Dutton Ranch Already Proved Taylor Sheridan Isn’t Repeating Landman’s Controversial Daughter
In Landman season 2, Ainsley remained a flashpoint of controversy as she entered college. Enrolling at Texas Christian University, flighty and self-absorbed Ainsley exasperated TCU’s admissions officer, Greta Stidham (Miriam Silverman). Landman also sailed troubled waters with its characterization of Ainsley’s non-binary roommate, Paigyn Meester (Bobbi Salvör Menuez).
Dutton Ranch’s Oreana Doesn’t Repeat Landman’s Ainsley Mistakes
Oreana and Ainsley may be blonde, Texas-born heartbreakers who come from money, but that’s about all they have in common. Taylor Sheridan and Dutton Ranch season 1 showrunner Chad Feehan made Oreana into a very different type of young woman compared to Ainsley, who is, at heart, a good girl adored by her father and her mother, Angela (Ali Larter). Unfortunately, Landman season 2 not only reduced her role to merely being her mother’s sidekick, but also regressed Ainsley, making her dimmer than she was in season 1. Dutton Ranch‘s Oreana is already smarter, more cunning, and more manipulative, and she’s a stronger and tougher character on the outset than Ainsley.
In Dutton Ranch, Oreana is angry and assertive, in contrast to Ainsley, who is naive about the world beyond boys and her affluent upbringing. However, Oreana lacks the parental support Ainsley enjoys; her father, 10-Petals Ranch foreman Rob-Will (Jai Courtney), is a dangerous screw-up who is sent to rehab after he murders one of his wranglers. Oreana has no love lost for her grandmother, either. Beulah resents Oreana Lynn’s constant rebellions and foul-mouthed attitude. (Ainsley doesn’t curse in Landman.) For her part, Oreana defies the Jackson matriarch’s wishes for her to be “perfect,” and Oreana wants no part of becoming her grandmother by inheriting the 10-Petals Ranch.
Although Oreana and Rob-Will haven’t had any scenes together yet in Dutton Ranch, she seems like a chip off her father’s block. Oreana lacks the constant positive affirmation that Ainsley enjoys from Angela and the rock steady support of her father, Tommy. If they were to meet, Ainsley simply wouldn’t understand why Oreana is so angry. Before hooking up with Carter, Oreana had terrible taste in men. Her cowboy boyfriend, Hoyt (Kyle Dondlinger), cheats and is abusive. Perhaps the biggest thing Oreana has in common with Ainsley is sexual boldness in defiance of their parental figures’ wishes.
Oreana Is More Like Beth In Dutton Ranch Than Ainsley In Landman
Angela is molding Ainsley into her ‘mini-me’ in Landman, but Oreana is more like Beth Dutton (Kelly Reilly) by design. Dutton Ranch positions Carter and Oreana as a present-day version of how Beth and Rip Wheeler (Cole Hauser) were when they met as teenagers on the Yellowstone Dutton Ranch. Carter is not another Rip, however. Rip and Carter had a rocky start when Beth informally adopted the boy in Yellowstone season 4. Now 19, Carter and Rip seem to have a better relationship, while Beth regards Carter as her son. How Beth will react if she finds Oreana in Carter’s bed after Dutton Ranch episode 3 will shed light on how open-minded a mother she is.
In Oreana, Beth might recognize a familiar anger and disgust at her lot in life as the scion of a generational rancher. They already share a dislike for Beulah Jackson in common, as well as a fondness for Carter. It will be interesting to see if Beth accepts Oreana or decides that she’s bad news for Carter. At 25, Natalie Alyn Lind brings an already impressive career in TV and movies to Dutton Ranch. Lind comes from a family of actors and has more credits than 28-year-old Michelle Randolph, who truly came into her own as an actor under Taylor Sheridan’s aegis in 1923 and Landman.