Reviewed by Colin Jacobson (October 5, 2026)
In 2024, Paramount+ introduced Landman, a drama about the families of those who work in the great expanses of the US. It ran across late 2024/early 2025 and then late 2025/early 2026 brought the series’ second season.
This three-disc set includes all 10 of Season Two’s episodes. The plot synopses come from the series’ official website.
Death and a Sunset: “Tommy Norris (Billy Bob Thornton) navigates a tense landscape as Cami Miller (Demi Moore) asserts control.”
When I viewed Season One of Landman, I found two sides to Landman. While I enjoyed the aspects of the show that dealt with the dog-eat-dog oil business, I found the forays into personal melodrama tedious.
At least via S2’s first episode, “Sunset” stays on the right side of the coin. Of course, it seems overbaked in a nearly campy way, as it cranks the characters and situations to “11”.
Still, it offers a frisky launch to S2. Let’s hope it continues on this path.
Sins of the Father: “Cami is blindsided. Tommy warns son Cooper (Jacob Lofland) about his shady entanglements.”
The biggest drawback to S1 stemmed from the plotlines that involved the dreary relationship between the dreary Cooper and the sexy but still dreary widowed single mom Ariana Medina (Paulina Chávez). “Sins” revisits those two and possibly shows that they’ll move on, but I don’t hold out much hope of that.
Outside of the Ariana/Cooper elements, “Sins” does pretty well for itself, especially in the way it advances Cami’s narrative. That character emerged fairly late in S1 so S2 becomes a chance to develop her. This moves along well and helps “Sins” to work pretty well despite too much Cooper/Ariana.
Almost a Home: “Tommy confronts Cami about finances. Cooper's success draws attention.”
At least three episodes into S3, Cami remains the year’s most interesting character. Indeed, I wish we’d spend more time with her and less with Tommy, especially when we go to his family.
“Home” manages to develop Ariana a bit outside of that dreary relationship with Cooper, and that becomes a positive. Throw in some actual life or death drama related to poisoned air near a well and “Home” moves along matters pretty well.
Dancing Rainbows: “A tragic crash sets off a day of reckoning for the Norris family.”
Spoiler alert: that “tragic crash” doesn’t kill Cooper – or any of the other series regulars. Even more tragically, “Dancing” brings back a revival of the dreary Cooper/Ariana relationship.
“Rainbows” also uses a chaotic flight to allow hard-nosed lawyer Rebecca Falcone (Kayla Wallace) a “meet cute” and her own potential romance. That becomes just one of many contrived moments in this lackluster episode.
The Pirate Dinner: “Tommy juggles multiple crises as his ex-wife Angela (Ali Larter) throws a dinner to welcome Tommy’s father TL (Sam Elliott).”
While I suspect Landman wants us to see Angela as free-spirited and determined, instead she tends to come across as obnoxious and annoying. That continues here.
With Ariana and Cooper back together, though, Angela becomes the least of this episode’s issues, as their ever-so-dreary relationship threatens to harpoon all the positives seen so far in S2. We spend too much time with them in this meh show and other areas don’t compensate.
Dark Night of the Soul: “Tommy negotiates a risky offshore drilling deal as tensions rise with Cami.”
Despite the implication of that synopsis, we spend a lot of time with the usual family melodrama here. That means more of Angela acting self-centered and more of Cooper and Ariana’s dreary relationship plus a revival of Rebecca’s goofy “meet cute” hook-up.
Can the business-centered material compensate? To some degree, but as S2 progresses, it seems more burdened by the iffy character domains.
Forever Is an Instant: “Tommy and Angela's getaway turns chaotic. Cami's plans face scrutiny.”
I’ll say this: “Instant” opens with a salty exchange between Tommy and Angela that amuses. Unfortunately, we then launch into more dreary romance between dreary Ariana and dreary Cooper.
Have I mentioned their subplot seems dreary?
While Rebecca and new boyfriend Charlie (Guy Barnet) show more spark, their relationship doesn’t feel much more interesting. Honestly, Rebecca works better as a legal shark so the series’ attempts to soften/humanize her flop.
I like when the series allows Thornton and Elliott to interact, even if those moments tend to feel cliché and derivative. In any case, “Instant” drags and becomes a weaker than average episode.
Handsome Touched Me: “Tommy hires help for his father as Cami makes a risky move.”
Landman can’t figure out how it wants to treat elderly folks. We get them as cute ‘n’ frisky at the assisted living facility where Angela volunteers but we see TL as sad and pathetic.
Granted, both can be accurate for old people. Nonetheless, the contradiction seems awkward.
In any case, “Handsome” manages enough focus on the oil business to overcome some of its usual “character moment” pitfalls, and Cami remains the series’ most compelling role, so more of her adds punch. Despite too much Angela, “Handsome” works fairly well.
Plans, Tears and Sirens: “Angela rescues daughter Ainsley (Michelle Randolph). Cooper asserts his leadership at a drill site.”
Depicted as a true “dumb blonde”, Ainsley offers a character even more annoying than Angela. Because we don’t see her nearly as much, though, this becomes less of a drag on Landman.
Combine the two into an active story beat and you lose me. The mix of Angela’s aggressive obnoxiousness and Ainsley’s dippy dumbness becomes toxic, though “Tears” attempts to add a layer of emotion to the situation.
This doesn’t work at all, mainly because it seems idiotic that Angela loses her stuff because Ainsley goes away for a week at cheer camp. Does the series want us to believe that she never did so in the past?
The added focus on Ainsley falters, especially when girlie-girl Ainsley gets placed with an androgynous and super-feminist roommate. The series enjoys its mockery of overly touchy liberals, even though it never picks on the tons of wacky MAGAs in Texas.
I guess the series wants us to applaud Angela and Ainsley for their antics and view them as strong, independent women. Instead, they come across as spoiled and insensitive.
Throw in the contrived “rescue” staged by Angela – one that just makes her seem even more irritating than usual - and more drippy relationship drama from others and “Tears” falters. It doesn’t bring a good lead-in to the season finale.
Tragedy and Flies: “Amid the chaos, Tommy regroups with Cooper.”
On the slightly positive side, “Flies” brings back Ainsley’s cartoonishly leftie roommate as more human and sympathetic. As mentioned, the cheap way “Tears” used “Paigyn” (Bobbi Salvör Menuez) bugged me since it seemed so “MAGA coded” so a little humanizing helps.
On the less positive side, the aftermath of an attempted rape suffered by Ariana in “Tears” takes a turn that I don’t buy. To say more would fall into spoiler territory but I simply don’t swallow that events would follow the route they do here in Texas, even if the episode attempts to justify the path it takes.
“Flies” does bring S2’s arc to a close, one that pushes Tommy and many of the rest on a particular path for Season Three. Whether that pays off remains to be seen.
I can say that S2 echoes S1 in terms of strengths and weaknesses. I still like Landman when it concentrates on business and I still dislike it when it deals with personal character domains. Maybe S3 will better balance these two sides.
