Are you watching The Staircase on HBO Max?

[Anonymous]

I watched the last episode and I'm more confused than ever. Michael seemed to have a really short temper. He was so nasty to Sophie. And what was going on with Todd?

[Anonymous]

So boring.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So boring.

I couldn't get through the first episode and I usually enjoy those lead actors.

[Anonymous]

I loved the show. Terrific camera work and acting.

[Anonymous]

There was a used condom found at the Peterson's after Kathleen's death. I'd like to know whose DNA was in/on it.

I'm wondering if Michael hooked up with LaCour and LaCour, now familiar with the house, surprised Kathleen and killed her with a flashlight to the skull.

Michael probably knows but didn't want to be blamed for bringing LaCour into their home or a delay in calling 911 or a clean up attempt, etc. Accessory after the fact, contributory homicide (if he had called 911 sooner she might have lived) etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:WOAH!! This video by Todd is insane. Says he killed Kathleen, says he killed Patty. It doesn’t even make sense! He is a damaged young man. https://youtu.be/2NI15RZN8wM

The son is even crazier than his father.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There was a used condom found at the Peterson's after Kathleen's death. I'd like to know whose DNA was in/on it.

I'm wondering if Michael hooked up with LaCour and LaCour, now familiar with the house, surprised Kathleen and killed her with a flashlight to the skull.

Michael probably knows but didn't want to be blamed for bringing LaCour into their home or a delay in calling 911 or a clean up attempt, etc. Accessory after the fact, contributory homicide (if he had called 911 sooner she might have lived) etc.

That was answered during the series that Todd has a wild party while Michael and Kathleen are away and has sex in their bed. He is seen throwing the condom on the floor.

[Anonymous]

I have to say I adore Colin Firth, even when he is cold and a jerk a la Mr Darcy (or Mark Darcy), but I had no idea he could be so effective as a sociopath. Jesus. That scene in the restaurant where Kathleen (Toni Colette) just goes off on him about how exhausted she is and tired from work and sick of supporting the family including his adult sons and fed up with him just puttering around the house and everything and then he just blinks at her and says "you used to be fun." I was ready to push him down a staircase. They are both so incredible this whole time. And Juliette Binoche!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have to say I adore Colin Firth, even when he is cold and a jerk a la Mr Darcy (or Mark Darcy), but I had no idea he could be so effective as a sociopath. Jesus. That scene in the restaurant where Kathleen (Toni Colette) just goes off on him about how exhausted she is and tired from work and sick of supporting the family including his adult sons and fed up with him just puttering around the house and everything and then he just blinks at her and says "you used to be fun." I was ready to push him down a staircase. They are both so incredible this whole time. And Juliette Binoche!

The acting was phenomenal.

[Anonymous]

I was very much on team innocent but that last episode….but with what weapon? I’m irrationally persuaded by the damn owl theory based on those head wounds.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was very much on team innocent but that last episode….but with what weapon? I’m irrationally persuaded by the damn owl theory based on those head wounds.

I have this theory that it was a combo. Like she fell down the stairs and was suffering and then he strangled her in that moment. But I feel like I only think that because of the scene where Kathleen hits the deer and then the police officer puts it out of his misery.

I still don't get how you get all those lacerations from a fall down the stairs with no fractures.

[Anonymous]

I'm watching the series now and the owl theory is just garbage. There is an ominous foreshadowing in episode 3 as she is parked in front of the house and hears an owl hissing and then hears a hoot as she is going in to the house. This is ridiculous and comical. I can't believe the film makers tried to make it look like owls are terrifying and some kind of dangerous menace. This is just bull.

This reminds me of the insane scenarios people were seriously trying to come up with to explain how the young couple died on a trail hike in California.

His lawyers were good if people are still debating this nonsense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm watching the series now and the owl theory is just garbage. There is an ominous foreshadowing in episode 3 as she is parked in front of the house and hears an owl hissing and then hears a hoot as she is going in to the house. This is ridiculous and comical. I can't believe the film makers tried to make it look like owls are terrifying and some kind of dangerous menace. This is just bull.

This reminds me of the insane scenarios people were seriously trying to come up with to explain how the young couple died on a trail hike in California.

His lawyers were good if people are still debating this nonsense.

His lawyers were good but seriously helped by a lack of evidence.

[Anonymous]

He's guilty.

It was a crime of passion, he didn't intend to kill her, but she was going to leave him. She was done with him and his kids sucking her dry and maybe she did find out about his sexual encounters.

He's a user and a grifter.

[Anonymous]

Okay, watched the HBO series -- after mistakenly watching the first episode of the Netflix doc and wondering when Toni Collette and Colin Firth were going to show up. LOL! Then I watched the Netflix doc. My thoughts:

Colin Firth is not likeable in the show but he has certain warmth that Mike Peterson lacks in the doc. I started to dislike Colin Firth when I saw how he treated his sons. The real Mike Peterson functioned very much on the surface and didn't seem authentic to me. I didn't like either one of them.

Despite the apparent character flaws of the real Mike Peterson, I don't think he did it - but if he did, there's not enough evidence to prove it beyond a reasonable doubt.

The most gripping part of the HBO series was the impact on the children. I was frustrated to find out later that some of what they went through was fabricated or not addressed in the doc, eg, Martha finding out her adoptive parents wanted to give her away and the competition between Todd and Clayton for their father's acceptance.

I also was annoyed that Sophie's relationship with Peterson is not addressed *at all* in the documentary. I wanted to know more about their relationship in real life. She said that she fell in love with him not through editing the documentary but afterwards when she started exchanging letters with him while he was in prison. But couldn't she see from the documentary footage that he was essentially a "surface" person (classic White Anglo-Saxon Protestant male - which I can say because that's my family background)? Those must have been some letters to make her fall in love with him after all that video evidence showing that he has difficulty expressing deep feelings.

And of course not knowing how Kathleen died will always bother me!