Excellent series, just finished season 1.
Great pacing and acting. Got into the social politics on the field, and added in some cartel spice.
Toward the end of season 1 there was a bunch of unnecessary relationship drama, but still great overall.
Billy Bob Thornton really sells this series.
I wasn’t particularly impressed by this one. 5/10. Agreed Thornton is the main reason to keep watching.
Predictability
This show exists to promote oil, access the flyover state audience, and to rehabilitate Paramount for the right-wing ahead of a major merger. As such, it is an old-fashioned show where boxes are to be ticked, not to be thought outside of.
You have the brave workers in constant danger, you have the battered cowboy keeping it together, you have the Mexicans playing the role of drug dealers. You have the eye candy by the pool, and just the semblance that “if there was a better way we’d do it”. As if.
So yes, the composition and lighting are pretty, the locations are different, and there’s plenty of scaffolding and machinery to pan slowly across while the music swells. But what do you actually leave with after an hour? Very little.
Wafer-thin characters
Billy-Bob is the dour fixer who knows the real way the world works. He delivers at least one lecture per episode about this, without contradiction or growth. A recurring theme is how oil will always be king, always.
His daughter is, apparently, a tight little butt with a girl attached. Or that’s how every other character and the camera treat them. See the excruciating “comedy” bits with Billy-Bob’s roommate.
His son is an oil worker. He reacts to situations, but doesn’t instigate them. He’s a passive character who only serves to justify the audience being told how Tab A fits into Slot B and why that’s important to make the oil come out.
His ex-ex-wife exists to deliver Quippy innuendos. Curiously, she’s the only character who almost gets development, but that’s quickly swept away and forgotten about.
The company owner is a businessman. He likes money. He owns a pool. He’s often at dinner with other businessmen. Or playing golf. Really breaking the mould here.
The company lawyer is a predictable city-type woman, who is good at what they do (which is apparently still a shock to other characters because were essentially in an 80’s throwback show). She starts out rough but softens up because that’s original.
Just be aware that the creator is a climate change denialist and puts his personal opinions into the show.
Climate Town had an informative episode about it.
Having watched the show, they didn’t deny climate change in season 1. They talked about the lack of better options when comparing total carbon cost for the various alternatives.
Not to mention the scene where they use a windfarm to power the pumpjacks in a rural area.
I overall enjoyed the story and the acting, but nearly every episode had some formulaic monologue where Thornton or Hamm explained some anti-climate change BS to a character that was portrayed as incompetent for believing in it. It’s the same formula used in all these types of shows where some Tough Man™ is always correct in every situation and any character who happens to believe in science or data, is a woman or PoC is treated like a bumbling fool. Reacher is another good example of this.
“lack of better options” IS propaganda my friend. They’re saying there is some line in the sand where they will acknowledge that green energy is better, without ever saying it.
It’s a common excuse, that green energy isn’t perfect it must be bad. It doesn’t matter that it removes 80% of the emissions, it’s 100% or nothing, that’s the standard they set. No options will ever be perfect, so they can keep people thinking that it’s moral to keep using oil. It’s not.
Not to mention that the “facts” they tout in the series are just plain wrong.
Great point
deleted by creator
If you want to see life in the field itself, https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBW0qA5hPmdEGMXky8TX9ww TheZachLife runs his own tiny fields, repairs everything, and walks through the science, business, and mechanics of keeping a bunch of low yield oil leases going.
I think having been watching ZachLife for a few years, I really appreciated landman the series, since I had a on the ground background.
