Taylor Sheridan's riveting 'Landman' runs on unfiltered Billy Bob Thornton fuel

The St. Louis Cardinals fan and versatile actor gives another standout performance.

“I wouldn’t want your job this week.”

“You wouldn’t want my job any week.”

Tommy Norris (Billy Bob Thornton) moves around a lot in the first two episodes of Taylor Sheridan’s Landman, the latest heavyweight flex from the Paramount Plus creator maverick. Norris is the fixer for a prestigious West Texas oil company, someone who acquires the land and keeps the entire operation moving as smoothly as possible. That may involve being tied to a chair and blindfolded, the situation audiences first meet Tommy during the pilot.

Calm and cool under pressure, Tommy negotiates his way out of the chair and gets the contract signed. In the second episode, he avoids annoying hospital surgical work by using a pocket knife to saw off the end of a half-ripped pinkie. All in a couple days of work for Tommy, a brilliant oil company janitor $500,000 in debt and giving the rest of his sanity to an ex-wife (Ali Larter, slicing scenery) he still loves and a daughter (Michelle Randolph) stuck inside her own teenage wasteland.

In order to pull a guy like Tommy off, Sheridan and company needed an actor who can make chaos seem sexy and give off a cowboy-type intensity. Thornton was the right man for the job, because he leads with grit and attitude instead of classic leading man chops. In the same way he dazzled on Prime’s Goliath as a burnt out yet brilliant lawyer taking on huge cases that seem insurmountable, Thornton effortlessly slips into Tommy’s unkempt yet loyal and useful skin.

Oil honchos like Jon Hamm’s suit need someone willing to run into a blowout on an oil patch to shut off the gas line so three bodies can stop cooking. A Swiss army knife that can keep the profits moving by maintaining the local police, politicians, and common messes that come up, like the aforementioned blowout. Another wrench in the operation is Norris’s young son starting on an oil patch, against his father’s wishes due to the volatile situations that workers find themselves in on every shift.

Sheridan gets the visceral nature of those everyday lives for the gritty disposable humans who risk life and limb (and make a good salary if they live long enough) to keep one of the world’s greatest (and still highly desirable) assets flowing. Like he did with the ranch hand cowboy life on Yellowstone, he instantly installs an authenticity into Landman that makes it even more compelling.

Hamm and Demi Moore, along with Michael Pena and Sheridan regular James Jordan, all put in good work. The show runs on Thornton fuel, though. It’s his virtuoso performance that keeps the tough guy show pumping on all cylinders. You get the unfiltered Billy Bob rage and rants. Inside 20 minutes, we find his everyday anti-bliss hard to turn away from. It’s Thornton who plugs you into Sheridan’s genius here. If you think you have problems, watch Landman and see how bad Tommy has it.

Thanks to an already Emmy award lock performance from its leading man (and longtime proud Cardinals fan) Billy Bob Thornton, Sheridan’s Landman is very much worth your attention every Sunday night.

After all, how many shows have a Cardinals and Blues fan among the top leads of the cast?