Gone are the wisecracks and black humor (well, almost entirely gone) from "Landman" in this episode, a personal response to the bad beating Cooper got to climax the previous segment.
What's important here is how Taylor Sheridan shows the serious side of this story, on its surface soap opera, but much grittier and closer to dark reality than its "Dallas" or "Falcon Crest" nighttime soap forerunners. What impressed me the most is how familiar situations that spell sentimentality are given an entirely different spin thanks to Billy Bob's terrific acting - he is so deep into his character that you can really believe his view of the world, hard-edged, somewhat cynical, but always directly to the point.
Ali Larter gets to carry some emotional weight, made entertaining by the exaggerated nature of her role, while Paulina Chavez as Ariana continues to be the heart of the show, opposite Cooper. Jon Hamm once again reduces everything to his greedy point-of-view, while Taylor injects the other side of the coin -not only the grieving Mexican widows but also Billy Bob's unspoken reaction to Hamm's life of extreme luxury compared to the world of trouble existence he must deal with on a daily basis.
