Scott Speedman Breaks Down Emi’s Betrayal (Exclusive)

RJ Decker (Scott Speedman) is figuring out the next chapter of his life after spending nearly two years in prison in ABC’s new drama, joining Will Trent and High Potential as part of the network’s Tuesday night lineup.

The titular character of RJ Decker used to be a photographer for a newspaper, but now, the ex-con is a private investigator. The first case we see him tackle is a personal one for him, and it may mean catching his white whale. TV Insider spoke with Scott Speedman about that case, the twist involving Jaina Lee Ortiz‘s character in the first few minutes of the series, and much more. Warning: Spoilers for the RJ Decker premiere ahead!

The series begins with RJ waiting to find out if he’s going to go to jail after beating up a kid he caught stealing the camera equipment out of his car, as he tells Emi (Ortiz). After they hook up in a car in the parking garage, he’s then shocked to find that she’s the sister of that kid — and she turns on the waterworks on the stand as she says exactly what she needs to (lies) to send him to prison. After he’s out of prison, she then tracks him down to apologize, but he doesn’t want to hear it. He does, however, accept her help for the case.

And that investigation is a death that’s very similar to the one that put him on the path that resulted in him going to prison. While working as the newspaper photographer, he’d been called to a scene — only to realize the victim he was looking at through the lens of his camera was a coworker. He kept taking her picture, changing the angles and making sure not to get her face, just like he knew he had to for the job. He quit the next day. He was so certain that her husband killed her, but he couldn’t prove it, even as he followed him and took his photo. And then Emi’s stepbrother stole his equipment, and he reacted. But this time, while working alongside his ex-wife Catherine’s (Adelaide Clemens) wife, police detective Mel (Bevin Bru), RJ is able to find the proof, and the right person is locked up.

Below, Scott Speedman breaks down that Emi reveal, what it means for her and RJ, and much more.

To say RJ and Emi’s relationship is very complicated would be an understatement. She’s the reason why he went to prison and he still feels betrayed, even though it seems like they’re trying to figure out a new dynamic, right?

Scott Speedman: There’s no question that he does feel betrayed, but there’s an underlying attraction or pull towards this woman for various reasons. I don’t think in any normal setting they’d find each other interesting or attractive, but whatever reason, this world has brought them together. And yeah, they have that undefinable thing which keeps tracking them back together, whether they like it or not. I think she feels complicit. I think that character has her own contradictions with her and her own family, too, that she feels pulled into her family world, which are big political figures in our story. And so she’s conflicted as well.

But how does he feel about that pull he has to her because of that history that they have?

Yeah, look, I think maybe this is something that I share with him is that I don’t think it would bother me. I mean, it would bother me, but I mean, I think he’s able to put it in a box, too, in a certain kind of way. And I think he finds her very interesting, and I think that’s what rules RJ’s day. He likes interesting people. He likes interesting people of Florida. This woman did a bad thing, but he can’t help that he likes her and wants to be around her. I don’t think he has any, I will never see this person again, kind of morality clause about people, especially in the job that he has and in living in South Florida, I think he has a warmth towards people and her included.

Professionally, they’re also crossing paths because she can help him at times. What are we going to see from them professionally, but also personally? We saw what happened with them before he went to prison. It seems easy to slip back into that.

Yeah, we got that out of the way quick. The will they won’t they went away. No. Yeah, no, she is in charge of a lot of things. She’s a power player in the South Florida community. We have her as an undefined woman of business on some level — is it politics, is it business, is it consulting? We’ll find out more as we go. But yeah, she’s definitely going to be involved in helping me with my job. So on that level, we need each other for whatever reasons. Why she’s giving me the job, I think that’s kind of a through line of our first season here. And as we’re starting to film these last episodes, that’ll come to light more and more and more.

How much are they falling back together romantically?

We’ll see. We’re getting into [Episodes] 7, 8, 9 now towards the end of our season. I have not seen anything happen yet, but we’ll see. I don’t know if it’s going to happen this season or when it’ll happen, if it’ll happen. Rob Doherty did seven years of Elementary where those two never connected. He likes to tell me about that. So yeah, we’ll see what happens.

How does RJ feel about getting the closure he did on Maya’s case for her, but also taking into account the role that played in what happened next, including him going to prison?

It was nice to start the pilot with that particular case because that is up until now, up until towards the end of the season, the most personal case I’ve had this season and it is the most important for him personally, the one that he’s been riding with and living with and waking up to every day. So, that was a great way for me to really root the character in the show and really kick us off in the right way. So it’s a tremendous relief to have that case closed. That was a big source of, everybody thought he was wrong and it turns out he was onto something there. So it was a great way to start the show.

