The Staircase (2022), Part One
The Staircase follows the trial of Michael Peterson, who’s the prime suspect in the death of his wife, Kathleen, when she’s found at the bottom of their stairs with several blunt force trauma blows to the back of her head. The case is often touted as the first true crime story. I don’t agree with that idea, because as long as there have been mass media or back fences there have been true crime stories (One great example is the radio series, This Is Your FBI, but I digress).
Anyway, the Peterson case has been examined ad nauseum. There have been documentaries, podcasts, articles, news segments, and so on. Anything that can hold words is fair game. My husband has sought out most of them, which is why he doesn’t want to see The Staircase: He hit his saturation point a long time ago.
I’m just the opposite since I know next to nothing about the case, and the first episode of The Staircase, “911” is initially intriguing. Colin Firth and Toni Collette are their usual powerhouse selves, especially Firth, who gives a very measured performance as what appears to be the grieving, confused Michael. At first his family rallies around him, but as more details come out about Michael’s private life, certain family members have to re-examine how they feel about Kathleen’s death and their view of Michael himself.
The second episode, “Chiroptera,” examines the weird dichotomy between the ongoing investigation and the various filmmakers who were already looking to dramatize the Peterson case for an interested public. In one scene a member of Michael’s legal team lays down at the bottom of the stairs, where Kathleen’s blood is still all over the wall, by way of piecing together exactly what happened, and Michael walks off looking incredibly uncomfortable.
Episode three, “The Great Dissembler,” shows both the prosecution and the defense trying to piece together their arguments. One side wants to prove that Kathleen had a balance issue, such as when she fell down the attic stairs after a bat flew in her face. The other side wants to prove Michael bludgeoned Kathleen with a blow poke. Unfortunately, this is where the show gets pretty sexually explicit, although it’s not the first instance of nudity in the series.
Not only that, but the opening scene features one of the daughters with her lesbian lover, which makes the family’s earlier shock and revulsion at Peterson’s bisexuality a bit hypocritical. Granted, the family may not have known about the daughter at this point, provided the lesbian lover even existed, but it just deepens the already strange pall hanging over the family.
The Staircase feels very flat and limp in terms of tone and overall interest. It plays like a docudrama without the tension and many of the actors seem like they’re just above comatose. Some of it is plainly awkward. While I like Colin Firth, his attempt at a North Carolinian drawl is painful to listen to. Half the time he sounds like he’s got marbles in his mouth.
Toni Collette wisely avoids affectation, but doesn’t have much to do beyond falling down the stairs and looking dead behind the eyes. Her fellow castmembers are oftentimes in the same boat; even though there are some pretty competent names in there; Trini Alvarado has an all-too-brief appearance as Michael’s ex-wife, and Patrick Schwarzenegger as the oldest and steadiest son, Todd is no stranger to drama.
The series is also a little off-putting because while HBO has never been shy about sexual content, explicit or otherwise, Hollywood’s dogged committment to inclusivity casts the accuracy of the series in doubt. 2001 was a different time. We weren’t perfect, but certain aspects of life were handled differently. An exterminator, for instance, while talking about getting rid of bats, would not be dropping F-bombs because it’s unprofessional even if they’re a friend of the family. It was true then and it’s true now.
The Staircase is definitely not for everyone. I feel somewhat icky about it as a whole, but I would like to see where it goes so reviews of later episodes will be coming over the next month or so. Who knows, I may even delve into some of the background info of the Peterson case just so I have a better frame of reference and can sift out the true stuff from the Hollywood tokenism.
The Staircase can be seen on HBO Max. Rated TV-MA.
My grade: C
Principal cast: Colin Firth, Toni Collette, Parker Posey, Michael Stuhlbarg, Patrick Schwarzenegger, Dane DeHaan, Rosemarie DeWitt, Trini Alvarado
Created by Antonio Campos and Maggie Cohn