Summary
Landman finally kicks things up a gear in Episode 5, building to real conflict — both personal and professional — that should give the back half of the season more momentum.
“Where Is Home” is one of those episodes you sometimes get in a Taylor Sheridan show where everything just goes to Hell. And Landman needed to go somewhere. After four episodes of very little to write home about, it’s a blessing that Episode 5 introduces some genuine conflict on multiple fronts, of both the professional and personal varieties.
There are still problems with the whole thing; persistent oddities that are now for some reason baked into the show’s firmament. The constant sexualization of Angela and Ainsley feels deeply repetitive and more than a little uncomfortable, and there’s still a sense that we’re bending over backward to accommodate Rebecca’s continued inclusion. Then again, with some of the things that go down in “Where Is Home”, maybe some additional legal heft might be required.
Tommy and Angela Are Still Making A Go Of Things
It sounds a bit hyperbolic to say that the heart of Landman is Tommy and Angela, but that’s clearly the intention. Their decision to reconcile in the previous episode continues to be ill-advised, but for the first time, I can see it.
After tormenting Tommy by video calling him on the patch wearing nothing but her underwear, she redecorates the entire oil house — including throwing out the furniture — using Victor’s credit card. The illegality of this aside, it’s quite a nice gesture. She’s trying to make the house a home to celebrate the reconciliation, and however much Tommy claims this isn’t their home, he has been there for over thirty years. Whether he likes it or not, he’s there to stay.
The culmination of all this is a very funny but also quietly tragic family dinner scene—albeit one that Nathan and Dale are also present for—that Angela clearly puts in a great deal of effort to arrange. Ali Larter’s gradual unraveling as that effort goes unappreciated by everyone is great stuff, and Tommy’s efforts to talk her around show a depth and dysfunction to their relationship that hasn’t been there before. Cooper and Ainsley’s bickering feels a bit forced, but there’s a giveaway in their dialogue — when she asks why he isn’t happy about their parents’ reconciliation, he says because he’s old enough to remember what it was like when they were married the first time.
Also, props to Nate for the episode’s best zinger — he’s right, this isn’t a sustainable way to cohabitate.
Cooper Gets Himself Into Trouble
It was obvious that Cooper attending to Ariana would get him in trouble with Manuel, but it wasn’t obvious how suddenly and how severely his efforts would backfire.
Ariana called Cooper in the previous episode to request his help with what turns out to be post-death admin. He helps her go over her financial situation, advises her to sell the truck rather than the house, and then pitches in with a few household chores, much to the chagrin of the dog. He’s just being a nice guy, though admittedly the lines are blurred by their obvious romantic chemistry.
When Manuel pulls up and catches Cooper mowing the lawn, he holds him at gunpoint, which seems like an overreaction. Ariana doesn’t make the situation any better by planting a kiss on Cooper, but she’s trying to prove a point. If Manuel cared as much as he pretended to, it’d be him mowing the lawn.
I expected this to be left here for now, but not quite. After Cooper leaves the family dinner, he heads home late to find his trailer packed full of Manuel and his goons. And they don’t just beat Cooper savagely, but perhaps even to death. When Boss arrives to pick him up the next morning, he’s still unconscious.
(I know he’s not dead, by the way, because he’s mentioned in subsequent episode descriptions, but there’s nothing like a bit of drama.)
Kayla Wallace in Landman | Image via Paramount+
The Business Of Oil
Landman Episode 5 includes a couple of scenes that are purely about the business of oil, one of which even gives Jon Hamm’s Monty something to do. His irritation at the idea of even trying to shape public perception of natural gas executives got a chuckle out of me because he’s right — there’s nothing the industry can do to change peoples’ opinions of oil and those who profit from selling it.
But it’s easy to see why people are so aggrieved by these executives when you see Rebecca and Nate trying to stiff the families of the workers killed on the Patch with substandard settlements to avoid potential legal battles. It’s ruthless and it’s immoral, but it’s the business. The wheels have to keep turning.
I don’t think Sheridan expects us to side with the business, even if, on some level, we’re expected to side with people like Tommy and Rebecca who protect its interests, since they’re the main characters in a TV show and that’s generally how such things work. But the more upfront about the unsavory side of the industry Landman is, the more compelling I think it becomes. Not all TV should make us feel warm and fuzzy inside.
Tommy’s Cartel Problem
Way back in the premiere, Tommy made a deal with some Cartel goons to lease the land that they operated on. I thought that was just an introduction to Tommy and how shrewd he is as a negotiator, but it turns out that Jimmy, the head honcho of the Cartel, wants some recompense for the money the organization lost in the plane crash. And while Tommy tells him no and explains in no uncertain terms why he’s not entitled to anything, I don’t think it’s going to stick.
That’s why at the end of Landman Episode 5, Tommy finds himself on his way to Fort Worth to discuss this problem with Monty. He has Angela with him since she’s also taking the opportunity to explain to Victor that they’re breaking up (and she’s taking her car back). But they’re waylaid by a problem at the Patch. A truckload of pipes has arrived that was supposed to be several truckloads; all the pipes are now mixed up, which is a bigger problem than you’d think since they’re not exactly easy to separate and move.
What starts as a workplace pickle quickly turns unexpectedly deadly when the foreman stamps in anger and ends up crushed to death beneath the pipes. Tommy takes it hard, and Angela gets closer than she’d like, but it’s a reminder that even without Cartel assassins, this is a dangerous business that costs more lives than it’s perhaps worth. And maybe — just maybe — that human cost is starting to get to even people like Tommy.
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