The jury’s still out on HBO Max’s vexing The Staircase
Colin Firth and Toni Collette lead a harrowing drama about the 2004 docuseries of the same name
TV Reviews The Staircase
Recommending The Staircase without knowing how it ends feels tantamount to TV malpractice. But the limited series from HBO Max, which released just five of eight episodes to critics, almost justifies taking that risk. Almost. Created by Antonio Campos (The Devil All The Time), this riveting drama about the mysterious death of Kathleen Peterson will succeed or fail based on its conclusion. Either The Staircase will use its final chapters to set a brilliant new standard in genre-critical true crime, or they’ll be a disastrous display of pop-culture cruelty as bad, or worse, than The Girl From Plainville. Needless to say, we’re proceeding with caution, and may regrade this show once we’ve gathered all the relevant facts.
Toni Collette and Colin Firth star as Kathleen and her novelist husband Michael. On Dec. 9, 2001, the 48-year-old businesswoman was found bloodied at the bottom of a staircase in her North Carolina home. Michael claimed Kathleen fell after a night of drinking. But seven deep scalp lacerations and 35 other cuts and bruises–physical evidence that coroners described as “consistent with a beating”–told a different story. When Michael was indicted in his wife’s murder the following year, French filmmaker Jean-Xavier de Lestrade (Vincent Vermignon) was given permission to document his defense in an artful, if controversial, 2004 miniseries of the same name.
Michael’s trial as captured by Lestrade—notorious for blurring the lines of objectivity and leaving out key facts—provides the basis for Campos and Cohn’s docudrama. Rather than crescendoing with the verdict, which comes down only halfway through the series, The Staircase—the 2022 show, the one this review is about—offers a sweeping examination of Kathleen’s death, Michael’s trial, and the skewed sensationalism that still surrounds them. Positioning Lestrade and executive producer Denis Poncet (Frank Feys) as dubious central figures in the Petersons’ story, this nonlinear reexamination is as much about a possible murder as it is society’s insidious fascination with horrible tragedies.
That’s tricky to pull off, sure. But it’s worthy thematic territory, and especially well-suited to this over-publicized case. Not only did The Staircase get two more episodes from Lestrade in 2012, but Netflix revived it again with three more chapters in 2018. Countless other books, podcasts, and TV series (Dateline NBC, Forensic Files, etc.) have further examined or taken inspiration from the Petersons in a bout of true crime double-dipping that’s now spanned more than two decades. To some extent, HBO Max’s retelling assumes its audience has watched these predecessors, dropping cheeky hints about the investigation’s later developments as early as episode one. (“You think the murder weapon just flew through the air held by no one?” quips an investigator, covertly nodding to a far-fetched defense theory not popularized until The Staircase’s Netflix era.)
Rehashing this material in metaphoric evidence could make for redundant viewing. So it’s a testament to Campos’ strong direction that the first five episodes deliver a consistently fresh presentation of the case’s main players. Collette and Firth—sure to leave even the most well-versed watchers wanting more—chew through a sharply written marital drama that offers rich, albeit partially fictional, context for the crime. More intimate scenes between the late Kathleen and Michael come across as insensitively invasive. But the rich realism of their fraught partnership generally works well, providing a deep pool of conflict from which the rest of the show springs.
Michael’s biological sons Clayton and Todd (Dane DeHaan and Patrick Schwarzenegger) and adopted daughters Margaret and Martha (Sophie Turner and Odessa Young) stand by their father in the public eye—even as Kathleen’s biological daughter Caitlin (Olivia DeJonge) and sisters Candace and Lori (Rosemarie DeWitt and Maria Dizzia) question his innocence.
Meanwhile, preparing for court, defense attorney David Rudolf (Michael Stuhlbarg) works closely with Michael, Michael’s brother Bill (Tim Guinee), and a team of lawyers and medical experts to adequately explain what happened to Kathleen. Across the aisle, Durham district attorney Jim Hardin (Cullen Moss) and assistant prosecutor Freda Black (Parker Posey) cut corners to get Michael convicted—and deliver comedic performances that underline the ridiculousness of how their real-life counterparts acted in court.
Through this churn of grief-stricken family turmoil and legal strategizing, The Staircase has begun a treacherous ascent toward saying something truly meaningful. It’s messy and massive in both scope and ambition. But whether that effort will be enough to justify retrying this case remains to be seen.
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Starring: “Patrick Schqarzenegger”
The site is going to review Star Trek: Strange New Worlds at some point, right?…. right??
The site is going to review Star Trek: Strange New Worlds at some point, right?…. right??I’ve been checking in based on morbid curiosity, but almost a week out from its debut and radio silence, so I’m guessing “no.”
