“R.J. Decker” wrapped its first season on Tuesday, putting one mystery to bed while setting the stage for a high-stakes whodunit to play out should ABC choose to renew the drama for Season 2. (As of the finale, a decision has not been made about the show’s future.)
Per Emi’s big reveal, Victor ordered Lucas to steal R.J.’s camera because its SD card contained a potentially damaging photo. Of what, you ask? That’s the mystery! Emi had given the card to Lucas for safekeeping, and R.J. volunteered to meet him for the hand-off, using the opportunity to formally forgive Lucas for the attack… and the perjury. It was a long list.
One of the photos on the card proved that Victor’s henchman Ray was parked near the scene of a murder — specifically the murder of Jessica, a woman who had regularly turned down Victor’s recruitment offers and refused to do business with him altogether. Ray couldn’t exactly explain himself, because he was killed midway through the finale, but he did point Emi to an incriminating flash drive Victor had stored in his safe at home.
With Emi providing a distraction and Catherine parked nearby as the lookout, R.J. successfully broke into Victor’s compound and retrieved the flash drive. Go team! Long story short, here’s what the drive revealed: One of Victor’s associates, Bruce (guest star Stephen Bishop), killed Jessica because she was going to blow the whistle on a faulty building design, and he paid Victor to help clean up his mess. Bruce ultimately confessed to killing both Ray and Jessica, implicating Victor enough to put him behind bars… for about five minutes.
R.J. had a lot to celebrate at the end of the hour, so he and Emi agreed to table their conversation about defining their relationship and just play some foosball instead. Yes, all’s well that ends well. Except for Victor, who wasmurderedin the closing moments of the finale. Dun, dun, dun!
So, who killed Victor? And how might that game-changing twist impact our characters in a potential second season of “R.J.Decker”? Read TVLine’s full interview with showrunner Rob Doherty below:
Who killed Victor Ochoa?
TVLINE | I can’t believe you killed Victor off so quickly. I was hoping you would keep him around and milk that storyline for a while, if only to get more of David Zayas.
Victor was only ever built to live in three episodes, but after meeting David Zayas, getting to work with him, getting to be there and watch him do what he does, that had me second guessing my decision to kill off Victor. David was just so fun to watch. He elevated every scene he was in, so that made it hard. For us as writers, though, it’s a good problem to have. It will give us a ton of storytelling runway as we move hopefully into a second season.
TVLINE | Is it fair to say that solving his murder will be a major jumping off point in a potential second season? I’m notoriously bad at solving mysteries, so I currently have no theories.
We will hide the ball as often as we possibly can. With any mystery we’re trying to solve, my hope is always that it’s not who you were expecting. Victor all but confessed to having some shady, dangerous people in his life. One of the things we’ve talked about is who may pop up in Emi’s life with expectations that she will need to see through on, or deals that he had made prior to his passing. But those are stories for another day.
Will Emi have to pay for her father’s sins?
TVLINE | So many of Emi’s decisions this season were made based on how she thought her father might react. Is she going to rediscover who she is when she’s not under Victor’s thumb?
Well, just because Victor’s gone, that doesn’t mean his mess goes with him. There’s going to be a lot of clean up. There will be danger. Some suspicion may fall on Emi. In the finale, she was party to a heist at his house. She was actively working against him, so before Emi can get back on any real track, she’s got to sift through a lot of guilt. One thing she never saw coming was her father losing his life. She was ready for him to go to prison. She recognized it was time, but coming into a second season, I think that’s something she’ll have to pick through. As brilliant and well-intentioned as she is, it didn’t occur to her that someone might act on Victor’s vulnerability.
Where do R.J. and Emi go from here?
TVLINE | R.J. and Emi never actually got around to having that talk about defining their relationship. Since they didn’t, can you define what’s going on between them?
Fun and meaningful, but perilous. It’s hard to look at our nine-episode lifespan and say anything about that relationship with a ton of confidence moving forward. I think it has to evolve, but we also want to stay unpredictable. I think it’s about moving forward but also complicating things as much and as often as we can.
TVLINE | We’ve seen plenty of will-they-won’t-they relationships on TV, but this felt different, partially because of their messy history. Was crafting that dynamic a fun challenge for you?
I would joke with my friends and colleagues about how my last show, “Elementary,” was 150-something episodes of two beautiful people who would never wind up together romantically. In a weird way, this was way more challenging. It was tough for me to swivel away from seven years of a powerful platonic friendship to something with a little more soap and sex in it. I felt it would be helpful to me in some way if they just slept together first, before anything else could happen, and let things unfold from there. It felt a little more fun and a little naughtier in ways that gave us some good comedy and beats between R.J. and Emi after that. We have the tremendous benefit of great casting; Scott [Speedman] and Jaina [Lee Ortiz] are just so much fun to watch. That goes a long, long way.
Grade the R.J. Decker finale (and Season 1 overall)!
TVLINE | Even though it clearly stars a man, this show is very much about the strong group of women surrounding R.J., and Ilove that we finally got to see them all working together in this episode. More of that in Season 2 please?
You know, when I first got the “R.J. Decker” book and was asked to think about the show, I couldn’t help but think back to one of my all-time favorite shows, the original “Magnum P.I.” One of the things I loved about it was that his pals were a big part of that show, that he had pals who would come through in a pinch, who would help out anytime he needed it. I was drawn to that idea, but I didn’t think it necessarily needed to be a group of guys. It was more fun to find these complicated but equally valued relationships with his ex-wife, her new wife, and Emi Ochoa. On the side of Catherine and Mel, it’s complicated given the previous romantic entanglements, but for me it made those lines very clear. It’s a big familial love as opposed to anything else.
OK, let’s talk: Who doyouthink killed Victor? And did you enjoy the first season of “R.J. Decker”? Weigh in via our polls below, then drop a comment with all of your thoughts.
