RJ Decker Season 1 Episode 7 Review: Por La Patria

Critic’s Rating: 4.3 / 5.0

4.3

Things are heating up on RJ Decker!

We finally met Papa Ochoa, and he’s as intimidating as expected. We learned more information about who was after RJ’s family, and the series gave us one of its strongest cases yet.

The case focused heavily on pride, heritage, community, family, love, and homeland, and it works well with the conflicts RJ is currently battling.

It’ll never stop being amusing how RJ is really out here doing almost anything to make ends meet.

His gig of trying to stop shoplifters at the grocery store was hilarious because no one takes that man seriously, with his rugged good looks and those Hawaiian shirts.

How many of those does he have, anyway?

Just when it seemed like maybe the nature of his work would involve loss prevention, we get the shocker that someone murdered seemingly sweet Arturo, the cashier. Worse, they find his body at the supermarket.

Hilariously, it leads to some amusing conversation, including a manager who knows more than he should about bodies and Times of Death, largely because he watches Bones.

So relatable.

With RJ on the case of tracking down stolen product, it was only a matter of time before it would put him right on the murder investigation case. And isn’t that where we like him anyway?

The tricky thing about RJ Decker is that, as a PI, there are so many different types of cases that he can take on. I mean, the sky is truly the limit for him.

And it allows the series to get creative and really have fun. But for the most part, people often expect murder. You know, the sexiness and excitement that comes with it, if you will.

It’s also the best way for them to have RJ and Mel join forces on cases, and the buddy-cop dynamic they’re falling into is too much fun not to dig into as often as possible.

I especially loved them for this case. It had so much heart, and that’s what I’m coming to enjoy most about these cases and RJ’s approach to them, too.

Yes, he’s in this work because he’s good at it, he’s a natural, and it’s a decent way for him to make some income, but he’s also in it for the love of the game, too. It makes him even better as a PI and definitely makes his approach fun.

Pairing up with Mel for this one was also great because of how the case infused so much heritage and culture.

It also led to an actor whom I love popping up. Tony Plana is such a legend. It’s a joy to see him on-screen at any given moment, and he has so much range.

He had me in stitches as Balthazar.

His pretending not to speak English when speaking to RJ, and then pretending he can’t speak Spanish while talking to Mel, was hilarious and all too real. I’ve seen that happen more than a few times before.

And him leading them on, I guess, you can call it a high-speed chase, on his motor scooter, was amusing, too.

Balthazar was so darn spirited, and it was easy to get wrapped up in his stories about the homeland and his experiences in Cuba during the height of the revolution. He was passionate, full of life, and more importantly, family-oriented.

All that man really wanted was for his descendants to have the great life that he fought for, and he made sure he could bring that to fruition in any way possible.

It was a relief to realize that he wasn’t the one who murdered Arturo, but then it was gutwrenching when they found him dead, too.

He had Mel and RJ believing he was onto something about people after him because of his past activism. But then, there was the whole angle of he and Arturo stealing, and the possibility of their chickens coming home to roost.

I have to say, I started to suspect that Isabel was behind it not too far into the episode, so I was pleased to discover I’d called this one.

Of course, it’s always fun to watch RJ piece things together, and Isabel was content in playing into the idea that she was just some sweet old lady. But in reality, she was after that diamond in the baseball, and she bumped all of these guys off.

What I’m most content about is that Danny will avoid any real trouble, and that eventually, he’ll get that diamond for himself, and he can do some real good with it when he does.

I was fascinated to hear that it would be his because Cuba wouldn’t want to take ownership of it. And it was moving to hear RJ tell him that he should do something to honor his grandfather’s legacy, all he fought for, and the homeland.

Por la patria.

And that brings me to the other parts of this hour. We were wondering who could have arranged anything to come after Cath and Mel.

Now, we have our answer. It was Emi’s father.

Papa Ochoa is a force of nature, and she’s been warning RJ and the audience about it since RJ Decker’s premiere.

My heart aches most of all for little Sofia, who has apparently been having nightmares since the break-in. The poor kid is terrified about someone violating her home and the place she feels most safe, and I can’t blame her.

And that’s definitely gotten under RJ’s skin.

Emi’s meeting with her father is where he reveals he’s behind the terrorizing of RJ’s family, using one of his men, and you can tell she was rattled by this and deeply frustrated, too.

She genuinely does care about RJ, and she’s been worried about her father’s interference. Emi probably thought she was being careful and keeping things under wraps just enough, but her father was able to piece together that she’s been seeing RJ.

I just don’t think he knows the full extent of their interactions. He likely thinks that if he can keep harassing Cath and Mel, it’ll make RJ stand down.

But he also had his own beef with Cath because she started looking into the Ochoa family again when she found out that RJ was seeing Emi.

We already know she was looking into them before when RJ first went away.

You can tell that Emi is worried about her father and maybe even a bit fearful of him and what he’s capable of. She explained that she basically felt bad for how things went with RJ.

To her, they did something terrible to an innocent man, but all Ochoa could do was hide behind para la familia. Ochoas stand together, no matter what.

Even if they instigate fights and steal from other people, too.

Emi didn’t get to warn RJ, and I hate that because he walked right into that trap with Ochoa in his effort to actually honor his word and keep that dinner date with Emi that he forgot about again.

It was tough watching him walk into that trap. And Ochoa, as I said, is intimidating. He got straight to it, too. He doesn’t like RJ; he makes it abundantly clear, and he doesn’t want him anywhere near his daughter.

He’s curious about RJ’s intentions regarding Emi, but it doesn’t matter whether he sees RJ as sincere or not. There’s no universe where he’s going to accept RJ.

He’s already pissed off that he feels like Emi is stepping out of line for RJ, and he doesn’t like that she turned on one of his friends and colleagues, and that she’s working against what he stands for and does.

Now that RJ is in Ochoa’s crosshairs, I’m genuinely worried about what comes next.

Over to you, RJ Decker Fanatics! We finally met Papa Ochoa; what did you think?! Let’s hear it below!

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