Landman's Jacob Lofland Breaks Down Cooper's Bad Business Fallout: 'There's Many A Twist And Turn Still Coming'

Warning: This post contains spoilers from "Landman" Episode 5. Proceed accordingly.

Cooper Norris, we're proud of you.

In this week's "Landman," not only does Tommy's son accept his father's offer of help with his mightily troubled new business, he also musters the courage to drive across the state and ask Ariana's father for her hand in marriage. Big day, is all we're saying! So of course, we couldn't wait to talk with Jacob Lofland about playing Coop at such a pivotal juncture in his life. Read on for his thoughts on tough love, young love and drooling dogs. 

TVLINE | I love what this episode tells us about Cooper and — you can tell me if I'm wrong — about how he's changed since we first met him in the first season.
JACOB LOFLAND | He's growing a little. [Laughs]

TVLINE | This is your "Choose Your Own Adventure"; we're going to do both, but you can pick which one we start with. Do you want to talk about Cooper's business stuff first, or the Ariana stuff first?
Let's go business first.

TVLINE | Do you think he had any sense of exactly how, I'm going to use the word f**ked he was before Tommy lays it all out for him?
Not a clue. And honestly, I don't think he understands how f**ked he is yet. That's the thing. Tommy definitely knows more about Gallino than Cooper does, by any stretch, but Tommy doesn't tell him that he saw him kill four people in the last season, and what kind of man we're in business with. [Cooper] just knows it's a problem. Doesn't know why exactly. So that's still to come. Possibly, Cooper's going to figure that out later — or maybe we don't! [Laughs] We'll see. There's many a twist and turn still coming in the second half of this thing.

TVLINE | We've talked before about your car scene with Billy Bob Thornton in Episode 2, which was so sweet for the two of them, who are not given to verbalizing a lot of what they feel for each other.
It was a special moment.

TVLINE | I would say that the scene in this episode when they're in The Patch Café having breakfast is a similar moment.
Yeah, very similar. [Laughs] Just a little rougher, you know? Tommy raises Cooper in a way which I relate to very much. I mean, when you come from this part of the world and it's blue-collar work, or dangerous work, to be raised by a man that does it and to want to follow in those footsteps? They don't take it easy on you, because no one else is going to, and life's not going to. So I think that's a great understanding, and me and Billy really fell into that. We're both from the same place, so that dynamic just works for us. I'm used to being taught that way. I think he definitely was, too. It really translates well that we come from that understanding, just in real life, of having that relationship, the father-son thing, and I think that translates a lot to the screen and allows us to do it in a natural way. [Laughs] You know, I've taken that a**-eating from my dad before in the same way.

TVLINE | Tommy really swoops in and saves the day there, right? Cooper would be really screwed if he didn't have his back.
It would be over, yeah. That's the father-son relationship, you know? He knows that he screwed up. [Tommy] could go in a lot harder than he is for the stress that he's under, dealing with it, but he knows it was a mistake made from trying to do good. [He's] just got to learn the process and figure out the steps in which to get there now, and that's going to be Cooper's next learning curve.

TVLINE | Do you think that the Cooper we met in Season 1 would have seen this as the gift that it is?
No, not at all. I think it was really eye-opening for Cooper in that instance to understand "I actually don't have an idea of what I'm doing. I got really lucky," and he knows that he did. He's smart on the geological side and knows how he can find oil. Hopefully, he'll keep doing that throughout. I'm sure at some point there will be some dry holes — that's just the gamble that you take. But he has found this thing, and he's good at that side. He just doesn't understand the business side at all yet. He's jumping in a little fast before he has an understanding.

TVLINE | Let's talk about Ariana and how Cooper is in the mode of, "Whatever you say! Just happy to be here!"
Yeah, but you know: I think it's his first relationship ever, and he wants to hang onto it. And he absolutely loves her. She's everything that he could imagine that he wants, and a lot calmer than his mother and sister. [Laughs] Like, it's two totally different dynamics there. But yeah, he doesn't want anything but the best for her, and he wants to be able to go through life with her.

TVLINE | In the episode, Ariana mentions that Cooper is the second man she's been with, which made me wonder what Cooper's romantic history was like.
Well, I don't really have a backstory on it, other than whatever I come up with in my own head. I would say that there were some girlfriends here or there. He did go to college for a little while, so I'm sure there was something — a couple of weeks, couple of months, whatever it may be. But I don't think anything's ever been this serious at all, or that he's looked at as "This could be the future," you know? I think this is the first time.

It's a life-changing place, and also the age: He's 22, probably going on 23. I'm not real sure what Cooper's birthday is, but we're in that age. And I know, personally, that's a huge turning point for a young man where a lot of change happens... He's really becoming, or trying to become, the man that he wants to be, that he knows that he can be. He just doesn't know how to do it yet.

TVLINE | Your scenes where Cooper is talking with Ariana's dad, who has a guard dog, made me wonder what being around those huge pups is like.
They are the sweetest animals. The most well-trained, sweetest animals. I've said it again, I'll say it a thousand times: I think they act better than I do. They turn it on. It's like you're petting them one second, they're wagging their tail. They get a command, and they can just lay there like, "Oh, it might eat me." [Laughs]

... They're absolutely great. I cannot remember the name of the pitbull that they had [in that scene], but the, the mastiff that Ariana has, his name is actually Scout— Jefe in the show. He is the sweetest dog. Now, he weighs twice what I do, I think. [Laughs] But he's the sweetest dog. Drools everywhere. He's like a teddy bear.