Taylor Sheridan loves to write and shoot a sequence that elevates the work to a sacred act. After all the deadly dramas of Yellowstone and for the Duttons, it was cowboying as a verb that defined the show, with the camera lovingly lingering on the skills specific to the job. This show was also wistful – the last remnants of a way of life. With CountrymanSheridan, who writes and directs the first two episodes, portrays the West Texas oil patch as a vicious beast that blindly devours hard work. It doesn't sanctify. And the only religion here is the Bank Church.
Boiling flames and curling columns of inky smoke open Episode 2 of Countrymanas Cooper comes to the realization that the lives of three men have just ended. There is no support out here other than the work team consisting of Luis, Armando, Elvio and Coop. There is no one there for miles around. And Sheridan's camera marks the difference as the accident site continues to burn, a chaotic stain miles from Caliche, with the men's remains – their very existence – now contributing to the relentless, indifferent turmoil in the boomtown.
When the police and fire department finally arrive and Cooper is treated, it is Tommy who has to plug the pumpjack's flame-breathing valve. But he also hits his finger with a hammer, whereupon we watch him cut the tip off with his buck knife. Because the work doesn't end, and Tommy can't burden himself with years of hand specialists and surgeries. He doesn't find much sympathy for his son either. “I go to Elvio's house to tell a 22-year-old mother to stop the damn job ads and get a job. No time to mourn, no time to mourn. Because banks don’t wait.”
Along with fellow oil and gas lawyer Nate, Tommy urged Monty to offer $250,000 to each surviving family “just to get them through.” But the accident won't halt production. The crisis should not prevent success. Just like a plane stolen by drug smugglers that then explodes on an M-TEX-owned road, the real questions are just how and when the work will continue. This is how Tommy meets Rebecca Falcone (Kayla Wallace). The corporate attorney and chain liability specialist was sent to Midland to deal with the TTP truck explosion Countryman Episode 1, but now she's ready for the latest trouble and meets up with Tommy at the Patch Café.
“I stopped drinking. I'll stick with beer.” If that sentence doesn't make sense, then you don't agree with self-confessed alcoholic Tommy Norris that the alcohol content in Michelob Ultra is purely for maintenance purposes. (Looking back at Taylor Sheridan's screenplay for the 2016 classic set in West Texas Hell or high waterwhere Ben Foster's Tanner Howard wondered who the hell could ever get drunk on a beer.) Rebecca wants to know that a manager like Tommy knowingly sending M-TEX workers to service broken equipment isn't a lawsuit that will be lost . But he says these men knowingly sacrificed their safety for a competitive salary. And when it comes to knowingly defective wells and knowingly lax OSHA standards, then the entire oil industry is knowingly guilty.
Cooper is hurt and Ainsley is sulking about breaking up with her boyfriend – “He should change his feelings and do what I want!” – Angela has decided to move to Midland to be with her ex-husband and children. (Angela on FaceTime: “See you tomorrow, you fucking asshole.”) This will be fun. But in the meantime, Tommy's living situation in the corporate rental continues to bring its own touch of humor Countryman. Like petroleum engineer Dale, who microwaves metal cans of beans in a bowl – “they don't taste the same” – and who meets Ainsley in the shower because his family is suddenly living with his colleagues.
Ainsley's stay in the house is also an opportunity for Billy Bob Thornton, as Tommy Norris, to engage in some top-notch speeches from Taylor Sheridan. Because when she finds out that Cooper gave up his college studies to work in the area and that he injured himself in the process, Ainsley calls her brother a loser. Tommy's features become a blank mask of sternness. Loser? It used to be just these guys and dreamers who found their way west, either to make it or to die. But these days, says Tommy Ainsley, it's the oil and gas boomtown where dreamers and losers congregate. And everyone wants to win. Who will she be when it comes time to choose a side? It's clear that Ainsley and Cooper don't get along. But Ainsley was probably just making a false comment, not expecting a gritty, trenchant treatise on the oil patch as the embodiment of the American dream.
When Tommy finishes his lecture for Ainsley, he drives to the hospital to pick up Cooper and continue the lecture. “You know people are going to blame you,” he says of his son and the accident. Especially because Cooper needs a favor. He would like to be included in another work team. His college studies? They lose value in his eyes. “I don't want to teach geology, I want to live it. I want to be a country man.” Despite being nearly blown up, despite the general reaction to the accident, what else is new? back to work – Cooper stays true to his path and is the world's first CEO of a company that goes from worm to predator to oil. This kid could still be a loser. You know, from his life. But right now he's the dreamer. Tommy, an oil pilot himself, invites Cooper to the patch for a beer.
Johnny Loftus (@glennganges) is an independent author and editor living in Chicago. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, All Music Guide, Pitchfork Media and Nicki Swift.