🚨 Now on Your Watchlist: The Longmire Episode Every Landman Fan Needs to See 😱🔥
If Taylor Sheridan’s Landman has you hooked, this iconic Longmire chapter packs the same grit, high-stakes drama, and a powerhouse Louanne Stephens performance you won’t forget.
Here’s why it’s a must-watch 💬👇👇

If you’ve loved Taylor Sheridan‘s latest neo-Western drama, Landman, which follows the oil boom in the Permian Basin of West Texas, then there’s an episode of Longmire that you just have to see. We know what you’re thinking. How is Longmire anything like Landman? The truth is, the shows couldn’t be more different. Landman is a distinct premiere drama that is uncompromising in its approach to just about every aspect of boomtown life, while Longmire thrives as a neo-Western mystery drama where Sheriff Walt Longmire (Robert Taylor) uses his keen intellect and wit to solve Wyoming-based crimes. But there’s one episode of Longmire that Landman fans may appreciate, Season 4’s “The Calling Back.” Here’s why.

‘Longmire’s “The Calling Back” Offers a Dark Look at the Oil Boom

Penned by series creators John Covney and Hunt Baldwin, “The Calling Back” is an episode not for the faint of heart. (Though, if you’re an avid Landman watcher, you probably don’t need that disclaimer.) The episode begins with two Absaroka County hunters wandering through the woods at dawn. After splitting up, one of them witnesses a half-naked woman, later identified as Gabriella “Gab” Langton (Julia Jones), escaping through the forest. Soon after, concerned Rez citizen May Stillwater (Pocahontas‘ own Irene Bedard) — who appeared previously in both the very first episode and Season 3’s “Miss Cheyenne” — asks for Henry Standing Bear (Lou Diamond Phillips) and Cady Longmire’s (Cassidy Freeman) help regarding Gab, who she reveals has been raped. Soon, Sheriff Walt Longmire gets involved, but upon learning that Gab was assaulted on the Rez, he realizes that he has no jurisdiction, so he and Tribal Police Chief Mathias (future Dark Winds star Zahn McClarnon) cross-deputize each other to try and solve the case together.

It eventually comes out that the party Gab had been at that fateful night was hosted by a bunch of oil rig workers — be they roughnecks or roustabouts — from Newett Energy. As Walt, Ferg (Adam Bartley), and new Deputy Zachary (Barry Sloane) investigate the company barracks, a camp full of oil workers, they find the pair who Gab had identified. When their representative from Newett shows up, a landman named Walker Browning (Callum Keith Rennie), it becomes clear that neither the oil company nor the Four Arrows Casino they were visiting will be of much help. The oil rig workers are released and, soon after, Gab is kidnapped. While Walt eventually recovers her, it’s all for naught. It turns out, Gab and her mother, Linda (Stefany Mathias), decide against pressing charges after Linda was paid off. Caring more about paying the rent than receiving justice for her daughter, Linda orders Walt out, and he, Cady, and Vic (Katee Sackhoff) are left aimless — and any hope of any federal prosecution fades.

While this Longmire episode is markedly different from Landman, there are some important similarities here. For starters, the episode tackles the real-life problem of violence among oil rig workers. As the federal prosecutor, Naomi Bradley (Christine Dunford), notes when talking with Cady about the case, these sorts of things have happened previously in places like North Dakota. While Absaroka County, Wyoming may be fictional, many Longmire plots were pulled directly from news headlines and real events, such as Season 1’s “Dog Soldier.” In that same vein, “The Calling Back” echoes what we see in Landman in terms of the manner of violence that can occur in oil company man camps. For instance, CBS News reported in 2012 that a recent North Dakotan oil boom had caused an upsurge in violence, particularly in rape cases. Two years later, The Washington Post ran a similar piece detailing this same dark side of the oil boom – notably in North Dakota, Montana, and Canada — highlighting the rise in violent crime on reservation lands.

“The Calling Back” Proves That Sometimes Justice Must Be Found Outside the Law

Aside from being a well-crafted episode, “The Calling Back” sparked a serious turn in Longmire that would stick with the show through its end. Walt’s inability to provide justice for Gab, and the Langtons’ unwillingness to seek it out on their own, feels like a bit of a defeatist way to end this highly engaging hour. But how else could it end? There’s no simple solution to such a large problem. Absaroka County certainly wasn’t going to kick Newett Energy out even if Walt wanted them to. Even worse still, Walker Browning would never properly punish those responsible for the horrid crime — he’s not quite Billy Bob Thornton‘s Tommy Norris from Landman, who would sooner drop a criminal from his work crew than fight on their behalf. Instead, “The Calling Back” sparks something in Henry, and though he’s already committed to taking up the role of the Rez’s anonymous avenger, it’s here that he finds a particular crusade that he’s willing to die for.

Throughout the remainder of Season 4, and even into the fifth season, the events of “The Calling Back” would haunt Henry Standing Bear. Henry would make it his mission to see that these oil workers were brought to justice, even if that justice was of his own making. In the episode “Hector Lives,” Henry would get himself caught in the middle of Walt’s own continued investigation. This results in the pair finding themselves on opposite sides of the law. None of that would be possible without this episode, which highlights an issue often overlooked by the media at large. It’s no wonder that Landman co-creator Taylor Sheridan tackled this specific issue of reservation violence in his debut picture, Wind River, which speaks directly to the same problem that the Longmire creators aimed to shed light on. While neither project offers anything resembling real answers or solutions, both admirably hope that talking about it will help others to rise up and take charge. Perhaps if enough people shed light on the problem, it will have nowhere to hide.

Like ‘Landman,’ Oil Booms Produce Certain Unwanted Effects on ‘Longmire’

While boomtowns, not unlike those seen on Landman, no doubt thrive due to the sheer economic growth, there is an unwanted element that hides in the shadows. We see just in Landman‘s first batch of episodes both how dangerous the oil game can be and how hostile the work environment can turn if one gets on the wrong side of another. Longmire‘s “The Calling Back” offers these same sort of observations. While the show itself doesn’t focus too diligently on the socio-economic impact of the Newett Energy drill site on greater Absaroka, it pushes oil politics into the spotlight with Walt’s condemnation of Walter Browning, noting how those with the money and power behind them can skirt the law (or, at least attempt to).

Thankfully, with a lawman like Sheriff Walt Longmire, that only lasts for so long. As usual, his commitment to honesty and integrity in the face of corruption and violence is commendable. Even though Walt is unable to provide justice for Gabriella Langton here, his aim to fight for her, even when she would have the whole thing left behind, has something that speaks to the nature of his character. When Walt knows something is wrong, he fights to see that wrong is made right. If watching Landman has been an enlightening experience for you, then this Longmire episode will no doubt add to your education. Feel free to continue through the end of the season too; it just keeps getting better.

Longmire and Landman are both available for streaming on Paramount+.