‘The Lowdown’: Ethan Hawke & Creator Sterlin Harjo Break Down Lee’s Bloody Introduction

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for The Lowdown, Season 1, Episodes 1-2.]

The Lowdown has landed on FX, and the series follow-up from Reservation Dogs‘ Sterlin Harjo puts Ethan Hawke‘s Tulsa “truthstorian,” Lee Raybon, at the center of the action.

Loosely inspired by Harjo’s experience with This Land Press and his late colleague and Oklahoma historian, Lee Roy Chapman, the show tracks Lee Raybon’s investigation into the powerful Washberg family, who he suspects are up to no good, especially when the black sheep of the family, Dale (Tim Blake Nelson), winds up dead of an apparent suicide.

In the show’s debut episode, which opened with the title card, “Chapter 1: The Sensitive Kind,” Lee wrote stories to root out corruption in Tulsa, as he shone a light on some skinheads, and he also made a startling discovery as he visited the home of Dale and Betty Jo Washberg (Jeanne Tripplehorn), as he found a letter that suggested Dale’s demise didn’t occur as it appeared.

As Lee itched to find answers about Dale’s posthumous note, he got into some trouble with the skinheads he’d written about, and he was on the receiving end of their beatings more than once in the first installment, until the criminals stuffed him in a trunk and took him to a man named Allen (Scott Shepherd), who Lee believed worked for a local company known as Akron.

Shane Brown / FX

Allen directed the skinheads to a bridge, where he ended up shooting them and drove away after he discarded their bodies in the river below. Ultimately, Allen drove away, unaware that Lee was in the trunk, but it was Lee’s recent diner acquaintance, Marty (Keith David), who saved him. How did Marty know to rescue him? He was hired as a private investigator to track the nosy writer, and when he caught up with the car that kidnapped him, he released Lee from his confines.

Understandably, Lee was shaken up from the ordeal, which led him to run away and drive off in the car that he was kidnapped in, only to discover a massive envelope of money. While the dollar bills certainly raised his spirits, Lee didn’t come out of the ordeal unscathed and was rather battered after more than one run-in.

“Well, it’s part of the fun of being in a crime noir,” Hawke tells TV Insider. “If you’re the lead character in a crime noir, it means you’re seeking the truth, and it means you’re going to get punched in the face.” The actor cites Jack Nicholson‘s role in Chinatown as one of his favorites. “He spends half that movie with a bandage on his nose. So, it’s part of the job, but I always saw Lee as a Don Quixote-like figure chasing windmills,” the actor adds. “And if you’re gonna chase windmills, you’re gonna get hit by a propeller.”

Series creator Harjo praises Hawke, saying, “The fun thing about a noir is that people get beat up and… this is no different, and Ethan jumped in headfirst.” The fun part was that Lee’s efforts to cover up his wounds led to the show’s second major Reservation Dogs cameo as Devery Jacobs appeared in a make-up tutorial video that was instrumental in getting Lee back to shape, at least enough to pick up his daughter Francis (Ryan Kiera Armstrong) from his ex, Samantha (fellow Reservation Dogs vet, Kaniehtiio Horn).

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Jacobs’ onscreen cohort and pal, Paulina Alexis, also had a brief cameo in the premiere episode’s opening seconds as she walked past Lee on the street, dressed a lot like her character Willie Jack. Asking Harjo if we’ll see more of the Rez Dogs before the show is through, he teases, “Let’s say Season 2, we’ll see the rest of them.”

While the show isn’t renewed yet for Season 2, the premiere episode’s title card with the words “Chapter 1” in it certainly hinted at a bigger plan that Harjo confirms. “We see this going on for a few more seasons, hopefully, with luck, and everyone puts it out there and loves it. But yeah, it’ll keep going and, I think that each season would be its own chapter, which this chapter is ‘The Sensitive Kind.'”

Hawke echoes Harjo’s sentiments, adding, “Yeah, the dream was to create something that has a satisfying beginning, middle, and end. So when you watch this series, you’ve been told a good tale and it’s propulsive enough [that you] can’t wait to see what’s next.” Consider us sold. Stay tuned for what’s next on The Lowdown as FX’s noir unfolds, and let us know what you thought about Lee’s bloody introduction in the comments section below.

The Lowdown, Tuesdays, 9/8c, FX (Next day on Hulu)