Netflix‘s Ransom Canyon successfully combined some of the over-the-top soapy elements from shows like Yellowstone with gushy romantic stories like in Virgin River. Yes, there’s sweeping Texas vistas and scenes of people on horseback making sure cattle don’t roam, but there was definitely a beating heart to the show that other soapy shows of its ilk didn’t have. We see even more of that in Season 2.
RANSOM CANYON SEASON 2: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?
Opening Shot: Peaceful shots of Ransom Canyon, TX as a car drives up. A woman gets out and walks into her house after some time.
The Gist: Quinn O’Grady (Minka Kelly) is back after six months in New York, and is happy to be home. When she goes to visit her sister Angie (Lauren Glazier), she gets a surprise: Her mother, Claire (Patricia Clarkson) has arrived. She spoils one of the reasons why she’s there — a surprise “welcome back” party for Quinn — but doesn’t mention the other reason why she’s back in town.
Meanwhile, Staten Kirkland (Josh Duhamel) is still angry with the fact that his father, former senator Sam Kirkland (Brett Cullen), contested the ownership of the family ranch and has taken over. Now he works for his father, a person he has little respect for, and it seems like he’s rallied all of the crew who worked for him to freeze Sam out.
At the same time, he’s been having “dalliances,” but continues to hold a candle for Quinn. When he finds out she’s back, he ends up running into Quinn. The encounter is somewhat awkward, but we still see much of the crackling the chemistry between them. Quinn tells Staten that he never called, and he shoots back that she never did, either.
Quinn has other things to deal with, though, as she finds out later that night that Claire is there to sell the familly home, which is why she encouraged Quinn to go back to New York.
Meanwhile, Ellie Estevez (Marianly Tejada), whose bar is thriving despite the fact that the pipeline has led to businesses failing all over town, is still with Yancy Grey (Jack Schumacher), despite the fact that his “long-lost” wife Sidney (Heidi Grace Engerman) has suddenly reentered his life. They got married as part of a con they were committing, and now Yancy wants to go legit. However, Sid won’t go away, and is actively trying to seduce Yancy so they can be a grifting team again.
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Ransom Canyon, created by April Blair and based on the Ransom Canyon novel series by Jodi Thomas, is basically Yellowstone with the romanticism of Virgin River.
Our Take: There are still a lot of soapy storylines in Ransom Canyon, including Lauren Brigman (Lizzy Greene) trying to tell her boyfriend, Lucas Russell (Garrett Wareing) that she likely isn’t going to college and has no idea what to do with her life. There is also the matter of Kit (Casey W. Johnson), who covered up who caused the car accident that killed Staten’s son, pledging his loyalty to Sam Kirkland as his way to get back in the ranching game. Quinn and Staten’s situation gets awfully complicated by the end of the first episode.
But something about this season feels a little different than the first. It could solely be because of the presence of Clarkson, whose ability to play a Southern belle who is as sweet as the honey on a biscuit one minute and as cutting as a scythe the next is well documented. Or it could be that, while there are plenty of stories for Blair and her writers to untangle, the main storylines have a bit more heft to them.
The reason for that might just be because these relationships are now established, so the stakes are higher. We’ve already seen the incredible chemistry between Duhamel and Kelly and want their characters to get back together just so we can get another hit from the pipe of sweet middle-aged romance. The stakes between Ellie and Yancy are higher, as well, as we see when Yancy puts his hands on Ellie’s bare belly, a not-so-subtle nod to the fact that she’s pregnant. Sid’s reaction to that will be predictably wicked, but the show needs that wickedness if it’s going to stay closer to Yellowstone than Virgin River on the “soapy-to-schmaltzy” spectrum.
Performance Worth Watching: The aforementioned arrival of Patricia Clarkson as Claire is a really welcome sight, as she brings an authoritative, sexy vibe to the show.
Sex And Skin: Nothing really in the first episode, but we’re sure that there will be some during the season.
Parting Shot: Oliver (Ben Robson), the man Quinn dated in New York, has arrived in Ransom Canyon to persuade her to come back north with him. And he has a ring with him.
Sleeper Star: Heidi Grace Engerman can do lots of scenery chewing as Sid, starting with greeting Yancy while mostly just wearing her undies.
Most Pilot-y Line: We want to think that “Sid and Yancy” is purely a coincidence and not a Sid and Nancy reference, because that would be lame.
Our Call: STREAM IT. Ransom Canyon is definitely still a soapy, sexy guilty pleasure kind of a show. But with the addition of Clarkson and some focus on the main storylines, it’s become a soapy, sexy show with a bit more depth.
Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, Rolling