The Lowdown's Finale Brilliantly Upends the Characters’—And Audience’s

The Lowdown's Finale Brilliantly Upends the Characters’—And Audience’s—Assumptions

Sterlin Harjo’s Tulsa-set neo-noir The Lowdown concluded with a burst of violence, humor, and several sharp twists. The finale explored two essential questions—one straightforward, the other deeply ambiguous.

Unraveling Dale Washberg’s Death

The first mystery, how Dale Washberg died, was destined to have a clear resolution. Yet even that clarity illuminated the moral gray zones at the core of Harjo’s storytelling.

Lee Raybon’s Dual Nature

The second question centered on Lee Raybon’s identity. Was he a righteous seeker of truth or a dangerously misguided savior? Harjo—best known for creating Reservation Dogs—refused to box his protagonist into simple categories of hero or villain. Through Ethan Hawke’s intense performance, Lee emerged as both, embodying the contradictions of idealism and delusion.

“Tulsa truthstorian” Lee Raybon turned out to be an equal mix of both archetypes.

An unexpected revelation came when the man Lee regarded as his nemesis proved no more corrupt or cruel than Lee himself. The series finale, titled The Sensitive Kind, resonated deeply with irony and self-reflection.

The Meaning of “The Sensitive Kind”

The title, shared with a song by J.J. Cale and performed in this episode through an Eric Clapton cover, also mirrored Lee’s cover story about Dale. It even served as the show’s original working title—signaling its thematic core of vulnerability beneath hardened exteriors.

A Closing Glimpse

The finale opens with a haunting flashback—part memory, part dream. Inside his bookstore, Lee reads Walter Tevis’ The Man Who Fell to Earth, as Dale, portrayed by Tim Blake Nelson, quietly browses, foreshadowing the blurred line between truth and illusion that defines their story.

Author’s Summary: Harjo’s finale transforms a classic noir mystery into a meditation on blurred morality and human frailty, where truth and delusion coexist uneasily.

Time Magazine — 2025-11-05