Doing a job poorly isn’t edgy; it’s embarrassing. We’ve seen viewers turn off Landman Season 2 more from frustration than boredom. Unlike Yellowstone, where even flawed characters feel competent, Landman seems stuck in a loop of professional incompetence.

From oil execs clueless about land deals to a bartender who picks fights, the show is littered with illogical choices that shatter immersion.

Viewers aren’t hating; they’re hopeful, hoping for competence that never materializes. They’re begging for depth and realism. If Landman really wants to earn its stripes in season 2, it needs to respect its characters and its audience by making their jobs believable and their decisions resonant.

Landman Season 2 has a character problem that Yellowstone never did

Kelly Reilly in Yellowstone | Credit: Paramount+
In Yellowstone, characters are morally gray but undeniably competent. Rip, John, and Beth get things done even if it’s brutal. But in Landman, we’re asked to root for oil execs, workers, and consultants who seem consistently out of their depth, misinformed, or dangerously reckless.

Scrolling through fan reactions on Landman feels like reading an anatomy of dysfunction. Rebecca (Kayla Wallace), the lawyer, loses to a kid with zero legal education. Monty (Jon Hamm) promotes people whose skills don’t match their roles.

Nursing home employees trust random women with serving alcohol and leading field trips. A bartender bickers with customers instead of doing her job. It’s as if every character wears a professional badge but lacks the knowledge to back it up. The result? A show about professionals where none behave like professionals.

Let’s read a few fan comments:

Beyond bad job executions, the series leans on contrived subplots that scream for logic. For example, a 401(k) conversation pops up like an unscheduled commercial, confusing viewers and writers alike. One fan noted this clearly:

Also, the hazing scene, where a kid is injured for a joke, is neither edgy nor believable; it’s just unsafe and, once again, unprofessional. Characters don’t just make poor decisions; they make impossible ones. These storyline misfires shake the trust viewers place in the show’s internal logic.

Where Yellowstone lionized its characters (for better or worse), Landman leaves you wondering how any of these people still have jobs. The storytelling stumbles as it tries to glorify characters whose actual actions contradict their reputations.

Taylor Sheridan’s Landman drops in popularity ahead of season 2?

Taylor Sheridan’s Landman | Credit: Paramount+
Taylor Sheridan may be the reigning monarch of modern Western melodrama, but even royalty has its misfires. Despite boasting a lead in Billy Bob Thornton and a subject as volatile as the oil industry, Landman is watching its early momentum evaporate faster than a West Texas puddle in August.

The show has now sunk to #17 on Paramount+ in the U.S., according to FlixPatrol (via Collider), a sobering tumble for a series that debuted with the kind of swagger usually reserved for Yellowstone-adjacent content.

Worse still? Season 2 is currently in production. The optics are less than ideal.

Sheridan brought out the full ensemble: Ali Larter playing a kind of exasperated Greek chorus, Demi Moore tossed into the mix as a magnetic ex-wife, Michelle Randolph representing the Gen Z chaos factor, and even Jon Hamm, who outclassed the room, and promptly got killed off. All the necessary pieces were there.

But the execution? More fizzle than fire.

Demi Moore in Landman | Credit: Paramount+
Yes, Taylor Sheridan has that signature. But in Landman, that formula might be calcifying. Where Yellowstone often collapsed under its own baroque masculinity, it at least had mythos. Landman, by contrast, feels more like a PowerPoint deck about fracking with some cowboy boots thrown in.

Streaming chart placement reflects a more essential metric: narrative urgency. Shows don’t slip because they’re bad; they slip when viewers stop needing to know what happens next. If Season 2 wants to matter, it has to grow up. Because right now, Landman doesn’t feel like a story being told. It feels like a brand being maintained!