The Landman debut made clear that the oil business was a dangerous business. Two headline-grabbing tragedies struck in the first episode alone. An attorney was being flown in to carry out damage control for M-Tex Oil after a TTP truck ploughed into one of the company’s planes, leaving half a dozen drug smugglers dead, before catastrophe struck again. And this time it was both personal and professional for crisis executive Tommy (Billy Bob Thornton).
Episode two began with an injured Cooper (Jacob Lofland) coming round after the devastating oil well explosion, with his three crewmates — Armando, Elvio, and their uncle Luis — presumed dead. An elegiac soundtrack played over a montage of billowing black clouds and all-consuming flames as an injured Cooper hauled himself over to the van and called the disaster in.
“Is she using ‘daddy’ as a metaphor?”
After the credits rolled, we found ourselves back in Midland. It was Saturday morning, which means nothing in west Texas when demand for oil is booming, and Tommy’s wilful teen daughter Ainsley (Michelle Randolph) was causing more than a little commotion.
Cup of joe in hand, Tommy defended his smoking habits to Nathan (Colm Feore). Then Nate came over a bit discombobulated when Ainsley entered the room in little more than a sweatshirt. “Morning daddy” she said, throwing her arms around Tommy. Registering his co-worker’s incredulity, he clarified that she was his daughter. “Now I know why you smoke so much,” he sympathized. (There's repeated confusion over whether this “barely legal” girl is his lover or his child, and it's one of the show's ickier aspects).
Hoping to reconcile with Dakota, Ainsley instead found a pile of folded blankets where her boyfriend should have been. Well, you did tell him to leave, Tommy remarks. "But he's not supposed to do it. He's supposed to change the way he feels and then do what I want." Then she cursed men everywhere and stormed out of the room, leaving Tommy urgently reaching for another cigarette.
The teenage girl drama escalated when petroleum engineer Dale (James Jordan) returns. His "hitch" (period of service) is meant to be over, but he was called back when a lightning strike ignited a holding tank. He heads upstairs, tired and dirty, pulling off his clothes in a somnambulistic state and entering the shower. But Ainsley was already in there, crying. Both stood staring blankly until Ainsley emitted an ear-piercing scream. Tommy sat pondering whether that was "a spider in the sink" scream or not as Ainsley punched Dale, kicked him in the nuts, and left him on the bathroom floor to have a minor heart attack. For everyone's peace of mind, Tommy insists, they'd all lock the bathroom doors from now on.
But locks wouldn’t stop Ainsley from being a constant distraction. Perpetually half-dressed and swanning in and out of the house, Nate complained to Tommy that she was “napalming” his concentration. Focusing on bereavement payments didn’t get any easier when she came looking for coconut butter, but it wasn't for cooking. She slathered herself in the stuff as she stood glistening by the pool. Going forward, Nathan thought it best for him to work in the living room.
A lawsuit waiting to happen
After the morning's drama between Dale and his daughter, Tommy received a call from the sheriff. There’d been a blowout at M-Tex Oil well 1422. Meanwhile, Monty (Jon Hamm) was having a curt telephone negotiation with a business associate at his mansion, and his wife Cami (A-list star Demi Moore) swam alone in their outdoor pool. Then came an incoming call from Tommy. Monty's mood rapidly worsened as Tommy, racing down to the incident site, informed him they'd suffered a blow out, and that he couldn't collect the attorney from the airport. Monty then had a blow up of his own, and hurled his phone over the balcony. Ah dear. He’s got a beautiful house, and a beautiful wife, but the weight of the world on his shoulders.
Arriving to witness the ferocious blaze, Tommy didn't hesitate to throw on a flame-retardant jacket and go into action hero mode. Was there an oilman around? Had the valve near the wellhead been shut off? The sheriff, Walt, didn't know. Every minute they wasted, the holding tanks might go up and “blow your ass to Abilene!”
He discovered that an injured oilman was being tended to by Emergency Medical Services (EMS). When he located him to ask what had happened, he was completely unsurprised to find his son Cooper on a gurney. Unfortunately, he was in no state to answer any questions on account of his burst eardrum. Despite the inferno raging on all sides, Tommy quickly got to work sealing the valve. He was successful, but a poorly aimed hammer blow badly mashed his finger. "Get a fire crew out to M-Tex 1422," he barked down the phone as his son was driven off to the hospital.
The incident threatened to give Monty a migraine. He was attending a track and field event and was supposed to be watching his daughter Gracie (Dani Raen), but he wasn't off the horn for more than a minute. He had Tommy on the line again, debriefing him about the explosion before heading off to inform the next of kin of Armando, Luis, and Elvio that their loved ones have been killed. The cause of the accident? Tommy reasoned it was a combination of one rusted pumpjack and a spark struck by a crewman, and Monty pondered whether OSHA – the Occupational Safety and Health Administration – would arrive at the same conclusion. Tommy advises they make a $250,000 bereavement payment to the families, and Monty agrees. Thoroughly preoccupied with this latest crisis, he isn't with Gracie and his wife Cami as they celebrate her first place win.
While counseling Monty on the phone, Tommy riles up a police officer by smoking outside the local PD in a "no-smoking" area and steadfastly refusing to stub it out. He’s in no mood, he tells Pete (Victor Dobro). "In no mood is my f**king motto," he growls back, just as Walt arrives to prevent fisticuffs. As they drive to make their somber announcements to the bereaved families, Walt advises Tommy to make amends with Pete at his earliest opportunity. "He's got a mean memory, that one," he cautions.
