‘I quit drinking… I’ll stick with beer…’
While I was initially dismissive of Yellowstone and its various spin-offs, I ended up watching them and absolutely loved all of it. Yes, it’s a conservative fantasy in the same way that The West Wing is a liberal fantasy, but it’s also compelling, heartfelt and incredibly entertaining. Landman is not part of the Yellowstone universe, but it is a Taylor Sheridan creation and you can certainly imagine Tommy Norris, the protagonist from this show, sitting down for a beer with John Dutton at his ranch. What a world it would be…
Tommy (Billy Bob Thornton) is operations VP at M-Tex Oil, an oil company operated by his friend and employer Monty Miller (Jon Hamm). At the start of season one, Tommy is separated from his wife Angela (Ali Larter) and shares custody of their vivacious teenage daughter, Ainsley (Michelle Randolph), while his son, Cooper (Jacob Lofland), is also looking to join the oil business. The starry supporting cast includes Demi Moore as Monty’s wife, Andy Garcia as the head of a drug cartel and Sam Elliott (natch) as Tommy’s infirm father, T.L.
Much has been made of the way Sheridan’s show treats its female characters, its attitude to renewable energy and its depiction of drug cartels, but to focus on these things is to miss the point. We know who Taylor Sheridan is and what he stands for. If you’re not up for that, don’t watch his stuff. While I personally may not share all of Sheridan’s values, that doesn’t mean that I can’t recognise that he is currently one of the most unique and interesting voices working in television today. Landman does its best work in its opening season (season two occasionally feels like it’s spinning its wheels a little), but there are several high points throughout and, as with nearly all of Sheridan’s output, I was never bored. This is mainly due to the efforts of the cast, who work hard to bring cartoonish characters to life, particularly Larter (Angela is a particularly preposterous creation), and Landman manages to be consistently funny and consistently dramatic throughout.
The decline from season one to season two is perhaps slightly concerning, but some of the best TV shows have suffered dips from time to time and with season three on the way, I back Sheridan to keep things interesting – he always does.
