Netflix’s answer to Yellowstone? Who knows. More like Virgin River? Yes. That being said, though, I prefer to judge Ransom Canyon on its own. The first episode, Don’t Let Me Fall, gave me something to judge, something to look forward to, and a cast of characters to love. But it was also emotional, as we’re dealing with a lot of grief in this episode, and that is sometimes all I can see when watching a show.
Especially one that starts out exploring the grief that people feel, the last words that are said, and people trying to make up for the past.
All within the first ten minutes.
Staten is a father who just wants to relate to his son, Randall. It’s his birthday, and Staten wanted to follow tradition – riding out to the ridge, looking at the land, talking. But Randall was nowhere to be found.
I get as you get older, priorities change. You become a person that one wouldn’t necessarily be if they thought about the future. Yet it’s a rite of passage to go from wanting to be around your parents to avoiding them altogether.
Then again, Randall is grieving also. It’s his birthday, he misses his Mom and the closest he can feel her presence is being around he douchebag brother. Davis is spoiling his nephew, and I think it’s the guilt of his sister being gone. Yet I also think it is to try and one-up Staten.
A car? I can’t say anything, because as an aunt, I have bought a car and regretted it later. Just as I am sure that Davis will. How do I know that? Well, Randal dies in a car crash that night after a fight with his Dad.
It seems to me that all of these men are going to have something to prove and ask forgiveness for.
A YEAR LATER
One thing I both love and hate about the first episode of any show is that the first episode has to be used to set a scene and tell us about the characters. I know it’s essential as we need to understand them. I also know that I am one of those people with no patience. But even as we move on from the opening, I do know one thing – it’s been a year since Randall’s death.
Quinn (Minka Kelly) is a person that I do want to understand, because I feel like she’s going to change the world for Staten. You could tell she likes him, but this is a year later. Don’t worry, though her feelings haven’t changed.
Quinn is late for her job managing the dining hall, and when she gets there, she’s told the musical act has cancelled. Quinn is a pianist, and she knows that’s not what they all want to hear. She also knows that she’s doing the one thing that she wants to that night.
She’s meeting Staten at the game.
Lord, football is my nemesis, and yet, I knew that it was a possibility. Small towns, greenery, wild kids – yes. I knew that football was eminent. It’s part of the fabric of any small town.
FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS
Football games are a rite of passage. Bad food from the concession stand, loud noises, and a show put on by cheerleaders. Sometimes, though, it’s a source of pain from a life behind you and glory days gone.
Quinn, it’s a revisit to the days that mattered. She loved this town and had returned for Amalah. She was Staten’s wife, and when she got sick, Quinn was there. Davis, well, that’s Amalah’s little brother.
Davis wants to date her, but I don’t really think he likes her. I think that for him, winning her means that he gets something over Staten. For Davis, everything seems like something he needs to win.
He’s just gross because, for Davis, it seems that he’s trying to gaslight or manipulate everyone in his path.
But Staten, you can tell that he appreciates Quinn. He may not be ready to date or heal, but there is no doubt in my mind that he looks happier with her by his side. He just doesn’t seem to notice that she’s desperately in love with her.
For Staten, life seems easier when he’s got walls up. He’s a man who has lost everything. When he sees the banner with his son on it, it’s heartbreaking. The way that you see his heart falling out, I wasn’t even going to be mad when we saw him needing to leave.
Needing to run.
He doesn’t want Quinn to leave with him and says he’ll be by the next day to fix the tractor.
THE AFTER PARTY
Lucas Russell’s mullet is a distraction. I will say it. We’re all thinking it. He’s the bad boy, though I think that he’s just a boy who wants to love and be loved. The way that he and Lauren are constantly exchanging glances, you know that something was up between the two of them.
When he shows up at the party he wasn’t invited to and starts talking to her, you know that there was definitely something bigger we weren’t seeing initially. She’s broken up with Reid, she’s trying to get a scholarship to UT, and she just wants more than the town they are in.
We don’t find out until later that she is afraid that staying in this town means that she will be like her Mom. Her Mom is an alcoholic, and her father thinks that the cheer camp she got into is a bad idea. They are trying to do their best for their little girl, but Lauren doesn’t want to be that in their eyes.
She wants to be seen as more.
Lucas makes a pretty ballsy statement saying he won’t let her end up like her Mom. I personally don’t think that’s a statement that he can keep. Granted, we don’t know much about her.
THE WATER COMPANY
Davis is trash. He’s trash, trash, trash. He wants to be the person that gets all the attention, and you can be sure he’s gonna be underhanded to do it. He’s on the phone, and the Austin Water & Power are telling him fthat or this plant to work, they need Captain Fuller and Staten’s land. Those ranches are important in order for it to work.
Neither one of those men wants to give up their land. Staten is a man who is set on home and the town. He’s going to keep his land, he’s not going to let the livestock die, and he doesn’t need more money.
For Davis, this is a money grab. I think he’s broke, and he really just needs this deal for himself.
