Landman Review: Taylor Sheridan Latest is a Bland Sexist Rehash of Past Hits
how many landman episodes are out – In the ever-growing catalog of Taylor Sheridan’s TV creations, Landman stands out as his most disappointing and shallow work yet. The new series from the creator of Yellowstone attempts to capture the grit and drama of the Texas oil industry, but instead feels like a lazy rehash of his previous hits, devoid of fresh ideas or compelling characters. Despite an all-star cast that includes Billy Bob Thornton, Demi Moore, and Jon Hamm, Landman ultimately sinks under the weight of its own clichés, misogyny, and lack of original storytelling.
Set in the tough, high-stakes world of oil and gas, Landman introduces Tommy Norris (Thornton), a “fixer” for a Texas oil company. He deals with everyone from drug cartels to local police, all while informing families about the tragic accidents that befall workers on his company’s rigs. Norris works for Monty Miller (Hamm), a billionaire whose life seems to revolve around making deals and tending to his spoiled wife, Cami (Moore). As if this were not enough, Norris’s personal life is complicated by his ungrateful son Cooper (Jacob Lofland), promiscuous daughter Ainsley (Michelle Randolph), and ex-wife Angela (Ali Larter), a walking stereotype of the bad, oversexed mother.
At first glance, Landman appears to tick all the boxes that made Sheridan’s past series successful—hard-edged characters, cowboy hats, capitalist worship, and plenty of bloodshed. But where previous Sheridan projects like Yellowstone and Tulsa King combined thrilling plots with nuanced characters, Landman fails to live up to that standard. The characters here feel like a mishmash of tropes, poorly fleshed out and stuck in a narrative that stumbles from one bland, predictable beat to the next.
The real issue with Landman, however, is its deeply troubling treatment of female characters. Ainsley, the young daughter of Tommy Norris, is written as little more than a male fantasy, constantly objectified by the camera and given disturbingly inappropriate dialogue. From her crude conversations about her sexual exploits to the voyeuristic shots of her in various states of undress, the series veers dangerously close to soft-core exploitation. This leering male gaze makes it impossible to ignore how Landman contributes to the ongoing problem of misogyny in Hollywood television, particularly when it involves the exploitation of young women.
While the Texas oil industry could have provided fertile ground for a sharp, insightful critique of corporate greed and environmental destruction, Landman lacks the specificity and depth to make any meaningful commentary. Instead, it feels like a generic backdrop for Sheridan’s usual brand of melodrama devoid of real substance and weighed down by its own laziness. The story structure mimics what worked in Yellowstone, but instead of offering a new perspective on the world of big business and dirty deals, it merely rehashes tired old tropes. The Texas setting might as well be interchangeable with any southern U.S. backdrop, and the characters are little more than cardboard cutouts.
In short, Landman is a far cry from the series that made Taylor Sheridan a household name. It’s a dull, exploitative, and uninspired attempt at capturing the energy of the Yellowstone universe, but without the careful world-building or strong character development that made those shows so engaging. For fans of Sheridan’s earlier work, Landman is a bitter disappointment—one that might have you reaching for the remote to revisit Yellowstone once more.
If there any takeaway from Landman, it’s that Sheridan may have lost his creative spark. The era of endlessly replicating successful formulas without innovation is over, and if Paramount hopes to remain relevant in a crowded streaming market, it will need more than just another Yellowstone spin-off to succeed. As for Landman, it’s a series that’s best left forgotten.
