‘Landman’ Is the Latest Taylor Sheridan Show to Drop the Ball after a Hot Start
Premiering on Paramount+ in Jan. 2024, Taylor Sheridan’s Landman became one of the platform’s most-viewed original TV series. Much of the appeal centers on Billy Bob Thornton’s rough, gruff oilman Tommy Doyle, who does his best to navigate the geopolitical landmines of running M-Tex oil as the President of Operations. In Season 1, Tommy’s livelihood is threatened when an accident occurs on his oilfield involving Mexican drug cartels, prompting an investigation by nosy lawyer Rebecca Falcone (Kayla Wallace). Tommy’s business is inextricably linked to his friends and family, including his ex-wife Angela (Ali Larter), his roustabout son Cooper (Jacob Lofland), and teenaged daughter Ainsley (Michelle Randolph). The plot thickens when Tommy’s longtime friend and owner of M-Tex Oil, Monty Miller (Jon Hamm), succumbs to an illness and hands the reins of the company to Tommy, who must work with Monty’s manipulative wife, Cami (Demi Moore). Landman‘s first 10 episodes proved Sheridan’s deft knack for vivid world-building, rich character development, and naturalistic dialogue. Yet, like most of his TV programs, the absorbing quality tends to wear off with each passing season. Despite the immense viewership underscoring Landman‘s popularity, Season 2 rapidly stripped away the shiny luster that attracted so many viewers when the show began. A similar trend occurred with Sheridan’s 1923 and Tulsa King, two series that also jumped the shark shortly after launching with a bang.
‘Landman’ Jumped the Shark in Season 2, Episode 7, “Forever is an Instant”
Landman‘s pilot scored a superb IMDb score of 8.1, establishing an entertaining, high-quality TV drama that consistently delivered nine additional episodes of must-see TV. Season 1 hit a high mark at the midway point, with Episode 6, “Beware the Second Beating,” scoring an 8.6 IMDb rating. Landman‘s Season 1 cliffhanging finale, “The Crumbs of Hope,” was the second-highest-rated episode (8.4). From the outset, Landman‘s second season grossly pales in comparison to the first. The pilot episode tumbled out of the blocks with a 7.5 IMDb rating, which is lower than any episode in Season 1. Despite the promise of adding Sam Elliott as Tommy’s father, T.L., the iconic actor is wasted and underused, and instead is given a back seat to the vapid, outwardly transphobic Angela and Ainsley. After apparently rebounding and getting back on track with Season 2, Episode 4, “Dancing Rainbows” (8.2 rating), Landman took another bruising header into the dirt by delivering two straight episodes of sappy, melodramatic, eye-rolling filler. The absurdity begins with Episode 6, “Dark Night of the Soul,” in which the ruthless cartel runner Gallino (a badly underutilized Andy Garcia) starts spouting 16th-century poetry, as if that would play well in West Texas.
Perhaps knowing he was getting a little too high-and-mighty for his audience, Sheridan puts hatefully insensitive words in Angela and Ainsley’s mouths about a non-binary character. Unworthy of repeating, the waning quality is why some IMDb reviewers have called Episode 7 the worst in show history thus far. Descending to its absolute nadir, Landman‘s Season 2, Episode 7, “Forever Is an Instant,” has by far the show’s lowest rating. With a lowly 6.7 IMDb rating, the wasteful, needless hour of mind-numbing filler does nothing to advance the plot and only functions to give Angela and Ainsley annoyingly superficial character development. In a cornucopia of melodramatic stupidity, “Forever Is an Instant” instantly alienated some viewers forever so dramatically that they’ve dubbed the episode “The Housewives of Permian Basin.” With countless 1-star user reviews that echo the refrain that Landman is now a sad, hollow shell of what it used to be, the trend continues for Sheridan, who may be wearing himself too thin by running innumerable TV series.
‘1883’ Proves That Less is More for Taylor Sheridan
As Landman Season 2 has devolved into a silly daytime TV soap for many dedicated followers, it’s a reminder that less is always more. Taylor Sheridan continues to be the most prolific TV writer around, but the law of diminishing returns has caught up with his work. Not only has Landman fallen off a cliff (nearly saved by Season 2’s explosive finale), but so, too, have shows like 1923 and Tulsa King. Granted, 1923 stuck the final landing, but the rocky road getting there proved that the destination isn’t as important as the journey. Meanwhile, Tulsa King Season 1 commenced with an 8.1 IMDb rating and ended with an 8.2 rating. However, the consistency dipped drastically in Season 2, beginning with a 7.5 IMDb rating and ending with a 7.8. With Sheridan responsible for writing every episode, the same problem plaguing Landman has reared its head in Tulsa King. Whether a Neo-Western or gritty crime drama, Sheridan can’t resist riding into soapy melodramatic territory that gets sillier and sappier over time.
