‘R.J. Decker’: Jaina Lee Ortiz Breaks Down R.J. & Emi’s ‘Messy’ Relationship

After Emi helps R.J. help his former cellmate Wish (Kevin Rankin) help his former cellmate’s son, she finds the PI and asks if they’re even now. They’re not — she gave him one name of a guy who hadn’t done it — but he wonders what her “obsession” is with them being even. “If we get even too fast, there won’t be any reason for me to call you anymore,” he points out. She warns him that “getting too close to a family like” hers could end up with him back in prison. Is that because she just wants to move past what she had to do — she says in the premiere she had to lie for her brother — or she doesn’t want to think about the consequences of him getting closer because of her family? (We’ve heard a bit about her crooked father.)

“I think it’s probably a combination of both, but more the first: It’s hanging over her. She has to live with that for the rest of her life. And if she can do anything to help this poor guy, my goodness, yes,” Ortiz tells us. “I think she’s doing it secretly. I think she’s helping him sort of under the table, but also as she should. I mean, she ruined this guy’s life and put him in prison for two years. But also it’s this weird dynamic because you start to grow close to someone in that way, and then just it makes everything way more messy than anticipated.”

During their conversation, R.J. says he doesn’t know what he wants, not yet, and so we wonder: What does Emi want?

“I don’t even know that she knows exactly what it is,” Ortiz admits. “I think she’s still trying to find it, and she’s just looking for an answer, and maybe that’s connecting with someone that’s not in her line of work. Maybe that’s connecting with this guy who … I mean, they already kind of broke the ice straight off the bat, so they have that to go back to. But I think it’s maybe rebuilding that first encounter. How do you start over from having that kind of history linger?”

She continues, “I think that’s what’s so great about what Scott’s doing with R.J. He’s really grounding himself in this guy who’s trying to do the right thing and bring justice to people and get a hold back on his life. None of these characters are perfect, which makes it so beautiful, but I think that’s what’s great and interesting about all of the characters as a whole.”

Speaking of all the characters, when are we going to get significant interactions with Wish, R.J.’s ex-wife Catherine (Adelaide Clemens), and her wife Mel (Bevin Bru)? “We do,” promises Ortiz. “Emi does encounter Wish and does have an interaction with one of the wives. She gets a little comfortable at [Wish’s bar] FM Station.”

And while Emi may be worried about getting close to others because of her family, “she wants to get close without getting too close, if that makes any sense. She’s definitely looking for some kind of connection that is meaningful,” Ortiz shares. “I think you find that with all the other characters, for sure, because I don’t think in her world, there’s nothing of that kind of weight.”

R.J. Decker, Tuesdays, 10/9c, ABC

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