In a world filled with far too many real-life horrors, the concept of the cozy comfort show has become more important than ever. These sorts of programs—think Netflix’s “Sweet Magnolias” or “Virgin River”—tend to be relationship dramas focused on family and romance, and are really just here to have a good time. Full of picturesque small-town scenery, slow-burn love stories, and twisty, if largely predictable plots, they’re inoffensively familiar and don’t ask for much from you as a viewer beyond sitting back and enjoying the (entertainingly twisty) ride.
“Ransom Canyon” is Netflix’s Western-flavored take on this particular subgenre, complete with cowboys, horses, and the kind of family and communal rivalries that span generations. Set in the eponymous small Texas town, the series primarily revolves around the relationship between Staten Kirkland (Josh Duhamel), a widowed rancher trying to preserve his family’s legacy, and Quinn O’Grady (Minka Kelly), owner of the local dance hall. But despite its down to earth setting, the show’s first season took itself just a smidge too seriously, awkwardly attempting to balance the pair’s slow burn will they / won’t they romance with a larger plot about a corporate pipeline project that threatens to swallow up several local homesteads.
Thankfully, “Ransom Canyon’s” second season course-corrects many of the mistakes of its first. The pace feels more propulsive thanks to its tighter episode count, and the show has smartly jettisoned some of its more irritating subplots, including the complicated (read: dull) fight between Staten and his former brother-in-law about whether to sell their ranches to an Austin water and power company.
It’s an abrupt shift, to be sure, but it does get the show out from under the shadow of the relentless “Yellowstone” comparisons that dogged its first season. And “Ransom Canyon” is finally free to lean into its soapiest and most over-the-top narrative tendencies without having to try and pretend there’s anything resembling prestige TV going on here. Instead, badly hidden secrets, equally poorly disguised yearning, and a little bit of overt scheming are the order of the day. And boy does Season 2 understand the assignment on that score.
Throughout its briskly paced eight episodes, new relationships, ill-advised flirtations, messy mistakes, and straight-up betrayals abound, all set against the backdrop of stunning Texas scenery and a parade of shirtless men doing various forms of construction and/or farm work. While nothing quite reaches the melodramatic heights of last season’s tornado incident, Quinn’s determination to boost Ransom’s local economy by launching a massive country music festival gives the episodes a cohesive central arc.
The show’s second season picks up six months after its first. Quinn, freshly returned from her stint with the New York Philharmonic, has brought a little bit of big-city shine back to small-town Texas with her. Not to mention an attractive NYC-based boyfriend (Ben Robson) whose open, uber-supportive vibe is very much the opposite of Staten’s difficult, closed-off approach to relationships. Staten, for his part, is engaged in an ongoing power struggle with his father (Brett Cullen), who, having lost his reelection bid, is inserting himself in the day-to-day running of the Double K Ranch.
Elsewhere, Yancy (Jack Schumacher) and Ellie’s romance (Marianly Tejada) faces new challenges in the form of Sidney (Heidi Grace Engerman), a woman who technically happens to be Yancy’s wife. While Sidney’s character is woefully underdeveloped—like so many other things, her presence is yet one more roadblock in the way of their happiness—Engerman provides a much-needed spark whenever she’s onscreen.
And, if that’s not enough, teen cheerleader Lauren (Lizzy Greene), still reeling from the revelation that her alcoholic mother was responsible for the death of Staten’s son Randall (Hubert Smielecki), struggles to communicate her complicated feelings to her loyal, try-hard boyfriend, Lucas (Garrett Wareing), the same guy she spent all of last season trying to find a way to be with romantically. That she ultimately finds a sympathetic ear in his older bad boy brother Kit (Casey W. Johnson) is just the kind of emotional complication that “Ransom Canyon” loves to deploy, even if it doesn’t make a ton of sense from a narrative perspective. (He slept with her mother! And they somehow never really talk about this!)
Duhamel continues to brood handsomely, whether he’s poorly smothering his obvious longing for Quinn or questioning his role at the Double K. And although Staten’s prickly relationship with his ex-politician father is woefully thin, Duhamel and Cullen go at each other with palpable gusto as their inter-family drama spirals out through much of the rest of the town. But it is Kelly who remains “Ransom Canyon’s” secret weapon, oozing warmth and genuine enthusiasm for the magic of small-town life without becoming cloying.
As a duo, the pair still have chemistry to spare, but the show’s determination to drag out the slow-burn relationship between Staten and Quinn remains incredibly frustrating. Season 2 is at least less random when it comes to the various obstacles that are thrown into their path, and even manages to give the pair a couple of very necessary heart-to-hearts about their shared history and anxieties about the future. But, at this point, “Ransom Canyon’s” reticence to allow their relationship to either genuinely move forward or truly end is the most frustrating aspect of the show. At least a delicious guest turn from Patricia Clarkson as Quinn’s self-involved mother adds a dash of entertaining snark to proceedings.
Still, “Ransom Canyon” Season 2 is a lighter and more shamelessly entertaining outing than its predecessor, and if it’s not exactly reinventing the wheel when it comes to storytelling, the show has figured out what it’s good at, and unabashedly leans into it. Yes, it’s often predictable, relentlessly soapy, and doesn’t give any twist more than a few minutes to breathe. But its practiced brand of easily bingeable escapism sure does go down easy.
All eight episodes screened for review. Premieres July 23 on Netflix.
