Landman Season 2 Episode 6 Review: “Dark Night of the Soul” Brings Tommy Norris to the Breaking Point
- Kae
- Dec 21, 2025
- 7 min read
Episode 6 of television’s new favorite oil drama dropped December 21. While there is no fun and festivus wrapped in a very special Christmas message with its proximity to the holidays, the 53 minutes of the latest installment of Paramount+’s hit series, Landman, is the gift that keeps on giving.
The episode opens to a beautiful Texas sunrise set against a cloudless sky, as the dead of night gives way to the vibrant fiery yellow oranges of a rising fireball. For anyone who gets to live out such a Texas morning, it’s nature’s best “hello.” With backing vocals of American country music, we see the rhythmic pulse of the now all-too familiar pumpjack in the foreground matching every beat. The imagery evokes a ballet of sorts, as that mighty oilbird, dancing in the earth’s embrace, rises and falls with precision under the soft glow of morning’s first light. For those staking their livelihood on such a moment, the dance is a necessary overture to the fame and fortune of black gold. For the more than 185,000 West Texans living in the Permian Basin it is just another day in paradise.
Showcasing life in the shadow of the oil industry through the sights and sounds of the Lone Star is where Showrunner Taylor Sheridan excels with his original series, co-created with Christian Wallace. Sheridan’s keen eye for cinematography and setting creates visually stunning landscapes such as these to enhance his storytelling, which aides the greater narrative considerably when the dialogue and character stereotypes can sometimes fall short. The visuals work because it is not the stuff of imagination; it is very much a way of life for the many who call Texas, and the $3 billion industry that is oil and gas, home.
Across town in upper middle class suburbia, landman-come-oil executive, Tommy Norris, stands in his kitchen — contemplating in what manner his day will, no doubt, go off the rails. Defeat already marking its memories on his face, he peers out the back window to spy his father doing much of the same as he watches the rise of their shared sun. Taking a seemingly present-day look at his future self, Tommy gets an inkling of how the day is about to go when he steps outside to check on the man who’s resurfaced in his chaotic life.
With plans to head to Fort Worth for the day for yet another requisite meeting, Tommy receives an unexpected offer from his father, T.L., to ride along for company. Initially reluctant to have to make car conversation for the three-hour drive, Tommy acquiesces to having a plus-one. Deftly played by Academy Award winner Billy Bob Thornton, Tommy Norris remains equal parts reticent about his hierarchy in both his family and work, and dogmatic in his inherent need to stand atop the pyramid of dysfunction for both.
Now a season-and-a-half into his onscreen persona, the role of the seasoned big oil fixer feels custom-made for Thornton, with no one imaginable even remotely coming close to giving the level of gravitas to the performance he does it each week. Thornton embodies the character in such a way you forget you watching scripted TV. Believe me, if you have spent any time around the Patch, you have met your own version of Tommy. In the same vain, it has taken no time at all to embrace the same sentiment for Sam Elliott in the role of the Norris Family patriarch. At times, it is as if the two men truly have shared blood, being cut from the same acting cloth to play father and son. Landman marks a reunion onscreen for Thornton and Elliott, both for their characters’ backstory, and also with the legendary actors having starred opposite each other in 1993’s Tombstone and Sheridan’s prequel series, 1883, in 2021.
In this episode, we get the greatest depth of screen time with Elliott since the veteran actor joined the series for its sophomore run. With each new scene, Elliott brings a quiet bravado and deeper understanding to the weathered roughneck and recent widower.
The ebb and flow of Thornton and Elliott’s side-by-side performances as these grizzled oil men trying desperately to make believe their life choices make sense to themselves, as much as to those around them, ground the show in its needed realism.
On the road to DFW, Tommy receives a call from his son, Cooper, played by Jacob Lofland. The younger Norris has made his way back from a relatively quick seven-hour trip to south Texas to speak with his new love’s father about marrying his daughter. Score a win for the Good Guys. It seems that congratulations are in order for the reserved young man and his fast-paced love affair with oilfield widow, Ariana Medina (Paulina Chavez). Cooper has called father seeking advice on buying a much-needed ring.
Not well-versed in the romance of life, Tommy pushes his son to seek counsel on the finer things from his mother, who, as it turns out, is more than giddy with the prospect of her son and eldest child taking a step towards marriage. In a surprise turn, Angela Norris (Ali Larter) offers up a family keepsake to Cooper to mark the occasion. Little does Cooper (or even his dad, for that matter) know the gesture sets Angela up for getting her own replacement piece. Well-played, Angela. Well-played.
