Tommy deals with personal and professional challenges while Cooper and Ariana get closer. Much closer.
Here are some random thoughts prompted by “All Roads Lead to a Hole” — Episode 7, Season 1 of Landman. (The recap for Episode 6 is available here.) Warning: There are scads of spoilers here, so you might want to wait until you watch before you read.
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- Does any character in contemporary TV — broadcast, cable, streaming, whatever — smoke as much as Billy Bob Thornton’s Tommy Norris in Landman? Hate to say it, but that’s the kind of question that popped into our heads during the lulls in “All Roads Lead to a Hole,” an episode that felt more padded than plot-propelling. It wasn’t boring, exactly. But considering we have only three more installments ahead of us in this 10-episode first season, we expected a bit more… well, zip?
- To cite just one segment that seemed designed solely to stretch the running time: Angela and Ainsley drove by an assisted living facility for senior citizens, and impulsively went in to see how the residents were getting along. Not surprisingly, they discovered a bunch of old folks who had been abandoned by their families, and were listlessly killing time until they died. One thing led to another, slowly, and the women made the equally impulsive decision to go out and buy games, art supplies and booze, then bring all that back to the facility to do some serious spirit-raising.
- This benevolence seemed so out of character for Anegla, it was borderline laughable. But the chief nurse at the place ultimately accepted the disruption, and invited Angela and Ainsley to come back. We can’t truthfully say we hope this evolves into a running subplot. But maybe it will serve a purpose: In a later scene, when someone asked Ainsley what her college major will be, she responded: “Philanthropy.” So maybe she’s learning from her mother’s good example for a change?
Michelle Randolph as Ainsley Norris and Ali Larter as Angela Norris .
- There did appear to be some excitement building when drug cartel bad boys showed up at a drill site to again demand compensation for the “merchandise” they lost when an M-Tex tanker truck plowed into the plane (“borrowed” from M-Tex) that had landed (on an M-Tex road) to unload drugs. Once again, Tommy demonstrated the enormous size of his brass cajones by mouthing off to the chief cartel goon — “I’m just gonna guess you don’t do a lot of math!” — and didn’t back down an inch when the goon drew a gun. Of course, you can have that sort of confidence when you’re backed by several oil field workers who can, and did, draw their own guns. But the outgunned cartel bad boys skedaddled before things really got interesting.
- Angela, as usual, provided some delicious comic relief, especially when she explained to daughter Ainsley during an exercise class her personal credo: “My only job is to make my man happy. Then he will buy me the things that make me happy. And take me to the places that will make me happy. And I will reward him with sex. That’s the way the world works, honey.”
- Of course, it’s doubtful that Tommy can afford to give her as many of these things as her ex-husband Victor could, but never mind. Love has a funny way of making you forget about your, ahem, principles.
- Once again, the soundtrack was peppered with some well-chosen country tunes. But our favorite song heard in this episode was a Top 40 golden oldie: Norman Greenbaum’s “Spirit in the Sky.” If Greenbaum still collects royalties for that Baby Boomer standard, he’s probably richer than Monty Miller by now.
- Speaking of Monty: He managed to negotiate a sweet deal for himself while bargaining with a fellow oil tycoon who couldn’t obtain financing from anyone or anything else. But this will place additional burdens on Tommy, who’ll have to recruit more employees to work the new wells, and make sure they’re ready for return visits by the drug cartel goons. We’ll probably be hearing more about this.
- The father-daughter bond got slightly frayed when Tommy showed up at a raucous outdoor party for overage high-schoolers and interrupted Ainsley just as she was getting frisky with college-bound star quarterback Ryder Sampson (Mitchell Slaggert) in the back of his truck. Tommy responded pretty much the way you’d expect — with his fists, naturally — greatly upsetting Ainsley. “Daddy, be careful! He’s on scholarship!” Her warning was not altogether selfless — she had already figured out that Ryder would almost certainly become a hot NFL prospect, and could provide her with all the things her mother talked about back at the gym.
- More familial complications: When Tommy arrived at the hospital to take Cooper home, he found that, no, he’d prefer to have Ariana take him to her home instead. He’s still recovering from that major beat down, so she generously offered to sleep on the couch while he slept in her bed. That arrangement didn’t last very long. But it wasn’t until dawn when cuddling began to escalate. Just before things really got steamy, however, Rebecca and Nate knocked on Ariana’s door to again offer a big check to compensate her for the loss of her husband in the M-Tex oil rig mishap. Both of the visitors were understandably surprised when they found Cooper on the premises. As soon as she recognized who Cooper was, however, Rebecca appeared pleased. Why? Stay tuned for further developments.
The recap for “Clumsy, This Life” — Season 1, Episode 8 of Landman — is available here.