There are a lot of women gathered outside as they pull into a suburban neighborhood, with one woman watching them closer than most. "Which one?" she says as Tommy and Walt approach — clearly aware of the risk inherent in their job. Is Maria home? And Ariana too? They're ushered inside. Then an eruption of anguished cries draws the women indoors.
Life advice by Tommy Norris
We saw just how impatient — and borderline negligent — Tommy was when, after averting further chaos at the oil well, he finally checked himself into Midland General Hospital. His ex-wife had video called and was wondering why he wasn’t in the ER with their son. He dangled his mangled finger at her by way of explanation. “Always got to make it about you,” she sighed. Angela felt guilty for being in Cabo while her children were in difficulty. Tommy said not to worry, and signed off with some wise words to live by: “Enjoy the beach. […] Don’t get syphilis.”
He left his doctor speechless when — not having the patience to undergo twelve hand surgeries — he unfussily cut the loose part of his pinky finger off and dropped it in the bin. Then, before they could stitch him up, he went off to find Cooper. His son was feeling pretty morose after the accident. “And just like that, three widows and six orphans.” “Eight orphans” his dad corrected. That was one of a million reasons he should consider another job, as well as saving his own mother the anguish of ever being told her own child was dead. Tommy thought he was being single-minded and selfish. “If I’m so selfish, what does that make you?” Norris Jnr. mused sullenly. “A divorced alcoholic $50,000 in debt. And I’m one of the lucky ones.”
Rebecca Falcone: friend or foe?
After visiting the families, Tommy sat in the Patch Café nursing a Michelob Ultra, which, he told an incredulous bartender, wasn’t really drinking because "there’s more alcohol in OJ." The attorney from Shepherd-Hastings had just arrived in Midland – and it wasn’t Clay Chandler, the person Tommy expected. Rebecca Falcone (Kayla Wallace) drove straight over to meet Tommy. Let's just say they didn't hit it off. She chided him for referring to her as “the lady,” and his facetious rebuke was to commend the surgeon responsible for her transition (something tells us sparks are going to fly between these two).
Having apologized to her, Rebecca advised that they shift focus from the TTP incident to the recent oil well snafu. “It lends itself to more exposure,” she said. Not wanting to waste a minute, they drove straight back to the scene of the accident. What organizations would be making inquiries into the explosion, she wanted to know. As their attorney, shouldn’t she know that? Due to the last-minute pivot, she accepted, she was fairly unprepared for this. Tommy bullishly said they might be better off finding someone else. His opinion only became more firm when, after divulging the specifics of the accident, she seemed to feel that the company was undoubtedly at fault. “For an oil company whose manager knowingly sends its employees to faulty wells that violate OSHA standards, it’s a nine-figure lawsuit.” He was in the deep end now. Afraid he was about to be made a scapegoat, he got in his car and angrily drove away.
Tommy was soon venting his frustrations at Monty. Cami and her husband were attending a tedious industry dinner, which had been sold to her as a date night. Even worse, Monty’s phone wouldn’t stop buzzing. So he excused himself and slipped off to some far corner of the building. He dialed Tommy back. Who was this “employee relations pit viper” Monty had hired? It sure as hell wasn’t the attorney he’d recommended. She was going to serve his ass up on a plate, Tommy could feel it, as Monty knew they “didn’t have a well that will pass OSHA standards, [...] not a one.” Monty took Tommy’s tirade on the chin, but bluntly reminded him that “the boss is me” before hanging up.
'Dreamers and losers'
Tommy finally arrived home after the day from hell, delayed following a request for a new-fangled “Whatsitburger” from his famished Gen Z daughter. Though she only took three fries out of an entire packet and instructed him to bin the rest. Oh, had Tommy mentioned? Her brother was in the hospital. But she thought he didn’t graduate for another three months. Nope. He'd dropped out of school and was now working the patch. “He is such a loser,” she frowned, before realizing she’d just insulted her dad and his whole profession. Teaching moment! America had always been a nation of dreamers and losers, Tommy said. They headed out to California first. Now, they came out to West Texas. What was she, a dreamer or a loser? “A dreamer,” she murmured.
Just before 8 am the next day, Tommy arrived to collect a sullen Cooper from the hospital, and recriminations were quickly forthcoming. His dad had told him that being a roughneck was dangerous. In just three months he would have had a geology degree. He should have seen it through! But Cooper didn’t want to teach geology, he wanted to be a landman…like Monty! It turned out he had huge aspirations, and wasn’t the loser his sister had pegged him as. He was determined to run an oil company one day. But first, he needed to learn the ropes. Despite his many reservations – and certain Cooper would get kickback for the accident as “they always blame the worm” – he agreed to place his son with another crew.
Meanwhile, Tommy told Cooper that his sister was in town. Did he want to drop by and say hi? Hell no! He couldn’t think of anything worse. It turns out their antipathy was mutual. Could this become another iconic sibling rivalry to match Yellowstone’s Beth and Jamie Dutton? Only time will tell!
Watch new episodes of Landman weekly on Paramount Plus, every Sunday in the US and Canada, or on Mondays in the UK and Australia.
