I’m always looking for my next new mystery, cop drama or crime thriller and I think I’ve found another keeper. FX’s best new series arrives just as Alien: Earth ends, and I’m already enjoying it way more than that disappointing dud.
The Lowdown stars Ethan Hawke as a failed writer and book collector named Lee Raybon. Raybon describes himself as a “truthstorian” which is kind of like historian, but Raybon’s primary goal is uncovering the truth – and then writing about it for local Tulsa, OK rags.
This gets him in heaps of trouble with local business magnates, white supremacist groups and basically anyone else he comes into contact with. Raybon is a bit of a wildcard, and Hawke plays him with a dogged gusto. Hawke is definitely the main attraction here. His performance crackles in every scene. He’s a bit ragged, a bit rundown, but still bursting with an erratic and contagious energy. I can’t tell if he’s really smart and eccentric, or really stupid and eccentric, but he’s a joy to watch.
Whatever the case, he’s certainly not your typical hero when it comes to these types of shows. Raybon is recklessly brave, but hardly a fighter. He gets into tight spots but not without flinching. When he buys a gun to defend himself, he forgets to bring it with him just when he needs it most. The “Indian Mafia” bodyguard he reluctantly hires to protect him is sitting right inside the bookstore when Raybon is attacked, totally oblivious playing video games. It’s very funny with a humor that’s reminiscent of its creators previous series.
That would be Sterlin Harjo, who also created the wonderful FX dramedy, Reservation Dogs. This series features similar humor, though its focus is on a larger swath of Oklahoma’s residents (though obviously, Reservation Dogs had plenty of non-Native characters as well). The cast is more diverse, with indigenous, white and black characters, including private eye, Marty, played by Keith David (who we recently saw in the HBO crime thriller, Duster, which was unfortunately cancelled after just one flawed but promising season).
It’s interesting to see white characters, like Lee, take center stage this time around, glimpsing them through an indigenous filmmaker’s lens instead of the other way around. Harjo writes terrifically layered characters, and even in two episodes you get a sense of Lee’s contradictions. He’s a man whose hunger for truth and justice is sincere, who genuinely wants to help people, but who very much likes being at the center of attention while he does it.
Raybon’s interactions with Marty remind me a little bit of the Coen Brothers masterpiece, The Big Lebowski, though Raybon bears only a passing resemblance to The Dude (they’re both slovenly, but Raybon cares passionately about things, whereas The Dude abides). They’re both chronically broke, and they both find themselves thrust into wild scenarios involving dangerous and outlandish characters. Or, to put it more succinctly, Raybon would be very much at home in The Dude’s bathrobe. (Raybon is also “sober”, though directly after making this bold claim he orders a pilsner).
Toss in a bit of David Lynch, a bit of Elmore Leonard, a dash of Raymond Chandler, a sprinkle of Sherman Alexie. In some ways, this is the “anti” Taylor Sheridan crime series: Long on smart dialogue and wit, short on melodrama and machismo. More interested in chaos and humor than tough guys and gunfights. (I loved Sheridan’s film Wind River, by the way, and I think he’s done some great stuff, but these days he seems to have fallen into a holding pattern or spread himself too thin, and I’ve become less and less impressed with his shows).
A Different Kind Of Neo-Noir
The Lowdown is a small town neo-noir that on paper might resemble the first season of Reacher on Prime Video, or another show I’ve just started watching: Banshee, starring Antony Starr. Corrupt businessmen, a murder framed as a suicide, a lone hero out for justice. But this is not your typical neo-noir and Raybon resembles Jack Reacher not one single iota. He’s wiry and shaggy and would rather run than fight. He faces down a big, traumatic event by getting the hell out of dodge as fast as he can, bloody and wild-eyed. And he talks himself up at every turn (as you’d expect from a self-identified “truthstorian”).
But as a citizen journalist, he’s industrious and clever and not afraid to stick his nose where it doesn’t belong, come hell or highwater.
The story kicks off with Raybon investigating the death of Dale Washberg (played by Coen Brothers alumni, Time Blake Nelson) and Washberg’s shady but powerful family led by Washberg’s brother, Donald (Kyle MacLachlan, a veteran of small town mystery shows). Washberg is an Oklahoma politician with skeletons in his closet and as far as Lee is concerned, a person of interest in his brother’s death. Lee also sets his sights on a local developer, Akron, with possible ties to local neo-Nazis.
The story is loosely based on reality, with Raybon’s character based on Harjo’s friend and Tulsa citizen journalist, Lee Roy Chapman. Harjo is an Oklahoma native and the show really immerses you in a sense of place, bringing Tulsa to life in a way that reminds me of another show currently airing: HBO’s TASK, which achieves a similarly rich sense of place for rural Pennsylvania, where its creator, Brad Ingelsby, hails from.
The logline reads:
“The Lowdown, from Creator Sterlin Harjo and starring Executive Producer Ethan Hawke, follows the gritty exploits of citizen journalist “Lee Raybon” (Hawke), a self-proclaimed Tulsa “truthstorian” whose obsession with the truth is always getting him into trouble. When the publication of Lee’s latest exposé – a deep dive into the powerful Washberg family – is immediately followed by the suspicious suicide of “Dale Washberg” (Tim Blake Nelson), Lee knows he’s stumbled onto something big.”
Here’s the trailer:
The Lowdown also stars Ryan Kiera Armstrong as Raybon’s daughter, Francis, Cody Lightning as Waylon, Kaniehtiio Horn as Samantha, Jeanne Tripplehorn as Betty Jo, Killer Mike as Cyrus, Michael Hitchcock as Ray and Scott Shepherd as Allen Murphy. Shepherd is every bit as creepy here as he was in the first season of HBO’s The Last Of Us. It’s a top-notch cast and genuinely great fun, with just enough mystery and action to keep things exciting. A terrific soundtrack and a real sense of place help add color to an already colorful series. Peter Dinklage has a character as well, though he wasn’t in the first two episodes.
Scattered thoughts:
- It took me a good chunk of the first episode to get into this one, but by the end of I was in the right mindset and Episode 2 sealed the deal. Good stuff.
- This is one of those shows that plays a little fast and loose with realism. Don’t expect cops to be rigorous investigators of crimes, or criminals to try that hard to cover up their illicit behavior. It’s a bit outlandish in that regard, but that’s just the vibe.
- You’ll see some Reservation Dogs cameos, but they’re easy to miss. (I mean, Ethan Hawke had a small but important role in that show, but I’m talking about the main cast. I hope we see more of them! I’d love to see Lee meet the Spirit Guide!)
- If you haven’t watched Reservation Dogs, please do yourself a favor and go watch it ASAP. It’s probably the best show about Native American youth that’s ever been made, at once genuinely hilarious and tragic. For all its magic realism, it’s incredibly real. (And one of the main characters is named Elora Danan, after the baby princess from one of my favorite movies, Willow).
- Apparently Ethan Hawke also played fast and loose with the script, improving some scenes including one where he starts belting out The John Brown Song. It’s kind of amazing.
- I should also note that I recently watched Timothy Blake Nelson in the Western movie, Old Henry, which I enjoyed a great deal. Nelson was astonishingly good in the picture and it’s one of those very focused, small-scale Western films that really holds your attention from start to finish.
Give it a watch and let me know what you think. I’m genuinely excited for the rest of the season, and always happy to have a gripping new crime drama to spend my evenings watching, even if this is a little more lighthearted than a lot of my recent shows like The Wire, The Shield and Task.
