Sterlin Harjo on The Lowdown
Editor’s note: This piece contains spoilers for The Lowdown.
Since Bogie popped the collar of his trench coat and entered the shadowy streets of San Francisco, America has been captivated by film noir’s unique blend of style, swagger, sexiness, and dark mysteries. Over the past seven weeks, Sterlin Harjo’s The Lowdown has delivered many of these elements, concluding its first season with a satisfying finale on November 4.
A Dark, Riveting Investigation
In this FX series from the co-creator of Reservation Dogs, the main character is Lee Raybon (Ethan Hawke), an eccentric citizen journalist determined to expose Tulsa’s white-supremacist elite. In the season finale, “The Sensitive Kind,” Lee focuses on the femme fatale Betty Jo Washberg (Jeanne Tripplehorn) and others connected to the corrupt powers.
Justice and Restoration
Lee also assists gubernatorial candidate Donald Washberg (Kyle MacLachlan) as he confronts harsh realities, ultimately cutting ties with his crypto-Nazi backers. Washberg restores his family’s land to the Osage people from whom it was stolen generations ago.
“It’s a visceral pleasure to see racists brought low and Indigenous Oklahomans get the restorative justice they’ve been denied for so long.”
While this resolution feels hopeful and cathartic, Harjo, who lives in Tulsa, acknowledges the harsh reality where such justice often remains elusive.
“It can all feel like a beautiful dream. Yet it doesn’t have to,” Harjo told The A.V.
Summary
The Lowdown combines classic noir elements with urgent social justice themes, portraying the struggle for truth and restitution against a backdrop of systemic racism.
Author’s Summary
Sterlin Harjo’s The Lowdown delivers a powerful noir story that confronts racism and champions Indigenous justice, blending fiction with urgent real-world issues.