Landman – Season 1 Episode 1 Recap & Review

Landman

The first episode of Landman introduces our main protagonist, Tommy Norris. He is a landman for a Texas Oil company, and at the beginning of the episode, he is tied to a chair by a cartel with a bag over his head.

Tommy is trying to get the land lease from the cartel for his company, M Tex, as it owns the drilling rights to the land currently under their ownership. The cartel boss arrives, and after Tommy explains the situation, the boss signs the lease contract and then leaves with his men.

Tommy hops in his truck, chugs a few beers, and drives away. In a monologue, Tommy explains that his job is to secure the land lease for the oil company and manage the day-to-day. He finishes the monologue by saying that the first part is simple, “it is the second part that can get you killed.”

Six months later, a drug drop at a desolate road goes wrong when a tanker suddenly arrives unprecedented. The plane and the van have little time to react, which causes the tanker to crash through the plane and the van, sending everything ablaze, including the drugs and the drug dealers. Next, we are briefly introduced to Tommy’s son, Cooper, as he joins one of the crew working for Tommy’s company. 

Tommy learns about the plane crash and drives to the accident scene. He tells the local sheriff, Walt, that the plane belongs to M-Tex but was reported stolen six weeks earlier. Walt is unhappy that Tommy chose not to report the incident to him, but Tommy says that the theft was reported to airplane police. Tommy mentions that the company chooses not to report all thefts to the police since their equipment goes missing so many times, but it is usually for a short period, and then they reappear.

Since the plane was used to smuggle drugs, Walt informs Tommy that the DEA will get involved. Tommy wonders why a TTP tanker (the one that crashed into the plane) is doing it on M-Tex’s Road. Regardless, Tommy has to figure out how to create a diversion around the road accident since moving the product cannot wait. After insisting that Walt reports that the FAA was aware that the plane was stolen six weeks ago, he calls the road crew, directing them to get to the scene as soon as possible and figure out how to get around the accident scene. 

Tommy gets back into his truck and drives away. His ex-wife, Angela, calls to inform him that it is his weekend with their 17-year-old daughter, Ainsley. Tommy wants to reschedule, but unfortunately, he cannot since Angela has other plans, and she does not trust to leave their daughter alone with her boyfriend.

After agreeing on how Ainsley will get to Tommy, he gets back on the road and calls Monty Miller to inform him about the situation with the plane. Afterwards, Tommy meets with the land owner surrounding the plane crash scene, and they negotiate a payment plan for the damage to his land caused by the accident. 

Ainsley arrives with his boyfriend, Dakota, and Tommy is not thrilled about it. They decide to stop by a local game on the way home since the boyfriend is a known football star. Ainsley mentions that she is applying to a college in Alabama since Dakota got a football scholarship.

Meanwhile, the hazing of the new guy, Cooper, continues at the field by making him climb really high to get to a valve. On his way down, Cooper slips and hurts his arm. The crew then takes it easy on him afterwards and even invites him to eat at the end of the day. We learn that the crew he is working with is a family with two brothers and an uncle. Tommy assigned the uncle to look after Cooper and ensure he does not get into trouble. 

Elsewhere, Tommy has just had enough of watching Dakota making out with his daughter, so he separates them at night. Dakota is to sleep on the couch while Ainsley sleeps in the bedroom with him. Tommy has some father-daughter talk, telling her that Dakota might not be the last person in her life, but insists that she loves him.

She begs Tommy to let her sleep with Dakota since she has never cuddled him or slept in his arms. However, Ainsley realises soon after that Dakota is just a passing fling when he refuses to cuddle, saying that promising not to have sex is an impossible request. 

The next morning, Cooper and his crew arrive at an oil rig and work on a pipe when they realise they have the wrong tool. Cooper is sent to the truck to get the right one, but it takes some time to fetch it since he is unfamiliar with the tools. The episode ends when the rig explodes, sending Cooper back to the pickup truck.

The Episode Review

The first episode of Landman introduces many plots that seem overcomplicated. There is the plane crash fiasco with drug smuggling and underhanded deals with the police and landowners.

The plot also surrounds Tommy’s estranged family drama with his ex-wife, daughter, and son. The ending throws everything off balance, leaving us no clue what to expect in the following episodes after the explosion. We are wondering what happened to Cooper’s crew. Did they survive? What will Tommy do to deal with the oil explosion?