The Lowdown (FX/Hulu)
Sterlin Harjo's southwest noir, starring Ethan Hawke, hits all the right notes
What is it? A determined bookstore owner in Tulsa moonlights as an investigative journalist, digging into local corruption. When his reporting uncovers sinister connections, he must protect both his family and the truth.
Watch if you like: Eddington, Reservation Dogs, No Country for Old Men, Twin Peaks
Schmear’s Verdict: The Lowdown is a warm, meandering hangout noir—part Coen Brothers, part Altman—anchored by Ethan Hawke’s lived-in charm and Sterling Harjo’s deep affection for Tulsa’s dusty, peculiar soul.
It’s hard to pinpoint what I love most about The Lowdown. Maybe it’s the ensemble—Peter Dinklage, Kyle MacLachlan, Keith David, and (Tulsa native) Jeanne Tripplehorn—each one adding color to Sterling Harjo’s dusty, oddball world. Maybe it’s star Ethan Hawke in full Philip Marlowe mode: sexy, scruffy, and a little pathetic as Lee Raybon, a man stumbling through his own myth. Or maybe it’s Tulsa itself—a setting rarely seen on screen, which Harjo dissects with humor, affection, and curiosity.
The show feels born from great Western crime novelists—Jim Thompson and Cormac McCarthy—but shot through with Robert Altman’s looseness. There are shades of Twin Peaks too, in its conspiratorial weirdness and melancholy charm.
I loved Harjo’s Reservation Dogs, one of the best shows of the past decade, so I was on board for whatever came next. But The Lowdown isn’t a slam dunk from the start. It meanders. The first few episodes drift off-road—little diversions and curlicues that feel like detours from the main plot. Eventually you realize that these hilarious, odd tangents are the show’s soul and deepen its sense of place.
Ethan Hawke, of course, holds it all together, playing a hard-boiled pseudo-detective, but also a dad, a lover, and a hustler chasing half-truths about a recently deceased townsperson. He grounds the show’s quirks with his lived-in, deeply human performance.
The cast clearly enjoys being in this world and speaking Harjo’s dialogue. Compared to Reservation Dogs, this is more plot-driven but still allergic to the sleek rhythms of prestige TV. It unfolds slowly, with literary grace notes—like posthumous Tim Blake Nelson narration or editing that makes the series’ imagery linger longer than expected.
You can feel the Coen Brothers in its bones, but Harjo’s tone is lighter and warmer. The Lowdown is a hangout noir—a show with diners and pancakes, bookstores and jokes—a richly woven tapestry of small-town life and old school in the best way.