When Staten catches him waiting out on the porch for him the next night, he speaks the truth when he says that he’ll need a drink for this. I don’t even drink, and I would have needed one for that.
I believe that Davis thinks that he’s owed allegiance because of his sister. But Staten doesn’t owe him anything. His home is the last place that he was with his wife and his boy – there. That place was home.
Staten is a man whom we can admire for that. Home is important.
LAVENDER FIELDS
While I do like Staten, it’s every time that he’s around Quinn that I don’t like him. I think that as we get to know Quinn better, we’ll understand why she has the patience for Staten. That patience is important. That patience keeps them going.
Staten, however, treats her as if she’s just there. He’s at her house to fix the belt on the tractor, like he said he would be, but still treats her as though she’s invisible. And then sometimes he makes it seem as though he’s interested.
When they are at the sink, and the way he looks at her, I may have screamed for him to kiss her. It’s such a simple scene, but one that is so beautiful. He just freezes, though, and as a viewer, I became frustrated. Are we gonna deal with this man not knowing left from right forever?
When he comes back the next day to fix it, he’s just cruel to her. He acts like she’s an inconvenience, and it’s so frustrating. Staten has to pull himself together because hurting others to save yourself and your own heart is gross.
PARTIES AND GHOST HOUSES
When the high school kids are at a party, Reid wants to act like he is bigger than everyone. He’s upset that he knows that Lauren and Lucas have been hanging out and wants to threaten them. Lauren, though, knows her ex.
She knows that he would threaten Lucas.
The police show up and everyone leaves, leaving Lauren, Reid, Tim, and Lucas behind. They are gonna have to walk back to town. No wheels. No signal. Yes, there is, of course, a big storm.
Staten drives past them, and so they think that they’re going to be stuck walking. Reid makes the choice for them to go into the ghost house for cover. Little do any of them know that the floor is weak, and well, it doesn’t take too long before Tim falls through the floor. The other three are trying to escape.
Staten came back and managed to get them all out. Lauren wants to tell everyone that Reid is lying when he says that he tried to get everything under control, when she knows it was Lucas. Lucas only cares that she knows.
Whatever reputation Lucas has, he’s a good guy. Laurens’ Dad is wrong about him, judging him by his brother and his father.
What I do smile about is that small town life is different. You’re in a space where everyone knows your business, and lies and chaos can only be buried for so long. Reid will have his day of people seeing that he’s in the wrong.
It may just be a while before he does.
QUINN SETS HIM STRAIGHT
Tim is Quinn’s nephew, and as she makes it to the hospital, she runs into Staten on the way out. Quinn needs to be with her nephew, but Staten makes it known he didn’t like her on a date with Davis.
I was waiting for her to slap him. He’s got nerve.
What she did, though, was better. She put it all out on the line. She’s loved him forever, and she’s buried those feelings for years. She’s waited for him to heal, but he has no intention of doing that.
She tells him he’s unbelievable. She’s like you’ve had a piece of my heart forever, and she’s been there no matter what. He hasn’t noticed. She wanted him to choose her, but he’ll never do that. He starts to speak, but she takes a step towards him and asks why he cares what she does. He says, “I don’t.”
Staten, you are sooo dumb. That’s not okay. It is obvious that you do. You care about her. I think he thinks it’s a shame about falling in love again. I think there is beauty in it.
You can’t live in the past forever. You have to move forward, Staten.
Quinn put him in his place in such a great way. I need more of this energy from her. I think it’s the only way it will change.
YANCY
Handsome stranger, why is it that from the beginning, I do not trust you? Oh ya, cause you aren’t trustworthy. Even when we find out a little about him, like he’s working with Davis – I know that we haven’t even begun to touch who he is.
He’s taken a job at Cap’s ranch. One that is going to test him. We know that he’s hiding something after Ellie finds the old article on Cap in his poetry book. Ellie wants to warn him that she’s keeping tabs on him. He definitely has a good excuse – that he was trying to restore the ranch to its glory days.
I would have believed that, but I have watched enough shows to know that nothing is that simple. Ellie’s fearless and puts him in his place. I can’t wait to see what she does when she finds out the trashy liar he is. Him working with Davis, is not right.
But why do I have a feeling he’s somehow related to Cap?
OTHER THOUGHTS
- Josh Duhmel in a shower within the first 5 minutes – smart move
- Davis trying to flirt is an embarrassment – I cringed
- Never seen so many men with a bolo tie
- That brisket looks good
- Minka Kelly back to our screens is a blessing
- I can’t even talk about Quinn and Davis on a date – she should want better for herself.
- Had to laugh though with Staten catching them on the date – serves them right
- Kit – Lucas’ brother – is something I don’t wanna deal with, but hey, first episode and lall
- Staten showing how to break a horse made me nervous
- Staten at Randall’s car accident, I cried
- Why won’t the sheriff listen to Staten?
- Staten finding part of the car…
- Staten truly has lost everything. It ain’t right.
