Landman: Season Two Blu-ray Review: Billy Bob Thornton keeps Taylor Sheridan's Oil Patch Soap Opera Running on High Octane

Taylor Sheridan's recent output has been the work of a man with a factory cranked to full capacity. Some of the products that have come off the assembly line have been a bit stale, but Landman is the one show where the machine has hit the perfect RPMs. Mean, funny, and a little bit messy, it's right in the wheelhouse of high budget daddy TV that knows exactly what it is. While season one was getting us to know the volatile grease-stained world of West Texas oil, season two sees everything involved in it coming to the realization that the ground could be swallowed at any second.

Billy Bob Thornton remains the heart of the production as Tommy Norris, who is the type of guy who only comes to life with the kind of weary, ash-dusted charisma that makes you think he's been up for 72 hours straight sipping lukewarm diner coffee and negotiating with cartels, environmental lawyers, and corporate idiots who wouldn't know a drill bit from a hole in the wall. Watching Thornton maneuver through these conversations is the main reason to be watching the show, as Sheridan's scripts for him often are long-winded monologues that are filled with jargon and cynical life lessons, which in less capable hands could come out as ridiculous. Thornton does it all with the confidence of a man trying to talk himself into a nap after a long shift in his truck to stare into the distance for twenty minutes.

The second season of Landman picks up right where the first one left off, but with stakes that have been raised a bit, perhaps because it doesn't spend as much time talking about the intricacies of the oil rights system and more time focusing on the interpersonal interactions at the various balls and rigs. Tommy is right in the middle of it all, as corporate interests and local politics bleed into his own very dysfunctional family life. There's a nice balance between the political machinations at the boardrooms and on the rigs that keeps the show's tone consistent throughout these episodes, despite a few subplots threatening to derail it.

What keeps things grounded when they threaten to get too ridiculous is the grittiness of the setting. West Texas isn't the kind of place that gets romanticized in this version of the show; it's dirty, dusty, flat, and ugly. People aren't the types to take a long, hot shower and get eight hours of proper sleep. The various side characters, from the crews working in the dirt to the executives in the air-conditioned glass towers of Dallas, are all a mix of different kinds of sinners who have cut deals with the devil to keep the lights on. This sort of cynicism is a nice touch that prevents the show from having to resort to noble intentions as a motivating factor for anyone. It makes for a much more entertaining watch when a group of people with questionable motives and a bundle of self-interests scramble to gain leverage over each other, and season two of the show leans into this theme quite nicely.

On the technical front, Paramount has provided a nice presentation of Landman: Season Two on Blu-ray that does the show's harsh, sunny aesthetic justice. This is a bright series with a lot of contrast, and the 1080p encode manages to capture all of its intricacies without losing the fine details in the highlights. Everything looks good from the fine character facial expressions, the grime and oil on the workwear to the dirt and texture in the Texas landscape. The color palette is largely ambers and warm earthy tones with the occasional bright blue, and they all look nice on disc. The bitrate is good throughout all episodes, so there are no ugly compression artifacts or banding in the large landscapes with the sun setting on the horizon. The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track also manages to do a great job of capturing all the various ambient environmental sounds, as the rumbling of the rigs and heavy machinery that provide a nice deep bass for the subwoofer. The dialogue is always clear and easy to understand, which is important as a lot of the show's dialogue is low-mumble talks for Thornton.

While the physical release of the show is a bit light on extras, the ones that are included are worth checking out for the production-focused viewer. The main featurette on the disc is Going Deeper: Inside Landman Season Two, a roughly 28-minute long 1080p video that has some quick-fire interviews with the cast and crew, as well as an examination of the differences in dynamics for the second season. The highlight is probably a tour of some of the locations that are used, provided by Billy Bob Thornton himself, who shows his dry sense of humor and gives insight into how some of the areas are converted into the chaotic Tommy Norris world we get to see. It's a nice, short, fun watch, and doesn't feel like another generic corporate EPK piece. Following this, Finding Character in Clothing with Costume Designer Janie Bryant is an eight-minute 1080p video that looks at the clothing choices for the second season, and how they reflect the massive wealth discrepancy between certain groups of people in the series. Janie Bryant goes into detail on how the show showcases this with the different choices her team makes for the various crews and the Norris family in terms of workwear and upscale shopping. It's a short, but entertaining piece that appreciates the subtle choices that make the world of the show feel so grounded.

Landman Season 2 delivers on what it promised. While it's certainly not reinventing the modern TV wheel, as a sleazy character piece wrapped in the chaos of the energy business, it's done really well. Thornton is the beating heart of the production, as the supporting cast manages to keep the energy level high throughout the season. Paramount's Blu-ray release has some nice video and audio presentation, as well as a few quality extras to appreciate the production. If you've enjoyed the first season or are a fan of better-written dramedies in general, this set is a great addition to the shelf.

Landman Season 2 is available to own on Blu-ray and DVD today!