RJ Decker Season 1 Episode 8 Review: Power Plays & Rain-Soaked Kisses

Critic’s Rating: 4.1 / 5.0

4.1

Mmmm, don’t mind me. My head is still with RJ and Emi and that steamy rain-soaked kiss.

But, of course, there’s more to discuss about RJ Decker Season 1 Episode 8, including the fact that this is the penultimate episode of the season. WHERE DID THE TIME GO?!

RJ has his hands full right now because he’s dealing with his genuine affection for Emi and this troubling tension with her father, and I’m already stressed out about where this could lead.

On the case front, this one was so much fun. Well, as fun as a husband murdering his wife can get, that is.

When it comes to a dead wife, the odds are that it’s usually the husband who is behind it all, but we had our fair share of twists and turns along the way to throw us off, including Shane.

One of the things I love about RJ Decker is how wacky the cases are. Even something as run-of-the-mill as a spouse killing his husband for the money has some quirky elements in this series.

For one, this is the first time in my life I have ever heard of Jai Alai, and somehow, RJ Decker used this seemingly obscure sport as a method for Orlando to kill his wife and the poor, innocent snake guy who was just happily minding his business before he got clobbered in the head.

And then there’s the pure entertainment of Orlando being a trophy husband rather than RJ Decker playing it up the other way around.

I love equal opportunity gold-digging!

It was such a fun and twisty case, and RJ brought out that rusty camera of his again, which I’ve been missing, as, shockingly, he hasn’t been using it nearly as much for most of the season.

The case also takes him all around, dabbling in the world of the wealthy vixens and navigating the Country Club crowd.

And no matter how much he stands out with his scruff and Hawaiian shirts, I love that he unapologetically inserts himself in these spaces anyway with confidence, determination, and that irresistible charm that always seems to wear down everyone around him.

Of course, with this being a murder case and him delving fully into it, he got to work alongside Mel again, and they have truly found their rhythm as colleagues.

She has also really come around to embracing his efforts, helping him with cases, and appreciating that he helps her on the job, too.

And some of the most endearing moments now have become those where he’s at the house, chilling with both Mel and Cath and relying on their services and respective talents to help him solve a case.

Truthfully, they could very well open up their own agency at the rate they’re going, and they’d give the cops a run for their money. You know, if Mel weren’t already a cop.

The hour’s case was interesting enough to hold its own despite not taking up too much of the installment because we actually got a lot more personal content, especially for Emi.

After all, the real intensity and intrigue from this episode came from Emi and Victor’s tension, and it all started with that conversation with RJ.

Victor really thought he was doing something by making RJ an offer he felt RJ couldn’t refuse. But he’s so used to dealing with duplicitous and sheisty businessmen and politicians, or perhaps desperate people, that he doesn’t know how to deal with someone like RJ with integrity.

RJ doesn’t need any money or favors from Victor. All he really wants is for him and his family to be left alone.

It’s incredible how paranoid people get when they know they’ve wronged you and fear retaliation, revenge, or simply the terrible treatment in return that they doled out so freely.

Victor doesn’t even care about Emi at this point. It’s not really about her, but about how she’s an extension of him because he has a vision and a plan for her, and he doesn’t want RJ interfering with that.

He offered RJ an opportunity to have his record expunged if he stayed away from Emi and had nothing to do with her again, called the likes of Cath off delving into his business, and everything of that nature.

And if RJ doesn’t agree to it, he’s threatening the possibility of sending him back to jail, removing the C.O. that RJ likes for someone else who is under his thumb, and hanging over RJ’s head the chance to make his life hell.

For what? Minding his business!

Victor Ochoa is a bully who has grown too accustomed to having power and doesn’t seem to realize that power is a temporary currency you can’t grip for too long. Eventually, you’ll lose it all.

Someone more powerful can and will come along, and for as much as he thinks he’s on top of the world and running the city now, he can fall just as quickly.

It’s almost fascinating to hear Victor talk about power as he does. He has a conqueror’s spirit.

On the heels of RJ Decker Season 1 Episode 7, where we heard so much about Latinx — specifically Cuban history, doing things for family, the homeland, overcoming the odds, and toppling oppressive powers—Victor himself has become the embodiment of an oppressive power.

There’s a sad irony in that.

When you even think about the “American dream,” how many of our ancestors, regardless of what forms they existed, arrived, or were brought here — strived for this notion of it — a concept of something greater, and that some of the most power-hungry, greediest individuals overshot and bought into the dark side of that concept too easily.

My heart broke seeing Emi grapple with her father’s actions, the hurt he causes those around her, and how she longs to be free from it all.

We met Lucas, and he finally slipped so far out of his father’s graces that he’s no longer recognized in the household as family. Victor erased his very presence from the house as if he no longer existed.

He’s a representative of shame because he no longer wanted to head down the path his father was leading him, where he was a henchman doing dirty deeds at his father’s bidding.

Lucas looked so happy and free on that boat, living a simple life he chose for himself rather than what his father wanted from him. And you could tell he wants his sister to experience that, too.

But then we end the hour learning that Victor wanted to send Emi a strong message, force her to fall in line by burning Lucas’ boat, and it was just so infuriating!

Does Victor even love his children, or just the idea of them, as long as they do what he wants? He’s a raging narcissist.

Emi gave him an out with the business, making a strong decision for herself that meant cutting ties with his politics and running the development business alone.

But what she couldn’t fully anticipate, though, maybe she should have, is that she may not land all the investors she needs because people are either in bed with or too afraid of her father.

How can you carve out your own space in the city you love and create your own life when you have a father like Ochoa who controls so much, no matter what you do?

Emi wants to be free, and she needs to find a way to rid herself of Victor.

It’s a perfectly sound start to pursue things with RJ despite the odds stacked against them.

For Emi, it feels like she never had a decent enough reason to fight and push back against her father until RJ. And getting reality checks from other people has gotten to her, too.

I love that Wish, who is notoriously the sweetest, most non-judgmental man you’ll ever meet, didn’t hold back with her. He loves RJ way too much to see him at the end of Ochoa’s wrath because of Emi.

But what he needed to understand was if Emi was genuine, if she loved RJ, if RJ cared about her, too. And Wish knew that if Emi really did care about RJ the way that she insisted that she did, it was time to put up or shut up. Either take down her father somehow or let RJ go.

Emi made it clear where she stood on this when she showed up at RJ’s trailer. I am a sucker for romantic scenes in the rain, and that rain-soaked makeout session was super hot and steamy! It was a long time coming, too!

But it was more than just sex. It was a deliberate choice. It sounds like the plan is to take down Victor. And if anyone can do it, it’s Emi, who knows so much about his business practices and where the bodies are buried, so to speak.

Victor is a powerful man primed for a fall in the public eye. He’s too shady not to have skeleteons in his closet and a paper trail somewhere, and between Emi’s knowledge and RJ’s GIFT for solving and investigating things, Ochoa doesn’t stand a chance!

Over to you, RJ Decker Fanatics. Can you believe the season is almost over?!

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