Elaine Hendrix Explains Janice Twist (Exclusive)

R.J. Decker doesn’t make its fans wait too long to find out who killed Victor Ochoa (David Zayas) and why. It all comes out in the third episode of the season as part of the explanation for why his daughter Emi (Jaina Lee Ortiz) is arrested because of key evidence. TV Insider spoke with guest star Elaine Hendrix about the twists of the case. Warning: Spoilers for R.J. Decker Season 2 Episode 3 ahead!

As R.J. (Scott Speedman) uncovers via his investigation, Victor was in the pocket of a Haitian group, as was his attorney Janice (Hendrix). So when Victor was arrested last season, before his murder, she was worried about what he’d give up for a deal. Originally, she wasn’t planning on framing anyone, but when Augustine showed up to investigate the murder for a rival group, she dug up the gun she’d buried in the pickleball court of her parents’ senior living community and needed a patsy. R.J. gives her a choice: Turn herself in or he’ll let Augustine do what he does (nothing good) to her. It’s easy to guess what she chooses.

Below, Elaine Hendrix breaks down that twist, Janice turning herself in, and more.

Did you know about the twist when you signed on? Did you know you were coming on to play Victor’s Killer?

Elaine Hendrix: I did, actually. They told me. All TV shows these days, but certainly over at ABC, I had to sign everything so that it was all NDA and making sure that I didn’t talk about it. But now that the cat’s out of the bag, yes, I knew. And I was like, “Ooh, that’s fun.”

R.J. gives Janice a choice — turn herself in or he tells Augustine, and obviously Augustine is not the way you want to go, just with what we saw from this guy in this episode. It seemed she turned herself in because she didn’t realize he was bluffing, or did she just know she couldn’t take the chance that he wasn’t bluffing?

I think that she really did believe him and certainly couldn’t take the chance of it because she knew what would happen. We all know what would happen. So, that’s not something — in the office scene, before that, we see she’s definitely willing to bluff. She’s definitely willing to double down. But then when it comes to the realness of it, she’s not actually willing to risk her own life.

Yeah, just thinking about Augustine…

Yeah.

What does Janice think of R.J. after what she sees of him, both with that ultimatum and then before in that office scene? Because he is very protective of Emi, and it feels like she maybe didn’t realize there would be people on Emi’s side like there were.

Yeah. None of this went the way that she thought it would. And I think it was really smart of the writers to do that because that brings in all these twists and turns that we don’t see coming, but it’s also really fun when the characters don’t see them coming. And hopefully people’s wheels were turning in that office scene with Emi and RJ that they were like, “Did she do it? No, she didn’t. Yes, she did.” Having this whole debate. That’s what I hope is happening.

Why did Janice frame Emi of all people? What was it about Emi that she chose her to fame considering their history? Because you really feel for Emi when she started talking about their history and everything.

I know. She really did. She’s so good. And the hurt that she had, I have to say as a human, I watched her and I was like, “Ooh, ouch.” But as Janice, as my character, none of this was planned and it didn’t unfold the way that she intended. So, Emi was like this necessary casualty of the process. She certainly never intended to frame her, never though she was going to. And I would like to think that maybe if it had gone a different way, Janice would have helped Emi get out and then everybody could have lived happily ever after, but then we wouldn’t have this dramatic TV show if that happened. So yeah, I don’t think it was intentional. It certainly wasn’t malicious, I’ll say that.

Given the history as well as how it turned out, did Janice have any regrets about what she did when it came to framing Emi? I feel like she didn’t really regret killing Victor because of how that would’ve turned out for her if she hadn’t.

Yeah, I think you’re right about that. As an actress and building a character, there’s all these ideas and the backstory and intentions that I have coming into the scene, and then it’s what we see. And then of course it’s left to the imagination sort of what happens afterwards. And I think you’re absolutely right about that. I agree. There are no regrets killing Victor, did what I had to do for everyone’s sake. We could have all just gone on. But Emi was unplanned. That was like, “Oh, darn it,” because I had no intention of dragging her into this and she just kind of became an easy target to take the heat off of me in any kind of way. So, sorry, Emi.

Disney/Dana Hawley

Did Janice really think she could talk Emi into confessing to murder she didn’t commit or taking that deal?

Yeah. I mean, I think she did think that. I think that she started with enough evidence that it left it with the pool being hot and the body being able to die at any time, the fact of the company Emi does keep, the fact that she and her father were fighting. I think that there was enough evidence that it could have at least gone to trial and maybe she could have been acquitted, and that would’ve been also another happy ending, right? Yay, Emi didn’t go to prison. But I think, yeah, Janice was doubling down and all in on her story.

Since Janice turned herself in and is still alive because of that, we could see her again and seeing another scene between her and Emi or even her and RJ could be particularly interesting. So will we see you again? Could we see you again?

I don’t know. I have a feeling that there is not an intention for that, but that is sort of above my pay grade to know. Nobody’s talked to me yet about it, but I would go back because everybody was so wonderful to work with. Everyone on that show was working really hard and really committed. They really care about that show, and I would do it in a heartbeat. Someone on set was like, “We got to see her in prison. We got to see Janice in prison.” And I just laughed and I was like, “Yeah, I would do it.” Who knows? Who knows how worlds can come back around in these shows?

Given that Janice went to Victor’s at night armed, do you think she went there knowing she was going to kill him or was it just like a, “If I have to, I will do it?”

I personally made the choice as an actress that if I have to, I will. Again, I don’t think anything of this is the way Janice really wanted it to go down. I think that all of this was nothing that she wanted, but she was just willing to do whatever it took to protect herself, protect really the whole process, the whole racket that was happening because it was very lucrative for her. I don’t know. I feel like that happens kind of in real life. It’s the rare person who sets out to think, I’m going to kill someone. So I think Janice was just trying to protect and it just unfortunately kept going just more and more down as she went along.

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