Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week.

Paramount+’s “Landman,” streaming its second season Nov. 16, remains writer/creator Taylor Sheridan’s best, most entertaining series thanks in large part to the pitch-perfect casting of Billy Bob Thornton as oil company executive Tommy Norris.

But “Landman” is also controversial because of the depiction of its female characters, and that seems unlikely to change in season two, even as the series gives Demi Moore a lot more to do.

In season one, Moore’s Cami was barely there (Moore called her role “the Where’s Waldo?” of season one). But with the death of Cami’s husband, Monty (Jon Hamm), at the end of the first season, Cami takes charge right out of the gate in season two, encountering mean girls in a restroom and using the anger they foment in her as she addresses the oil men who want to take advantage of her.

“Underestimating me is how I buy you out,” Cami says, addressing a luncheon crowd. “The only difference between me and Monty is I’m meaner. Test me and you’ll find out. Enjoy your [bleeping] lunch. I paid for it with your money.”

It’s a fantastic scene, and Moore owns the moment. It makes the wait to see Cami come into her own in season one worthwhile.

The scene also establishes the stakes of season two as Tommy tries to hold Monty’s company together while Cami gets her sea legs as an oil executive.

If Cami shows a growing confidence as a strong businesswoman, “Landman” goes in the opposite direction with its depiction of Tommy’s dim daughter, Ainsley (Michelle Randolph), and his volatile ex-wife, Angela (Ali Larter).

Ainsley comes off as hopelessly dumb in a college interview scene where the college administrator can’t contain her contempt for Ainsley after Ainsley says she chose the school because it doesn’t have a policy against cheerleaders dating athletes, which allows for the creation of genetically superior babies.

Then there’s a dinner scene where Angela goes off the rails and Tommy says it’s because of where she’s at in her menstrual cycle.

“Honey, I don’t think home purchases should be committed to during the current arc of your cycle,” Tommy says before Angela starts throwing dinner plates against the wall.

It’s a cringey scene played for comedy that offers some partial redemption at the end when Angela confronts Tommy, saying, “I can’t control my hormones, but you can control pointing them out to me.” That makes Tommy stop and think, but it will likely be too little, too late for some viewers.

If you can get past that, “Landman” remains an entertaining, top-notch soap that delves further into Tommy’s character by introducing his father (Sam Elliott).

In a slate of virtual press conferences late last month, cast members described their experience working on the show and with Sheridan, who wrote the first two episodes of the new season.

“Season two deals a lot more with the relationships and the business aspect of it as opposed to the oil fields,” Thornton said.

That includes Cami coming into her own as a businesswoman.

“Where I connect with [Cami] is on the idea of feeling at times that I’ve been underestimated,” Moore said. “Cami is underestimated. She’s stepping into a world she doesn’t know except from the peripheral, and I think that she has the strength and resilience, which I also really identify with, to step in and take on the challenge, no matter what the obstacles.”

Thornton said his relationship with Larter off-screen isn’t that different than the relationship between Tommy and Angela on screen.

“So when we’re going to go to dinner … she actually says stuff to me like, ‘I’m not going to that dump out there in Weatherford again with all those rednecks, you’re taking me to a nice place with champagne and oysters and … caviar,’ ” Thornton said. “The great thing about the dynamic between those two characters is the fact that you know they love each other, even though they’re at each other constantly, because they’ve been together a long time and know each other very well.”

Larter said she enjoys Angela’s “emotional depths” as well as the challenge of “so many scenes where I’ve got to go from moments of incredible pain, to joy, to laughter.

“She feels things deeply, 110%,” Larter said. “As an actress, I’ve never had a chance to play a woman who is that volatile, is that filled with joy, is that alive. … One of the greatest things playing her is being able to find the moments of depth, and then also being able to ride that roller coaster and take her on this journey where it feels really clear and really honest with her relationship with her ex-husband.”

Larter said Angela’s wild streak makes for a fun role.

“So much of society, I have to follow the societal norms and behave a certain way at all times,” Larter said. “What makes [Angela] such a blast and so fiery and powerful is because she doesn’t care what you think about her, and that leads to incredible freedom for me as an actress and within this character.”

This season, there’s even an episode that deviates from the usual drama.

“I get to do comedy. We actually have an episode of me and Billy where we’re doing farce,” Larter said. “Taylor goes all the way with us. And then I also get to have these incredibly raw, vulnerable moments with Tommy. Being able to flex every muscle on this show has been the dream at my age.”

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