By Cindy Summers –
The Oil and Gas Industry makes over $4.3 trillion dollars a year, with a pure profit of $3 billion dollars per day and is the 7th largest industry in the world. Those industries ahead of oil and gas are completely dependent on oil and gas, so as they grow so does the oil and gas industry. Oil companies depend on mineral leases on privately-owned land and have key people in that role to secure the leases and manage the people. For M-Tex Oil Company out of Midland, TX, that job was handled by oil company crisis manager Tommy Norris (Billy Bob Thornton).
With a calm demeanor and razor sharp wit, Tommy often came off abrasive to others. He had the challenging task of not only managing field operations but also dealing with rampant cartel crime from across the border. The latest issue involved a stolen plane that returned to the area filled with drugs, which landed on their private road to be offloaded in vans when it was struck by a semi causing a huge explosion.
Tommy hadn’t reported it stolen to the local authorities as equipment, like trucks and excavators, often disappeared but generally was discreetly returned. Tommy’s son Cooper (Jacob Lofland) dropped out of college and had come to work with him on “The Patch” as they called it, staying in a camp filled with “roughneck” rig workers that installed and serviced all the wells. Cooper wanted to run his own oil company someday and wanted to learn every job the business entailed. On Cooper’s second day the crew was out working on a pump jack and Copper was sent back to the truck for a wrench just as the rig blew up, killing the other three guys. Cooper was thrown to the ground injuring his leg and bursting his ear drum.
Tommy’s ex-wife Angela (Ali Larter) had remarried and shared joint custody of Cooper and their daughter Ainsley (Michelle Randolph) who was visiting Tommy at the time of Cooper’s accident. Angela was as self-absorbed as she was sexy, and liked to live lavishly at the expense of the men in her life. She left a vacation in Cabo and came to Midland after hearing Cooper was injured, but Tommy knew that would be trouble too. Though Tommy and Angela were polar opposites, they were still magnetically and somewhat disfunctionaly drawn toward each other.
Monty Miller (Jon Hamm) owned M-Tex and lived in Fort Worth with his wife Cami (Demi Moore). He gave Tommy wide range to run the business, and trusted his expertise and judgment in handling situations in the Patch. When the plane incident occurred, Tommy contacted Monty and told him they would need legal council, recommending a lawyer he regularly worked with. The firm instead sent Rebecca Falcone (Kayla Wallace) who was a causation of liability lawyer sent to determine who was legally responsible for the incident, with her eye on Tommy taking the blame.
Things only get more complicated for everyone moving forward. Tommy ends up getting back with Angela and she and Ainsley move into the company house with Tommy, turning things upside down there and around town. Cooper felt guilty over his co-workers deaths and offered to help one of the widows, Ariana, but there was a definite attraction between them that complicated the situation, as well as Cooper’s coworkers and even the lawyer wanting to blame him for the accident. Back in Houston, Monty had his third bypass surgery after suffering a heart attack.
“Landman” shares insightful details regarding the internal workings of the oil industry and some interesting views on alternative energy, but it’s exaggerated, distorted versions of the female characters distracts viewers from the story and detracts from the solid performance from Billy Bob Thornton as Tommy.
Runtime: 10 – 1hr Episodes
