Sterlin Harjo is the new Noah Hawley. There, I said it. Here’s my take. Hawley came out of nowhere and breathed life into a classic movie, turning it into one of the best seasons of television ever produced with FARGO. His cinematic and writing style felt familiar, yet completely new. And with it, he became a hit singular voice to watch… until he started failing with ALIEN: EARTH and LUCY IN THE SKY. For me, Harjo has done the same. He has taken various genre styles and fused them into one of the best shows no one talks about – RESERVATION DOGS. His follow-up is the gonzo journalist slow-burn, THE LOWDOWN. The series is highly watchable, thanks to Ethan Hawke and a smart script that delivers a compelling mystery by the final episode.
Before you start THE LOWDOWN, I encourage everyone to go back and watch RESERVATION DOGS. It’s that good. With that out of the way – THE LOWDOWN plays like THE BIG LOWBOSKI, but in Oklahoma. Audiences get to watch Ethan Hawke as Lee Raybon, a bumbling “truthstorian” reporter who uncovers a crime worth writing about. What makes him, like Jeff Bridges, The Dude, is that he’s a protagonist who doesn’t change. It’s classic Film Noir, where everything changes around him and he stays the same throughout. That journey is highly entertaining as he drinks, smokes, and stumbles his way through each scene.
My only nit with this series is that the slow-burn took a bit too long to start burning. Once guest-star Peter Dinklage makes an appearance in episode five, this becomes must-watch TV. This allows the back-half of episodes to be a ton of fun as we uncover the truth in the mystery Raybon is investigating.
If it’s true that “behind every great fortune, there is a great crime,” then the crime of the last 4-5 years is that not many people are talking about Sterlin Harjo’s work. The real “lowdown” is, if Sterlin Harjo is attached to a show, you should watch it. He’s at another level right now, telling personal stories that are coupled to larger lived-in narratives.
It’s available on Hulu FX.
