There’s nothing worse than a white man who cares. They’re the saddest of the bunch. That’s the thought of a few Tulsa folks when referring to Lee Raybon (Ethan Hawke), a self-described “truthstorian” in FX's new series The Lowdown, premiering Tuesday, Sept. 23 at 9pmET.
Lee’s an unconventional, and mostly reckless, citizen journalist.
“I read stuff. I research stuff. I drive around and I find stuff. Then — I write about stuff,” he shares to one of the many people he ticks off along the way. “Some people care, some people don’t. I’m chronically unemployed. Always broke. But let’s just say, I am obsessed with the truth.”
That truth-seeking obsession leads to plenty of trouble.
Ethan Hawke plays the mesmerizing oddball Lee Raybon and is an absolute tour de force in the role, which is easily among Hawke’s best work, and that’s with a resumé that includes unforgettable performances in Dead Poets Society, Boyhood, Gattaca, First Reformed and the Before trilogy. The series was written and created by Reservation Dogs’ Sterlin Harjo, and Hawke also joins Harjo as an executive producer.
Complicating Lee’s insatiable obsession with the truth is the fact that he has a 14-year-old daughter (Ryan Kiera Armstrong) who he doesn’t spend enough time with, an ex (Kaniehtiio Horn) who still sees some good in him, and an equally unusual employee at the bookstore he owns who only wants to know when she’ll ever get paid. And then there’s this mysterious stranger named Marty (Keith David), who seems to appear whenever Lee least expects it.
All of that leads to some playful banter and chaos.
Oh, and the last person Lee wrote about has turned up dead, and his really-not-grieving widow Betty Jo (Big Love’s Jeanne Tripplehorn) is more interested in her brother-in-law (Kyle MacLachlan), a gubernatorial candidate.
Buckle up for this bloody wild, eight-episode, must-see noir, as Lee promises to “set off a flare, kick up the rocks and see what the roaches do at night.” — Barb Oates