Among all the twists in the second season of Ransom Canyon, there is one that has sparked more debate than any other: the new love triangle between Lauren, Lucas, and Kit. A storyline that has split the audience and that, apparently, wasn't even planned when the series was developed.
The stars themselves recently revealed this, explaining that the relationship between Lauren and Lucas's older brother only came about later, after the writers noticed the chemistry between the two actors during a scene in the first season. But was it needed? Let’s discuss!
It all starts with the tornado episode in season 1. Forced to take shelter together, Lauren and Kit share a particularly vulnerable moment that, initially, was not supposed to have any romantic undertones. This was recounted by Lizzy Greene, who plays Lauren, explaining that neither she nor Casey W. Johnson were trying to create romantic tension between their characters.
“Nothing of that was intentional,” Lizzy told Swooon in an interview published July 23. “I don’t think it was on the radar of having Kit and Lauren be a thing.” She even mentioned that she and Casey had “barely worked together at all up until that point.”
But it was precisely the natural rapport that emerged during that shoot that made showrunner April Blair change her mind, deciding to explore that relationship further in the second season.
As she explained to Deadline in an interview published July 24, “When we wrote it, it was them connecting and bonding in this tornado, Kit and Lauren. But when I got the episode, I was like, ‘Wait, there’s a lot of chemistry and a lot of crackle here.’ And we were in the room, and I was like, ‘I think we should do something with Kit and Lauren.’”
For me, the problem isn’t so much the existence of a love triangle within the show. In recent years, teen dramas seem to have turned this dynamic into an almost obligatory formula. From The Summer I Turned Pretty to My Life with the Walter Boys, the romantic triangle has become one of the most widely used narrative devices.
In Ransom Canyon, however, this trope is much harder to accept. Throughout the first season, Lauren fights with all her might to be able to live her relationship with Lucas peacefully. The two overcome obstacles, social differences, and family problems, building one of the show’s strongest couples. Then, suddenly, everything changes because Lauren “falls behind” while Lucas reaps the rewards of what he has worked so hard to sow.
Making this twist even more controversial is Kit's past. In the first season, in fact, Kit was in a relationship with Margaret, Lauren's mother, a story that had enormous consequences within the town and the family itself. It is therefore inevitable to wonder how credible it is to see Lauren fall in love with the very man who, until shortly before, had been her mother's lover.
It is therefore not surprising that the new triangle has generated a great deal of criticism online; in fact, many viewers have called this relationship “forced,” “out of place,” and “not very consistent with the characters’ development,” emphasizing how the building of the story between Lauren and Lucas had been one of the most successful parts of the first season.
The ending also fueled the debate: Lauren runs to the bus station to stop Kit from leaving Ransom Canyon, and the two kiss, while Lucas chooses to step aside, even though the two declare their eternal love for each other. It is a conclusion that seems destined to play a central role in a possible third season.
That there was strong chemistry between Lizzy Greene and Casey W. Johnson on set is evident. And it is also understandable that the writers decided to explore it, but good chemistry between two actors, on its own, is not always enough to justify such a significant narrative turn.
In this case, the issue isn’t with who Lauren will choose; it’s about the path that leads to that choice. After a season built around her story with Lucas, and after everything Kit had represented in her family's life, the new triangle risks seeming more like a need to create new drama than a natural evolution of the characters. Perhaps this is precisely the biggest limitation of the second season of Ransom Canyon: wanting to insert a love triangle at all costs at a time when the series had already found strong and credible conflicts on which to build the future of its protagonists.
