Where Is Home – As this episode of Landman begins, Dale Bradley (James Jordan) tells Tommy Norris (Billy Bob Thornton) they should work the whole field over. Boss (Mustafa Speaks) thinks there are 17 in total. Tommy receives a call from Angela (Ali Larter) who isn’t happy that he didn’t take her call. Angela shows him what he could’ve gotten and tries to find out when he’ll get home. She asks him to be there at seven since Cooper (Jacob Lofland) is coming for family dinner night. Angela gets upset and complains they’re picking up where they left off. She’s going to do some shopping using Victor’s credit card. After the call, Dale and Boss joke about Angela. Tommy calls Monty Miller (Jon Hamm) to tell him the Andrews wells are underperforming. Monty asks him to work them over one at a time and he wants to see new production reports before they start the next one. Cooper visits Ariana (Paulina Chavez).

Once he goes inside, Cooper learns that Ariana is struggling with her bills. She says Elvio did all the papers so none of it makes any sense to her. Cooper tries to help her figure them out. He suspects she has enough money to cover the bills for about six months. Ariana believes she’ll have to sell the house. Cooper says she’d be trading the mortgage for rent. It’d be wiser to sell the truck since it’s paid for. Cooper also learns that Elvio was contributing to a 401k. He steps outside and notices that the grass needs to be mowed. Cooper asks Ariana if she has a lawnmower. Bob Knowles (Colin Ferguson) speaks to Monty about their concerns. He talks about nuclear power, solar power, and other options. Bob thinks they should ease regulations on exports. Ratcliff (Alex Hyde-White) reminds them that there is a rabid opposition to fossil fuels of any kind. Monty tries to get Steve to shut up. He admits that’s why he doesn’t come to these things. Monty reminds everyone what they do here.

Bob tells Monty to start caring. Although his children will inherit an oil fortune, his grandchildren will not. They’ll have to start building what they’re going to inherit. Cooper spends three minutes of the episode mowing and cleaning up Ariana’s backyard. Ariana comes outside and shares a beer with him. Cooper tells her about all the firsts he’s experienced recently. Ariana talks about her grandmother who said the trick to life is enduring all the loss and pain of this place but staying 17 in your heart. Cooper decides to mow the front yard because he doesn’t know how else to help. Manuel (J.R. Villarreal) finds him outside and pulls a gun on him. Ariana comes out and scolds Manuel for not being there to help. Manuel claims Cooper just wants to sleep with her. Ariana kisses Cooper. She threatens to call the police on Manuel. Cooper and Manuel argue briefly before the latter finally leaves. Rebecca Falcone (Kayla Wallace) visits Nathan (Colm Feore) and says this feels inappropriate.

They go through the widows and dependents. Nathan was thinking something like 250 per household plus a college fund. They talk about the 401k. Nathan says they’re entitled to that regardless of a settlement. Rebecca says they won’t know that. If they don’t bite at 250, they will offer 300. If they don’t accept that, they will offer 400. Ainsley Norris (Michelle Randolph) comes in half-naked and says hello to Rebecca. Nathan notices a truck backing up to the house. He goes outside and learns there’s a delivery for Norris. Ainsley comes out and tells them to come in. Rebecca isn’t happy with the situation. She wants to present the offers to the families tomorrow. Angela tells the movers she wants all the old stuff out and the new stuff in. A neighbor, Shelby (Audrey McGraw), introduces herself to Ainsley. Shelby says the boys are drooling over her at the country club. She invites Ainsley out to a patch party tomorrow. Tommy and the others continue working. Boss notices a crew approaching them. Tommy says that isn’t a crew.

He retrieves a gun and asks Boss too. Dale is told to get pictures of the license plates without being caught. Jimenez (Alex Meraz) gets out and tells Tommy he’s been looking everywhere for him. Jimenez claims Tommy owes him money because his product burned up on the road. Tommy says it’s not his road until the lease expires. He also blames him for the plane incident and having lawyers all over him now. Tommy tells him he’s the one with the problem. He claims the DEA has a satellite on the field now just waiting to see what Jimmy does next. Jimenez says his boss lost millions on the road and he wants it back. He suggests that the wells may start blowing up. Tommy warns him he doesn’t know who he’s messing with. Jimenez says Tommy is about to learn about his business before leaving with his men. Boss says none of his men are setting foot on this field until Tommy works something out.

