Skip to content After all the push and pull to do the right thing, hopefully Lee Raybon (Ethan Hawke) has learned a thing or two.
The prickly protagonist of “The Lowdown” took to the streets of Tulsa during the Season 1 finale after receiving tributes from across the city in tribute to the late Dale Washberg. His essays help put Dale’s brother Donald (Kyle MacLachlan) on the path to moral clarity. Lee held it together through the wedding of his ex-wife Samantha (Kaniehtiio Horn) to adorable dentist Johnny (Rafael Casal) and a heated exchange with his daughter Francis (Ryan Kiera Armstrong).
So while it’s welcome, it’s also shocking that creator Sterlin Harjo wasted no time in cutting our hero down to size in the Season 2 opening. Lee proposes marriage to the latest woman in bed, struggles to take pride in his accomplishments, and makes mushroom jelly and whiskey-soaked hash at a journalism awards banquet, winning the Washberg Essay Award.
But this banquet sets the stage for the entire season. Francis witnesses his father’s mess and is disgusted, thus beginning one of two deeply moving father-child arcs. The reporters in attendance are angry at watching what happens to Lee. their The publication survives. To quote the paddlefish caviar smuggler in Season 1’s “‘Saturday Night Fever’ Pants,” not everyone can tell the truth.
At this banquet, Lee meets Ginger Rafferty (Betty Gilpin, of whom this season belongs), a solitary figure in a cool blue gown. She looks like the femme fatale from “Chinatown,” but she’s actually a public defender who’s worried about being followed and even more worried that one of her clients has gone missing from prison. Ginger’s quest for the truth draws Lee to her, and through his pretentious exterior like freshly washed windows, she too begins to lean on him, diminishing his romantic interest as he has little port in the corrupt Oklahoma storm.
Watching Gilpin and Hawke team up is a pure joy. Ginger rightly criticizes Lee’s errors of judgment and stupidity, but the sincerity in his eyes helps her and us know that he is there for her for the right reasons. In Season 1, Lee played the funny man who took on a compelling writing assignment and walked out of his editor’s office with a spare revolver. Hawke and Gilpin now alternate, switching between straight man and foil with ease. And the latter is a rare and true theatrical clown. At several moments throughout this season, Gilpin elicits laughter from viewers despite tears streaming down his face.
Gilpin is certainly some of this season’s powerhouses, but she’s not alone. Tommy Lee Jones adds considerable complexity as Lee Layborn Sr., with such restraint that you can almost hear his breathing. Nary leaves Lee Jr.’s happy words about his father after years of absence, and when his father reappears in his life, Francis, who had always heard of his grandfather’s death, is dismayed. This fiction, combined with Lee’s monotonous awards ceremony speech, strains her relationship with her father. Like the latter, she demands to get to know this senior in her own way. Such opposition to a lifetime of grudges and secret lies sends this junior over the edge.
Lee accuses his father of abandonment, tells him not to leave the bookstore or contact Francis, and then runs off to resume his investigation. While he’s gone, the senior befriends bookstore clerk Deidra (Sienna East), record store owner Abel Bell (Josh Fadem, who thankfully gets a bit more to do this season), and, of course, Francis.
This creates a special emotional layer to storytelling. Two fathers consider the impact their adventurous neglect tendencies have had on their respective children. Junior slowly begins to evaluate how much of his anger is designed to protect Francis and how much of it is directed at his own pain. And although he promised to be better than his father, isn’t Lee just a chip off the old block, having once told Francis that he wanted to be a respectable man and show up for her, not just attend parent-teacher conferences?
Jones is perfectly cast. (Note more triumphs from casting director Angelique Midthunder.) In Lee’s story, viewers expect a bitter, abusive father, but instead see a contemplative man who speaks only when he has something to say and who doesn’t regret the past but focuses on what he can create for the future. Every time Hawke yells and rages, Jones seems to further diminish his influence. This creates an undercurrent of humor and tension, and creates a power vacuum in which the two characters view each other with suspicion.
But Gilpin and Jones aren’t the only casting triumphs here. Armstrong continues to pull off crackerjack work with actors decades older than him. It’s especially hilarious to watch her go toe-to-toe with Hawke. Casal steals every scene she’s in, and Horn is still charming, but I wish she had a bigger role. Martha Plimpton is terrifying as the tough county sheriff, whose blonde Karen wig has never made the actress look more sinister. He shares an uneasy alliance with a corrupt judge (John Hawkes, always welcome). Paul Schneider devastates the audience as a heartbroken prison guard. His role reflects much of this season’s reflections on how ill-equipped men deal with loneliness.
But perhaps my favorite supporting role comes courtesy of Austin Amelio, who recently starred alongside Hawke in the excellent film “The Weight.” I can’t reveal too much, but Amelio combines his character’s steely menace with an incredible source of physical comedy.
Like Season 1, Season 2’s core mystery runs parallel to character development, absurdist humor, references to the author’s life, and even a nod to ‘Reservation Dogs’ that includes some familiar faces. All of this makes for great TV in its own right. But Harjo and his writers seem to realize that the megaphone in their hands is an opportunity. It takes time to explain. why Their personality is the way they are created. Because it often describes the rotten state of the systems people have built (prisons, academia, museums).
“The Lowdown” tells us that finding the truth and fighting evil isn’t simple, but as you build a community of friends, colleagues, neighbors, informants, and even lovers, confronting the bad guys can make you feel more like creating a world you want to live in than going to war. A great TV is one thing. This show is in a league of its own.
Entire seasons have been selected for review. It airs Wednesdays on FX and Hulu.