The Lowdown season two premieres on FX with Ethan Hawke and Tommy Lee Jones
Season two of FX's "The Lowdown" premiered on 14 October. Ethan Hawke and creator Sterlin Harjo discussed the new season in separate interviews with the New York Post and Variety.
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The story, neutrally told
Mixed · 2Season two of the FX noir drama "The Lowdown" premiered on Wednesday 14 October, with the first two episodes on FX and Hulu at 9 p.m. ET and the rest airing weekly on Wednesdays. VarietyLC “The first two episodes of “The Lowdown” Season 2 premiere on FX and Hulu on Oct. 14 at 9 p.m. ET, with remaining episodes airing weekly on Wednesdays” Read at Variety ↗ New York PostR “Season 2 of “The Lowdown” debuts on Wednesday, October 14 on FX.” Read at New York Post ↗ Mixed · 2Ethan Hawke stars as Lee Raybon, a used bookseller and self-styled "truth-storian" in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in a series created by Sterlin Harjo, who previously made "Reservation Dogs". New York PostR “Hawke is once again getting his (literal) kicks playing Raybon, the used bookseller and “truth-storian” at the center of the show” Read at New York Post ↗ VarietyLC “citizen journalist (or “truthstorian”) Lee Raybon (Ethan Hawke)” Read at Variety ↗ Mixed · 2Both interviews say the season opens with Lee giving a drunken, disastrous acceptance speech for a media award, and Harjo says this comes from his own difficulty handling acclaim after "Reservation Dogs". New York PostR “Early in the season premiere, Lee gives an embarrassing, drunken, drug-fueled acceptance speech for a journalism award.” Read at New York Post ↗ VarietyLC “Lee’s inability to deal with a bit of acclaim comes directly from his own experience after the launch of his previous FX series, “Reservation Dogs.”” Read at Variety ↗
Mixed · 2Tommy Lee Jones joins as Lee's estranged father, Lee Sr.; Harjo told Variety he thought of Jones after writing the first episode, and that Jones wanted in once he read it. VarietyLC “After writing the first episode of Season 2, Harjo immediately thought of Jones for the part as Lee’s father.” Read at Variety ↗ New York PostR “the sudden arrival of his ne’er-do-well father, Lee Sr. (Tommy Lee Jones)” Read at New York Post ↗ Mixed · 2Betty Gilpin plays Ginger, a lawyer (a public defender, per Variety) who recruits Lee to investigate the disappearance of a client from the Oklahoma prison system. VarietyLC “Lee is soon recruited by public defender Ginger (Betty Gilpin) to investigate a new mystery: the disappearance of her client inside the Oklahoma prison system.” Read at Variety ↗ New York PostR “Betty Gilpin as Ginger, a lawyer imperiled by her connection to a Native man who has mysteriously vanished from an Oklahoma prison” Read at New York Post ↗ Left · 1Harjo said the plot drew on the films "Prime Cut", "Cutter's Way" and "The Third Man", on a public defender cousin of Hawke's, and on his own experience growing up in a prison town; the season shot in the McAlester, Oklahoma, prison where his uncle once served time. VarietyLC “Harjo says he was inspired by the 1972 Lee Marvin/Gene Hackman film “Prime Cut,” 1981’s “Cutter’s Way” and the 1949 noir “The Third Man””““The Lowdown” wound up shooting in that very same institution this season.” Read at Variety ↗
Right · 1Hawke told the Post that making the show with Harjo was like "jumping off a cliff together", with only one episode fully scripted when he signed on, and that the aim is to avoid any soap-opera feel and capture how "confusing and messy" real life is. New York PostR “Hawke compared making the show with creator Sterlin Harjo to “jumping off a cliff together.” When he signed on, there was just one episode with a full script.”““It feels like these people are your friends and it’s confusing and messy, the way real life is,” he said.” Read at New York Post ↗ Right · 1The Post also spoke with supporting cast: Keith David, whose Marty Brunner is now a journalist pursuing an archaeology smuggling ring, and Martha Plimpton, who plays a small-town sheriff; the Post notes the show has a 98% Rotten Tomatoes approval rating. New York PostR “In the new season Marty has now become a journalist and is digging into an archaeology smuggling ring.”“the show currently boasts a 98% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes” Read at New York Post ↗ Left · 1Harjo said he wanted season two to "go harder and faster" and hopes for a third season, saying "Gods of TV willing"; no renewal is reported in either article. VarietyLC “Gods of TV willing, we’ll be making a Season 3 of this show.” Read at Variety ↗
Every sentence links to the reporting it rests on. The pill in front of each says where its sources sit: Left, Centre or Right when one side supplies at least half of them, Mixed when they are evenly split. The number is how many outlets it cites.
Left1 outlet
- Framing
- Variety runs a creator interview with Harjo on the season's film influences and how Tommy Lee Jones was cast, centred on craft and production.
- Emphasis
- Plot origins, prison setting, casting of Jones, the writing process and hopes for season three.
- Leaves out or plays down
- Little from Hawke himself or the supporting cast beyond Jones and Gilpin; no review scores.
- For example
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“Harjo says he was inspired by the 1972 Lee Marvin/Gene Hackman film “Prime Cut,” 1981’s “Cutter’s Way” and the 1949 noir “The Third Man”” — Variety
Centre0 outlets
No centre outlet in our sources has covered this story yet.
Right1 outlet
- Framing
- The New York Post runs a lifestyle-style profile led by Hawke, stressing the actor's views, the cast and the show's tone.
- Emphasis
- Hawke's quotes, supporting cast reunions (Keith David, Martha Plimpton), the Rotten Tomatoes score and the Hawke-Harjo collaboration.
- Leaves out or plays down
- Less on the prison storyline's real-life origins and the film influences Variety covers.
- Charged language
- “getting his butt kicked”“confusing and messy”
- For example
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“In real life, Ethan Hawke doesn’t go around getting his butt kicked.” — New York Post
“Reviews of “The Lowdown” were overwhelmingly great” — New York Post
What every side reports
- Season 2 of The Lowdown premiered on FX on 14 October.
- Ethan Hawke plays Lee Raybon and Sterlin Harjo created the show.
- Tommy Lee Jones plays Lee's father and Betty Gilpin plays Ginger, who draws Lee into a prison-disappearance mystery.
- Lee's disastrous award speech is drawn from Harjo's experience of success after Reservation Dogs.
Ethan Hawke person
Hawke describes the collaboration as a leap of faith and wants the show to feel messy and real rather than soap-operatic.
“The goal, said Hawke, is to remove any trace of a soap opera from the show.” — New York Post
Sterlin Harjo person
Harjo links Lee's struggles with success to his own experience, says season two is about learning to love yourself, and hopes for a third season.
“The theme of Season 2, Harjo says, is to figure out how to love yourself” — Variety
Left1 article
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Sympathetic Craft-focused interview with Harjo on influences, casting and writing, treating the show as a critical success.
Centre0 articles
No coverage yet.
Right1 article
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Ethan Hawke reveals ‘confusing and messy’ link between TV and real life. ‘Like jumping off a cliff.’
Celebratory Light, promotional profile built around Hawke's quotes and the cast, praising the show's reviews.
- 13 Oct 15:01 First New York PostR Ethan Hawke reveals ‘confusing and messy’ link between TV and real life. ‘Like jumping off a cliff.’
- 15 Oct 02:00 +34h 59m VarietyLC ‘The Lowdown’ Creator Sterlin Harjo on the Films That Inspired Season 2, and What Convinced Tommy Lee Jones to Join the Show
Times are when each article was published, or when we first saw it if the outlet gave no time.
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