While Yellowstone ends its third act after a glorious seven-year run, Taylor Sheridan’s next socially-relevant project about the oil and gas rig industry comes under fire. Starring Billy Bob Thornton in the lead, Landman has merely released its first 2 episodes (at the time of this article’s publication), and yet, fans keep impatiently pointing out the flaws embedded in the show’s plotline while others are busy praising it for it’s unique and original concept.
This attack on the series in its infancy is almost similar to the criticism that Yellowstone once faced after the decline in its post-Season 3 narratives. For the die-hard fans, this cowboy-ranch lifestyle portrayed in the fictional series was a worthy endeavor due to shining a light on the near-extinct way of life.
Now, fans rise up to defend both Yellowstone and Landman – one in its final act, the other in its infancy.
Landman Fails to Learn From Yellowstone
Taylor Sheridan has never been one to pull his punches. The objectively genius filmmaker obsessed with bringing socio-politically charged issues to the forefront of public consciousness has delivered some of film and television’s finest projects in recent years.
Yellowstone exposed the decline of cattle and ranch business in America. Mayor of Kingstown highlighted the American prison system and towns that thrive on the incarceration industry. Sicario meanwhile unraveled the cross-border war on drugs, and Special Ops: Lioness portrayed the war on terror.
In his seventh year of collaboration with Paramount’s streaming service, Taylor Sheridan brings another landmark series – this time focusing on the boomtown American culture of the oil business. However, even after the Yellowstone creator’s first-hand experience with his first Paramount+ flagship series, Sheridan fails to imbibe his latest show with the lessons he learned from his past errors in judgment.
Now, fans with first-hand experience in the oil business have risen to criticize the show for inaccuracies and inconsistencies in the plot, much like cowboys and ranch hands had criticized Yellowstone for over-the-top dramatics of the show.
Fans Come to Landman‘s Defence, and for Good Reason
The Taylor Sheridan fan club has been severed into two halves – with one party calling out Landman for its inaccurate portrayal of the industry thriving around the Permian Basin, while the other half aggressively defends the show for its fictional storyline.
However, each party is in the right this time. Although some viewers can enjoy the series and find interest in Sheridan’s signature volatile plots, others find themselves being drawn out of the story when their real-life experiences don’t corroborate with the drama playing out on the screen. And this duality in the audience’s psychology has been coming out in waves on social media.
Despite first-hand experience with the kind of criticism that Yellowstone faced regarding its portrayal of the cattle and ranch lifestyle, Taylor Sheridan fails to take precautionary measures while depicting the oil rig business in Landman.
The wave of criticism that now plagues Landman mere days after the premiere of its first episode signals an early onset decline of the series, even as Sheridan fills his cast with A-list actors.