TV Recap: "RJ Decker" Episode 1 Kicks Off with a Bang (Literally) and a Personal Vendetta
ABC’s newest crime drama RJ Decker is here, bringing in a new, weird, and Floridian take on the popular procedural format. If you haven’t yet checked out our review I highly recommend doing that before you read on. Jumping into the first episode of the series, here is a spoiler-filled recap of what you missed in Episode 1 of RJ Decker.
Fort Lauderdale: the first thing you see as RJ Decker begins rolling. After a beachside aerial shot, we find ourselves on the steps of a courthouse. RJ Decker, a former news photographer, is sitting on the steps holding a candy bar (noticeably an Almond Joy). While visibly nervous, fidgeting with the candy bar, a woman approaches and sits down with him on the stairs. She says her and her friend have a bet about whether he’s gonna eat the candy through the wrapper, claiming he looks like a crazy homeless man. However, RJ explains he’s on his last day of trial after beating up a man who turned out to be a state senator’s son while he was trying to break into his car. He’s afraid eating the candy bar will jinx the verdict, fearing there won’t be candy bars if he ends up in prison. As the woman puts it, there are “other things” that RJ won’t be able to have in prison.
Next thing you know, the pair are hooking up in RJ’s car in the parking garage just ahead of his trial. After straightening himself up, we see RJ entering the courtroom. His lawyer is watching a news report on his phone, talking about Clay Gregory as a subject in the murder case of his wife Maya Gregory. However, the lawyer quickly puts his phone away to focus on RJ’s case. The last testimony comes from the stepsister of the young man who RJ beat up. Lucas’ stepsister, Emi Ochoa, walks in. She is none other than the woman RJ just slept with in his car. Giving an emotional testimony, Emi’s presentation is the final nail in the coffin that ends up putting RJ in prison.
Two years later, we jump to a car chase scene. A red BMW is zooming down the streets with cops on his tail. Somehow escaping the chase, the car is seen inside a shop. A child gets out of the car, no older than 13. He’s scolded for not bringing the correct 2019 model that was requested of him. As the car is being inspected, the men find a body of a woman in the back, strangled with a wire hanger.
We now cut to RJ on the beach talking to a man with his dog. Slyly bringing up the fact that there is a similar dog who was just stolen out of someone’s yard, RJ slowly picks away at the man. Trying to separate from the encounter, RJ is quick to keep the man where he wants him, bringing up the fact that the dog was an emotional support animal for an autistic boy named Dylan, and that the perpetrator was requesting $10K ransom for his return. The man is caught. Asking if RJ is gonna arrest him, the man sits down in the sand. RJ shares that he is a private investigator (PI) and shares with the other ex-con a business card to help him find legal work.
After the success of his investigation, RJ heads back to his Florida trailer park, which is filled with interesting characters, including a young boy who is just standing around dressed as a terrifying clown. After getting barked at by an unleashed dog named Tom Petty, his owner and RJ’s neighbor calls the dog over allowing him to get back to his trailer. On the edge of a sinkhole, RJ’s home is as precarious as his life. While talking to his neighbor, who refuses to enter his trailer in fear of it tipping into the crater, RJ receives a text from his friend Wish requesting a chat.
Wish, a former prison friend, now owns a bar. The pair meet in a private room where a news report is sharing that the red BMW that we saw earlier was found with the body in the trunk. The murder of Rhoda Batista is incredibly similar to that of Maya Gregory, who we learn was a coworker of RJ’s prior to his conviction. RJ strongly believes that Clay Gregory, the husband of Maya, is somehow connected to this second murder.
RJ heads to the crime scene with his camera, where he begins taking pictures of a broken pot from a balcony above. Detective Ragsdale, clearly a former colleague of RJ, approaches him. They start chatting about the case before a detective approaches him. She warns Ragsdale not to share any information with a “civilian.” The energy is cold, and she is no nonsense. When RJ brings up Clay, including his ongoing affair he was having prior to Maya’s murder, she is quick to defend Clay’s innocence, saying he has an alibi and was out of town during Rhoda's murder. However, RJ remains suspicious.
