Anyone watching The Staircase remake? [Contains spoilers]

[MrsPelligrinoPetrichor]

I tried to search for an existing thread but the new AS is shockingly bad so thought I'd start one

Anyone watching this new series of the Netflix documentary? Colin Firth is really badly cast imo, everyone else is great.

It swings from being like a channel 5 Sunday afternoon film to really ,really graphic!

I've watched the first 3 episodes.

[Title edited by MNHQ to include spoiler warning]

I suppose the dramatisation draws more of a picture of Kathleen, who is really just a battered body in the doc.

That body language video is great, I love those guys 😂

But I think he's brilliant. He doesn't play him as a 'baddy'. He just plays a man who can't imagine the world ever revolving around anyone other than himself.

Have you seen the real Peterson?

He's so animated and such a story teller,you don't get any of that from Firth.

I found the scene when Kathleen tripped up the stairs in her flip flops horrifying to watch and hear. I had to fast forward it.

I didn't think he came off as naive at all in the doc!
He was made to look v sympathetic by the producer, who he happened to be having an affair with!

Throughout he tries really hard to play the victim but there are multiple moments where the mask slips- he's extremely protective of his reputation so hates the idea that theguay escorts story will come out, and he vile about his dead wife's sister- he calls her unhinged and insane, and laughs at her with his kids.
She's the grieving sister of the supposed love of his life FFS!

It was a fascinating doc and left me convinced that even if he didn't batter her (prosecution weren't v convincing I thought) he at least shoved her violently down.

Saying that I have no interest in watching a fictionalised version- the doc was too interesting.

It was so well done but so graphic, as it should be ,I don't think it should be glossed over but yeah, really made us wince when we watched it too!

1000 people die each year from falling down the stairs ,I just googled!!

I don’t really understand the point of remaking it - is it worth watching? The documentary was addictive, just so weird.

I'm not sure you'll learn anything new,the documentary was so good.

I didn't think he came off as naive at all in the doc!
He was made to look v sympathetic by the producer, who he happened to be having an affair with!

Ooh, that's new information for me. I clearly need to get up to speed on this. I just came across a YouTube video from four months ago in which Tod (who seems very troubled) appears to now denounce his father as a serial killer, implicating him in the recent death of ex wife Pattie. What a mess.

How did Pattie die?!

Heart attack. Todd is claiming Michael was present and didn't call 911 for three hours until Todd arrived and took over. To be fair in the video he comes across as deranged.

I'm listening to BBC sounds a podcast called 'beyond reasonable doubt' about this case. Fascinating. He did it for sure.

The affair with the producer story came out after the documentary.
Apparently the producer contacted him- said she was convinced he was innocent and wanted to make the documentary about his case.
It might explain why he was so nuanced in the doc- he clearly knew he was controlling the narrative.
His moments of rage always appear when things don't go his way.
He's clearly an image obsessed control freak.
Don't want to armchair-diagnose but from what I hear about narcissism he clearly fits the bill.

Is that the one with her sister? I found that so sad.

Most definitely!!

That's quite something to have 3 partners to have died regardless of circumstances!

I can't remember the situation with Todd but at some point he was under suspicion especially as there'd been an incident beforehand - can't remember what it was as I watched the doc years ago.

Am watching but there's something missing for me in Firth's performance, and indeed the whole thing. I can't quite put my finger on it. Feels like watching through a screen.

Have just got to the part where it is revealed that he found Martha and Margaret's mother Liz at the bottom of a staircase too. Paraphrasing Oscar Wilde, "To lose one may be regarded as misfortune, to lose two is carelessness". Deeply suspicious.

I feel so sorry for Kathleen. But what possessed her to take on a man with so much baggage and such a messy family? Also feel v sorry for Caitlin.

Patty was quite an eccentric character.

That's quite something to have 3 partners to have died regardless of circumstances!
There is only a hint that MP was having an affair with Elisabeth Ratcliffe.

I didn't for one moment perceive Michael Peterson as naive in the documentary. He was a twisty manipulator and came off as guilty as sin even in a documentary that was completely one sided.

I agree, no naievity at all.

I have started watching this but glad I watched the documentary first. I think the thing that struck me was the two daughters who never seemed to question anything he told them, they were just all in he's innocent. It seemed weird, like some kind of blind faith. He's the kind of bloke I'd expect to find leading a cult.

I also recently watched Married to a Psychopath on channel 4 - when they've got away with it they'll keep trying....

Yes, ok, not naive. I think I was just struck by the contrast between the real Mike and Firth's version having not seen the docu first. Wrong word. I suppose there's something a little childlike in his demeanour. But I'm now 9 episodes in and really fed up with all the bonhomie, back slapping and raucous laughter within the family and between him and the lawyers. It's all so false.

The absolute adoration the girls have for him doesn't come across at all in the re make.