Netflix’s “Ransom Canyon” was never going to be revolutionary. The new drama, set in rural Texas and based on a series of books by Jodi Thomas, will naturally remind you of “Yellowstone” with its land-loving cowboys dedicated to keeping their ranches out of the hands of corporations and their water out of corporate pipelines. Its love triangles and small town soap plots give a bit of “Virgin River” and a million other small town soaps, and it’s not just the presence of Minka Kelly that will make you think of “Friday Night Lights,” because the local teens are embroiled in their own cheerleading-adjacent drama.
Everybody’s hot, everybody’s got secrets, and everybody’s in love with somebody whether that somebody loves them back or not. Sometimes there’s not much more you could ask for from a TV show.
“Ransom Canyon” shares its name with the small town it’s set in, a community fueled by ranches that have been run by the same families for generations. But times are tough for ranchers, and some, like Davis (Eoin Macken) are ready to sell to Austin Water and Power. Others, like Staten (Josh Duhamel) adamantly refuse and still dream of passing the ranch off to the next generation, whether that generation exists or not.
Both Staten and Davis are obviously in love with Quinn (Minka Kelly), a talented pianist who chased her dream in New York but is now back in her hometown. She’s just trying to sell her homemade soap and run Gracies, the local bar and dance hall, while figuring out which guy she loves more. Or maybe she’s always known but is waiting for her longtime friend and crush to pull himself out of his grief and make the right move. Or maybe the men don’t matter at all and she should go back to NYC to play piano professionally. She’s certainly never quite sure if anything is the correct choice, but it’s a choice she would like to make on her own, thank you very much.
The whole town has been affected by some recent tragedies, but no one has been hit harder than Staten. Just a short time after losing his wife, he lost his teenage son in a car accident, leaving him alone, angry and unwilling to embrace the community around him. Who better to center a soap opera around than a hot, scruffy widowed cowboy who just wants to love again after a reasonable amount of time since he lost his family?
The adult storylines are fairly well balanced with the tales of teens just wanting to get out of this town and live better lives than their parents. That includes Lauren (Lizzy Greene), the daughter of the town sheriff, who is hoping a cheerleading scholarship will be her ticket out. She just broke up with her boyfriend Reid (Andrew Liner) to date Lucas (Garrett Wareing), despite her dad’s hatred for the boy’s family.
Reid wants his girlfriend back, but he’s also got a mess to deal with at home as his father Davis resorts to a little cheating to make big money for his ranch. Reid’s mother Paula Jo (Meta Golding) lives in Austin and works for a Big Evil Corporation, so she and Davis are pretty much on the same page. What if Reid actually wants to stay in Ransom Canyon and run his family ranch, but his parents are trying to sell it off? He may just seem like the jealous ex-boyfriend as the series starts, but Reid ends up providing a great counter to everybody else’s desire for more than just this little town.
Meanwhile, a mysterious new guy named Yancy Grey (Jack Schumacher) has arrived in town in a mysterious way when he’s picked up by the side of the road hoping for some work. He gets a gig working for Cap (James Brolin) on his ranch, just as Davis is desperately trying to get Cap to sign a contract to sell that ranch. New guy has a whole lot of proving himself to do because the whole town loves Cap, and no one is quite ready to trust a random stranger named Yancy.
There’s nothing brand new here, but there didn’t really need to be. “Ransom Canyon” is a totally competent and delightful cowboy-themed soap that might give you a bit of what “Yellowstone” failed to bring in its final seasons, like consistent pacing and entertaining plot and characters who do things that make sense. The romance could be a tad more scandalous, but there’s plenty of time for that in future seasons.
There’s a sense that this first season was just dipping a toe into the soapy waters and there’s much more to come, beyond secret affairs and shameful regrets. Anybody could be up to anything on this show, and that’s the beauty of it. Perhaps a tornado will tear through the county, or some big shot from a big city will arrive to shake things up, or a bunch of cows will run away. It’s all fair game in Ransom Canyon.
“Ransom Canyon” is now streaming on Netflix.
The post ‘Ransom Canyon’ Review: Netflix’s Delightful Cowboy Soap Could Fill TV’s ‘Yellowstone’ Void appeared first on TheWrap.