After returning home to his trailer, RJ receives a call from an unknown number asking to hire him as a PI. His signal starts to cut out and he realizes his phone is about to die. Searching for a charger, he is too late and the call drops. He looks over at his TV and sees a news report talking about how the new murder makes Clay’s innocence feel undeniable. In a fit of rage, RJ rips his TV off the wall, smashing it into the ground and repeatedly stomping on it. Unfortunately for him, the fit had consequences as his violent movement caused his RV to flip over into the sinkhole.
RJ is seen knocking on the door of a nice suburban house. A woman named Catherine opens the door, inviting him in and scolding him about not coming and living with her after the sinkhole appeared. We find out that Catherine is RJ’s ex-wife, who shows him to the pool house where he will be staying. Upon setting his stuff down, Catherine shares that her wife Mel wants to speak with him in the garage.
When he heads to have that conversation, Mel turns out to be the sharp investigator seen at the crime scene. She tells him he can stay for a week, with her warning him not to meddle in the investigation. The interaction is pretty awkward, but Mel and RJ’s banter is undeniably entertaining.
RJ does exactly the opposite of what Mel asked, confronting Clay at his worksite. The electrician is quick to use his alibi for the murder of Rhoda and also shares that a cigarette butt was found in the inside of the car where Maya was murdered that didn’t match his DNA. He is staunchly and pompously standing on his innocence. RJ is quick to point out that he believes he hired someone to kill Rhoda, claiming that his proof of innocence would provide Clay with the life insurance claim that was denied due to his POI status. Clay continues to defend himself with RJ exiting the confrontation still heavily suspicious of him.
RJ revisits the crime scene, heading up to the apartment where the pot he took pictures of had clearly been thrown. Before reaching the door, RJ receives a call from the unknown number again. They agree on a place to meet as RJ knocks. The woman shares that she saw a short, black man wearing a hat with an “angry penis” on it. When describing it, RJ figures out that it is the logo for the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp. That’s all the hint he needed to make his next move.
We now see Darius, the young boy who initially stole the BMW, who is bussing tables at a restaurant. RJ, again with his nonchalant charm, confronts Darius about the body. He drops all of the dishes before asking how he found him. RJ had used an insurance database of known car thieves, and while a minor, he was able to track down the child based on his hat.
Getting the information on where Darius stole the car, he is able to get footage from a business of the man who initially stole the car. He shows it to Mel, who watches the footage of a man they dub “Popeye Calves” due to his incredibly muscular legs. Mel is still skeptical that Clay has anything to do with the murder, claiming RJ’s theory that a second murder would clear his name and get him access to life insurance money was a stretch. But RJ is not backing down.
Mel follows him out of the house, accusing him of sleeping with Maya Gregory. RJ shares that he didn’t know her that well, which confuses Mel since he raged out and beat up a 20 year old for trying to break into his car. He shares how traumatizing it was to take pictures of a murdered woman that he knew and how deeply it affected him. He quit his job the next day, but continued to follow Clay around taking photos. He felt he knew that Clay was guilty, and he beat the kid up for breaking into his car because his pictures of Clay were in there. Mel warns him that his PI work will lead him back to the ugly he was trying to escape.
He meets at Wish’s bar to see the client that contacted him. As he approaches her, it is Emi Ochoa. He leaves, and she is quick to chase him down to apologize. She shares that her family is close knit and she was expected to defend her stepbrother. Emi didn’t have a job for him and just contacted him to apologize. He shares his mission to take down Clay, which she doubts he will be able to do. He leaves, with Emi no longer chasing after him.
We cut to RJ back at his trailer, going through all his evidence against Cay. It’s still flipped. He receives a call from Catherine, who works in the press, revealing that his work was able to help them get footage from a different business that showed a blurry shot of Popeye Calves’ face. As he headed out of the trailer park, the young boy who dressed like the scary clown was standing outside in a new mask. However, RJ quickly realizes that this is not Tibo. The masked man pulls out a gun and begins shooting at RJ. He runs back to his RV and hides. The man spots him through the window, and just as he is about to shoot, Tom Petty returns and attacks the man who quickly flees the scene.
