Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has a cameo role — as himself — in the penultimate episode of the season.
Here are some random thoughts prompted by “WolfCamp” — Season 1, Episode 9 of Landman. (The recap for Episode 8 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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- Holy Smokes! Yes, in a bold stroke of casting, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones made a cameo appearance as Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones in this second-to-last Season 1 episode. And believe it or not, Jones was dead solid perfect during a very serious scene in which he gave some life advice to Tommy and a bedridden Monty while visiting Monty in his hospital room. Two things: First, if he’s interested, Jones probably could carve out a sideline for himself as a character actor. (Hey, if Ed McMahon could do it, why not him?) Second, he should have used equally inspiring words while addressing his players so they could have defeated the Washington Commanders today. But he didn’t, and they didn’t.
- Given how effectively Landman has used country and pop songs to underscore key moments all season, it was mildly surprising that we didn’t hear Harry Chapin’s “Cat’s in the Cradle” during or after Jones’ admonition that both Tommy and Monty should spend more time with their families. (““I’m pretty proud of them Cowboys. I’m pretty proud of what we’ve done in oil and gas. It pales in comparison to how proud I am to have lived my life working with my kids.”) But never mind: Tommy took the words to heart: As soon as he left the hospital room, he called Angela and Ainsley to tell them he loved them.
- Oddly enough, however, he didn’t phone his son Cooper, even though the poor guy is still recovering at Ariana’s place from a very serious beatdown. But Cooper probably wouldn’t have had time to take the call anyway. He focusing on a long-range plan to buy up a bunch of leases and mineral rights in the area, then sell as a package deal to a big oil company. (Hey, he told us right from the start that his dream was to own and operate his own oil company.) He promised Ariana that he would be able to make enough money to keep both of them happy. Guess he forgot that she just received a cool million in an M-TEX settlement. To her credit, though, she chose not to remind him.
Billy Bob Thornton as Tommy Norris and Jon Hamm as Monty Miller.
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- The good news: Monty told Tommy that he would would be cutting back a bit from the day-to-day pressures of the oil business by naming the landman as his vice-president of operations. The bad news: Monty also told Tommy that he was naming Rebecca as his vice-president of exploration, despite her conspicuous lack of oil industry experience, because she’s “the shrewdest negotiator I’ve ever seen, and she’s an absolute killer.” (Guess he forgot how she handled the settlement deal with Ariana.) Tommy objected to this, of course, but Monty had neither the time nor the inclination to be second-guessed.
- It was only a matter of time before the drug cartel underboss contacted Tommy to express his displeasure — and threaten revenge — after his smugglers were blown up real good by National Guard troops on maneuvers on M-TEX land. (“I have an army, too,” the underboss warned, “and eyes everywhere.”) To be fair, the National Guard commander claimed he was not informed by either Tommy or Monty that there might actually be people in the area when his troops started firing guns, missiles and various other weapons. But Tommy told the commander not to worry — just get his troops out of the area, and the cartel would clean up the mess. The underboss and his lackeys likely will do exactly that. But it’s just as likely they will be heard from again.
- Meanwhile, Angela and Ainsley continued in their self-appointed jobs as “entertainment directors” for the old folks at the retirement home. This week, the ladies planned a field trip to Rick’s Cabaret, a real-life upscale strip club, for the golden agers. The manager agreed to rent the place for their private party, but warned that he had no male strippers on staff to please the elderly ladies. But Ainsley said that wouldn’t be a problem: She would “convince” her hunky boyfriend Ryder to fill in as a dancer. Not surprisingly, he was initially reluctant to bare his bod. But Ryder finally accepted Ainsley’s offer of, ahem, adequate compensation for his work. Proving that, when it comes to negotiating, Rebecca has nothing on her.
- On the other hand, Angela continued to meet resistance to her efforts to serve exotic dishes to the residents of Casa Norris. This week, she prepared paella, which was greeted with far less than full-throated approval by Tommy. (He’d really, really prefer to be served fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy.) Nathan and Dale were unexpectedly delighted by the dish — indeed, they wound up squabbling over who got more of the shrimp — but Dale was far less happy the next morning when he discovered Angela has tossed out his Pop Tarts and replaced them with more healthy breakfast choices. “Angela,” Nathan explained, “feels there’s too much refined sugar in our diet.”
- Wasn’t actor Andy Garcia announced at one point as a Landman series regular? Well, he’d better show up soon: Next week will be the series finale.
- And speaking of finales: Monty clearly took a turn for the worse in the hospital, and it wasn’t long after that when Tommy received a phone call from his wife Cami. We didn’t hear her end of the conversation, but it was clear from his reaction that she wasn’t delivering good news about a miraculous recovery. A significant omen: Shortly afterwards, Tommy saw his angry next-door neighbor fatally shoot a wild coyote lingering near her house. Uh-oh.
- By the way: How much negotiating do you think was necessary for the Rick’s Cabaret product placement?
