5 Most Frustrating Characters In Landman, Ranked

"Landman" is absolutely loaded with characters that have complicated and unique responses to their trauma, histories, and current environments. Some of them respond much more maturely to the day-to-day challenge of coping with all of this than others. When these characters take refuge in something else — whether that be sex, violence, or other such diversions — they can churn out some very irritating moments.

The worst of these incidents have turned viewers against these characters for good. But which of the 12 main characters from "Landman" are the most frustrating of the bunch? Competition for such a title is fierce, but we've narrowed down the five biggest offenders, breaking down all of the worst qualities borne by the show's most annoying characters. Here are the five most frustrating characters in "Landman."

Ainsley Norris (Michelle Randolph) is at least growing and changing in response to what she's experienced over the course of the past two seasons, but she's still a very frustrating character. The journey to adulthood for Ainsley has been fraught with tooth-grindingly bad moments, painting her as a younger version of her mother, Angela (Ali Larter). The character is introduced as a rebellious teenager who floats from boy to boy while helping Angela out with her aims and schemes. During much of Season 1, she's a walking waste of potential.

Ainsley does at least have a goal in life — she's a cheerleader, and that's great, but this doesn't actually inform her character until Season 2. It's here, having secured a spot on Texas Christian University's cheerleading team, where Ainsley starts to come into her own. She attends cheerleading camp at the school and clashes with her nonbinary roommate, Paigyn (Bobbi Salvör Menuez), until they finally come to an understanding that proves Ainsley's not closed-minded. Hopefully Season 3 will follow up on this new side to Ainsley and make her less frustrating to watch.

Like her daughter, Angela Norris wastes her potential. It's not that she's an inert presence on the show — she has her on-again-off-again connection with Tommy (Billy Bob Thornton) which ultimately results in a reunion. She volunteers her time at the local senior center and gets in trouble when she gets them drunk and takes them gambling. And she wears a lot of strange costumes and revealing outfits that seem designed to keep the audience's attention span from wandering too far afield.

All of this is precisely why Angela's such a frustrating character — she's more of a mascot than a human being with frailties. She seems to be there solely for the purposes of relief in spite of the fact that she has a daughter, a son, and an ex she's very attached to in play on the show. She should be doing more than dressing up like a pirate or sitting around at her own birthday party, but that's all the show gives her to do, which is just one of several things in "Landman" that makes no sense.

The son of Angela and Tommy, Cooper Norris (Jacob Lofland) frustrates viewers with his sheer wishy-washiness. He left Texas Tech and a promising career in petroleum geology to become a bottom-of-the-rung roustabout for M-Tex. His hope to impress the old man results in a series of disasters, culminating in him taking out a loan with cartel boss Gallino (Andy Garcia). He manages to buy six wells that finally produce in spite of their shallowness thanks to his degree and they help form the basis of CTT Oil when Tommy breaks away from M-Tex.

Since he's still in pretty deep with Gallino, nothing's really been solved. As a wildcatter he's mediocre and as a businessman he makes chronically poor decisions, turning him into an extremely frustrating character to watch. At least Cooper still has his relationship with Ariana (Paulina Chavez), and most of the frustrations in that connection stem from her side of the tale. It's a real pity, because things could be so much more interesting for Cooper than they are.

Billy Bob Thornton's Tommy Norris is, quite frankly, an even worse businessman than his son, but he still manages to pull things out of the fire by the skin of his teeth every time. Now that doesn't mean the show needs an immaculate lead who never makes the wrong choice; that would be boring. But Tommy's terrible in-the-field choices have cost M-Tex lives, and his choice to do business with Gallino is one of several things that are wrong about "Landman" Season 2. 

The biggest problem with Tommy is that he refuses to learn from his previous mistakes. He gambles dangerously with his company's future. He recklessly gets back into a relationship with Angela even though their marriage is a disaster. He is more often than not a clear case of someone who fails upward; the audience waits in vain for him to get a grip and he never does, and this just adds to their frustration.

Just because a character's likeable doesn't mean they're not frustrating. Ariana Medina is the most frustrating character on "Landman" because of her sheer stubbornness. While during Season 1 that's exactly what led to her getting what she was entitled to from M-Tex in the wake of her husband's death in a wildcatting operation gone wrong, in Season 2, her refusal to listen to others leads her to absolute disaster and gets both her and Cooper into some major trouble.

Ariana refuses to give us waitressing and bartending just because Cooper is now wealthy. This is a noble decision and one that checks out character wise — she's fiercely independent and wants to make her own money. However, things go wrong when a customer becomes obsessed with her. He beats her up, and Cooper subsequently beats the man unconscious. Unfortunately, he dies soon afterward. They've both managed to wriggle out of further legal problems for now, but this one decision from Ariana makes her the most frustrating character, even though she's not to blame for what happened.