From Coen Brothers movies to TV’s Justified, the best neo-noirs run on one constant — that guy. You know the type. A reluctant hero with a code, a shoddy car that smells like old coffee, and a face that collects bandages like they’re loyalty points. Thankfully, The Lowdown has “that guy” in the form ofEthan Hawke’s Lee Raybon, with showrunner Sterlin Harjo letting the archetype get even more wonderfully messy. Though the FX series is not particularly precious about the genre’s tropes, it does a strikingly fun job of throwing its lead character into some good old Tulsa chaos while watching what bounces off.
At its core, the series is about Lee (Hawke) stumbling into the suspicious death of a politician’s brother (Tim Blake Nelson) and refusing to let it go, no matter how many times he gets beaten up, laughed at, or brushed aside. That basic noir spine of a flawed man chasing the truth because he can’t stop himself is what gives The Lowdown its real shape, even as Harjo keeps pulling it in absurd, yet funnier directions. Harjo, best known for Reservation Dogs, trades those hangouts for a rambling, dusty noir that carries his signature aspect of community first and punchlines later.
But while The Lowdown doesn’t spark a twist every few minutes or so, it doeslean heavily on conversation and slow-burn reveals. This helps build momentum for character beats, deadpan humor, and a setting that actually feels lived-in — and that’s why it works so well. The mystery is steady, even if a few oddballs crowd the frame at times. But the draw is the textures and colors that liven the series’ vibe through its writing, setting, and electric performances led by Hawke, who is absolutely irresistible in the role and a sincere delight to watch.
What Is ‘The Lowdown’ About?
Every noir earns its badge with a mystery surrounding a corpse, and The Lowdown is no different. From the get-go, it’s all bad decisions, buried notes, and a man who just can’t stop poking the bear. That man, of course, is Lee, who sleeps in the bookstore he owns on Main Street. The Heartland Press reporter also prefers being called a “truthstorian” to “journalist,”which tells you nearly everything about both his ethos and his PR problem. But when his recent exposé on the politically ascendant Washberg family detonates, the black-sheep brother, Dale (Nelson), winds up dead in what the coroner calls a suicide. Lee begins tracing Dale’s trail, meeting some very eclectic individuals, and finding notes hidden inside first-edition novels that act like a paper trail of confessions.
Framing the investigation like a series of collisions, Lee eventually crashes into Donald Washberg (Kyle MacLachlan), a campaign darling who becomes icier the closer you get to him. Soon enough, Lee gets entangled with a real estate developer (Tracy Letts) whose interest in north Tulsa seems less like civic pride and more like a cash grab as multiple small businesses are shut down across the city. Along the way, Lee picks up some help (and hecklers), like Betty Jo (Jeanne Tripplehorn), Dale’s not-exactly-grieving widow; Marty (Keith David), a literature-quoting private investigator whose motives are as smooth as his voice; and Ray (Michael Hitchcock), an antiques dealer who knows where the bodies aren’t buried but where the good tea is.
But aside from Lee interacting with disorderly adults and most times having his face meet their fists (or winding up in their trunks), the secret sauce is his headstrong tween daughter, Francis (Ryan Kiera Armstrong). Her hero-worship exists with the worry that her dad is chaos incarnate, but it’s this relationship that brings a tender levity to the series, like a lake trip that doubles as evidence hunting or diner stops where coffee turns into clues. It’s not an ideal model of parenting for Lee, but it is an honest one about how love can be present even when stability is not.
FX’s ‘The Lowdown’ Is a Neo-Noir That Knows When To Get Weird
What really makes The Lowdown so much fun to watch isn’t just the mystery or Lee going through the wringer with his sources, but how the series is written to stretch between moods without snapping. Harjo and his team nail that slow-burn rhythm without ever rushing to the next clue. So many of the scenes sprawl in ways that might frustrate if the writing weren’t so sharp, like Lee riffing in the bookstore, his daughter Francis cracking him open without even trying, or Marty reciting literature in between half-threats. The dialogue from the writers (Harjo, Sneha Koorse, Scott Teems, Duffy Boudreau, and Olivia Purnell) trusts you to sit with it, to hear the very natural comedy in one beat, but then feel an abrupt and jarring danger in the next.
It’s that beat that also feels like the spirit of the Coen brothers’ best work, where the action or violence doesn’t always arrive with a warning. Sometimes it drops in like a popcorn storm, leaving you suddenly shaken up. But the writing knows how to swing between its wry banter and human tenderness. That tonal gamble could be messy in other shows, but here it’s more intentional, letting Tulsa also feel as elastic as Lee’s psyche, which means it’s cheeky one moment while living on the edge in the very next.
There’s also a sly humor stitched through the writing that makes sure The Lowdown never relies too heavily on its noir self-seriousness. The premiere alone swings from Lee getting roughed up in his own home like a Tulsa version of The BigLebowski to him later stumbling across penis doodles in a dead man’s journal. The writing has no problem letting those moments sit side by side, because that’s the point, as this world is absurd and grim in equal measure.
Hawke Anchors ‘The Lowdown,’ but Armstrong Steals Its Heart
Of course, all the writing in the world doesn’t work if the cast can’t carry it. Luckily, The Lowdown knows exactly how to walk the tightrope between funny, bruised, and dangerous. Hawke is the obvious centerpiece, and he’s fascinating to watch. Not in a sleek, movie-star sense, but in the way he commits to Lee’s stubborn unraveling. It’s clear from the start that Lee is not invincible or knows how to fight back. Half the time, he’s actually scared for his life. But that’s the hook — watching a man who’s outmatched, but gloriously allergic to giving up. Hawke leans into that scruff and chaos without an ego, making his character both exhausting and magnetic at once. You can also tell how much fun he is having in every scene, which makes the series so much more enjoyable.
Around him, the ensemble hums with oddball energy and a delicious chemistry that elevates how they each bounce off one another. Like MacLachlan, who makes Donald’s politician smile curdle into menace the closer Lee gets. But then there are the interactions with Letts, who is a real wolf in golf slacks, while Tripplehorn layers her nonchalant Betty Jo with brassy grief and biting humor. And then there’s David, whose Marty might be the show’s slyest creation — smooth, literary, and never quite what he seems, confusing Lee at every corner. But it’s the dynamics with Hitchcock, which could’ve been a throwaway role for comedy, that grounds certain situations, often with a surprising mix of gossip and woe.
However, the secret weapon is Armstrong as Francis, who has a very charming chemistry with her on-screen dad, Hawke. She sells the push-pull of spending time with him, even when he attempts to push her away for her own good. Armstrong plays it sharp and tender all at once, especially in Episode 3’s “Dinosaur Memories,” which finds the two reuniting after a weird turn of violence and uncertainty in the day. It’s those little emotionally honest beats that sneak up on you between the bar fights and the backroom deals Lee finds himself in.
The Lowdown isn’t set up to reinvent the noir genre, but it does do something better. It livens it up in a way that’s equally scrappy, funny, and stubbornly human as we see Lee get knocked down, but back up by some miracle in mere moments. Between Harjo’s sense of place and Hawke’s bruised charisma, The Lowdown is the kind of show that lingers less for the clues than for the company. If you’re willing to lean into its hairier details and watch Hawke get roughed up a bit, you’ll find this mystery series worth following and a world you won’t want to leave.
The Lowdown premieres Tuesday on FX with two episodes.
