Watching – Ransom (TV)

Ransom (2017-2019) may not be the best of shows, but it checked all the boxes I often look for in terms of mystery television. The inciting crisis, the investigation, the inevitable twist, a tense confrontation, and the conclusion of the case that will often connect to one of the main cast or the season arc. For me, I found it reminscent of Lie to Me and The Mentalist as part of the Crew of Highly Specialized Individuals who unlock the puzzles of the human condition to win the day.

We follow the cases of Eric Beaumont, an independent crisis negotiator, as he and his crew jet around the world to resolve ransoms and solve crises. He comes off as arrogant in his self confidence (a characteristic explored in a later episode) in his high priced business casual of a suit and no tie. I don’t know if the actor aimed at a flat neutral tone, but it works well for being non threatening in his interactions with the target. He’s got that designer stubble that seems to be the mark of that lead actor who is playing someone charismatic, potentially on the edge, and probably driven (see Ryan Renolds, Ryam Gosling, Ben Barnes, Lucifer, John Wick, etc.). Like the rest of his Crew, he’s got a past that gets revealed as the show goes on. Family complications are a frequent subplot element for all of the Crew. We do get to see some episodes focus on the rest of the crew for subplots and sometimes taking a leading role in the Case, making them feel like more than just a bunch of Scoobies who would be lost without Eric.

Oliver Yates is the psychological profiler and in many ways runs most of the operations, be it computer skills (though reaching out to his own contact when needing a true hacker), researching backgrounds, and calling the psychological plays and using his own tech system to breakdown the tics and cues of clients and targets. The tech he uses isn’t beyond unbelievable like Scorpions or even Bones but still believable within the context of the show. He’s good enough to run his own team but also values being part of the best team out there.

Zara Hallam is the operative and the muscle. She’s formerly police, a keen observer, and a skilled combatant. While most of the team focuses on the psychological, she is frequently notes the forensic clues. Her family comes up multiple times, including her working from home during a maternity leave. Of all the team, she appears to be the least broken to me.

Maxine Carlson starts as the PoV for the audience as the new member of the team, the apprentice with skills of her own that get her the position of questioning Eric’s calls and pointing out alternatives. Her dark secret is significant to the season one arc.

The formula is the Crisis of the Week with several that connect to the Season Arc. Season one deals with Eric’s past and a failure that almost destroyed him. Season two is about the escalation from the events in season one. Season three is haunted by the damage to families and the scars left by the previous season. For the most part, I’d say it would be easy enough to drop in partway through a season for the Crisis and generally ignoring the arc, something you don’t always get in a series (see The Mentalist for it being done poorly in a couple of seasons). It may have dark moments but it rarely dipped into depression and despair for extended periods. There are a bunch of shows that I watched long ago that I just can’t go back to because they were getting to be unrelentingly grimdark.

On a completely different note, I’m always happy to see Canadian content and much of the cast and supporting roles are indeed Canadian, plus I’m always happy to see Carlo Rota getting work. Normally Toronto and Vancouver are used to play the part of other cities but in Ransom, Montreal is a base of operations for the Crew. That being said, yes Toronto does get used to play other international locations, plus several episodes are filmed in France and Hungary.

For the Gamer Eye

The character roles feel more like a heist cast than a five man band, but both serve as great examples for seeing how PCs fill out these roles to complement each other without always overshadowing them.

• Eric: Leader and the Face – social skills, multiple languages, insight and psychology to the extreme but still enough combat skills to hold his own against goons. His insights border on prophetic and telepathic and if a GM ever needed to feed a clue to the players, this would be one way.
• Oliver: Smart Guy and Technician – his skill at psychology and general knowledge is superior to Eric’s, particularly when aided by his tech. He’s got some street savvy and tries to develop some further combat skills as a consequence of season two.
• Zara: Tough Guy, Lancer, and Emotional Support – Just because she’s the Tough Guy doesn’t mean she is without interpersonal skills to provide assistance to others.
• Maxine: Second and Foil: She’s got enough general skills across the board and literally has the job to suggest alternatives to pursue. Her involvement just seems to enhance the rest of the Crew, so in a D&D context I’d say she’s a bard with guidance and bardic inspiration.

Based on the systems I know, a game based on this concept would work best in a Forged in the Dark or Powered by the Apocalypse mechanical setting. Almost every episode of the show has a ticking clock to beat; characters are regularly being set up for actions; using actions in new ways like Insight to gain a combat advantage; information is gained by interactions, even when the reveal is unintentional by the target in a classic PbtA social move outcome. There’s even the occassional flashback of a set up that plays out in the resolution. The puzzle box of a kidnapper’s motives and resolving the crisis totally line up with a Skill Challenge or a Clock to complete before time is up or too many fails bring the Crew to a new desperate situation instead of one where they have control.

I’m less familiar with the Gumshoe and Night’s Black Agents systems (or at least I’ve never managed to play using those systems but I’ve read the source books) but I’d expect them to work well too in terms of them being investigation focused that was at the core of Ransom. It’s something I might have to consider for a one shot. Call of Cthulhu is the classic investigation game with Psychology is a significant skill so what about a scenario where an investigation / negotiation situation turns out to be a band of cultists holding hostages to sacrifice or gain access to an eldritch object? Delta Green would also fit that mold, but would it actually work?