The Lowdown, the new show on Hulu created by Sterlin Harjo, who previously did Reservation Dogs, is now on FX and streaming on Hulu. I'm here to break down the first episode of the new series, "Pilot."
We start with a man (Tim Blake Nelson) in his study writing out a suicide note. He’s briefly interrupted by a noise outside, but he finishes, folds it up, and places it in the pages of Jim Thompson’s Texas by the Tail. He then puts the book on a bookcase with a lot of books by the great pulp author. I regret to say that I’m not familiar with this particular Thompson book, but apparently it’s about an Oklahoma poker cheat who tries to run a game in the Lone Star State. Maybe that comes into play later. Anyway, our man puts on his Stetson and picks up the gun on his desk, and we cut discreetly to outside his house, where we see the muzzle flash in his window. We see the FX network logo, followed by a shot of Tim dead with a bullet wound in his temple.
The TV show’s logo appears across a shot of a Stetson-wearing Lee Raybon (Ethan Hawke) walking to his van outside his bookstore in downtown Tulsa. The van has the words “You’re Doing It Wrong” written on the back doors. Huh. We get the episode title.
The back of Lee’s van is a mess. He hears on the radio about the suicide of Dale Washberg, which is the character that Tim Blake Nelson is playing. Per the radio, Dale’s family has corruption in its past and his brother is running for governor of Oklahoma.
Lee pulls up to a mansion, hands the keys to a valet, walks in the foyer, and sees Donald Washberg (Kyle MacLachlan) on Fox News mourning his brother. Lee goes over to the hostess and approvingly notes the Joe Brainard sketch on the wall behind her. He thinks it should be in a museum instead of in a private supper club. So that’s what this place is. Some flunky pulls Lee away from the conversation and tells him to take off his hat because “they’re” ready for him.
Lee takes off his hat, but somehow puts it back on when he sits down at a table full of important-looking people with Akron Construction logos on their clothes. They tell him to order a whiskey, but Lee says he’s sober and orders a pilsner and a New York strip steak with A1. I take my steaks straight, but A1 is good. He can’t stop going on about how fancy the place is. When his hosts ask him if he’s a writer, he calls himself a “truthstorian,” which is all over the show’s promotional materials, and which I’m not a fan of. He also calls himself chronically unemployed and broke.
Over a montage of Lee driving through Tulsa’s less fashionable enclaves, our host introduces Lee to Laughing Bob, Big John, Cathy, and Allen (Scott Shepherd), who form “the team.” Lee compliments Allen on his handshake, saying, “You must be a rancher,” to which Allen says, “You must be a writer.” Heh. Lee notes that the man in charge owns a church pamphlet signed by Martin Luther King, which prompts some stumbling over the man’s relations with Tulsa’s Black community. Lee asks how he came into possession of that piece of memorabilia, busts him on his white privilege, then informs him that he has some concerns after doing some research on these people. I have a feeling he’s going to be difficult to work with in a way I can get behind.
He notes that his potential employer is buying up Black-owned businesses in North Tulsa as a way of removing competition. Deafening silence ensues. They try to give him the brush, and Lee leaves behind a business card that is written on a Post-It note. Cute. They ask him if he was trying to get the King pamphlet, and Lee says, “Sometimes you gotta wave with one hand while you get what you want with the other.” Meanwhile, the hostess is counting off 100s and the Joe Brainard sketch is off the wall. We see it in Lee’s van.
There’s a brief shot of a maid cleaning the bloodstains out of Dale’s office.
Lee walks into the offices of a newspaper called the Heartland Press, where the staffers give him a round of applause. I, and the other staffers at the similar Fort Worth paper where I cut my teeth, salute the show.
Lee wants to talk privately with his editor, so they go into his office. The editor (Zachary Booth) helpfully has his name “Elijah” printed on his t-shirt. Lee wants to do a follow-up on the Washberg family, but Elijah demurs, since they just did an article. Lee thinks they’re still crooked. Elijah isn’t convinced. As someone who’s been on both sides of this conversation, I have to say Lee doesn’t have anything solid yet.
