{"id":13010,"date":"2026-09-22T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-22T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mailnewsgroup.com\/ohmr\/?p=13010"},"modified":"2026-09-15T09:59:57","modified_gmt":"2026-09-15T09:59:57","slug":"west-texas-keeps-testing-tommy-norris","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mailnewsgroup.com\/ohmr\/west-texas-keeps-testing-tommy-norris\/","title":{"rendered":"West Texas Keeps Testing Tommy Norris"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n \t<\/i> Read Time:<\/span>8 Minute, 57 Second <\/div>\n\n <\/div>

MOVIE REVIEWS
\nLandman: Season Two<\/strong>
\n –  <\/strong> <\/strong> <\/strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n

Genre: <\/strong>Drama, Western
\nYear Released: <\/strong>2025–2026
\nRuntime: <\/strong>9h 17m
\nDirector: <\/strong>Stephen Kay
\nWriter:<\/strong> Taylor Sheridan
\nCast: <\/strong>Billy Bob Thornton, Demi Moore, Ali Larter, Jacob Lofland, Michelle Randolph, Paulina Chávez, Kayla Wallace, Andy Garcia, Sam Elliott, James Jordan
\nWhere to Watch: <\/strong>available now; order your copy here: www.moviesunlimited.com<\/a> or www.amazon.com<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

RAVING REVIEW: <\/strong><\/strong><\/strong>There may not be another actor working today who can complain as entertainingly as Billy Bob Thornton. Give him bad news, an impossible business problem, an irritating family member, or somebody who doesn't understand the oil industry, and LANDMAN can happily spend several minutes letting Tommy Norris explain exactly why everything is terrible. Thornton somehow makes that entertaining long after the novelty should've worn off, which remains one of the biggest reasons this show works at all.<\/p>\n

\n

Season Two gives Tommy plenty to complain about. His responsibilities at M-Tex have increased, Cooper is becoming more ambitious, Cami Miller is stepping into a much larger role, and the Norris family can still turn an ordinary afternoon into another emergency. LANDMAN continues operating somewhere between workplace drama, modern Western, family soap opera, and comedy about a perpetually exhausted man surrounded by people who refuse to make his life easier.<\/p>\n

The oil business is still the most convincing part of the series. Taylor Sheridan has a talent for making negotiations, drilling rights, financial risks, and operational disasters understandable without reducing everything to exposition. You don't need to know anything about the Permian Basin to understand why one questionable decision could mean millions of dollars or why Tommy is constantly calculating risks while everybody else is still arguing about what they want to do.<\/p>\n

Season Two gets additional mileage from shifting some of that authority toward Cami. Demi Moore had very little to do during much of the first season, and giving her a real role on the business side immediately makes her more interesting. Cami isn't suddenly an expert simply because she has power, either. Her decisions come with confidence, grief, financial pressure, and a willingness to gamble that sometimes puts her directly against Tommy's experience.<\/p>\n

Moore and Thornton are good together because neither character needs to become the obvious villain in those disagreements. Tommy has spent years understanding exactly how badly the oil business can punish optimism, while Cami has reasons to refuse to maintain what already exists. Their disagreements create some of the season's better tension because both positions can make sense depending on which danger you're more afraid of.<\/p>\n

Sam Elliott brings an entirely different kind of weight as T.L., Tommy's father. Putting Elliott and Thornton together seems almost unfair because neither actor needs much dialogue to suggest decades of stubbornness and regret. Their scenes slow LANDMAN down in productive ways, letting Tommy exist as somebody's son rather than always being the smartest, most exhausted guy in the room.<\/p>\n

Elliott also gives the season some of its strongest emotional material. T.L. can be difficult, old-fashioned, and occasionally irritating, but the character lets the series acknowledge age and loss without abandoning its sense of humor. Thornton responds particularly well to him, and their relationship exposes a softer side of Tommy that would've felt forced if the performances weren't this good.<\/p>\n

Cooper continues developing along a parallel path that increasingly makes him look like a younger version of his father who hasn't realized it yet. Jacob Lofland remains understated, which helps because Cooper could easily become another Sheridan character constantly announcing how tough he is. His growing confidence around the business feels earned, even when some developments around him arrive with the convenient timing television occasionally requires.<\/p>\n

The problem is that LANDMAN remains much better at writing its men as complicated people than it is at extending the same courtesy to every woman in Tommy's family. Angela and Ainsley can be funny, and Ali Larter and Michelle Randolph commit completely to what they're given. At times, their chaos provides exactly the ridiculous release the show needs after spending too long discussing leases, drilling, and corporate debt.<\/p>\n

Then Sheridan pushes them a few feet further, and the joke starts becoming the character. Angela's sexuality, emotional extremes, shopping habits, and tendency to dominate every room can become a collection of running gags instead of an actual person. Ainsley gets similar treatment, with too much of her identity built around sex, appearance, cheerleading, and finding the right man.<\/p>\n

