Clumsy, This Life – As the eighth episode of Landman begins, Rebecca Falcone (Kayla Wallace) speaks to Cooper (Jacob Lofland) about the pumpjack explosion. Cooper admits it was his second day so he didn’t know the proper way to do anything. Rebecca says they’re offering Ariana (Paulina Chavez) and the others half a million dollars. If they try to seek damages, they will have to scrutinize everything. Rebecca asks if he knows how bad their relationship looks. She warns him that he’ll be criminally investigated. Rebecca asks about Elvio’s belongings. She says he’s the only one who knows the truth because he’s the only one who survived. Rebecca suggests she’ll invite her own truth. Monty (Jon Hamm) is shown at the Austin Club. He speaks to the Governor (Maxwell Caulfield) who rambles about his diet and jogging. Monty says he’s having difficulty in the patch because of the cartel.

The Governor complains about the border and Washington for not doing anything about it. He says DPS doesn’t have enough manpower to be effective. Monty suggests using the Texas National Guard and letting them train there. He says there are about 75,000 acres for them to use. Monty just wants them out there a lot. The Governor learns Colonel Ivey is in charge of the post. He’s told Tommy Norris (Billy Bob Thornton) is the landman in Odessa. Monty is told to put Tommy in touch with Ivey and see if they can figure something out. Nathan (Colm Feore) and Rebecca speak to Ariana about the offer. Ariana asks what Cooper thinks. He returns and says they should ask for a million. Cooper says her lawyer will file environmental claims with TCEQ and seek safety and equipment reviews from OSHA and the Railroad Commission. Cooper asks what they don’t want their insurance company to see.

Nathan calls Monty to tell him there’s a counter on the settlement. He explains that one of the family members asked Cooper to sit in. Monty tells Nathan to do a million with an NDA and restrict the offer to whoever he’s advising. Ariana doesn’t think it’s fair that the other families won’t get the same offer. Cooper says they all need to get it. Monty learns they won’t sign unless it’s for all three. He speaks to Rebecca. He eventually tells her to pay it, paper it, and fire the backstabber. Rebecca argues that would be a wrongful termination. Cooper says he’ll quit. Rebecca goes over the details of the paperwork. Cooper thinks Ariana should sign it so she does. Rebecca curses Cooper before storming out. Nathan says they’re sorry for Ariana’s loss. Cooper tells Nathan he did a good thing. When they’re alone, Ariana says Cooper quit his job over her. He claims he’ll run an oil company one day, but he won’t run it like that.

Ariana believes it’s too soon to feel what she feels for Cooper who says they’ll wait. She admits she doesn’t want to wait. She’ll fix the other room for him. Cooper wonders if he should stay somewhere else. Ariana isn’t sure he has any other options. In the morning, Ainsley (Michelle Randolph) and Dale (James Jordan) talk while Tommy and Angela have sex upstairs. Angela (Ali Larter) gets upset at Tommy who admits he got a little carried away. They begin arguing about smoking in the house and eating cereal for supper. Tommy speaks to Dale downstairs before approaching Ainsley outside. Ainsley says Ryder invited her out tonight. Angela comes out and talks to Tommy about his day. She leaves with their daughter moments later. When they’re alone, Dale tells Tommy it might be time to get his own house. Monty calls Tommy to tell him about the Texas Army Guard colonel. Monty keeps taking pills and asks the driver to take him to the hospital.

Tommy meets Colonel Ivey (Ben Browder) and shows him the land. Ivey isn’t sure how much use they can get out of the land. He suspects Tommy just wants a deterrence for all the drug activity out there. Ivey says they can do that. He believes the 35th assault helicopter unit out of Kansas can get some use out of the land too. Captain Porterfield (Kamen Casey) says they can be running surveillance flights this afternoon. From the hospital, Monty calls Tommy to ask him to have a talk with his son. Cami (Demi Moore) tells Tommy they’re in the hospital. Angela and Ainsley go to Western Skies. Margaret (Deidra Shanell) tells them the van outside is for field trips. Angela and Ainsley take the patients bowling. Ethel (Louanne Stephens) tells Angela she doesn’t want to go through losing a lover again. When Angela gets back, she tells Dale about the trip. Once Tommy returns, he gets a call from Rebecca who says they need to meet. He goes inside and tells Nathan about Monty’s heart attack. Nathan says Cooper played the game very well.

