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The Lowdown season 1 premiered on September 23, 2025, with a double header, setting the stage for a chaotic storyline that will unfold further in the later episodes. Titled Pilot, episode 1 begins with Dale Washberg's suicide, but ends on an interesting note for Lee. It effectively kicks off episode 2, which sets the tone for the remainder of the season.
Disclaimer: The following article contains spoilers from The Lowdown season 1 premiere. Reader's discretion is advised.
As the episodes trudge along, Lee makes a startling discovery when he finds a letter at Dale and Betty Jo Washberg's home- evidence suggesting Dale's supposed suicide wasn't what it appeared to be. Instead, it turns out that the black sheep of the powerful Washberg family secretly left clues about the family’s corruption, hidden in his collection of vintage crime paperbacks.
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In typical Lee Raybon fashion, instead of proceeding cautiously, he feels compelled to tell the whole world about his newest discovery, and decides to investigate even further. Things don’t go well from there as his persistence sees him kidnapped by two skinheads, after he wrote a hit piece about them.
Instead of beating him some more, the two take him to their higher-up in Allen, whom Lee had met earlier in the episodes as a part of a pitch for a piece. However, things don’t end well for them as Allen shoots the skinheads and dumps their bodies in the river, as Lee remains trapped in the trunk of the car.
Lee Raybon bites off more than he can chew in The Lowdown season 1 premiere
The Lowdown season 1 premiere kicked off with Lee Raybon stumbling into a deadly conspiracy after Dale Washberg's apparent suicide. Raybon starts things by going to his estate sale, despite writing an article that exposed corruption within the Washberg family just days before Dale’s death. He riffles through the things at Dale’s house and discovers the dead man left clues in his vintage crime paperbacks pointing to corruption within the family.
Before he can proceed with that any further, Lee's reckless pursuit of truth sees two local skinheads- subjects of his provocative article- ambush him outside his struggling bookstore. They do it twice, beating him up the first time as a warning before kidnapping him the second time, after he writes another hit piece about them.
The skinheads take him as a gift to Allen, an Akron company executive connected to the Washbergs, but Allen doesn’t react well. Instead, he executes both skinheads, dumps their bodies over the bridge and into the river, unaware that Lee has been watching while trapped in the trunk of the skinheads’ car.
Allen leaves after dumping the bodies, and Marty eventually turns up to free Lee, who freaks out at him and then escapes with the car. The fallout continues into episode 2 as his daughter, Francis, becomes concerned that her father has gone off the deep end.
Lee continues to piece together clues from Dale’s paperbacks, turns up at Dale’s funeral, and then the memorial, where he proceeds to confront Donald Washberg. Things turn ugly, Lee is kicked out, and he turns up at his bookstore, only to see Allen waiting for him. The Akron executive rattles the journalist, given the incident at the bridge, and he hands over his business card this time, telling Lee to call him next time.
Marty is the man in the maroon KIA, and he’s been hired by Donald Washberg
From the very start of The Lowdown season 1 premiere, Lee Raybon is portrayed as paranoid, as from the very beginning, there is someone following him. Lee first notices it a day after Dale Washberg's death when he spots a maroon KIA tailing him.
The same car appears a day later, and this time, armed with a gun, Lee decides to confront the person in the maroon KIA. He stops at a gas station, hoping the car follows him, and while it does, the moment Lee approaches, the car speeds up and flees the scene. Lee seems satisfied with the outcome, but he’s then violently abducted by skinheads soon after the incident at the gas station.
The two skinheads take him to Allen, who then proceeds to execute Lee’s captors, unaware that he’s locked in the trunk watching on. Allen leaves the scene, satisfied that there are no witnesses, leaving Lee still in the trunk as he waits for someone to come by to rescue him. That turns out to be the driver of the maroon KIA, who turns out to be Marty from the diner.
He attempts to pacify a panic-stricken Lee, who instead threatens to hit him and then drives away in the skinheads’ car. The story continues into episode 2, and Lee learns more about Marty, who is a private investigator hired by Donald Washberg himself to follow Lee around and report on his investigation in The Lowdown season 1.
Interested viewers can watch The Lowdown season 1 on FX.
