TV Talk: Scuzzy ‘Lowdown’ surprises with plot twists, kooky characters

Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week.

A grungy comedic drama, FX’s “The Lowdown” (9 p.m. Tuesday, FX; next day on Hulu) introduces a passel of original characters, even if you can almost smell the stink wafting off many of them.

A so-called “Tulsa noir” created by writer/director Sterlin Harjo, who previously made “Reservation Dogs” for FX, “The Lowdown” stars Ethan Hawke as Oklahoma citizen journalist/conspiracy theorist Lee Raybon, a well-meaning, rough-around-the-edges investigative writer — he calls himself a “truthstorian” — with personal foibles aplenty.

Raybon has an exasperated ex who doesn’t trust him, and Raybon’s got a 14-year-old daughter (Ryan Kiera Armstrong, “Star Wars: Skeleton Crew”), whom he doesn’t spend enough time with. Raybon runs a bookstore where he also lives, but that job is secondary to his reporting efforts.

After his most recent article, an exposé on the politically powerful Washberg family, Dale Washberg (Tim Blake Nelson) appears to kill himself. Raybon thinks Dale was murdered and begins to follow clues left behind, even as Dale’s widow (Jeanne Tripplehorn, “Big Love”) mourns in her own way, and Dale’s brother, Donald (Kyle MacLachlan, “Fallout”), continues his campaign for governor.

Credit writer/director Harjo with creating not just a complete, lived-in world, as he did in “Reservation Dogs,” but also a roster of unique characters with uncommon depth.

Hawke delivers a wild, sometimes crazed performance that feels well-suited to Raybon. But the supporting cast also impresses, particularly Nelson in flashbacks and imagination sequences, Michael Hitchcock (“Crazy Ex-Girlfriend”) as an untrustworthy antiques dealer and Keith David (“Duster”) as a private investigator who works for Donald Washberg but tries to maintain his own moral code.

And that’s before Peter Dinklage (“Game of Thrones”) shows up in episode five as Wendell, Raybon’s former business partner in the bookstore, who’s unhappy with the disorganized state of the place.

“You have ‘The Odyssey’ next to ‘As I Lay Dying,’ ” Wendell complains.

“ ‘As I Lay Dying’ is an odyssey of sorts,” Raybon replies.

“Getting mama home and getting home to mama is not quite the same thing,” Wendell argues.

Debuting with its first two (of eight) episodes Tuesday, this hour-long series deftly balances its twisty mystery with comedy born out of the show’s oddball characters.

Just as a viewer might suspect the plot will go one direction, Harjo gives the story an unexpected, shocking turn. It’s a potent mix that makes “The Lowdown” a welcome addition to a short list of TV’s best current series.