Let’s get this straight up front: I’m a huge fan of Landman on Paramount+. It’s fun and pulpy, and toggles between comedy and drama in a way that few shows are able to pull off so deftly.
In short: Landman is better than it has any right to be, largely because the acting bench is absurdly stacked for something this pulpy.
Billy Bob Thornton, great in everything, has never been better
Billy Bob is the landman, Tommy Norris, and if the role were played by a lesser actor, the entire operation collapses under its own weight.
Thornton has had some great roles on TV in recent years – ranging from a chilling hitman on the first season of Fargo to a down-and-out attorney on Goliath.
And for his long and iconic career, Tommy Norris feels in some ways like the role Billy Bob was born to play: weary authority – authenticity down to his dusty dad jeans, Western sport coat, and cowboy hat – and a sour sense of humor that is pulled off with lived-in perfection.
Most of all, we need to believe that Landman is real enough to care about, and Thornton holds down this job remarkably well even as explosions and silly hijinks and Taylor Sheridan-esque twists and turns carry on around him.
Ali Larter is a hellion
There are times when Larter, as Tommy’s formerly estranged wife, Angela, is asked to go a little too over the top wild (see: the dinner table freakout scene) or handle overly long strange-o side quests (see: the whole take the old folks to the strip club story arc in Season 1).
But overall she injects a regular dose of chaos agent energy to shake up what could otherwise be semi-dour doings at the odd corporate shared McMansion that they live in with other M-Tex Oil Company employees.
And most importantly, Ali Larter’s performance is fun, making her a perfect match for Billy Bob’s stolid good old boy vibes.
Demi Moore takes center stage (finally)
As Cami Miller, Demi Moore was mysteriously in the background during Season 1. If she was played by a less well-known actress that would not have been noticeable, but with Moore we were constantly asking, “What is going on with that?”
Well, we now have an answer: with husband Monty (fellow heavyweight actor Jon Hamm) dead, Miller has taken over M-Tex, and it’s been super fun watching her navigate the world of sharks and hawks, as Andy Garcia’s cartel-aligned Gallino puts it in the most recent episode.
Jacob Lofland brings in hangdog pathos
Just as Billy Bob grounds the A storyline, Jacob Lofland as son Cooper Norris does the same for the B team. Cooper is young and world weary, somehow. He clearly idolizes his dad while being low key obsessed with making poppa proud by becoming a full-fledged landman himself.
That drive is helping to lead to some interesting and sticky consequences in Season 2 along the lines of “he struck oil… but should he have been careful about what he wished for?”
I’ll also add that Cooper’s relationship with Ariana (Paulina Chávez) feels more believable and compelling than it did in Season 1, and I’ve enjoyed following her to The Patch Café, where we get to see a different slice of this version of West Texas life.
Taylor Sheridan’s comedic relief ace in the hole
That’d be James Jordan, who is the connective glue of sorts across multiple Taylor Sheridan-produced shows, including Yellowstone, Lioness, and Landman.
On Landman, Jordan mostly takes on comedy relief duties, playing Dale Bradley, M-Tex employee and drinking buddy for Tommy. Along with the stodgy, buttoned up lawyer Nathan (Colm Feore), Dale gets to be the reactive chorus to the batshit (that’s my technical term) doings at the weirdly shared M-Tex compound.
The guest stars and supporting roles = all out-of-control good
I mean, I’ve already mentioned Demi Moore, Jon Hamm, and Andy Garcia. On top of that, we get character actor legend Sam Elliott as T.L. Norris this season, Tommy’s dad, and he easily steals every scene he’s in.
Would I watch an entire series featuring T.L. getting out of assisted living and moving on from the ghosts that haunt his past? Absolutely 10,000% all in.
Then there’s the stunt casting
Jerry Jones, playing himself, showing up at Monty’s hospital bedside in Season 1 was one thing. But the fact that he was not just good but sensational was the cherry on top.