Season 2 of “Landman” is drilling deeper into oil man Tommy Norris’ (Billy Bob Thornton) backstory. Sam Elliott joined the cast this season as Tommy’s father, T.L. Norris. During episode 2, which premiered on Sunday, Nov. 23, Tommy and his son, Cooper (Jacob Lofland), went to visit T.L. at his assisted living facility. Tommy asked T.L. if he wanted to see the casket he picked out for his recently deceased mother, Dorothy.
“I bet you can’t wait to get it in the ground, can you?” T.L. replied. He then spoke about the “disease” that plagued his late wife, seemingly hinting at her battle with addiction. “It killed a part of her I love and left us with the woman you knew. And I remember when she was the brightest light everywhere she went. Ain’t never seen a sunset prettier,” T.L. recalled. “The sun had already set by the time I was born,” Tommy said in response.
Tommy and his mother were clearly estranged for a long time, seeing as Cooper, who’s around 20 years old, never even met her.
On the drive home from the assisted living facility, Tommy opened up to Cooper about his upbringing and how it shaped his own ability to parent. He told him it was probably for the best that he only had Cooper on the weekends when he was still separated from Cooper’s mom, Angela (Ali Larter).
“I wasn’t raised to father a son. And all your grandfather ever did was work himself into being a cripple out on the [oil] rigs, come home and get drunk enough to deal with my damn coked out tornado of a mother, and then come in my room and try to beat his failures all out of me,” Tommy shared.
Tommy warned Cooper: “However you raise your son is how he’s gonna raise his son. And that cycle is almost impossible to break.”
Tommy might be a workaholic who professes to be sober while drinking light beer, but we’ve never seen him be violent or cruel to his son. Cooper certainly had a better childhood than Tommy, which he pointed out.
“You broke [that cycle],” Cooper said. “I avoided it,” Tommy argued. “I love you, dad. You did your best, and your best is good enough for me,” Cooper replied.
For the first time in the entire series, Tommy got visibly emotional. He looked out the window and changed the topic to the weather while fighting back tears. It was a sweet moment, but it didn’t last very long.
The “Landman” episode ended with Tommy discovering who’s behind Sonrisa, the financial firm that mysteriously backed Cooper’s new oil drilling ventures. Turns out it’s a cartel boss named Gallino (Andy Garcia), who Tommy encountered during season 1.
“You know who this is?” Tommy asked Cooper, showing him a photo of Gallino. Cooper said he didn’t. “That’s your new partner. And it’s a real f–ing problem, son,” Tommy warned.
New episodes of “Landman” premiere on Paramount+ on Sundays at 3 a.m. ET.