Angela and daughter Ainsley (Michelle Randolph) make plans for a Girls’ Day Out shopping spree in North Texas.
Once in Fort Worth, the elder Norris father and son duo find themselves at the famed Stock Yards showcase arenas, the sight of Tommy’s meeting with the drug cartel boss moonlighting as an oil magnate, Danny Morell, played by Emmy-nominated Andy Garcia. Tommy arrives expecting a gentleman’s negotiation with his pseudo nemesis on that risky offshore drilling deal to satisfy the insurance claim payout, as well as his boss, Cami Miller (Demi Moore). Tommy is taken aback when he discovers the unexpected third party to the shop talk, e.g., Cami already seated and getting a front row education to Fort Worth’s other big business industry — cattle.
For the second time, in as many encounters, you can cut the mounting tension between Tommy and Cami, as the silent tug-of-war continues to simmer beneath the surface on who has the final say on how to lead M Tex Oil. For those keeping score, me thinks the lady is up, 2-nil.
The hits keep on comin’ for Tommy as a chance run-in for T.L. with a former co-worker takes an unexpected turn just across the arena. It seems the four-legged animals are not the only ones who need to be reined in on this day. At first blush, what feels like a throw-away scene gives us a lead-in to the episode’s most heart-felt moment when Tommy is made to finally face his father’s suffocating grief under the cloud of death that hangs over their shared past. Filmed in backlit silhouette of the two men standing toe-to-toe in the horse stalls, the scene’s visuals underscore how the men have become shadows of their former selves grappling with their family’s unresolved trauma and loss.
Although beautifully captured, it would be another poignant moment later in the episode that the two share over beers at the bar, where T.L. truly puts the reality of life and relationships into technicolor perspective for his adult son. The message is received loud and clear — it’s time for Tommy to stop playing house and make an honest woman of his on-again, off-again wife.
Back in Midland, Cooper arrives home to Ariana with good news of the first hurdle cleared to pave the way for their future together. However, unbeknownst to him, Cooper is not quite finished securing blessings for their union from Ariana’s extended family. Ariana’s nonchalant request to deliver her infant son to his grandmother’s as she heads out the door for another night collecting tips at the Patch Cafe, sets Cooper up for another important test.
Cooper’s parents remain in Fort Worth with his sister for dancing and drinks at the behest of Tommy’s newfound drilling partner and his boss. Though, it will be the former who becomes Tommy’s confidante with a forewarning to watch his back at work. The chasm with Cami may be widening.
While Landman continues to bring an engaging exploration and economic understanding to the inner workings of the oil industry and the power players that operate within the machine, the series’ great challenge remains the role it wants the ladies on canvas to play to advance the narrative. From Angela’s hyper-sexualized Norris Family matriarch with a heart of gold, to daughter Ainsley’s blonde intelligence, or lack thereof, tropes, to attorney Rebecca Falconea’s (Kayla Wallace) dual personality that vacillates between viper-tongued corporate negotiator and vulnerable damsel in distress, the powerful roles these ladies could be playing are reduced to almost satirical caricatures.
We are not afforded the same level of character development with the women who find themselves very much a part of this industry. Looking at these characters’ lives from a one-dimensional lens reduces their place in the story to mere foregone conclusions.
Even while Moore’s turn as the regal socialite-turned oil executive Cami Miller and Chavez’s stoic every-woman Ariana Medina are played as lionesses in sheep’s clothing, calling shots behind their innocent eyes and demure smiles, their presence opposite their male counterparts, somehow, still feels like closet props for knight-in-shining-honor saviors.
The talent of these actresses along with the strength of their respective characters does not require them to be one-half of someone else to have value. Without question, well-rounded character arcs, regardless of which side of the gender equation they reside, creates more engaging narratives and allows writers to explore a wide range of themes and conflicts. In an industry where women hold a variety of roles, from technical, operational and support positions, up to and including in-the-field roughnecks, there are surely more authentic ways to portray their place in this dynamic world.
And, as a Texan living within miles of this life, myself, I am here for it.
Inspired by the 2019 Texas Monthly podcast Boomstown and written for the screen by Taylor Sheridan, Landman drops new episodes Sundays on Paramount+ through January 2026.
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