Critics praise The Lowdown season 2 as it premieres on FX and Hulu

Left · 2Season 2 of FX's The Lowdown, created by Sterlin Harjo, premieres on FX and Hulu on 14 October at 9 p.m. ET with two episodes. 1 2 Left · 1Further episodes air weekly, with the eighth-episode finale due on 25 November, according to IndieWire. 2 Left · 2Ethan Hawke stars as Lee Raybon, a self-described "truthstorian" and freelance journalist in Tulsa who also runs a used bookstore. 1 2

Left · 2Both reviews say the season opens with Lee receiving a local journalism award for his Season 1 story on Dale Washberg and responding with a drunken or drug-fuelled rant at the ceremony; IndieWire says he was high on mushrooms. 1 2 Left · 2At the ceremony Lee meets Ginger, a public defender played by Betty Gilpin, who recently won an Emmy. She is worried about a former client, Mekko Dean, whom she cannot reach in prison, and Lee's visit turns up a man who is not Mekko. 1 2 Left · 2Tommy Lee Jones joins the cast as Lee Raybon Sr., the father Lee had told people was dead; the reviews describe him as a con man or grifter, while IndieWire adds that he claims to be a retired preacher with dementia seeking to reconnect with his family. 1 2

Left · 2Returning cast members include Ryan Kiera Armstrong as Lee's daughter Francis and Keith David as Marty, now managing editor of the Heartland Press. IndieWire lists new ensemble members including Paul Schneider, Martha Plimpton and John Hawkes. 1 2 Left · 1Variety calls the show one of the great TV debuts of last year but says it only just won renewal in January and did not become an outright breakout, so it urges viewers to turn out for Season 2. 1 Left · 1Variety praises the show's warmth, humour and affection for Oklahoma, and says it is not a whodunit that depends on its final reveal. 1

Left · 1IndieWire, having seen six of the eight episodes, calls the series immensely enjoyable and says the season is darker, putting Lee in a harsher light and asking whether he is a force for good or something more dangerous. 2 Left · 1IndieWire also notes that Season 1's events included deaths, among them Arthur Williams, killed as a result of Lee's lack of restraint, and that Season 2 is partly framed through the consequences Lee prefers to forget. 2