Mel is right when she points out that if he sticks with this new career, he’s going to see ugly stuff again, but he’s also right that he can help prevent the ugly stuff from happening. But how worried is he about her point and what that could mean for him?

Well, hopefully as we get this show more grounded and rooted, we’ll be able to play around with that a little more. My favorite stuff is doing the cases and then veering into his personal life. I think what will be really interesting, especially as for a PI on network television, is to keep messing him up and keep allowing him to be human. And I think sometimes we forget that an audience wants that and it becomes a little pedestrian in the way. But I think what Rob does, and they did that on Elementary, too, as I understand it. You keep playing with the guy’s edges and colors and weirdness and things that humanizes him. And one of the human things he did, he got burnt out and he made a big mistake and he ended up going to jail for it. And I think we’d be doing a disservice to the show to not keeping going down that road, which I think we will.

But at the same time, it feels like this is the right path that he needs to be on right now because he can help people.

He wants to be proactive about it instead of just taking pictures about it. He wants to be helping people instead of just sitting by the sidelines. He wants to be a protector instead of just a viewer. So yeah, I think that’s his new vocation and I think that keeps him happy. But much like me doing this show, doing the show itself is really, really, really intense. There’s a burnout level for me and the character, and I think those two things will play into each other a little bit too as we do this show, which would be exciting.

I really like the RJ and Mel dynamic. It’s fun. And she seems to be warming up to him both as a private investigator and as her wife’s ex who also lives in her pool house by the end of the premiere. We’re already seeing that they work well together. Are we going to see that continue? Is it going to be like there’ll be some tension between them in some episodes, warming up to each other in others?

Yeah, I think we’ll play with that a lot. That relationship you see is on the page, but it was kind of day one with me and Bevin as well. Bevin could not be more the opposite of me. She is a spitfire, extroverted, something pops in her brain comes out of her mouth. She’s amazing to work with. She is a real find for our show. I know she’s done other stuff, but she’s going to be a huge part of our show. That was a huge part of making the show work is having that element there, but also having it not be boring. She is a great, great, great asset, Bevin Bru. Yeah, I think an audience is really going to love her and I think we’ll be seeing me working with her a lot.

Disney/Dana Hawley

And it’s so easy when you have exes to be like, oh, these two could get back together. But it doesn’t feel like that way on RJ Decker at all with Catherine.

Yeah, that’s amazing with Cath. She is a friend. And I think at my age now, I understand that I have exes that are really close with me that are not — the romance is not there. It’s not about that. It’s about friendship. And yeah, we all understand what it is and we’re not playing around with those edges of that.

We hear what RJ means to Wish, and we’re seeing what Wish means to RJ and bringing in the cases, things like that. So what can you say about what we’ll see there going forward?

It hasn’t always been like this. Shows are really tricky. There’s a tricky chemistry of them, but me and Kevin, more as even as we go here, are just like, when I see Kevin walk onto the stage and I have a scene with him and I haven’t slept all night, and I’m trying to figure out where we are in the story, but I know I have a scene with Kevin, I just know it’s going to go well. Kevin is extremely easy to work with, and that character’s just such a lovable character. We are setting up for an audience to just when we watch to be breathed out and kind of relax into these shows and [have] likable characters, and Kevin’s a huge part of that.

In the last scene of the premiere, Emi remarks that none of the weirdness of Florida fazes RJ, that he treats everyone the same. Are we going to see anything coming up that tests that?

I think he doesn’t like bullies. I don’t think he likes people in power positions punching down. I think that’s a big trigger for him, and I think we will see him push back with that and push back into that as we go here. But no, I mean, I think what’s great about the character and why it’s so fun for me to play is he really is that and we work hard to keep the rules of RJ intact. But he really is that kind of every man likable guy that likes everybody and loves being in the weirdness of Florida.

Are we going to get any flashbacks?

I don’t know. We haven’t so far, I don’t think, unless I’m misremembering something.

It feels like the worst thing for RJ would be to be bored, and that’s why it’s good for him to be in Florida with all these weird cases that he’s not going to be bored there.

That’s true. Definitely he’s not bored thus far, whether it’s parole, staying out of going back to jail, dealing with Wish, dealing with Emi, dealing with the characters, and then the cases themselves, he’s never bored. It’s good for me too. I don’t like being bored either. I get in trouble when I’m bored, so it’s good.

Are there any people from RJ’s family or major players from his past that we’re going to be meeting coming up?

No, not yet, but eventually, yes, I’m sure we will. If we’re lucky enough to go and get a second season and do all that, I really think that’s what’s going to be great. I mean, these guys are really good at writing that stuff and not just making it a boxed in procedural where you’re just doing cases. Life comes in and we’ll continue to do so for sure.

RJ Decker, Tuesdays, 10/9c, ABC