Lee is in Sweet Emily’s Diner talking to Sally, the waitress (Rachel Crowl), while waiting for his pancake dinner. A guy sits down next to him quoting Percy Shelley, and I’d know Keith David’s voice anywhere. Lee evidently doesn’t know this person, but he quotes Waylon Jennings back at him. Our mystery man (his name’s Marty) brings up the Washbergs, and Sally explains that Lee is the expert on them. He draws Lee’s attention to the other customers in the diner, but Lee sees nothing out of the ordinary. Marty tells him that everyone’s here for waffles and coffee that they could make at home because they’re missing something. Conversation’s a bit too cryptic for me.
Lee walks on the street where his bookstore (Hoot Owl Books) is located and knows everyone there, including the homeless guy. The record store owner tells him two white guys were loitering outside his store earlier, which Lee finds weird.
Turns out, Lee lives above his store and has a Claire Matheson-style board on his wall connecting all the Washbergs’ interests. Somehow he misses the large fellow standing in his room. He’s pissed about being identified as a Nazi in the Heartland Press. He and his buddy beat up Lee and burn him with a lit cigar. Lee counters that he burned down a synagogue, but our guy (wearing a cap saying “Tulsa Bootboys”) says he was only trying to leave a burning bag of excrement and the fire got out of control. He says his mother’s feelings were hurt reading his name in the paper. He threatens Lee’s ex-wife and daughter.
The next morning, Lee goes down to the store and finds his clerk (Ryan Kiera Armstrong, future star of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer reboot) waiting for him. She complains about her paychecks going through, and he explains that rare bookstores don’t make money. He’s going to the Dale Washberg estate sale to get some of those Jim Thompson first editions. Hmm.
First, we meet his ex (Kaniehtiio Horn) and his little girl, who wants to live with her mom, who’s dating a new man. Lee says that other dads like his own father may leave, but he’s not going to leave her. Okay, another reason to root for him. He doesn’t tell them about the Tulsa Bootboys. Maybe he doesn’t think they’re a serious threat? I’m not sure I like this.
At the Washberg estate sale, Dale’s widow Betty Jo (Jeanne Tripplehorn) seems to be coping poorly. Another book collector named Ray (Michael Hitchcock) slaps Lee’s ass and spills the tea: Dale was secretly gay, a family pariah, and nearly broke, and the suicide is curiously timed. Also, Betty Jo married way above her class and may be an ex-stripper. The Thompson books are still in the study.
Lee goes in and wastes no time with the snooping. He finds bondage gear in a closet and takes photos of Dale’s date book and some blood that the maid didn’t get to. Betty Jo’s assistant Vicki (Abbie Cobb) finds him in the study and seems to know him pretty well. She’s initially cool with him being there, but a few minutes later, she throws him out on Betty Jo’s orders. Luckily, he has found Dale’s suicide note (addressed to whoever’s reading) in Texas by the Tail. He doesn’t have time to read it, but he leaves with it.
On the grounds of the house, he finds a Tulsa Bootboys cap. That’s a coincidence. He takes that with him, too. Betty Jo watches him leave and then makes herself another mint julep. She’s rehearsing things that she’ll likely have to say at the funeral.
Driving home, Lee thinks that the Kia behind him is following him, but then it takes a different route. As he finally reads Dale’s note, Dale appears in the passenger seat of his van and recites the words for us. He’s left clues in other books of his as to his family’s dealings, and warns the reader not to trust anybody in his family. Up in his room, Lee pins the Tulsa Bootboys cap to his board and draws an arrow between that and the Washbergs.
Lee visits Dan Kane (Macon Blair), the lawyer whose office is next to Hoot Owl Books. Dan spends about five minutes of his phone conversation calling somebody a piece of s---. I don’t relate to people this way. Lee collects his Brainard sketch from Dan’s safe and asks Dan to store the copy of Texas by the Tail, which presumably still contains Dale’s suicide note. After Lee leaves, Dan calls him a piece of s---.
