June 20 (2019-06-20) – September 13, 2019 (2019-09-13)
Reef Break is a French-American[1] crime drama television series. ABC Studios International is producing the television series for French broadcaster M6, as well as for ABC. The series premiered on June 20, 2019 on ABC in the United States.[2]
On December 13, 2019, ABC cancelled the series after one season.[3]
Cast
Poppy Montgomery as Cat Chambers, a professional surfer and former associate of the Shorepound criminal syndicate, with whom she worked as a smuggler, money launderer, hustler, con artist, and burglar. Now retired, she returns to Reef Island to take up work as a fixer for the island's government.
Ray Stevenson as Jake Elliot, an aging federal agent stationed on Reef Island, where his exploits are considered legend. Years earlier, he infiltrated Shorepound and met Cat, whom he wound up marrying; he then got her to turn on her partners and broke up the syndicate. Although he and his wife are now separated, he still helps her out from time to time.[4]
Desmond Chiam as Det. Wyatt Cole, a newly-promoted detective in the Reef Island police department who pairs up with Cat after they share a one-night stand. He doesn't trust her at first, but gradually comes to realize that she genuinely wants to turn over a new leaf.[5][6]
Melissa Bonne as Ana Dumont, Wyatt's half-sister and the deputy governor of Reef Island, who hires Cat to assist the police and occasionally handle problems that the governor's office wants to keep out of the spotlight.
Tamala Shelton as Petra Torrance, a surfer and thief who hates Cat for her part in the death of her father Mike.
The series was announced on May 2, 2018.[7]ABC Studios International is producing the television series for French broadcaster M6.[8] On August 23, 2018, it was announced that ABC had picked up the series for its own 2019 summer schedule. The first season would consist of 13 episodes.[1] On April 10, 2019, it was announced that the series would premiere on ABC in the United States on June 20, 2019.[2]
In Nimitz Bay, a community on the fictional U.S. territory of Reef Island, retired grifter Cat Chambers returns to testify against the man who tried to kill her five years earlier. Businessman Carter Eastland then hires her to help rescue his daughter Tori, who is being held for a ransom of $6 million, with a local cop, Det. Cole, as her backup. Cole sidelines her, so Cat goes to her estranged husband Jake, who offers to help but also serves her divorce papers. Cole arrests her for violating a crime scene, but releases her when the kidnappers demand that she deliver the ransom in person. However, Cat disobeys instructions and rescues Tori herself, having switched out the ransom money with weights. Cat correctly deduces that Tori faked her kidnapping and saves her from being murdered by her disgruntled accomplice, who she manages to kill when Jake distracts him. Carter gives her use of Tori's beach house in return for her silence, and Cat tries to reconnect with Petra, the daughter of a man she killed during her criminal career. Cat accepts an offer from the deputy governor, Ana, to work as a fixer for the governor's office.
Ana sends Cat after Dax Melvoy, a lawyer with an incriminating video of the governor who's been taken hostage; she's to destroy the video before it can be distributed. Melvoy is rescued, and identifies his abductors as a gang of pirates the police have hunted for seven years. Wyatt forces Doc Yulo, a local drug kingpin, to return a watch that Cat stole for him while they were married. Cat gets Petra's minibike out of impound and trades it to Otter, the local fence and Petra's adopted father, for a map that reveals a secret reef where the pirates are hiding, then steals a boat with Wyatt to find them alone. However, when Wyatt reveals he had police tailing them, Cat kicks him off the boat. Unbeknownst to her, Richard Stuyler, Carter's security chief, is also following, having forced Otter to reveal Cat's plan. The pirates' leader, Raven, lets Cat watch the video and helps her distract Stuyler while alerting Wyatt to their location, forcing him and his men to retreat. Cat sells the video for an inflated price to the governor. Jake tells Cat that she's inspired him to try to be a better man. Cat tells him to keep the watch so she'll always have a reason to see him.
Petra agrees to fence some stolen gold, but her contact is killed during the handoff. Doug O'Casey, the former head of Shorepound, asks for a transfer to Oregon so he can protect his nephew Jasper. Cat goes to her mentor Maeve Devlin for help, but she declines; Cat then plants a tracker on her car. That night, she barely survives an attempt on her life. Suspecting that the cops handling the case, Hines and Inoue, might be dirty, Cat turns to Jake for assistance. By tailing Maeve, they find Sonny Turner, who stole $30 million worth of gold a decade earlier and used part of it to turn his life around while hiding the rest in the jungle. Hines and Inoue grab Petra and her friends and take them to find the gold. Cat persuades Sonny to lead her to the stash with Wyatt and Jake in close pursuit. Hines and Inoue are shot, and Petra and the others are cleared of murder. Even though turning him in would revitalize his career, Jake cuts Sonny loose. Petra puts Cat in touch with Jasper, and she learns that Doug has been lying to her about needing the transfer. Doug smugly infers that he has something in the works, something that only she can figure out.
During a secret meeting with the Sawyer drug syndicate to discuss an incursion of Thai drug traffickers on the island, Cat and Ana are forced to flee when gunmen abduct Dylan Sawyer; they discover that Dylan's son Beau has betrayed him so he can take over and convert his marijuana operation into a massive drug processing facility. While investigating the same case, Wyatt and Jake learn that a drug cook known as the "Chemist" is heading the Thai gang and force the governor to reveal Ana's whereabouts. With no other choice, they go after them with assistance from Stuyler and Eastland's men. Cat and Ana separate and Ana is caught, while Cat is able to intercept the Chemist and take him hostage; as Ana speaks Thai, she is able to convince the traffickers to leave, while both Beau and the Chemist are arrested. Stuyler tells Wyatt he'll be expected to provide a favor if he wants any further assistance. Cat recognizes that Jake still has feelings for her, unaware that he and Ana are in a secret relationship. That evening, when Wyatt comes to stay over, Cat finds an incriminating message from Stuyler on his phone.
