April Blair has been in the industry for a while, executive producer for shows like Scream, etc. This time around, she’s back with Ransom Canyon, depicting three generations of a ranch town in Texas. The focus is on the generation of people in their forties, with Staten Kirkland (Josh Duhamel) as the show’s complicated protagonist. Staten is trying to figure who killed his son while also trying to heal himself with love.

Staten has his eyes on Quinn O’Grady (Minka Kelly), in charge of a local dance hall. There’s camp here, as supporting characters push Quinn towards loving Staten. They’re friends with an older rancher, Cap Fuller (James Brolin), who hires a stranger, Yancy Gray (Jack Schumacher). Yancy catches the eye of Ellie (Marianly Tejada), and knowing that he’s a hot red flag, she gets answers from him through, you know, sleeping with him.

Trying to get the MTV generation, Ransom Canyon also has Lauren Bridgman (Lizzy Greene), an aspiring cheerleader. Because this is a small town, she’s the daughter of the sheriff Dan (Philip Winchester), reluctant to reopen Staten’s case. As he does he sees the connection between that and Lauren’s boyfriend Lucas (Garrett Wareing). Lucas also starts befriending Staten’s nephew Reid (Andrew Liner), both well meaning and suspicious.

Ok, let’s go back to Staten and Quinn, the two people whom some want as the town’s big couple. And just like in real life, characters who ship other characters don’t see what’s stopping two characters from being that said small town power couple. Ransom Canyon shows both characters’ baggage, especially Staten being emotionally stunted.

Another important plot point in Ransom Canyon involved Quinn’s other boyfriend, rancher Davis (Eion Macken). Despite that, the other ranchers like Cap have plans, indicative of how it sees David versus Goliath class structures. Davis is the Goliath and everyone else is the David even though some of the Davids have legs up over others.

Ransom Canyon shows that the world is a mean place even if characters like Dan are kind. Dan’s honesty leads him to reluctantly arrest Lucas’ brother Kit for killing Staten’s son. A cop being good is a good fantasy, one that I’m fine with having in a show that likes its good guys to win.

Ransom Canyon, at least, knows how to balance conflicts – there are the big ones and the small ones. I guess the show chooses, for its micro-conflict, for Staten to get over things and stop bottling his feelings. He imparts the lessons he learns to others like Cap, even if there’s a lot of foreshadowing here.

Yes, the foreshadowing in Ransom Canyon can get much, especially with its conflict resolution within its love story arcs. And once certain viewers hear musical cues especially in Dan’s plot arc, we start recognizing things coming a mile away. But the show is still decent, especially if someone’s looking for a harmless version of Yellowstone.

Ransom Canyon is available to stream on Netflix.