Summary
Even by the usual Landman standards, “Forever Is an Instant” has less going on than usual. But what is there is good enough that it’s difficult to mind too much.
If Landman was trying to give me advice about relationships, I wouldn’t take it. None of the ones in this show seem to work out. But Season 2 seems to want to be about relationships all the same, and it isn’t an accident that Episode 7, “Forever Is an Instant”, opens with three scenes in a row of different couples waking up together. Tommy and Angela are bickering, as usual, for a typically ridiculous reason; Cooper and Ariana are still in the hazy honeymoon period halfway between a fling and something much more serious; and Rebecca and Charlie aren’t entirely sure whether they’re in a romantic relationship or just a very sexy professional one.
Of the three, it’s the latter that has the most to do with the main plot, since M-Tex’s fortunes hinge on settling an insurance bill with a $400 million drilling platform that, Charlie informs an agog Rebecca, has about a ten percent chance of finding any gas. Those aren’t great odds, but Charlie is a romantic. There’s something compelling to him about putting all the chips in the middle of the table and seeing where the cards fall, but that’s easy for him since they aren’t his chips or his cards. Rebecca has to take all this to a boardroom.
Before that, she takes it to Nate. Given the low odds of drilling success and the fact that the hurricane didn’t cause the blowout in the first place and was instead just a remarkable coincidence, M-Tex would be better off litigating against the insurance company and dragging the proceedings out rather than gambling on the gas field. But that’ll require Charlie convincing Tommy that’s the right approach, and Tommy then convincing Cami, which, if her recent behaviour is anything to go by, is probably going to be easier said than done. But that’s a problem for another day.
In the meantime, there’s a more pressing one. Rebecca referring to the company geologist as “Charlie” — apparently everyone calls him Charles — was enough to tip Nate off about their rendezvous, so he immediately prints out a conflict of interest form that they both have to sign. This is a move of unfathomable childishness for Nate and just comes across as being deeply petty for no reason, since the form goes on Rebecca’s official record, and you know how precious she is about her career. However, it is a nice way to let Kayla Wallace operate in a different mode. She’s very authentically vulnerable here, both in her obvious mortification over having been called out, and then later, when she tearfully confesses to Tommy and begs him to reconsider her value to the company before he lets her go. Needless to say, Tommy finds the idea of letting her go over a paltry workplace violation to be hilarious, and basically tells Nate to throw the form in the bin since making an enemy of Rebecca is a problem neither of them wants or needs.
And then nothing else really happens in Landman Season 2, Episode 7. I know that sounds facetious, but it’s pretty much true. This has always been a show that’s very content to lounge around and relish in its own vibes, but even by those standards, “Forever Is an Instant” contains a notable amount of people simply driving from place to place and having leading conversations. As ever, though, it’s saved at the final hurdle by a couple of scenes of genuine emotional sentiment, and a few subtle moments of actorly flourish that are well worth remarking upon.
For instance, Tommy spends the day driving T.L. around, getting annoyed with how long he takes over every task, but there’s a lesson to be learned here. T.L. isn’t the weird one for taking his time; Tommy is for never slowing down enough to realise what’s going on around him. The payoff for this comes later, but there’s a tiny moment when Tommy pulls into the drive, and T.L. is asleep in the front seat, and Tommy thinks he’s dead. It’s a comedy beat, essentially, since Tommy, after a couple of failed attempts to wake his father, finally manages to by pulling his moustache. But there’s a brief moment when Tommy takes a breath to control the emotion of believing for that split-second that T.L. was dead, and it’s magic from Billy Bob Thornton.
Tommy learns his lesson, too. He defuses an argument with Angela — the same one from the cold open — by finally being earnest about his feelings for her, and it’s sweet because not only is it the first time he has been emotionally open, but because he’s doing it after learning from the father he has been so detached from. It’s the same with Cooper and Ariana. After so long jumping through hoops and fumbling through their unusual circumstances, Cooper bites the bullet and proposes, in a love heart formed by candles and filled with rose petals. It might be cliched, but that’s not the point. The point is that these two are finally doing the thing they’ve been circling for so long. They’re finally committing to each other in a way that makes everything feel real for them both.
Perhaps I was wrong about this show and relationships after all.
