If The Lowdown Episode 4 was a fever dream of lust, guilt, and revelation, then Episode 5 promises to be the hangover the kind that doesn’t fade with aspirin or coffee. The previous chapter left us with an open door, a body on the floor, and a trail of cigarette smoke curling into the Oklahoma night. Now, with all those threads hanging loose, the question isn’t what happens next - it’s who’s still standing when the dust settles?
Episode 5 hasn’t aired yet, but if the show’s rhythm so far is any indication, we’re heading straight into a storm; political, personal, and possibly spiritual. The beauty of The Lowdown lies in how it keeps its heart beating beneath the grime. It’s not just about crime and cover-ups; it’s about people trying, and failing, to make sense of their own wreckage.
So let’s take a look at what Episode 5 might bring; the heartbreaks, the betrayals, and the haunting possibilities that lie ahead.
Passion with a Price Tag
The final sequence in Episode 4 wasn’t just about attraction. It was a ticking time bomb dressed as a love story. Lee Raybon, the hard-drinking journalist who stumbled into a scandal far bigger than himself, just crossed a line he can’t uncross. Sleeping with Betty Jo Washberg, the widow of one political powerhouse and the mistress of another, isn’t just morally complicated, it’s career suicide.
And yet, in The Lowdown, desire always comes before destruction. Episode 5 will likely explore the fallout of that reckless night, not just from Donald, who saw Lee leaving her house at dawn. The guilt might hit harder than any public scandal. Lee’s attraction to Betty Jo was never purely physical; it was rooted in the recognition of shared loneliness. But how long before that tenderness turns toxic?
It’s easy to imagine that the opening of Episode 5 will see Lee trying to keep his distance, only to be pulled back into Betty Jo’s orbit as the political drama deepens. Maybe she’ll reach out in panic, realizing how much danger she’s truly in. Maybe he’ll try to help her out of guilt — or worse, out of love. Either way, the heat between them has already rewritten the rules of the story.
But if there’s one lesson The Lowdown has taught us, it’s that in Tulsa, passion always comes with a price tag. And Lee’s about to get the bill.
A Man Unraveling
Donald’s morning jog might have looked casual, but that brief moment, seeing Lee leave Betty Jo’s house, was the ignition spark of what could become a political inferno. Donald isn’t just a grieving brother; he has an election to win, an image to protect, and skeletons that never stay buried.
Episode 5 might be the hour where we watch his composure begin to crack. Until now, he’s been a master of optics; calm, measured, always in control. But what happens when control slips? His relationship with Marty, his confidant and fixer, could start to show fractures. And as Allen’s death sends shockwaves through their inner circle, Donald will have to reckon with the fact that the people cleaning up his mess are disappearing one by one.
The real tension might come from Donald’s inability to decide whether to destroy Betty Jo or protect her. He’s always viewed her as both a liability and a lifeline, the woman who reminds him of everything he’s lost and everything he’s hiding. Seeing her with Lee could awaken something dangerous in him, something neither political nor rational.
Don’t be surprised if Episode 5 turns Donald from politician to predator, the kind of man who uses power as a weapon when jealousy and fear collide.
Betty Jo’s Analysis
If Episode 4 made Betty Jo human, Episode 5 could make her dangerous. That night of drunken honesty stripped away the layers of vanity and victimhood, revealing a woman who’s been underestimated her entire life. Now, with Donald watching her every move and Lee tangled in her web, Betty Jo might finally step into her power, or be forced to.
We’ve seen glimpses of her fire before, how she holds a gun like it’s second nature, and how she uses charm to mask defiance. Episode 5 could give us Betty Jo as the queen of chaos: unpredictable, vulnerable, and frighteningly aware of how little she has left to lose.
But what’s most intriguing is how her relationship with Lee might evolve. There’s chemistry, sure, but also potential for catastrophe. Will she confide in him? Manipulate him? Or betray him before he can betray her? In a show this steeped in noir, every love story comes with a blade hidden behind the kiss.
And that open door she left behind in Episode 4? Maybe it wasn’t an invitation at all. Perhaps it was a trap.
The Ghosts Still Speak
Even in death, Dale Washberg’s presence lingers like smoke. His letters, his voiceovers, his cryptic monologues; they’ve turned him into a ghost who narrates his own legacy. Episode 5 could continue that haunting device, but perhaps with a twist. Maybe Dale’s words will start contradicting what we’ve seen. Maybe the letters aren’t confessions, but fabrications, one last attempt to rewrite the story from beyond the grave.
The show has always flirted with spiritual imagery, with its obsession over land, fate, and the sins of men who believe they own both. So don’t be surprised if Dale’s voice becomes the moral compass of the story or its final deception. After all, The Lowdown thrives on blurring the lines between memory and myth.
The Mystery Deepens: Who Killed Allen, and Why?
Allen’s brutal assassination was the episode’s most shocking moment, not just because of the blood, but because it made no sense. Why kill the man who worshipped you? Episode 5 might start to unravel that thread. Was his death a cleanup job ordered by Donald? Or was there someone higher, pulling the strings from the shadows?
If Allen’s murder was meant to silence him, what secret was he about to expose? Maybe he stumbled across something in Dale’s files, something that could take down everyone. Or maybe, in true noir fashion, he knew too much about the people pretending to be clean.
Either way, Allen’s death isn’t the end of the violence, it’s the beginning of the reckoning.
The Lowdown isn’t about politics or murder. It’s about belief, in love, in redemption, in the possibility that something sacred can still survive amid corruption. Episode 5 might push those themes even further, contrasting the literal sins of the characters with the spiritual decay of the world around them.
Expect the pacing to slow, the tone to darken, and the camera to linger on moments that feel like confession. The open plains of Tulsa might start to feel less like freedom and more like purgatory, a place where every choice echoes, and no one walks away clean.
The Next Collapse Awaits
If Episode 4 was the emotional climax, Episode 5 feels poised to be the emotional consequence. Every storyline, Lee and Betty Jo’s forbidden passion, Donald’s unravelling mask, Allen’s mysterious death, Dale’s ghostly narration, is converging into something that smells like disaster.
But that’s the beauty of The Lowdown: it makes disaster look like destiny. Every bad decision feels inevitable, every betrayal feels preordained. And just when you think the show has played its hand, it reveals another card, darker and more devastating than the last.
Because in The Lowdown, every open door leads somewhere you can’t come back from.
Read more: The Lowdown Episode 3
