Steven Prusakowski
Sterlin Harjo, the visionary behind Reservation Dogs, has a gift for building worlds so vivid and textured you’d swear you could step right into them. He populates them with characters – crooks, dreamers, misfits, hustlers, and oddballs who feel so real and familiar it is easy to forget they came from his imagination – you just want to hang with them as long as you can. His latest series, FX’s The Lowdown, is equal parts gritty, hilarious, and brimming with so much humanity that it needs to be on your must-watch list.
The Tulsa-set noir delivers another captivating, vibrant world filled with eccentric characters, clever humor, and a thrilling mystery that’ll keep you dying to explore more. At its center is Ethan Hawke’s Lee Raybon, a rare bookstore owner and self-proclaimed “truthstorian” who’s as much a lovable loser as he is a charismatic crusader of truth investigating a local scandal. The guy can take a beating, as seen in the first few episodes, but nothing seems to keep him down, driven by his love for his daughter, his pursuit of justice, and some much-needed validation.
Harjo, whose Reservation Dogs redefined what TV could be with its poignant tale of four Indigenous teens making their way through life in Oklahoma, is back with a new canvas to fill, this time painting a vivid portrait of Tulsa’s urban underbelly. “I think that Reservation Dogs was kind of my love for where I grew up, and rural Oklahoma, and that community,” Harjo shared. “But I also spent a lot of time living in Tulsa, and spending time with sort of a new family and community, which was my friends and artists and musicians and journalists in Tulsa. And I think that this was just kind of like trying to celebrate that, bringing that all together.” That celebration comes alive in The Lowdown, where every frame is overflowing with the city’s energy.
At the heart of this world is Lee Raybon, played with infectious tenacity by Ethan Hawke, who’s given the terrain to develop one of the most entertaining characters on TV today. In Hawke’s words, Lee’s a “hot mess” who is always looking for his next shot at redemption, a tumbleweed with duct-taped cowboy boots, scraggly hair, often covered in bruises, scrapes and bandages – trophies of his escapades. The bookstore owner moonlights as a journalist obsessed with exposing Tulsa’s corruption.
Hawke described the genesis of his collaboration with Harjo whom he worked with for a moving episode of Reservation Dogs, one that still resonates. “Well that episode, ‘Elora’s Dad’, that we did of Reservation Dogs is why The Lowdown exists. I came down there to Tulsa, Sterlin and I got along like a house on fire, and he knew that show was wrapping up, and he presented me with this idea.” Hawke sees that episode as “kind of my audition for whether or not we could really create something together. After it was over, this whole thing caught fire.”
Their chemistry is obvious, Hawke’s career best performance brings balance to his character’s charm and chaos, making Lee the kind of flawed hero you can’t help but root for as you cover your eyes while you watch him stumble in and out of danger on his one-man mission.
What sets The Lowdown apart is Harjo’s ability to weave a community tapestry, much like he did in Reservation Dogs. “I don’t tell stories just about one person,” Harjo explains. “I usually tell stories about a whole community and try to bring life and make it feel real, you know. I think it’s just the way that I grew up, it’s what I saw, and it’s what I see when I live in Tulsa now.”
This includes Lee’s loyal and daring daughter Francis (Ryan Kiera Armstrong) who is a chip off the old block, as she “looks after her dad, and sometimes she gives him a little sass, but she’s also really there for him,” shared Armstrong (TV’s new Buffy the Vampire Slayer), as well as his ex-wife Samantha (Kaniehtiio Horn) and a colorful cast of hustlers, corrupt politicians, dealers and conmen – every character feels lived-in and essential. This isn’t a show about a lone wolf; it’s about a city and its people, flaws and all.
The cast is in full agreement that Harjo’s magic lies in his storytelling. Michael “Kiler Mike” Render, who plays one of Lee’s allies, Cyrus, said, “Sterlin has an amazing pen as a writer. If he was a rapper, he’d probably be one of the best storyteller rappers on Earth. Like, he’d be Biggie, Ice Cube, Slick Rick-worthy, Scarface.”
Actor Tracy Letts, who is also an accomplished playwright and screenwriter, celebrated Harjo’s ability to craft this world, “Sterlin writes such amazing characters, and he has a thing that the great ones have, which is a way of orchestrating all of that, synthesizing all of that into a theme. And his story is about a guy who’s trying to get at the truth, and it’s something we need to hear.” That theme of the truth as a messy, costly pursuit grounds the show in a way that feels urgent in today’s world full of fake news, censorship (and attempts to cover up the censorship.)
As he did with Reservation Dogs, Harjo quickly reveals how the tapestry of Tulsa in The Lowdown consists of numerous unique threads, each with tales to tell and characters to be introduced to. “It felt very Tarantino-esque in that you couldn’t predict what was happening next,” Render noted about the show’s unpredictable vibe. The feeling was shared by co-star Michael Hitchcock who shared that “every episode was like a little movie” with its own unexpected turns. “Every episode, he (Lee) goes on a new adventure, sometimes wild goose chases, and you’re meeting all these interesting people along the way, and I just find that so cool.”
Kyle MacLachlan, the cherished veteran actor who plays a politician who may not be as clean as he tries to portray, shared his appreciation of the series. “We created something very special, you know, and a lot of that has to do with the energy that exists when we get in front of the camera together.” Humor plays a big role in the series. Harjo encouraged actors to improv and to play around in the world he created, explained actor Cody Lightning, “Sterlin was like, here’s your script, and then do that, and then play around as much as you can.” It makes for a show that feels alive, spontaneous, and deeply human in that everytime you feel you know what to expect, it finds original ways to surprise you.
The Lowdown is more than a mystery; it’s a celebration of Tulsa’s multicultural heartbeat, a nod to the power of journalism, and a showcase for Hawke’s unconventional brilliance. “The story of a journalist getting to the truth, isn’t that something we could all benefit from?,” asked Letts. “The fact that it’s done in this fun, gritty, Pulp Fiction package, just makes it all the better.”
Harjo masterfully weaves a vibrant and intricate tapestry, blending distinctive threads to do so including a memorable ensemble of characters, compelling storylines, a unique tone ranging from dark and moody to heartfelt to darkly funny- all set against the culturally rich and eclectic backdrop of Tulsa. All the elements are woven in a way where they are just as interesting up close and individually as they are if you stand back to take in the grander scale. The result is the standout new series of 2025.
Clear your Tuesday nights and dive into where the truth lies in Tulsa on The Lowdown. It is airing on FX then streaming next day on Hulu. The pairing of Harjo’s storytelling mastery and Hawke’s magnetic yet edgy and bruised performance makes this one escape you don’t want to miss.
(SCORE: ★★★★1/2 out of five stars (after viewing 5 episodes)
Check out Awards Radar’s Red Carpet interviews with the cast of The Lowdown, including them answering a classic TV Topics question.
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