We cut to Wish, who is seen talking to Catherine. RJ is staying with Wish for the night to make sure Cathering, Mel, and Mel’s daughter aren’t targeted. Wish shares that RJ’s hard work to exonerate Wish of a crime he didn’t commit led to his release a day early, where he won $1 million off a scratcher. While that one day may not seem like much, it changed his life.
RJ, mostly unfazed by the encounter, continues the investigation. He calls Mel, who shows up with her daughter. While searching through Clay’s history, RJ is able to track down a plastic surgeon named Adrien Noble. Nobel’s real name turns out to be Cecil Gregory, Clay’s cousin. Back in 2020, Nobel tried to open a second practice in Miami. Hemorrhaging money, Nobel lucked out with an electrical fire that earned him a hefty insurance claim. Clay, an electrician, is presumed to have helped Nobel make that happen. RJ suspects that Popeye Calves may be Nobel. While spying on the plastic surgeon, his scrubs keep his legs safely hidden. However, Wish appears out of nowhere pantsing the doctor. His bare legs, showcasing no dog bites, prove he’s not the man who shot at him. Mel reveals that a man was caught breaking into a veterinary clinic to stitch up the dog bites, and they are able to deduce that a man named Wade Ennis was responsible for his attack.
RJ later joins Mel at Ennis’ house, where he confesses to both murders. RJ pushes for him to confess being hired for both and to name Clay as the perpetrator. However, Ennis refuses, claiming he’s just crazy and is excited to be respected for his crimes in prison. RJ isn’t giving up and notes that the same type of cigarettes found at the crime scene were found in Ennis’ home.
Back at Wish’s bar, Emi returns to talk to RJ. In an attempt to apologize, she uses her uncle, AKA the senator’s connections to dox Ennis and search through his records. Emi stays to help RJ look through the files. Finding a strange wheelchair purchase and lots of food delivery orders just around the date of Maya’s murder, RJ starts to put together a bigger picture. The pair chat, including about the purpose of their rendezvous in RJ’s car, which Emi unconvincingly says was just a nicety. Emi finds a list of prescriptions he had been taking around the same time. Realizing that Ennis may still have the pill bottles, which would have the prescribers name on it, they break into his house.
RJ and Mel have now connected the dots and approach Clay on the pier. Clay is already in the mindset that he has nothing to worry about, fishing over the dock and talking about how he’s gonna buy a boat with the life insurance money he is going to be paid. However, RJ is quick to put him in his place. While Clay continues to defend his alibi, RJ lays out the bigger picture. Clay hired Ennis to kill his wife, and while his money was all in place, Ennis received calf implants as payment. The surgery was performed by Nobel as repayment for the electrical fire, but, because of the conditions the surgery was performed in, Ennis needed antibiotics post surgery. Ennis killed Maya a day earlier than they had planned, making Clay’s planned alibi unusable and preventing him from getting her life insurance money. The pair staged a second murder where Clay was out of town to get investigators off his tracks. While the plan almost worked RJ was able to prove that Clay was the killer all along. Clay and his cousin are both arrested.
Later, while celebrating the victory at Wish’s bar, Catherine begs RJ to let her write an article about his work. RJ denies it, not wanted to be recognized for his work and giving all the credit to Mel. During the conversation, Emi returns to talk to RJ. The pair walk outside, where Emi asks if they are even now. RJ is quick to bite back, saying a year and a half of his life is worth more than a harddrive. The pair continue to have a confrontational flirty dynamic that I’m sure is going to be a huge plot point throughout the series. The separate and the episode ends, giving us our first look at the weird, Floridian crime drama.
Tune in next week to see what happens in Episode 2, and catch new episodes of RJ Decker Tuesdays on ABC and streaming on Hulu next day.
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