‘R.J. Decker’ Season 2 Premiere Explained: R.J. and Emi’s Relationship Takes a Turn

Spoiler Warning: This recap contains major spoilers from the R.J. Decker Season 2 premiere, “The Point of Us Breaking.”

R.J. Decker is back, and apparently the most logical way to welcome us back to Florida is with a Dancing With the Stars flash mob, pantsless bank robbers and some seriously uncomfortable relationship business between R.J. and Emi.

Season 2 picks up in the aftermath of Victor Ochoa's murder, which has changed things considerably for R.J. (Scott Speedman) and Emi (Jaina Lee Ortiz). While Victor's death remains an unresolved mystery hanging over the new season, the premiere gives R.J. another wonderfully strange Florida case involving an old prison acquaintance and a group of criminals known as the Bottomless Bandits.

R.J. Decker Meets Dancing With the Stars

Before getting into the heavier stuff, R.J. Decker opens Season 2 by having a little fun with its ABC family. R.J. is working a case involving a serial pickpocket played by The Bachelor alum and Dancing With the Stars Season 33 winner Joey Graziadei.

The pickpocket has organized a flash mob as a distraction while he steals watches, wallets and other valuables from people in the crowd. DWTS pros Jenna Johnson and Val Chmerkovskiy appear during the musical number, while Kin (Kevin Rankin) and Catherine (Adelaide Clemens) also participate in the dancing.

R.J., thankfully for Scott Speedman, stays out of the choreography. Instead, he's watching the pickpocket work, gathering the evidence he needs before confronting him and wrapping up the case. It's a ridiculous way to begin the season, which means it's pretty much perfect for R.J. Decker.

The Bottomless Bandits Give R.J. His Next Case

The premiere's main investigation centers on a string of bank robberies committed by a group appropriately nicknamed the Bottomless Bandits because they carry out their crimes without pants.

Detective Mel Abreu (Bevin Bru) is already investigating the robberies when FBI Special Agent Melinda Winwood (Sasheer Zamata) enters the picture. Winwood and Mel have some personal history: the two previously hooked up, and Mel later ghosted her, which makes their professional reunion just a little awkward.

R.J. gets pulled into the case from a completely different direction when Stevie (Jordan L. Jones), an old friend from his time in prison, resurfaces looking for help. Stevie has been trying to stay out of trouble but is being blackmailed into working with the Bottomless Bandits, putting R.J. in a position to help both his former prison buddy and Mel's investigation. As R.J. starts digging, the case expands beyond a straightforward group of bank robbers and eventually connects to a larger criminal operation.

The FBI Has a Problem of Its Own

R.J.'s investigation ultimately helps expose a major surprise inside the federal investigation. The mysterious person behind the Bottomless Bandits is revealed to be FBI Agent Clark, Winwood's own partner.

With Clark exposed, the immediate bank-robbery case is resolved and Stevie avoids going to prison for his involvement. R.J. doesn't exactly let his old friend walk away without conditions, though, making Stevie promise to complete a 90-day rehabilitation program.

The case also forces Mel and Winwood to work through some of their old baggage while doing their jobs. Their history gives Mel another entertaining relationship to navigate outside her marriage to Catherine and her usual dealings with R.J.

Emi Has Been Keeping Her Distance

While R.J. is chasing bank robbers, Emi is dealing with the fallout from Victor's murder. She has largely withdrawn from everyone while grieving her father and trying to avoid the media attention surrounding his death.

Victor may have been corrupt and caused enormous damage, but he was still Emi's father, leaving her to deal with grief that isn't nearly as simple as everyone else's opinion of him.

Surprisingly, Catherine is the person who reaches out to Emi. She brings her groceries so Emi doesn't have to face the reporters waiting for her outside and offers to listen without approaching her as a journalist.

Catherine also recognizes that Emi needs someone in her corner and encourages R.J. to reach out to her. Considering Catherine and Emi haven't exactly been best friends, it's an unexpectedly sweet moment between the two women.

R.J. and Emi Decide to Be Friends

R.J. eventually takes Catherine's advice and reconnects with Emi, but anyone expecting them to immediately pick up where their romantic tension left off is in for a surprise.

With everything Emi is dealing with following Victor's death, R.J. offers her something much simpler: friendship. Emi accepts, leaving the pair officially trying to navigate being friends after all the attraction and complicated history between them.

Sure. Just friends. We'll see how that goes.

The decision gives both characters some breathing room after everything that happened during Season 1, but it certainly doesn't erase their chemistry. Scott Speedman has already indicated that the shift opens R.J. up to other romantic possibilities during Season 2, so their new arrangement could get tested sooner rather than later.

Who Killed Victor Ochoa?

That's still the biggest unanswered question hanging over R.J. Decker. Victor was found murdered in his swimming pool at the end of Season 1, and the Season 2 premiere does not reveal who killed him. Instead, his death remains in the background as the larger mystery affecting Emi, R.J. and the people around them while the series continues with its individual cases.

Victor made plenty of enemies through his corruption and political dealings, so there isn't exactly a shortage of people who could have wanted him dead. For now, however, The Point of Us Breaking keeps that answer under wraps.

The premiere instead focuses on establishing what life looks like after Victor's death. Emi is grieving, R.J. and Emi are attempting to redefine their relationship, Mel has an old flame suddenly working alongside her, and R.J.'s prison history is still finding new ways to walk back into his life.

Between the Bottomless Bandits, that Dancing With the Stars opening and R.J. and Emi attempting this whole “friends” thing, R.J. Decker hasn't lost any of its Florida weirdness. Victor's murder simply gives Season 2 a much darker question waiting underneath it all.