The Lowdown is a new crime thriller series on FX that successfully blends comedy with a serious hard-boiled detective story in the two episodes streaming as part of the premiere. The series is centered around Lee Raybon, a ‘truthstorian,’ as he prefers to call himself, whose only job is to know the exact details about the local history of Tulsa, Oklahoma, and to dig out the truth, even if that means investigating crimes and getting into conflicts against the rich and the powerful. The Lowdown episodes 1 and 2 feature a unique situation for Lee, as a member of the Washberg family, against whom he had written a scathing article in recent times, seemingly commits suicide.
Spoiler Alert
Who is Lee Raybon?
The Lowdown begins with a fitting introduction to the protagonist, Lee Raybon, whose profession is as unusual as the title he has given to himself, that of a ‘truthstorian.’ Having begun his career as a journalist, Lee had grown a strong affinity towards finding more details about the local history of Tulsa and eventually started working almost as a detective, uncovering the truth behind various incidents and customs. Realizing that he was serving the roles of both a historian and a truth-seeker, he had come up with the job title that he proudly tells people whenever asked. It is quite obvious that such an unusual profession does not earn him much money, and Lee also has to run a bookstore, which basically serves as a front for his journalistic endeavors.
Lee’s only source of income at present is the articles and reports that he writes and gets published on a freelance basis at the Heartland Press, a local long-form magazine that has quite a following in the area. But such opportunities do not come very often, which is why he soon convinces the editor of another local journal, called the Tulsa Beat, which is usually known for publishing seedy articles, to publish a new article he has been writing. Lee has to rely on extreme resourcefulness to make his ends meet, especially since he has employees at the bookstore as well. Besides, he also has some loans to repay to his ex-wife, as he intends to still be a part of her life, especially because of their teenage daughter, Francis.
Lee genuinely loves Francis and wants to be the fatherly figure in her life, which is why he makes serious attempts to give her company, even if that means taking her to potentially dangerous stakeouts. Francis does not mind these outings, though, as she enjoys being involved in such intense situations. Lee immediately pays back the money owed to his ex-wife as soon as he manages to acquire the amount, ensuring that she and Francis will continue to be in his life for the near future. Aside from all of this, what defines Lee Raybon most truthfully is his intense passion to uncover the truth in any situation and his immense courage even in the face of adversity. This is on full display in the first few minutes of The Lowdown episode 1, as Lee visits a private supper club to meet with the members of a property development company named Akron, after having arranged the meeting. Lee had made it clear that he wanted to talk to the decision-makers at the company, seemingly to gather information about his next piece of article, and he now clearly states how Akron had essentially stolen a church pamphlet signed by Martin Luther King from the rightful owners, the Black community living in North Tulsa, and had been trying to claim that it had always belonged to the family of one of the top bosses in the company. In fact, Akron had been involved in various other racist plans, the most significant one being to rob non-white people of the opportunity to conduct business in the area. It is for this specific reason that the company has been buying out businesses owned by Black folks, claiming that they only aim at redeveloping these properties, while in reality, their intention is to curb the non-white population financially.
Lee does not sugar-coat any of these words and directly questions the Akron leaders about these matters, which obviously gets him evicted from the supper club without any further discussion. But his resourcefulness and a strong sense of justice also become evident when he manages to buy a Joe Brainard painting from the club by paying a comparatively meager amount to the receptionist. Not only does he genuinely need the cash he can make by selling off the painting, but he also seeks real joy in stealing from the rich folks, particularly the ones running Akron.
How does Lee get connected with Dale Washberg’s suicide?
When Dale Washberg, the younger brother in a wealthy and influential family in Tulsa, is found to have died by suicide in his study, Lee gets indirectly linked to the matter both because of an article he had written earlier and also out of his own interest. Despite being loved and revered by many, the Washberg family had always had ties to extreme oppression, injustice, and crime historically. There could not have been any doubt that the family had managed to build its extreme fortune and influence based on these acts of oppression, and they had naturally tried to bury their dark past just like many other institutions and families in the United States. However, Lee had refused to let the truth be buried forever, and he had carried out extensive research on the family’s links with the systemic oppression, about which he had written a scathing article for the Heartland Press, which had grabbed the attention of many.
Unfortunately for him, Dale Washberg’s suicide takes place just a few days after the publishing of his article, making some wonder whether he might have pushed the man to take his own life by slandering his family in public. However, Lee has a completely different theory about the incident and believes that Dale was probably murdered and his death had been made to look like a case of suicide. There are ample reasons to believe so too, as Dale had always been considered the black sheep of the Washberg family, and he did not have good relations with any of his family members, especially his elder brother, Donald Washberg. It is even mentioned by many that Dale used to always take opposite stances to the rest of his family in every situation, because of which he was disliked by his own people. This nature of Dale was also seemingly hurting the political career of Donald, who was running to be the next governor of Oklahoma.
