The Staircase Review: HBO Miniseries if You Are Fans of True Crime Drama It Is a Must Watch | Episode 1 to 3

Stars: Parker Posey, Toni Collette, Sophie Turner

Directors: Antonio Campos, Leigh Janiak

Streaming Platform: HBO Max

Filmyhype.com Ratings: 4/5 (four stars) [yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]

Accident or Murder? Review of The Staircase, the HBO Max miniseries that reviews the Michael Peterson case with a great cast led by Toni Collette and Colin Firth. If, like the person who writes these lines, you are a fan of the subgenre of real crimes or true crime it is quite likely that the story of The Staircase is familiar to you.

This is one of the best-known criminal cases in the United States, which put the spotlight on Michael Peterson, a writer who was accused of brutally beating his wife to death, after trying to make the authorities believe that he had fallen down the stairs and that he had died as a victim of a fortuitous accident. Go ahead, you have the documentary series by Jean-Xavier de Lestrade with the same title and made up of thirteen episodes, available on Netflix, but this miniseries premiered on HBO Max on May 5 not only ignores it but also explores what it meant for the investigation and the judicial ruling, in addition to the fact that, in some way, it serves as a fictitious exercise “behind the cameras”.

The Staircase Review: The Story

But let’s go by parts: on December 9, 2001, the emergency services received a distressing call in which Michael Peterson requested help since his wife had fallen down the stairs. Shortly after he would do a second, assuring that he was no longer breathing and requesting that the ambulance arrive as soon as possible. Given that it is impossible to know what happened in this time-lapse, The Staircase begins in the most neutral way possible: it only presents us with the recreation of the audio of both calls while we follow the restrooms from above and later adopt the perspective of one of their children who contemplates the corpse in astonishment when he returns from a party.

However, the scene was so bloody and the evidence so incriminating those authorities soon suspected Michael. For example, part of his blood had begun to coagulate, giving rise to the idea that some time had elapsed between the fall and the call, and in addition, the autopsy confirmed that repeated blows to the skull of his wife, were lethal. After being accused of murder, he was prosecuted in one of the most mediatic trials to date, which incidentally became one of the pillars of the documentary series produced by Canal+ in 2004, which was considered one of the pioneers in the genre and continued the entire process in real-time. So much so that in 2012 it was extended with a double episode and in 2017 Netflix produced three more, counting the outcome of the case.

The Staircase Review and Analysis

The first doubt that you will have as viewers is what this miniseries, which is also part of fiction, has to add to a case as documented and followed as this one, in which it seems that little more needs to be said, although they have never come to clarify the all the facts. As a starting point, it is interesting that it seems IMPOSSIBLE to know the truth: this is something that seems to fascinate the creator Antonio Campos who recreates different hypotheses and shows the pain of the extended family, the past that Michael pretends to hide but that seems intimately linked to the facts and another series of issues such as the notorious inability of justice.

Narratively, The Staircase also shakes us, taking us forwards and backward as it pleases us to piece together the puzzle of all the details: financial difficulties, Michael’s previous relationships, the adoption of his children, the breakdown of family cohesion, and the crooked political career. Layers and layers that cast lights and shadows on a character hidden among grays. Among the great successes of this project is having a dazzling cast: Colin Firth and Toni Collette are two institutions but watch out for exceptional secondary characters like Michael Sylhbarg, Dane DeHaan, and Sophie Turner.

Much more importance is given to the dialogues and the images than to the musical plane and that sometimes results in the becoming somewhat long. Keep in mind that sometimes they exceed an hour. Be that as it may, the ambition of The Staircase is very great and the question remains passionate: was it an accident or a murder? A homicidal attack or an owl attacks the result of bad luck? We are still hanging on to these questions. The notorious case of The Staircase is now back in fiction and adding the impact that the docuseries had on Michael Peterson’s sentence, making a very interesting metalinguistic exercise. It’s an efficient extension of the docuseries, trying new perspectives and delivering performances as riveting as the case itself.

The Staircase Review: The Last Words

In the center, is the great mystery that in real life after several legal proceedings remain unsolved: how did Kathleen Peterson die? I don’t know if they will finally do it, because it wasn’t part of the documentary material, but I’m looking forward to an episode with the owl theory. If you have reached today without knowing anything about the original case, do not look for it now, let yourself be carried away by this incredible story. I’ve only seen four episodes, but The Staircase has been a surprise and I think it will be for you too. If you are fans of true crime, it is, without a doubt, a must.