The Lowdown is back for its second season. I've seen the first six of eight episodes, and loved every bit of them. Like last year, I'll be covering the show weekly. A review — with spoilers — of the two-part premiere, "Rupidoop" and "Whiskey Bent and Hell Bound," coming up just as soon as I fake my death five times so I don't have to hang out with a chick...
Alan Sepinwall
When we first catch up with Lee Raybon at the beginning of this new Lowdown adventure — subtitled Four of Cups, just like last season as The Sensitive Kind — our favorite (as in only) truthstorian is really feeling himself. He and his realtor pal Vickey are hooking up again, and he impulsively suggests marriage, using their shared taste in music as one of the top arguments in the pro column. We know from the delightful first season that Lee can be incredibly charming, can be just as good a reporter or writer or friend as he claims he always is. But we also know that his ego can be wildly out of proportion to his actual abilities — or, at least, to his consistency as both a person and a crusader.
What follows for the rest of "Rupidoop," and continue for a good chunk of "Whiskey Bent and Hell Bound," is Lee at his most wildly overconfident — hilarious for us to see, exasperating for friends and (especially) family to witness. He shows up drunk and high on mushrooms to accept a local journalism award for his story about Dale Washberg, and delivers a bitter acceptance speech that isn't nearly as provocative or cool as he thinks it is. (Francis, always the show's best barometer for when Lee's behavior is unacceptable, storms out on him mid-rant.) He becomes fixated on Ginger, a local prosecutor played by the great Betty Gilpin, in what seems equal parts lust(*) and a realization that being with someone who is both beautiful and respectable would be good for his own image. He acts recklessly, doesn't understand not to talk to a rupidoop(**), and is generally at the most Lebowski end of his range for most of these two episodes.