Dale confirms he filmed the whole thing. Tommy calls Monty to tell him they have a problem they need to talk about in person. Monty tells him to come by the house tomorrow. Ariana apologizes to Cooper for kissing him. She explains why she did that and reveals Elvio didn’t even like Manuel. Cooper says he’s just there because she was brave enough to ask for help when she needed it. Ariana invites him to stay for dinner, but Cooper says he’s joining his family. She thanks him for coming. Cooper says he’ll find out about the 401k. Angela prepares dinner for Tommy and the others. Tommy begins realizing that things have changed around the house. Angela tells him what she did. Tommy says they rent so the stuff she got rid of didn’t belong to them. Cooper arrives moments later. Angela believes it’s been ten years since the whole family was together. Ainsley doesn’t want to hold Cooper’s hand during the blessings. Angela makes her.

During dinner, Angela asks Cooper about the explosion. Ainsley and Cooper briefly argue. Angela asks Nathan about his day. He explains he’s an attorney so his day is governed by attorney-client privilege. Angela tries to find out more about Tommy’s day. He tells her about the cartel members and their demands. Angela gets upset and excuses herself. Ainsley urges Tommy to go after her. When he does, Angela accuses him of ruining dinner. Tommy reminds her they’re there to work and Midland isn’t home to any of them. Angela argues this is his home and she needs it to feel like a home. Tommy tells her to do it for herself and not for them. She begins complaining about Cooper and Ainsley hating each other. Tommy suspects she’s at the end of her menstrual cycle. Angela wants a Midol and a margarita. Meanwhile, Nathan believes this is an unsustainable way for all of them to cohabitate. Cooper asks Ainsley why she isn’t smiling. She asks why he isn’t. Cooper says he’s old enough to remember when they were together.

Later, Ariana calls Cooper to say she’s scared by every car that drives by and every creak the house makes. She’s even too scared to miss him. Cooper reminds her that she has a big dog. Ooper makes it back to the man camp. Manuel and others grab him, pull him inside, and assault him. In the morning, Tommy wakes up Angela who finds out he has to go to Fort Worth. Angela thinks she should go and sit down with Victor. Tommy suspects he’s got it figured out by now. Angela needs to do it for herself because this feels like cheating. He also has her car. Tommy agrees to let her ride with him. Angela says this is the last chance to back out if he doesn’t want this. Tommy admits he doesn’t have the power to tell her no. Boss wonders where Cooper is. Manuel thinks they should just leave him even though the door to Cooper’s residence is still open. Boss leaves. Angela tells Tommy this is going to be fun since it’s like a road trip. Rick calls Tommy to tell him he needs to come and see the mess they made over there.

He’s going to need a Cat with a magnet because they mixed the pipes all together. Once they arrive, Tommy tells Angela she needs to stay in the truck because she doesn’t have the proper safety equipment. Rick (Adam Stephenson) complains it’ll take him two days to sort out the pipes. He kicks the pipes causing them to fall. Rick gets stuck under them. Tommy tells everyone not to move the pipes because he’ll bleed out. Tommy agrees to let Rick call his wife. Rick asks what he should tell her. Tommy tells him to tell her that he loves her. Then, he gets Angela’s phone to call 911. Tommy tells them what’s going on and admits Rick isn’t breathing. He says it’s not possible to give him CPR.

 

Landman Review

With the glacial pacing, an episode of Landman should never run over 30 minutes. This episode was a good example of that. Although there are exciting moments, viewers have to trudge through all the obnoxious family drama to reach those moments. The female characters are written to be as extreme and over-the-top as possible.

Through five episodes, it appears the action falls into two categories. Either incompetency leads to a disaster or violence adds spark to an otherwise tedious series. In episode five of Landman, we got a mixture of both with Cooper being beaten in his man camp and yet another on-site accident due to incompetency.

Who the heck was Rick anyway? It’s like the writer just came up with the last scenes at the last moment to try to breathe life into a tiresome episode. Are viewers really supposed to care about Rick when we don’t even know who that character is? This would’ve had more impact if we knew anything about this character besides that he died because he was an idiot.

Not to mention that a truck hauling steel pipes would likely have barriers to prevent such problems. 40 minutes of the episode were wasted on Angela and Ainsley who definitely hinder an already slow-progressing story. Cooper’s story is probably the highlight of the episode although all the violence is over-the-top and his relationship with Ariana is predictable.

The series had everything it needed to be memorable and an emotionally driven experience, including a strong cast and an interesting setting. It’s just a shame that the script is about as infantile and shallow as a book for pre-schoolers. The episode scores a 4 out of 10. Recaps of Landman can be found here.

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