The Staircase

This series was rather good but a bit drawn out. They could have honestly cut an episode or two from this limited series and it would haver been a much leaner and tighter affair.

I knew nothing about this case despite the now well known documentary which I learned about through this series and watched on Netflix after completing this show but I will watch anything with Toni Collette and Juliette Binoche in it and both are excellent here.

The fact that this is based on a true story makes it even more incredible given the outcome about how Kathleen Petersen (Toni Collette) actually died makes for some fascinating, if uneven, viewing.

From creator Antonio Campos, HBO's "The Staircase" is an 8-part fictionalized dramatization of real life events based on the tendentious, transparently biased and manipulatively edited MaHa mockumentary from Jean-Xavier de Lestrade -- used by Michael Peterson to promote his fabricated fable featuring his wife, Kathleen, as a reckless woman who got too drunk, fell down the stairs and caused her own death.

Though initially a flat and, at times, fitful recounting of the basic facts covered in MaHa's docuseries, HBO's movie eventually manages to include some revealing and riveting moments behind the scenes of Michael's make-believe world.

While Lestrade left the dead victim on the cutting room floor, Campos' version brings Kathleen to life, examining some of the very real horrors she was facing at work and at home -- and in place of MaHa's one-big-happy fake family, HBO has scenes that hint at the dysfunctional dynamic that was truly at work in Michael's bat-infested mansion.

Of course, also included, much to Monsieur Lestrade's chagrin I'm certain, are scenes highlighting the questionable, curiously close relationships between Michael and MaHa's production team -- most notably, his long-term romantic involvement with Sophie Brunet, the main editor of Michael's movie.

HBO's new drama is good television, but for those who prefer non-fiction -- Michael's murderous machinations were laid bare, years ago, in the definitive book on the Peterson case: Written in Blood by Diane Fanning.

After three episodes, this is shaping up to be a fabulous story, it is true, yet ambiguous enough to carry tension and suspense. The cast is magnificent with strong headliners and a depth unusually strong for TV.

The pacing is good, though the heavy use of short and long scene non-linearity is haphazardly delineated, with occasional timestamps, but no stylistic changes making frequent rewinding necessary. Cinematography is generally well done, but there are some sporadic gimmicky techniques which detract by being more showy than necessary.

Colin Firth has brilliant range as novelist Michael Peterson, the husband in the frame for his wife, Kathleen's, probable murder. Not surprisingly there are fine performances too numerous to mention from a cast of this stature.

A persuasive story very well told, episode four cannot drop quickly enough!

Good performance by Firth. The "constantly back and forth narrative" was pointless and even irritating. A lot of scenes had no meaning whatsoever. It should have been 4 episodes, there's way too many pointless minutes.

This seems to be made in a way where the story just seems to drag on and on...

This could easily have been consolidated into a 4 or 5 episode series instead of the 8 episodes - the producers have stretched the story to the point where the viewer starts losing interest.

Also the way the timeline keeps switching between historical and present without giving the viewer much indication that we are going back in time can be confusing at times.

This could have been written so much better to reflect the true story this series is supposed to be based on. One could also argue that the creators also took a little too much artistic licence in telling the story.

Either way, it's not a complete waste of time, but the creation of this series was poorly executed in my opinion.