Because of these reasons, Lee believes that Dale might have actually been killed by his own family members, particularly his brother, and so he starts investigating the matter by attending the estate sale at Dale’s house. Here, he is able to immediately find clues that clarify that there is a hidden story behind the man’s death, although how exactly he had died is not yet confirmed. Before seemingly shooting himself, Dale had written a long note, divided into multiple parts written on multiple pieces of paper, and had hidden them in the detective novel books in his study. During the estate sale, Lee is able to find a few of the books and read enough to learn that Dale had written the whole story of what had led to his death in the note, but he still needs to get hold of the rest of the books to solve the whole puzzle.
In his initial notes, Dale had also mentioned to not trust his wife, Betty Jo, as she is also mixed up in the matter. The grieving widow is the one who orders Lee to be evicted from the house during the sale, and her intentions are truly suspicious. The primary reason for suspicions against her is the fact that Betty Jo is actually sexually, and possibly romantically, involved with her brother-in-law, Donald Washberg. They are spotted together by Lee at a cattle sale just a couple of days later, and the manner in which Donald publicly consoles Betty Jo is quite suspicious. They are later seen to be sleeping together as well, much to the frustration of Donald’s wife, who knows about the affair. In fact, Betty Jo’s daughter, who visits at the end of The Lowdown episode 2, also seems to be aware of her mother’s affair with her uncle, which is why she keeps her distance from the both of them.
Why do the Neo-Nazis kidnap Lee?
Because of his truth-seeking habit, Lee gets in trouble with two Neo-Nazis in the area, called Blackie and Berta, as well, as they are enraged after being called out in one of his recent articles. Resorting to violence, Blackie and Berta visit Lee’s shop, beat him up, and even threaten to harm his ex-wife and daughter if he does not change his ways. The protagonist obviously does not care much about these threats and ends up writing another article, this time specifically on the gang of Neo-Nazis possibly involved in drug and prostitution rackets. He does expect another act of retaliation by Blackie and Berta but does not really expect to be kidnapped by them, and this time the rednecks also have quite different intentions than earlier.
Instead of beating him up or threatening him themselves, the Neo-Nazis shove Lee into the trunk of their car and take him to a different person, who happens to be Allen Murphy, one of the private contractors working with Akron. In a later conversation with Blackie’s mother, Lee learns that the two friends used to recently work for Murphy, or someone from Akron, basically carrying out illegal activities on their behalf. Therefore, it now seemed like they had taken Lee as a gift for their boss, knowing well that the intrusive journalist was hated by just about anyone involved with crimes. However, they truly do not expect the fate that awaits them.
Lee clearly sees, from the trunk of the car, that someone, seemingly Murphy himself, shoots Blackie and Berta and dumps their bodies in the nearby creek before leaving the scene. Since the Neo-Nazis had not told anyone about the fact that they had kidnapped the journalist and were holding him captive in the trunk of the car, the killer did not bother about checking the vehicle.
Who is Marty?
It is Marty, a man who had earlier made acquaintance with Lee at the local bar, who comes to the rescue of the protagonist by unlocking the trunk of the car and allowing him to escape. Lee finds a stack of bills inside the car, which had most likely been paid to the goons to kidnap the journalist, and starts using it as his own. He also instructs his new security guards to get rid of the car by burning it down and getting rid of any DNA remains, but the two young men actually make a video of the burning car, shooting their rap in front of it, which will surely come back to bite the protagonist later. This is all the more certain because of the fact that Marty actually turns out to be a private investigator who had been hired by Donald Washberg to keep an eye on Lee after the latter’s article about the Washberg family had been published. This was why Marty had been following Lee around town, and this was also how he had found and rescued him from the trunk of Blackie’s car. Lee tries his best to convince Marty to switch sides and join his pursuit of the truth, but the latter refuses to partake in these activities just yet, claiming that he never saw Blackie and Berta getting killed. While the truthstorian and the private investigator teaming up to unearth the real story behind Dale Washberg’s death is definitely a possibility in the future, no such friendship pans out as of now.
Why does Allen Murphy pay Lee a visit?
At the very end of The Lowdown episode 2, Allen Murphy pays Lee a visit at his bookstore, named Sweet Emily’s, and he initially seems to have come to hurt or threaten the protagonist. However, Murphy makes little conversation, stating that he had learned from Akron receptionists that Lee had called looking for him. He then insists that the protagonist rather call him up directly from the next time and leaves him with a visiting card. Although Lee lies about wanting to talk about a story he has been thinking of around the subject of hiring ex-convicts, which Akron regularly does, he is genuinely left shaken by this experience. After all, it is very evident that Murphy had come to the bookstore only to indirectly threaten Lee, and his timing of coming to the place when Francis was also present further establishes this. The brief but intense interaction confirms that Allen Murphy is not going to be like the usual antagonists that Lee is used to dealing with, as he will be much more shrewd and cunning in his activities. How the protagonist deals with Murphy and uncovers the truth will be interesting to watch in the upcoming episodes of The Lowdown.
