After that shocking revelation from Yancy Grey (Jack Schumacher) in the final moments of episode 2, Ransom Canyon episode 3 — entitled “Trouble Can Be Fun Sometimes” — quickly catches us up on the fact that, yes, the deceitful ranch hand was actually telling the truth. He is the grandson of Cup Fuller (James Brolin).
In a flashback to a prison yard, we see Yancy serving time and dealing with a jailhouse bully named Freddie (Kenneth Miller). After getting the crap kicked out of him by Freddie, Yancy is told by a guard that he has a visitor — it’s Davis Collins (Eoin Macken), with whom he’s been corresponding by mail.
We see how their scheme took shape: Davis would put in a good word to his buddy on the parole board for Yancy and, in return, Yancy would ensure that Grandpa Cap sells to Austin Water & Power. If Cap refuses to sell, Yancy will take the ranch from him, he threatens.
Making amends?
Back in the present, at Gracie’s Dance Hall, Ellie (Marianly Tejada) is setting up for the big reopening party she and Quinn (Minka Kelly) are throwing that night. The abundance of Christmas lights looks great, Quinn assures her, but she’s less thrilled to see that Ellie called in Staten Kirkland (Josh Duhamel) to help fix the busted beer cooler.
It’s still awkward between the friends, though Staten tries to smooth things over with Quinn. She even jokes that him helping with the party set-up for the “enemy” makes him complicit. Things get a bit flirty, with Quinn fishing to see whether Staten will attend the party, but they’re interrupted by the arrival of Sam Kirkland (Brett Cullen).
Less successful on the forgiveness front is Lauren (Lizzy Greene) and Lucas (Garrett Wareing). Lauren’s ex Reid (Andrew Liner) tells Lauren that Davis is making him do a news interview about what happened at the ghost house. Reid doesn’t want to disappoint his father, so he asks Lauren if she could make sure that Lucas doesn’t spill about the actual events of that night.
When Lauren catches up with Lucas after class, he’s pissed — at her, yes, but also at his brother Kit, who has gone missing after they had a fight. He promises he won’t say anything about Reid but it’s clear Lauren and Reid spending time together is upsetting him.
Old acquaintances
While at the hardware store to pick something up for Ellie, Yancy overhears a conversation between two criminals — one of whom he correctly clocks as his old prison pal Freddie. Freddie doesn’t catch sight of Yancy, but the latter tails the convict to see where he’s staying.
He later tells Davis about the dangerous sighting and warns that if he knows that Yancy is in Ransom, “he’ll do damage, probably squeeze us for a cut, blow my cover.” They can’t have that. Davis tells him to watch the license plates on Freddie’s truck and then call in the car to the cops. Other than a little hand injury (which former nurse Ellie sweetly stiches up for him), Yancy’s plate swap works — that is until Freddie finds Yancy later in the episode, just as he’s about to leave for the reopening party.
And speaking of blasts from the past, Quinn also has one, though far less menacing. All throughout the party set-up, Quinn has been getting calls from Katherine Bullock, the director of the New York Philharmonic, who wants Quinn to audition as a pianist for the orchestra. She lets it go to voicemail — will she move back across the country to outrun her feelings for Staten?
Katherine comes to find out herself at the opening bash, having been in Austin for a conference. She tells Quinn her talent is wasted there: “You’re meant for more than this, Quinn. We both know it.” Auditions are in six weeks, so she has time to think about it.
Sibling support
Not only do we get to meet Quinn’s big sister Angie (Lauren Glazier) — who shows up to race horses and give her sis grief about her love life — but we also see the return of Lucas’s older brother Kit (Casey W. Johnson).
When he returns home from school, Lucas spots Kit’s truck in the driveway and confronts him about where he’s been. Kit was doing a little side hustle, he explains, to get the brothers’ heads above water. Lucas doesn’t like the sound of that and worries about what his bro has gotten them into.
It’s party time
Finally, the big party. After some convincing from Sam, Staten decides to attend the dance, much to the annoyance of Davis, who turned up with flowers in hand for Quinn. Things get even more awkward between the men when Davis gets to bragging about Reid’s recent appearance on the news, when Staten knows that it was he, not the boy, who actually rescued the teens that night.
During a slow number by the night’s musical act, Staten asks for a dance with Quinn, and they share a tender moment. That is quickly ruined when Davis demands to cut in. When he starts throwing digs at Staten’s honor, Kirkland throws it right back in his face, bringing up Reid and the ghost house lie. Davis pulls Reid over, who confesses that his heroics was all a fallacy. Quinn is upset that Staten made Reid look foolish and also that she realized he only attended her party because of Sam’s prodding.
And it’s not the event’s only fight: Lauren attends the party with her father Sheriff Dan (Philip Winchester), who isn’t all too pleased to see that Lucas and Kit are also in attendance, nor about people’s questions about where his wife is. Soon, Dan’s drunken anger boils over into a fistfight with Kit and he has to be taken home by his own deputy.
Lauren is teary outside in the parking lot because Dan blamed her for the whole thing. She also reveals to Lucas that it was her dad that made her end things with him. She wants them to still be together, but her dad can’t know. He doesn’t want to keep on lying to everyone, but at the last minute, he changes his mind and runs after her while she’s driving away. They have a big kiss in the street.
Back at Staten’s, he’s nursing his frustrations with some whiskey when he hears a knock at his door. He thinks it’s Sam, who he refused to let stay there that night after confronting him about Quinn. But no, it’s Reid, who has been kicked out by Davis and has nowhere to stay. Looks like someone has a new roommate.
All 10 episodes of Ransom Canyon season 1 are now available to stream on Netflix.