Ransom Canyon brought the drama in its 10-episode debut season, positing itself as Netflix’s answer to the high drama of Yellowstone.
April Blair’s series centers around feuding ranchers in its namesake town, as well as their various romantic entanglements. At the forefront is Josh Duhamel’s Staten Kirkland, who’s spent the last year grieving the loss of his wife and son. When the series begins, he starts developing feelings for old friend Quinn O’Grady (Minka Kelly). But she’s dating Davis Collins (Eoin Macken), who is also Staten’s brother-in-law — and he has his eyes on Staten’s land.
“It has been a dark couple of years for this dude. It really has,” Duhamel said in an interview with Entertainment Weekly. “One of the big reasons I wanted to do this was because this guy was so broken and desperately wanted to enter back into the real world, but didn’t know how to do it. He wasn’t sure if he was even ready.”
Ready or not, the real world collapsed on Staten’s shoulders in the series’ tense and cathartic finale, which clarified things about the death of his son while complicating the many blooming romances. “Nobody has an easy time in Ransom,” Blair told us in a season 1 postmortem. “What fun would that be?”
Read on as we unpack the ending of Ransom Canyon season 1, including many characters’ relationship statuses.
Who’s with who at the end of Ransom Canyon season 1?
Some relationships are happier than others at the end of Ransom Canyon season 1, but they’re all on pretty shaky ground. Let’s check in on the series’ three main romances.
Quinn and Staten
The season ends with Staten and Quinn splitting up, despite finally getting together just a few episodes earlier.
Quinn spent the first half of the season with Staten’s rival, Davis, after the grieving rancher struggled to open his heart to her. It’s clear that Staten’s ready to be vulnerable by season’s end, but a few obstacles imperil their future.
One is her decision to move back to New York City for six months for a gig playing in the New York Philharmonic, which upsets Staten. The other is Staten betraying her trust by divulging a secret she told him in confidence.
Davis, she says, is sitting on a “mountain of debt.” Though she tells Staten to stay mum, the rancher spills the revelation after Davis brings up Staten’s late wife, resulting in fisticuffs and Staten saying he knows Davis is “broker than s—.”
“Davis brought up his wife, brought up his son, he’s pushed his buttons and where they’re from, you get punched for that,” Duhamel told EW. “I don’t think he’s worried about the repercussions other than this guy is intentionally trying to get under his skin. His mistake is not the punching, it’s letting Davis get under his skin. That’s what he’s more pissed off about.”
Quinn is furious, and the two seem to call things off during a heated argument. “All I ever wanted was you, and I think that all you want is your own pain.”
In a petty touch, he leaves a bracelet Quinn gave him at the bar. “He’s stubborn,” Duhamel said. “If he could just tell her what he feels, he’d get a totally different outcome. But he’s stubborn, and he’s a guy who doesn’t have a lot of tools when it comes to figuring out or expressing what he feels. He doesn’t talk about feelings. This is not a guy who is comfortable with any of that. The easy way for him is just to go back into his dark hole and come back out when he’s ready, rather than actually deal with it.”
Lauren and Lucas
The series’ other love triangle involves teenagers Lauren (Lizzy Greene), Lucas (Garrett Wareing), and Reid (Andrew Liner). Lauren and Reid, the cheerleader and the football star, have been together for ages, but Lauren finds herself drawn to the enigmatic Lucas, a soulful kid living on the wrong side of the tracks.
Despite their romance rippling with emotion, Lauren breaks things off with Lucas in the finale. “I just don’t think I’m ready for something this serious,” she says.
Lucas is rallied by Reid, of all people. Reid, who seems to grasp that Lauren and Lucas are meant for each other, tells him, “If you don’t go after her, I will.”
So Lucas gets onstage at Gracie’s and makes a grand declaration to Lauren (and her injured arm). “You got a bum arm and a broken heart, and I can only fix one of those,” he says. “But I promise you I will fix it if you let me.”
Lauren is swayed, and the pair proclaim their love for each other on the dance floor.
