Brief Story Line
RJ Decker (Scott Speedman - Underworld, Animal Kingdom TV series etc) was a former photographer for a Newspaper who was imprisoned for 18 months due to some altercation in the past and now worked as a Private Investigator. After his home was no longer suitable to stay, RJ moved in to the pool house of his bisexual ex-wife Catherine Delacroix (Adelaide Clemens - Rectify TV series, Silent Hill: Revelation etc) who was now married with Florida police detective Mel Abreu (Bevin Bru - 57 Seconds etc). During the early stage, RJ usually got clients recommended by his former cell mate and a bar owner, Aloysius "Wish" Aiken (Kevin Rankin - Claws TV series, Hell or High Water etc).
As RJ continued solving his clients' assignments, some were related to cases handled by the police and he ultimately help closing them. However things gotten complicated when Emi Ochoa (Jaina Lee Ortiz - Station 19 TV series, The Long Game etc), the woman from RJ past reappeared with unclear motive. RJ also had to solve something dangerous while trying to avoid being sent back to prison.
End of Brief Story Line
When I read the brief synopsis from Disney+, I thought this sounded fun and interesting. And I decided to give a try as it only had 9 episodes for the first season with a light feel. After finishing the whole season, it was indeed as I expected with simple cases that was not difficult to deduce, plus a bit of fun during the investigation. However, although it felt light, this was not comedic in nature so there was very little time that I laughed except once in one of the latter episodes. The funny part was mainly contributed by RJ's friend Wish.
In the pilot episode, the case was pretty interesting. Even though it was not a very complex type, it was sufficient as the opening of the series. Subsequently the cases were not that hard to solve either by my own deduction or guessing. The distinct characteristic in the series was how intelligent RJ was in deducing and a knack for noticing detail things. At first it was indicated that he noticed them through photos that he took (which I thought was a nice touch), but later that part was missing till the final two episodes. One thing that I also noticed was how easy for RJ to be integrated in police investigation which actually was kind of odd considering he was just a PI and not a consultant working together with the police.
The main attraction here was probably the dynamics of RJ with his ex-wife & her new wife, plus the Emi Ochoa factor. RJ was also written as a very kind-hearted but flawed man and could be charming if he wanted. Since the series was set in Florida, it was also nice to watch the pretty scenery. I also thought the cast particularly Scott Speedman & Kevin Rankin did great job here, while the rest were decent enough. Aside from the main cast above, there were recurring cast such as David Zayas (Force of Nature, Dexter TV series etc) as Emi's father Senator Victor Ochoa, Melodie Rose Romano as Mel's daughter Sofia and few others. Plenty of guest stars also appeared here but only one that I had seen before, i.e. Pej Vahdat (The Old Man TV series, Hope Spring Eternals etc) in one of the episodes.
Btw the series was created by Robert Doherty (creator of Elementary TV series and writer of Star Trek Voyager etc). During opening credit, I noticed that it was based on novel Double Whammy by Carl Hiaasen, although after getting more info on the book, it has completely different story except for the main character RJ. As I said above, the first season only consisted of 9 episodes with standard 40+ minutes duration just like the usual procedural series. I read that it has been renewed for second season. I think it was due to critics were quite impressed and it got pretty warm reception from audience.
Overall this series was OK enough for me. It was not extraordinary exciting and the cases were not hard to deduce but I believed that was the idea. The dynamics of the main characters was pretty fun to watch and the latter episodes did provide something more interesting as the case was heavier and the stake was higher. It also had a quite shocking end which should be the base for second season. So if you are in the mood for a light procedural series with one case per episode with no major story arc (at least not until the final episode), then I think you will enjoy this. Just as long as you are not expecting a super intelligent and perfect guy protagonist, then you should be fine. As for me, I would definitely watch second season to find out what happen after that ending, but likely it would not be my top priority if there are other new or older shows available at the same time.
Mike's movie moments rating: 3.25 out of 5 stars
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