RJ Decker wrapped up its first season with a shocking ending, so what does it mean for a possible season two?
Caution: This article contains SPOILERS for RJ Decker season 1
All through its first season, RJ Decker (Scott Speedman) has been handling spending time in jail for assaulting Lucas (Maximo Salas) for breaking into R.J.'s car for his camera. Decker was sentenced to jail after Lucas’ half-sister Emi (Jaina Lee Ortiz), who had just hooked up with R.J., lied on the stand about the attack being unprovoked. In the season finale, Emi revealed that Lucas had been ordered by their wealthy father, Victor Ochoa (David Zayas), to steal the camera, and Decker realized he’d photographed something shady.
With help from R.J.’s ex-wife, Catherine (Adelaide Clemens), her police detective wife, Mel (Bevin Bru), and his former cellmate, Wish (Kevin Rankin), the trio went through various turns and red herrings to discover the truth. It seems Will had accidentally photographed a crime scene revolving around the murder of a woman named Jessica. There was a wrinkle in Victor’s right-hand man, Ray, being killed before he could flip on him.
Victor tried to hit back by using his influence to have R.J.’s parole revoked, putting him on a time clock before he was arrested. That didn’t stop him from learning that years before, Victor’s friend Bruce (Stephen Bishop) killed Jessica when she was going to blow the whistle on a faulty business design, costing him millions of dollars. Bruce then got Victor to cover it up.
Bruce confessed to the murders, as Victor was also arrested for his part in the cover-up. R.J. was freed and celebrated with his friends. However, having made bail, the episode ended with Victor shot dead in his pool.
That was a stunning conclusion, but what does it mean for a possible season 2?
Speaking to TV Insider, showrunner Rob Doherty confirmed the plan was always to kill Victor off, although he admitted he was tempted to let him stay on longer thanks to David Zayas’ amazing performance. He also dropped hints about who might have pulled the trigger.
“I think the people closest to him will have to find themselves under a magnifying glass. I think Emi in our finale was part of a cabal to bring him down. If you look at that from another angle, it could look like she was acting against him, and maybe this was something —Certain parties may come to believe that Emi had a hand in what happened. Beyond that, as we mentioned in the finale, Victor copped to being a shady politician, which I hear is a very rare thing. But he confessed to Emi that he maintains relationships with a lot of people that on paper he should not, but he has decided that it’s for the greater good. It makes Fort Lauderdale a safer city and Florida a safer state. So we’ll have to pick our way through some of those people, too. That’ll take some digging for sure. Who was Victor in bed with, and could they have done him in?”
It sounds like the investigation into the murder could be a major plot point in season 2. While Emi and RJ have an alibi for being at a party with the rest of the extended family, Emi could still be suspected of involvement. That just adds to the potential season 2 plotlines.
What could season 2 of RJ Decker be about?
So far, RJ Decker hasn’t been renewed for a second season, although the producers are clearly hopeful for it. Doherty hinted that season 2 won’t just be about Victor but will also continue to draw from the works of Carl Hiaasen, who inspired the show and the strange crimes that can only happen in Florida.
“I feel like as a series, our standalone cases are our bread and butter. I look forward to swiveling back to Carl Hiaasen-esque Floridian weirdness. That can be a little harder to pull off when things are more personal, and the stakes feel higher. So I think as we come into a second season, the goal is to start with something fun and strange and distinctly Floridian, while also tending to and picking through all of the fallout of what happened for RJ, Emi, and Victor at the end of the first season. So I think for all intents and purposes, RJ, the man and the investigator, is the same, but he has sort of a brand new mess laid out in front of him. He’ll continue to attack these cases that I hope are unique to our show, but he’ll also have to kind of tend to some cleanup in his personal life.”
A second season would expand on R.J. and Emi’s relationship as they seem to be trying to date, but some friction remains. It will also have R.J. establishing himself as a private eye and hopefully a focus on Catherine and Mel as an odd family for him. It leaves fans more hopeful for a second year to continue this underrated ABC crime show.
RJ Decker is streaming now on Hulu.
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