'Landman' Is in Love With Myths

Landman, the new drama series on Paramount+, opens with protagonist Tommy Norris (Billy Bob Thornton) tied to a chair and surrounded by members of a Mexican drug cartel. He’s trying to get them to sign away their land so that the oil company he works for can drill there. Despite his compromised position, he’s able to sway his captors by rattling off an apparently convincing series of facts and figures. A few minutes later, Tommy’s young son Cooper (Jacob Lofland) is picked up in a big pickup truck for his first day on a crew of rig hands. When they make a predawn stop at a roadside coffee stand staffed by a beautiful blonde in a bikini top, Cooper orders a latte and gets skewered by his crewmates and the column of honking trucks behind them.