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The Lowdown

The critic (4 out of 5)★★★★☆

Season two of The Lowdown sends Ethan Hawke's self-styled truthstorian after a missing prisoner, with Betty Gilpin and Tommy Lee Jones joining the cast. Critics praise Hawke, Gilpin and the family thread, and split only on how loose and less pointed it is than season one.

A funny, character-first noir that wanders more than it twists. It earns four stars.

Review · 4 min read

Created by Sterlin Harjo · season 2 · 2026 · 8 episodes · FX / Hulu, Disney+ in many countries

The setup

Lee Raybon (Ethan Hawke) is a Tulsa bookseller who calls himself a "truthstorian", a citizen journalist whose reporting on the powerful Washberg family made the first season. Season two opens with him being honoured for it, then wrecking the moment with an unfiltered speech. In the audience is Ginger (Betty Gilpin), a public defender whose client has vanished from a state prison and who thinks two men are following her. Lee takes the case. At the same time his estranged father (Tommy Lee Jones) turns up wanting to meet the granddaughter Lee has told that he is dead. That is the first act, and this review stops there.

Sterlin Harjo, who also co-created Reservation Dogs, made the series for FX. The first season premiered in September 2025 and drew near-universal praise, so the sequel arrives with a lot to live up to. Season two adds Gilpin and Jones, with Martha Plimpton and John Hawkes among the new faces, and Ryan Kiera Armstrong as Lee's daughter.

What works

The critics are close to unanimous about Hawke. Reviewers describe a character whose curiosity, charm and self-absorption are really one trait, and one calls him a "dirtbag detective" whose good intentions outrun his judgment. Gilpin is repeatedly singled out as the season's best addition, a wary, exasperated foil rather than a standard femme fatale, and the pair's slow-burning romance is built on friction rather than sparks.

The family thread is the other draw. Several writers put the Lee and father storyline, with Jones adding both comedy and hurt, at the heart of the season, and one says it is stronger than the case itself. Add the sun-baked Oklahoma setting, the loose, funny noir tone, a parade of character actors and a soundtrack that gets its own praise, and the verdict from most reviewers is that the show has kept its personality.

Kooky, funny, and eminently watchable, The Lowdown is high-key your next must-watch show.

Hoai-Tran Bui, Inverse

What doesn't

This is where the reviews part ways with the near-perfect scores. Tom's Guide finds the season somewhat disjointed: a subplot for Keith David's character feels like a different show, and Jones's role is less integrated than his casting promises. Inverse says it is less twisty and less urgently topical than season one, and The Playlist calls it "shaggy" and amiable, with looseness that can distract. Even its fans accept that the mystery is convoluted and that the digressions are the point. One mixed review sits among the nine on Metacritic's season page, so not every critic is on board with the looseness.

Is it for you?

Tap what applies. This is a reading of the reviews, not a prediction.

The verdict

Metacritic lists season two at 92, "universal acclaim", across nine reviews, with grades from reviewers ranging from a B+ to a 9 out of 10. Our score is a notch lower than the loudest praise: a delightful, character-first season that is looser and less pointed than the first. It earns four stars.

Where to watch

Season two premiered on FX on 14 October 2026 with two episodes, and the remaining six are due weekly. In the US it streams on Hulu. Internationally the series has been carried by Disney+, but the timing and whether it appears at all varies by country, so check your local listings. Season one is a good place to begin if you have not seen it.

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