FX’s ‘The Lowdown’ Makes Great Use of Ethan Hawke’s Punchable Face

When it was announced that Jimmy Kimmel would be returning to the airwaves, I breathed a sigh of relief. Because it was a win for free speech and consumers pushing back at corporate bottom lines? Yes, of course — but mostly because I wouldn’t feel as guilty about telling you to watch Sterlin Harjo’s The Lowdown on Disney-owned FX. Even if the boycott was still in action, though, I’d still probably come here pleading with you to make an exception for this show, because Harjo is the kind of creator who deserves our support. Harjo’s last FX joint, Reservation Dogs, is the best television series of at least the past decade, and that is reason enough to follow this man into whatever dusty corner of his native Oklahoma he decides to show us next. In the case of The Lowdown, it’s a version of Tulsa that’s been filtered through noir and is populated by the best Ethan Hawke performance you’ve seen in ages - except for his guest star turn in Rez Dogs, thank you very much.

Hawke, who also executive produces the series, is perfectly deployed as the dogged and dog-eared Lee Raybon, a rare books dealer and investigative reporter (sorry, a “Tulsa Truthstorian”) who compulsively unearths the dirty secrets of the hometown he loves so much. In another show, he’d be your charming rascal type, traipsing into tricky situations on pure charisma and slipping back out by the seat of his pants, but not here. Hawke’s Raybon is borderline insufferable and just clever enough to land himself in trouble constantly. He takes a fresh beating each episode from the myriad enemies his muckraking has racked up, and his many friends suffer through his antics with a sense of exasperated loyalty. It works because, on some level, Ethan Hawke has always been a very punchable persona, and the show gets it.

The Lowdown is a mystery, or perhaps a collection of mysteries all tangled together. The season premiere begins with the seeming suicide of Dale Washberg (Tim Blake Nelson), whose brother is gubernatorial candidate Donald Washberg (Kyle MacLachlan). The Washberg family was the target of Lee’s latest exposé, but what we know - and Lee soon discovers - is that Dale left behind notes hinting at a conspiracy, hidden in his library of old crime novels. In particular, the notes warn the reader not to trust his wife, Betty Jo (Jeanne Triplehorn). Meanwhile, Lee discovers a hat belonging to a local skinhead gang in Dale’s yard - a gang that already has it out for Lee himself, due to other previous articles he’s written about their exploits. Could foul play be involved?

Then there’s Akron Construction, a wealthy development group buying up black-owned businesses around Tulsa and flipping them. That’s enough to put them on Lee’s hitlist, though his suspicion grows when he learns the owner, Frank (Tracy Letts), has ties to Donald’s campaign, and Frank’s contractor, Allen (Scott Shepherd), has far shadier ties in Tulsa’s underbelly. And what’s the deal with the mysterious Marty (Keith David, delightful as usual), who always seems to turn up wherever Lee is?

I’ll be honest, the first episode is a bit of a slog. It doesn’t drag, but there is just so much table-setting going on as Harjo sets all those plates spinning that there’s no room for anything to breathe. Stick with it, though, and you’ll start to see how everything gels in the second episode. There’s a whole other side of the show - Lee’s family, his contacts, his support - and that’s where the familiar oddball texture of Harjo’s other work really comes through. Lee is a pretty good dad to his daughter, Francis (Ryan Kiera Armstrong, the star of the upcoming Buffy reboot), who has inherited his dangerous curiosity, and a pretty unreliable ex to her mother, Samantha (Kaniehtiio Horn, Reservation Dogs’s Deer Lady). His eccentricities are tolerated by his editor, Cyrus (Killer Mike). His schemes are assisted by Ray (Michael Hitchcock), a local antiques dealer and town gossip. There is a running gag that Lee, who is perpetually broke and barely keeping his head above water, has to hand away money as soon as he obtains it - yet somehow he manages to employ Deidra (Siena East) to run his bookstore, and her ex-con cousin Waylon (Cody Lightning) to run security.

Both Marty and Cyrus, the two main Black characters, say the same thing about Lee: “Nothing worse than a white man who cares.” It’s a telling statement about Lee’s character - a self-righteous crank in the cultural melting pot of Tulsa - but also the key to what makes the show itself so special. This is no whodunit that’s going to surprise us with a big reveal in the final act. I’m not saying The Lowdown doesn’t have any tricks up its sleeve, but the guilty parties are all apparent from the jump - it’s just a matter of figuring out what they’re guilty of and how they’re connected, and that’s where Lee comes in. He isn’t cut from the overly clever Sherlock mold but the try-hard private dicks of the same novels he peddles. He calls himself a truthstorian, but the truths he reports are uncovered simply because he’s paying attention. He cares about his city, so he notices what’s happening - the corrupted institutions in power and nefarious lowlifes threatening his community.

In that sense, I have a feeling the mysteries he unravels this season may not be the most exciting ones, but that’s alright. It might even be the point. Corruption is everywhere, if you bother to look for it. One thing Sterlin Harjo has a knack for, though, is making viewers care about a community, warts and all. Two episodes in, and I’m already invested in Lee and his array of oddball friends and enemies. I’m in love with the Tulsa Lee knows like the back of his hand. And I’m ready to see how all those plates Harjo set spinning come crashing gloriously together.

The Lowdown airs Tuesday nights on FX and the next day on Hulu.