Landman Recap: But Daddy, I Sorta Like Him! — Plus, Michelle Randolph Explains Why She Felt ‘Mortified’ During That Party Scene
We get a peek into Ainsley’s brain on this week’s Landman and it is a fascinating place.
Now that Cooper’s highly inconvenient, nearly fatal beating is no longer a roadblock, Tommy’s daughter makes it to her first party since arriving in Midland. She meets a boy about five minutes after arriving at the bash — which is held at an oil patch, naturally — and the evening eventually leads to Ainsley and her father having one of the most unsettling conversations about sex since… the last time they talked about it.
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But first, Tommy — on Angela’s orders — tracks Ainsley to the party and finds her in the bed of a pickup truck, underneath Ryder (played by The Sex Lives of College Girls’ Mitchell Slaggert), the handsome football player with whom she’s hit it off. Tommy punches the kid in the throat then drags him out onto the ground. There’s a lot of yelling and shoving and such, all on Tommy’s part. “I hope you get married one day and have a daughter who’s hotter than a two-dollar Rolex!” he yells at the teen as he carts Ainsley away.
When he’s cooled down, Tommy asks Ainsley to lie to him forever about being a virgin, because he just can’t handle the reality. But there’s a harsher reality creeping in that he doesn’t even realize: Someone from the cartel that thinks the oil company wronged them was scoping out the patch party and paying very close attention to Tommy and his kid.
Elsewhere in the episode:
* Cooper is released from the hospital and goes to Ariana’s, a move Tommy doesn’t think is a good one. “There’s a big bullseye on this boy,” he tells her. “I know. I put it there,” she replies. Ariana has Cooper stay in her bedroom while she sleeps on the couch, but they eventually end up in there together — with him on top of the covers, because Cooper promises to “be a gentleman.” She grabs his arm, though, and gently moves him into position to spoon her. “I haven’t had a hug since the funeral,” she says, crying. The next morning, she kisses him, and he kisses her back. They’re interrupted by the doorbell: It’s Rebecca and Nathan, who are holding off on paying the other grieving families until Ariana signs the agreement. And when Cooper walks out, and Rebecca learns who he is, she perks up: “We’ve been looking everywhere for you.”
* On a whim, Angela and Ainsley decide to stop by a nursing home and liven up the place. They bring board games, party accoutrements and a lot of booze, and they’re a hit. Though the nurse on duty disapproves, she can’t deny that the residents enjoy themselves while the ladies are there: She asks them to return the next day. “Mama,” Ainsley says proudly, “I think you found your calling.”
Speaking of Ainsley: We got a chance to chat with Michelle Randolph, who plays Tommy and Angela’s daughter, about Episode 7 and what may come next. Read on for her thoughts about “All Roads Lead to a Hole” and beyond.
TVLINE | Ainsley seems to make friends very easily. And she and Ryder don’t have a ton of time together at the patch party before her dad arrives. Will we see more of her connecting with other teens, maybe Ryder, as the season progresses?
I hope so. I mean, it’s been fun, because we got to establish Ainsley as a daughter, and every interaction was with my mom or my dad in the show, which was nice to establish that youthful character in her. And now, to see her enter her own world, and her dynamic among her friends and her peers, is a whole different side of her. As the season goes on, it’s fun to see that she still continues to just be so authentically herself. And as a teenager, you can kind of be one way with your friends and one way with your parents. For Ainsley, I just think she’s herself always, and that’s really refreshing.
TVLINE | During the family dinner in Episode 5, Cooper remarked that she doesn’t remember what it was really like when their parents were together. Has that stayed with her? Is she worried at all?
Well, she’s had a very sheltered upbringing, and she hasn’t faced a lot of consequence in her life. Of course, she’s been through things, [like] her parents divorcing. But I do think that her as a person, she’s not jaded. It’s a conscious choice to choose to be positive, because she’s not oblivious. We know she plays both sides. She plays with her dad, she says things to her mom. She is a typical teenager, and I think often, maybe the audience can interpret her as not being in on things, but she very much is.
And so, for Cooper to say that, I think it’s just, ‘Why is he always raining on my parade?’ Like, ‘This is what my brother does. He’s so somber, and why can’t we just be happy, because this is what’s happening.’ And I think that is, again, just who she is: just very present, and just chooses to look at the world positively.
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TVLINE | I want to know everything you want to tell me about the patch-party scene, when Tommy arrives and pulls Ryder off Ainsley in the back of the truck.
[Laughs] It’s so, oh my gosh. That was, like, one of the last days that we shot of the show; even though it was in Episode 7, we shot entirely out of order. And after playing a character for so long, you start to feel their emotions, I felt mortified. Like, I don’t know if I was mortified as Michelle, or as Ainsley, or a combination of the two. But to have someone on top of you, and your dad rip them off? I mean, there’s no easy way to film that! So it was funny for me as well.
It was so windy, and we shot that scene for so long, because any time stunts are involved in a scene, it just takes way longer than you even think it should. And we only had two days to complete that whole patch party, all of those scenes there. There’s a lot of extras. We shot that scene for so long, and then had to quickly move on to something else, and we were there till, like, 3 in the morning, and it was a blur. [Laughs]
TVLINE | I don’t want to bring down the vibe, but there’s a very dangerous tag on that scene: Someone is watching Tommy, and now that person has seen him with Ainsley. Can you give us any sense of whether she’ll find herself in danger in the coming episodes?
[Pauses] I am so bad at answering these questions!
TVLINE | This is the part of my story where I’ll write, “Randolph looks like she wants to say something, but probably can’t.” I’ll say now that it’s unlikely they show us a cartel member watching Tommy and his family without having that come up again later.
It is interesting to see the cartel be now closing in on Tommy’s personal life. I mean, that’s the best way to haunt him, is through the people he loves. And I just think it’s inevitable that some sort of interaction happens.
TVLINE | I loved that, in the Year of Our Lord 2024, Ainsley announces that she’s pretty much just going to college to get a philanthropy degree so she can be extra-useful to her future NFL-player husband. How did that hit you the first time you read it? I had thoughts, but I’m old and jaded.
No, I mean, I’m sure mine were similar to yours. I admire her confidence, and I believe that she fully believes that she will be marrying an NFL quarterback, and this is the life. I mean, look: Who Ainsley’s role models are informs so much as to who she is. There’s a workout scene with Angela where she goes, “That’s how you take life: by the short and curlies,” or whatever she says. And that’s what she’s been taught her whole life, so of course she thinks that she’s going to marry an NFL quarterback. And also, that’s the dream of a lot of girls who love football, and that’s the environment in Texas. That’s what she is. She’s a cheerleader.
TVLINE | Right.
And…yeah, if she can pull it off, good for her.
What did you think of the episode? Hit the comments, and let us know!
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