That wouldn't bother me nearly as much if LANDMAN occasionally turned those exaggerations inward and discovered something new about them. Instead, Tommy is frequently positioned as the tired observer shaking his head while the women around him behave outrageously. The joke works until you notice how regularly the show returns to it.<\/p>\n

Ali Larter deserves particular credit for finding more humanity in Angela than the writing always gives her. She plays the ridiculous scenes at full volume but can immediately settle down when the story allows Angela to care about Tommy or her family without turning everything into another gag. Those moments prove there's more available here if Sheridan trusted the character outside the comedy more often.<\/p>\n

Michelle Randolph faces an even harder assignment because Ainsley is frequently written at the edge of caricature. Randolph has enough presence to keep her watchable, but Season Two repeatedly gives her material that feels disconnected from the stronger story happening elsewhere. LANDMAN doesn't need to eliminate the family chaos, because that contrast is part of its personality, but trimming some of it would create room for better material across the entire ensemble.<\/p>\n

Andy Garcia's Gallino provides another useful source of pressure. Garcia understands that being quiet can be far more intimidating than shouting, and the character's presence complicates situations without forcing the series into constant cartel action. He's effective precisely because you're never completely comfortable when he enters a conversation, even when everyone involved is behaving politely.<\/p>\n

Kayla Wallace also continues to do strong work as Rebecca Falcone. Rebecca has the enjoyable position of being one of the few people who can match Tommy's confidence without simply imitating him, and Wallace gives her dialogue the sharpness it needs. LANDMAN is at its best when capable people with different priorities are forced into the same room and have to figure out which one understands the problem first.<\/p>\n

The larger weakness of Season Two is that those strong ingredients don't always feel like they're part of the same show. One scene can involve serious financial consequences, another can turn into broad sexual comedy, and the next may deal with aging, grief, or sudden danger. LANDMAN has always bounced between tones, but this season's episodes make those transitions especially rough.<\/p>\n

Some storylines also receive far more time than their importance justifies, while potentially richer material disappears for stretches. Cami becoming more active at M-Tex is one of the smartest changes the series makes, yet there are times when I'd happily trade another Norris family comedy sequence for ten more minutes of her learning exactly what she's inherited. The same applies to the workers themselves, who sometimes feel less present as the show's business and family circles expand.<\/p>\n

Stephen Kay keeps the visual approach grounded even when Sheridan's writing becomes louder. The Texas landscapes remain a major part of the show's appeal, but LANDMAN doesn't romanticize the industrial side quite as much as it does the open country. Pumps, rigs, trucks, offices, highways, and enormous stretches of machinery constantly remind us that the money everyone is fighting over requires a massive physical operation to keep moving.<\/p>\n

The season also understands that danger doesn't need to involve gunfire. Equipment fails, people make mistakes, money disappears, and a decision made in an office can put somebody hundreds of miles away in physical danger. LANDMAN is considerably more interesting when it remembers that its industry already contains enough natural drama without needing to manufacture another crisis.<\/p>\n

Ten episodes totaling a little over nine hours give the season plenty of space, perhaps occasionally too much, but it ultimately builds toward one of its more satisfying stretches. The final episode is notably strong because the scattered business, family, and personal threads finally feel like they're pushing Tommy in the same direction. It leaves the series with renewed purpose, rather than simply another collection of problems waiting for him next season.<\/p>\n

LANDMAN: SEASON TWO remains frustrating because the pieces of a genuinely great television drama are right there. Thornton is terrific, Elliott is an excellent addition, Moore finally gets worthwhile material, Lofland continues growing into his role, and Sheridan has found a setting filled with money, danger, power, and moral compromise. Then the show will wander away from all of that for a joke that lasts twice as long as it should.<\/p>\n

That inconsistency keeps the season at 3.5 out of 5 for me. When LANDMAN focuses on Tommy trying to keep businesses and people from collapsing around him, it's enormously entertaining television, and Thornton makes even long conversations worth watching. Season Two improves parts of the formula without fixing its oldest weaknesses, leaving a show that's still much easier to enjoy than it is to defend completely.<\/p>\n

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MOVIE REVIEWS Landman: Season Two  –      Genre: Drama, Western Year Released: 2025–2026 Runtime: 9h 17m Director: Stephen Kay Writer: Taylor Sheridan Cast: Billy Bob Thornton, Demi Moore, Ali Larter, Jacob Lofland, Michelle Randolph, Paulina Chávez, Kayla Wallace, Andy Garcia, Sam Elliott, James Jordan Where to Watch: available now; order your copy here: www.moviesunlimited.com or www.amazon.com […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13011,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/mailnewsgroup.com\/img\/0367\/0367735.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","iawp_total_views":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13010","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t