He doesn’t think Cooper is playing with Ariana. Tommy calls Rebecca to say he’s going to need an hour. Ryder (Mitchell Slaggert) arrives to pick up Ainsley. In the truck, Ryder asks her where she wants to go. Ainsley says she has a swimsuit. Ryder agrees to take her swimming. Ariana checks on Cooper who says he’s stuck. She helps him get his shirt on. They begin making out before the doorbell rings. Tommy tells Ariana he’d like to talk to Cooper. He is forced to come inside for supper. Cooper says Ariana is scared alone and he needs somewhere to heal. Tommy says they’re telling the truth here. Ariana says they’re trying to figure it out. If she was looking for a man to take care of her, the 22-year-old worm on the work crew would not be her solution. Ariana says she likes the way Cooper looks at her and Elvio never did that. She only knows that it’s clumsy and she’s going to let it be. Tommy warns Cooper he might’ve outkicked his coverage on this one. He speaks to Ariana before leaving.

Ariana sits down and begins sobbing. She tells Cooper there’s nothing he can do. Ryder and Ainsley swim together. They talk about what is bad for the environment. Ryder says humans are the worst thing for the environment and they have a plan for that too. He says the roughnecks bring their girlfriends there but never their wives. Tommy finally meets Rebecca who complains about Cooper. Rebecca suggests Cooper set up the explosion to get rid of Ariana’s husband. Tommy believes their initial offer to the victims’ families was too low. He says they don’t save money on bereavement payments to widows of their friends. Rebecca explains it’s her job to limit liability loss. Tommy says the explosion was an accident. If she comes after Cooper to heal her bruised ego, it won’t be next time. Tommy kicks her stool and leaves. Angela calls Tommy and tells him to come home. He tells her he can’t do this right now and he’ll see her when he sees her.

Ainsley and Ryder go to Western Skies. She tells Ethel she wants to see what Ryder really wants. Cartel members are shown retrieving drugs from tires. They get scared off by explosions. Their van is also hit. The soldiers learn they hit something. One man is shown deceased near the van.

 

Landman Review

As the series of Landman has progressed, it’s become a tale of several stories. Some of the stories are actually strong enough to carry the show, but others are much weaker. The cartel situation could’ve been a lot better. It’s only been mentioned in a few episodes until it spiraled out of control.

Is the cartel supposed to be the main villain here or will that be Rebecca? It’s unfortunate really because the core story could’ve been a lot stronger. Landman is set in the oilfields where there are dynamic personalities that could easily lead to authentic conflicts. Instead, the show is taking the gimmicky way out.

After all, Tommy is supposedly in Odessa which isn’t directly on the border. Now, the series has had a truck crash into a plane and the National Guard blowing up migrants. It’s just a bit over-the-top and it doesn’t even accurately explore the real issues there. Furthermore, pretty much any scene focusing on Angela or Ainsley can be skipped for one’s own sanity.

Again, these scenes are way over-the-top and pretty much obnoxious. The nursing home stuff is insanely dumb considering something like that would never happen because of liability issues. Viewers really have to put up with a lot and watch this thing for 10 weeks to get the whole story and to enjoy some of the good moments.

Basically, it’s a lot of trash with a few gems hidden underneath it all. It’s taking far too much effort to reach those good bits and life is too short to hang around for ten weeks hence why viewer engagement is very low. At the very least, viewers should wait until the whole thing is out to binge it and skip the scenes that really add nothing to the core story if there is a core story here.

The episode scores a 5.5 out of 10. Recaps of Landman can be found here. Find out how to support our independent site at this link. Learn more about advertising with us here. Join the discussion here.