Of course, what I really would like is to see somebody like Zack Handlen review it, because I always loved his reviews of Discovery, and based on the one episode I’ve seen I actually like SNW. Alas, I just don’t see any reviewers of his caliber left around here
Zack is reviewing SNW over at Episodic Medium, since AVC have apparently given up on covering Trek.
Through two episodes, I’m not loving it yet. I re-watched the docuseries in advance of this, after having watched it years ago (before Netflix commissioned more episodes), and upon rewatching the docuseries is even messier and more one-sided than I remembered. And it’s 13 hours of messiness that didn’t even include any substantive input from the defense or Kathleen’s family (hence the controversial nature of the docuseries). I’m not sure how a fictional series drawn from this source overcomes all of the messiness. I don’t know 13 hours of documentary messiness gets distilled into 8 hours of coherent miniseries. That’s a daunting challenge, but I hope they can pull it together and pull it off. I’ve not been terribly impressed with the fictionalization so far. Peterson running into Duane Devers as a minimart cashier seems like a strange editorial decision, and the audience lacked the context to appreciate it because they don’t know Duane Devers’ role in the story yet (the people I was watching with didn’t even realize he was the same guy from the forensics scene earlier, so they were totally confused as to why Peterson freaked out). They’re also making Kathleen out to be unraveling, which I’m not sure the record supports. It’s also disappointing that they’re once again making Candace Zamperini out to be unhinged (the smacking the pillow thing was really just too much). The docuseries really gave Peterson carte blanche to vilify and ridicule her, and its selective editing of her seems particularly unfair. Continuing that in the miniseries seems cruel. All that said, Firth is nailing Peterson’s idiolect. Sounds just like the guy. And Michael Stuhlbarg has captured David Rudolf. The whole thing has potential, but it’s not coming together for me yet. I would totally be interested in AV Club revising this review/grade after all episodes are released.
Eh, just watch the first season of Trial and Error. Then petition NBC to make more Trial and Error.
Exactly. Man I loved and miss that show. Now I am going to watch the first season again on the DVD set I managed to get. #SaveTrialAndError
Yesssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss
Mur-der board! Mur-der board!
Wtf have they done to Colin Firth in thar picture? I honest to God thought there was a caption error.
It’s almost like they’re trying to make him look like the person he is portraying! So weird!!!
Mr. Darcy’s Very No-good Bad Diet.
I’ve read all the twists and turns in the case, and while it certainly has a few surprises in it, but I’m not sure I understand the author’s weird alarm about how the series will handle some event at the end of the show.
I’m wondering if they think there’s a worst-case scenario in which the series actually asserts a “truth” that has yet to be proven?
Watching ‘Peterson’ sitting with his legal team, pitching ideas about how the dead woman sustained her numerous injuries was freakin’ ghoulish.
I’m having trouble recognizing Firth as Peterson. If folks have seen anything of Michael Peterson himself, it’s kind of a hard sell. The guy is always “on” no matter the circumstances he’s in (when we can see him at least). He’s kind of like Woody Allen on speed and, just like Allen, every time he speaks he tells on himself. There isn’t much physical resemblance either and – well – his American accents sucks.
this cast list is particularly DeLovely
I was very into this when it originally came out in the States years ago in the Netflix DVD days and I watched the subsequent additions so I’m watching just for the dramatic presentation. Colin Firth is good as usual and I think a good choice for Michael; Michael Stulhbarg, who is one of my very favorite actors, is the most off from his character IMO; Parker Posey is an perhaps obvious but inspired choice for Freda Black, who was quite the character. After watching this, I have to assume (and hope) we’re also getting Capturing the Freidmans and Paradise Lost (speaking of Colin Firth) adaptations soon.
I think one distraction here is it seems pretty clear in the first three episodes that everyone is supposed to be on Michael Peterson’s side. One of the things that made watching The Staircase docuseries interesting was that I wasn’t so certain. I personally don’t think he did based on the evidence out there, but to have everyone around him acting like a cartoon villain just seems…odd. My mother on the other hand was watching with me having never seen The Staircase or read anything about the case and she’s loving it. So maybe it’s a situation where knowing too much about the situation undercuts the drama.
I thought by the end of the 3rd episode it was being implied that he was involved.
I didn’t get that impression, but it might be just because I know what comes next to be honest.Like I said, my mom went in totally blind and had a very different connection to the material to the point where she cannot wait for the next episode.
Enjoying it from not knowing any of the source material, just based on the acting and that tony Durham vibe.
This show is so good. And it’s a travesty that the AV Club isn’t covering each ep! The cast is awesome. Really great acting. Exciting story. I know nothing about the doc, so will be fun to catch up on both at the same time.