Ransom Canyon is pure comfort TV, giving people beautiful actors, sumptuous landscapes, and heavy dashes of romance and drama. The Netflix series, based on the Ranson Canyon book series by Jodi Thomas, is similar to other cozy dramas like Virgin River and Sweet Magnolias, striking a perfect balance of relaxing and wildly entertaining.
Season 2, out now, improves upon the first, offering even more land feuds, scheming, family drama, and suspense. At the heart of it all is the relationship between Double K rancher Staten Kirkland (Josh Duhamel) and dance hall owner Quinn (Minka Kelly), whose potential romance in Season 1 was left on pause when she went to work as a pianist in New York. There’s also Yancy (Jack Schumacher), who now runs rival Fuller Ranch, and is expecting a child with his fiancée, Ellie (Marianly Tejada). But that got complicated fast when Sidney (Heidi Grace Engerman) appeared in the finale, claiming to be Yancy’s wife.
There’s a lot going on in Ransom Canyon, and the second season finale answers some burning questions while leaving some more hanging in the air for a possible third season. Here, we break down the biggest events of the finale and what it might all mean for the next season.
Does Ellie survive?
Episode 7 of Season 2 ended in a shocking cliffhanger, as Yancy’s ex-wife Sidney intimidated Ellie to the point she fell off the porch while heavily pregnant. The finale takes us straight to the hospital, where doctors inform Yancy that Ellie’s suffered a placental abrasion, putting both Ellie and the baby’s life at risk. Yancy falls to the ground, and the hallway effectively swallows him up, leaving him heartbroken and alone.
Mercifully, things work out. Ellie goes into labor early but survives, as does the baby, a girl named Isabella. But the threat of Yancy’s ex-wife looms large. Sideny has not been found by police, so she could attack again.
Yancy gets a text from an unknown number asking him to meet up. He goes to an abandoned warehouse, and it’s not Sidney, but Freddie (Kenneth Miller), who Yancy owes $80,000as part of the grift he and Sidney worked on Staten’s father to get him to buy an old plot of land, lying about oil reserves underneath them. Turns out, Freddie doesn’t want the money, and the old land actually does have oil underneath it. Instead of a mere 80 grand, they could make millions. It puts Yancy in an extremely precarious position, continuing to work with a dangerous con man, something Ellie deeply disapproves of. Will working with Freddie be the start of a slippery slope in Ellie and Yancy’s relationship, another example of Yancy working against the law like he did with Sidney?
In the hospital, Ellie has a realization that she doesn’t feel safe with Yancy. She checks herself out from the hospital, and makes the decision to end her relationship with Yancy, worried that he’s too much of a risk to the safety of her and their daughter. Yancy tries to explain that he and Freddie are working on something big as the ranch is sitting on oil, but that only seems to confirm Ellie’s fears that Yancy is too dangerous.
Who does Lauren end up with?
Another major storyline in Season 2 of Ransom Canyon is the romance between the sheriff’s daughter Lauren (Lizzy Greene) and her fellow high school student Lucas (Garrett Wareing). Lauren has been withdrawn since the Season 1 finale revealed her mother was responsible for the death of Staten’s son, and her with Lucas has struggled. But a surprising person has been there for her: Lucas’ older brother, Kit (Casey W. Johnson).
In the finale, Kit goes to see Lauren to tell her he’s leaving town. Lauren’s excited about a potential future with Kit, leaving Luke behind. But Kit wants to be responsible, for once. Tired of seeing himself as a screw-up, he believes Lauren and Lucas will have a better life if he’s not around. “I’ve been thinking about everything,” he tells her. “It was a dream. The last time we sat here, I told you we were holding Lucas back. I didn’t see it then, what he saw in you. You’re gonna go so far, just like he is.” Kit departs, leaving Lauren in tears, and sets off for Wyoming for a new job and a chance at a new life.
Or rather, Kit tries to leave. But Lauren is waiting for him at the bus station, and refuses to let him go. The two kiss passionately, suggesting Kit will remain a key part of Ransom Canyon going forward. If he does, Luke will likely have a lot to say about his ex dating his brother.
What happens with Quinn and Staten?
Staten and Quinn’s relationship has been at the center of Ransom Canyon from the beginning. Though the season’s penultimate episode seemed to suggest the end of their romance for good, things get renewed from an unexpected source: Quinn’s mother Claire (Patricia Clarkson).
Since her arrival, Claire has been a thorn in Quinn’s side, constantly pushing her to go back to New York, as for her, Ransom Canyon is little more than a dying town. “This town isn’t dying, mom. Not anymore. This town’s gonna thrive,” Quinn tells her. She surprises her mother by agreeing to sell their farm, getting Claire a new house in Encinitas. Her mother never had the opportunity to chase her own dreams, and Quinn is finally in position to help her mother achieve them.
Claire, moved by Quinn’s gesture, wants to make things right for her daughter. She goes to visit Staten to encourage him to fight for Quinn: “Get yourself across that canyon,” Claire tells him. “Meet my girl on the other side.”
It won’t come as a surprise that Quinn and Staten’s romance isn’t really over, but it’s a welcome development all the same. Quinn meets Staten at his cabin. “Fate kept us apart for a reason,” says Staten. “Amalah and Randall, I don’t regret a single moment of my life with them,” he says of his deceased wife and son. But, Staten explains, “Fate was making us ready for each other.” Quinn’s deeply moved (everyone watching will be too) and the two kiss in the cabin. Finally, the will-they-won’t-they comes to an end. And they will!
In the final scene of Season 2, Staten asks Quinn to move in with him. It’s an enormously uplifting moment and a big step forward for the couple. Quinn excitedly kisses him, suggesting that just like Staten, she’s all in.
There’s plenty of resolution in the Season 2 finale, but there are a few key lingering questions. The biggest is the status of the Double K ranch, as there’s still plenty of feuding between Double K and Fuller ranch. Though Staten’s father has said he’s going to reinstate power to Staten (something he took away from him in Season 1) on the board of trustees, we’ve yet to see it happen. And with Yancy in personal turmoil, it could lead him to make some rash decisions about the future of their neighboring ranches. The other big unanswered questions surround Yancy, too. Will he be able to repair his relationship with Ellie and bring stability back to his life? Or will he further dive into scheming and grifting? One other person looms over a potential Season 3: Sidney. Will Yancy’s ex-wife return for more chaos? We’ll have to wait until next season to find out.
