Hendrix, who appears as the poised and pragmatic District Attorney Janis Lake, hopes episode 3’s twist sets off ‘a whole debate’ over Victor Ochoa’s murder.

Elaine Hendrix breaks down her ‘complicated, duplicitous’ turn in *R.J. Decker *season 2

Hendrix, who appears as the poised and pragmatic District Attorney Janis Lake, hopes episode 3’s twist sets off ‘a whole debate’ over Victor Ochoa’s murder.

By Ryan Coleman

Ryan Coleman

Ryan Coleman is a news writer for with previous work in MUBI Notebook, Slant, and the LA Review of Books.

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September 29, 2026 11:00 p.m. ET

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Jaina Lee Ortiz and Elaine Hendrix on ‘R.J. Decker’. Credit:

Disney/Dana Hawley

- Elaine Hendrix is breaking down *R.J. Decker *season 2, episode 3’s shocking twist around the murder of Victor Ochoa.

- The prolific actress appears in two episodes as the poised D.A. Lake, at first a friend to Jaina Lee Ortiz’s Emi Ochoa who soon proves to be much twistier.

- Hendrix tells EW she hopes her history of playing ‘complicated, duplicitous women’ has the *R.J. Decker *fan base debating “whether I did it or not.”

***This post contains spoilers for *R.J. Decker *season 2, episode 3, “Arms and Armadillos.”***

*R.J. Decker** *fans have Elaine Hendrix to thank for pumping major air into the sails of season 2.

The prolific star of *The Parent Trap*, *Joan of Arcadia*, and *Dynasty *showed up for an unassuming scene last week as District Attorney Janis Lake, a good friend and close political ally of the nefarious Victor Ochoa (David Zayas). Sen. Ochoa’s murder provided the first season with its shocking finale cliffhanger, and Hendrix’s return on Tuesday provides the comic procedural’s sophomore outing with its own midseason cliffhanger.

D.A. Lake at first shows compassion to Victor’s daughter Emi (Jaina Lee Ortiz), who has the full force of law behind her after being framed for his murder. Hendrix effortlessly lulled audiences (alongside Emi) into a false sense of security that she’d do everything she can to clear her name. But as Scott Speedman’s titular P.I., his journalist ex Catherine (Adelaide Clemens), and her wife, the ace detective Mel Abreu (Bevin Bru), dig deeper into the crime, all signs start pointing back to the D.A.

“I was so happy when they called, and they told me [the twist] right off the bat because, I don’t know, maybe for some people that factors into their decision of taking a role or not,” Hendrix tells **. And for her, it wasn’t. She’s entirely used to playing characters like this by now. “I’ve built a wonderful career on playing complicated, duplicitous women. And my hope, especially for this one, and especially from coming off of *Dancing With the Stars*, is that people are like, ‘Yeah, she did do it because they have her playing it!’ And ‘No, she didn’t because they have her playing it!’ I hope there’s a whole debate about whether I did it or not until you find out, well, that I did.”

Jaina Lee Ortiz as Emi Ochoa on ‘R.J. Decker’.

Disney/Dana Hawley

By episode’s end, R.J. and Mel have uncovered Lake’s plot and confronted her with it. Unlike Victor himself, she didn’t resort to violence for the sake of pure power-broking, or to prove a point to her political foes. As Hendrix explains, “My character, I believe, never planned for any of this to happen. The complications kept happening and she had to keep pivoting. And then the further it went, the more extreme everything got. But she was going to save her own behind no matter what it took.”

Hendrix is entirely silent throughout R.J. and Mel’s confrontation. As they pile the evidence on her desk, she glares at them, unshakeable and unreadable, through clear blue eyes. “I really brought to it a sense that, no matter what, she would present as if she were just doing her job,” Hendrix explains. “So in the conference room with Emi” — when Ortiz’s character is pleading for Lake’s help in episode 2 — Lake’s utterly false yet convincing response is, “‘You know me, I’m just doing my job.’”

And when R.J. and Mel “come in, the wheels are like, ‘I’m turning, but I’m not letting anything show, and I’m just doing my job. I’m not going to even crack, let any little crack through, right? I’m just doing my job. And the more that this goes along, the more you all are starting to piss me off, but I’m just doing my job,’” Hendrix explains. “So that was my intention. And of course we learned that was a cover.”

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See photos and a teaser from the ‘Dancing With the Stars’-‘R.J. Decker’ crossover event (exclusive)

Elaine Hendrix says her ‘heart broke’ after former ‘DWTS’ partner and Giada De Laurentiis were eliminated

Hendrix praised Paul McGuigan, the director of episode 3, as pivotal in the process of her perfecting a character who may be guilty of a heinous crime — and of conspiring to set up others to fall for it — but nevertheless winning viewers’ sympathies.

“Every single show, movie, director, it’s always a brand new experience. So I go in being as prepared as I can be and being prepared to self-guide. But we were really lucky in that our director was just so invested and really had ideas and really cared about the show,” she says. “We talked about the character and I had ideas and then he had some ideas and we’d go back and forth. He’d be like, ‘You know, I thought about it. You’re right about this.’ Or I would say, ‘Oh, okay. You want that? Okay, great. I hadn’t thought about that.’ So we did actually get some moments of collaboration, which was nice.”

Two weeks ago, Ortiz sat down with EW to break down the *R.J. Decker *premiere, which saw *Dancing With the Stars *pros Jenna Johnson and Val Chmerkovskiy pros sashay from that series’ season premiere straight onto the sunny streets of Fort Lauderdale in a major crossover event. “I love that we’ve got some dancers from *Dancing With the Stars* on our show to sort of bring in some new eyeballs that have yet to discover us,” Ortiz said.

*R.J. Decker *has been placed in the coveted 10 p.m. slot to follow *DWTS *all season, and Hendrix, who finished fifth in season 34, provides yet another bit of connective tissue between the series. She and Ortiz “hit it off right away. I showed up and someone told me — it was our mutual friend, Sharon Lawrence said, ‘Well she’s a phenomenal salsa dancer.’ So I led right away with *Dancing With the Stars*.”

Hendrix says she and Ortiz found “plenty of time to talk and be girlfriends in between takes,” and even saw each other ad the *Dancing With the Stars* premiere, where Ortiz* *“was promoting *R.J.* and I was there to support the kickoff of the new season.”

Elaine Hendrix in Los Angeles in 2026.

Monica Schipper/Getty

Hendrix competed in season 34 with pro Alan Bersten, who was eliminated last week with his new celebrity pro, Giada De Laurentiis.

“Alan and Giada getting eliminated, I just — my heart broke for them, because she had no dance experience, and I thought she was doing a fantastic job,” Hendrix told EW last week. “She’s going up against people who are legit pros and Olympic athletes. I just thought she was doing a great job. I wanted to watch her grow more each week. So I was really bummed about that.”

But the competition there, like the action on *R.J. Decker*, is only heating up.

*R.J. Decker* airs Tuesdays at 10 p.m. ET/PT on ABC and streams the next day on Hulu. *Dancing With the Stars* airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on ABC and streams next day on Disney+.

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