Lee takes the Brainard sketch to Ray’s antique store. Ray will only pay $1500 for it because Lee technically stole it from that supper club, but the real reason Lee is here is to convince Ray to go back to Dale’s estate and buy some more of his books. Ray calls up Vicki and arranges to buy the Thompson novels. They cost the same $1500 that Lee just got paid for the Brainard sketch. Lee gives the check back to Ray, who tears it up. Hey, at least the business got done efficiently.
Lee goes to a run-down beauty shop where another paper called the Tulsa Beat is run out of. He’s friends with that editor, too (Killer Mike). That editor is all about shaming small-time criminals and doesn’t have the resources to take on the Washbergs, but Lee promises him an article on the Bootboys, who might be dabbling in human trafficking. The editor gives him an empty gun for protection along with a $200 advance and tells him not to be stupid.
Back at Hoot Owl Books, Lee gives half that advance to his clerk. Her cousin Waylon (Cody Lightning) wants a job working security. Cash strapped as he is, Lee could use someone watching the place. Good thing, Waylon doesn’t need to be paid, he just needs a place to sleep and a job to tell his parole officer about. He seems like a clown, but Lee now has some muscle on his side.
Getting his dinner in a Styrofoam box from a food truck, Lee goes back to his van and chances to see his ex and his daughter in a fancy restaurant having dinner with that new guy.
We cut to the Tulsa Stockyards, where Lee is taking his daughter to a cattle auction. He acts surprised when Bobbi Jo takes a seat some rows in front of him. She’s followed by Dan Washberg and some other men in extremely expensive cowboy outfits. Dan does the thing where the politician pretends to be one of the good ol’ boys to get some votes.
More interesting is when he puts his arm on Bobbi Jo’s back. Lee is pointing all this out, and his daughter is clearly no fool. She busts him on taking her to a place where he knew his targets would be. Good thing she likes being on a stakeout with her dad.
The Tulsa Beat has published Lee’s article on the Bootboys, and Lee gets bullets for his gun from Dan, who will disavow all knowledge if he shoots somebody with them. The Kia is back, following Lee’s van. At Sweet Emily’s Marty tells Lee, “There’s nothing worse than a white man who cares.”
Lee has heard that before, and so have we, from the guy at the Tulsa Beat. Lee parks at a gas station, loads his gun, and comes out ready to throw down with the people in the Kia, but the car drives off. Instead, the Bootboys hit him at Hoot Owl Books, where they slam the van door on him and drive off with him in the trunk of their car.
Meanwhile, Waylon is FaceTiming someone inside the bookstore and has no clue that anything has happened. Well, you get what you pay for.
The Bootboys drive him to this new housing development where Allen is. Allen is severely displeased with them meeting him in public, but they hint that they have something that his boss will love, so he tells them to follow them. Lee hears Allen’s name in the trunk, so now he knows the Bootboys are working for him.
Not for long, though. Allen’s truck stops on a bridge over a secluded creek, and he motions the Bootboys to get out of their car. Lee then hears him shoot them and dump their bodies in the water. Allen then leaves, apparently with no clue that anybody was in the trunk of the car. When he’s gone Lee screams for help. A couple of teenagers riding their bikes come by, but they decide not to let him out. Then the Kia comes back, but it turns out Marty has been driving the car the whole time. He pops the trunk and then pulls a badge of some kind, but Lee is half-crazed by this point and drives the car away. Marty’s just going to meet up with him at Sweet Emily’s anyway. Marty pulls down the blinds to shield his eyes from the sun, and a manila envelope full of cash falls into his lap. Okay, then.
He flashes back to his conversation with his daughter, where she tells him that she liked his Heartland Press article because it sounded like him. He writes about the bad things in Tulsa, but he knows it’s good, too. He calls his ex to tell her he’ll need a little more time to meet her at the park. He will need that time, because he looks like death warmed over.
So far, I’m interested in this version of Tulsa that I’ve been introduced to. I wonder how the Akron Construction Group and the Bootboys fit in with the Washbergs. I’m not convinced that they’re all part of one conspiracy, but maybe the next episodes will change my mind.