'The Lowdown': Walter Mosley on Episode 7 and Writing a Crime Noir Where 'the Crime Is Original Sin'

"A preacher gives a sermon - from his own pulpit, in his own church, funded by people with ties to the highest branches of Oklahoma's government - about taking back "what we have lost." A gubernatorial candidate hosts a reenactment of the 1889 Land Rush, when white settlers seized land occupied by indigenous people, only to cry foul when those indigenous ancestors show up in protest."

""The genius of the show is really all Sterlin, and Sterlin has done a great thing in creating those moments, those situations," Mosley said in an interview with IndieWire. "You're going to have to make up your mind about what you think [about the preacher], what you feel about his humanity, about his lack of humanity, about the humanity of the people in that audience.""

Episode 7 dramatizes white male entitlement through several vignettes: a pastor's sermon about 'taking back what we have lost,' a gubernatorial candidate's 1889 Land Rush reenactment provoked by indigenous protest, a powerful man who kills an elder while stealing and claims justification, and a father who insists absence equals support. The episode centers on Lee Raybon, whose investigation into these events forces him deeper into moral ambiguity and chaos. Sterlin Harjo draws on imagination and lived experience to shape the series' moments. Walter Mosley contributed the episode's storytelling, emphasizing choices viewers must make about characters' humanity and truth.

Read at IndieWire