is a volatile foil hot enough to be completely out of touch but aging out and coming to understand what's truly important in life. She is a crass and classless slut who has relied on being a 10 to survive throughout her life. Even though she's trying to settle down, her narcissistic amorality threatens to ruin every situation in which she finds herself.
When paired with Billy Bob, who only wants to survive, be it to the next day or the end of dinner, the audience is treated to a delicious mix of tension and unease without the life-altering consequences that are so often the plot points in the Tylerverse.
The wonderful chemistry isn't limited to just these two. In fact, Landman may be the most perfectly cast program in the last 20 years. It helps that their characters are so well-defined and that the performers who embody them are so talented, but there's also that little spark of something extra that elevates the mix, no matter the pairing.
One thing Landman does share with its brothers and sisters is a cast of morally ambiguous characters. There are no "good men" or women, and few are truly evil. Instead, amoral characters with only the basic foundational ethics (e.g., it's generally wrong to kill, working hard to feed your family is good, etc.) flounder in life without understanding why, with perhaps one exception.
In a shockingly touching and brilliantly performed cameo, Dallas Cowboys owner, Jerry Jones, playing himself, shares arguably the season's most impactful and certainly its deepest monologue about those things we value in life and what few things among them have the ability to generate meaningful happiness.
That may be Landman's greatest attribute. It's not afraid to take its time and judiciously deliver impactful moments while remaining engaging. It's a surprisingly well-balanced series, especially given the frenetic, sometimes high-octane flavor of its Sheridan contemporaries.
The Crumbs of HopeFinale (E:10)›
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James Carrick
James Carrick is a passionate film enthusiast with a degree in theater and philosophy. James approaches dramatic criticism from a philosophic foundation grounded in aesthetics and ethics, offering insight and analysis that reveals layers of cinematic narrative with a touch of irreverence and a dash of snark.
James,
You hae to put it in the Worth It section for Billy Bob Thornton’s monolgues taking down the climate change nutjobs. Keep up the great work.
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