The Staircase

[bubbadabut]

I also think this series has done poor Kathleen a great disservice. Showing her getting rimmed at the kitchen sink, getting fingered in the bath, shagged on the dressing table. So disrespectful and awful for her sisters and daughter. I know they have to ramp up the drama but this was a real person.

 

[ahtisyourself]

This guy is as guilty as sin! He didn’t even attempt CPR! Also who, upon seeing the state of Kathleen, would immediately assume she had fallen down the stairs? I would assume an intruder had been in and she had been beaten. He set the scene straight away by saying she had fallen down the stairs. He has never even attempted to wonder what happened to her because he knows what happened and he knows he is responsible. He is a sick and twisted liar who was using her for the house and money. He was broke af and she had money. He was shagging all around him and when she caught wind he freaked out and ended her. And don’t even get me started on the owl nonsense. Such an insult to her memory to even go there. She had one measly feather in her hair because she had been sitting outside under a tree

 

[Sketchy]

Something very shifty about Michael Peterson, and I can't stand the sound of his voice - which he, himself, seems to love the sound of ... the man seems to adore himself.

Have to say, Colin Firth is doing a brilliant job on The Staircase - even has the horrible voice down to a fine art.

 

[Stillwater]

The documentary makers are portrayed as being sympathetic to him in the Netflix series - seemed to me anyway.

What a vile man. A user, if nothing else (I think he’s guilty).

 

[Jen667]

I'm enjoying it. Completely convinced of his guilt and that he killed the mother of his adopted daughters too. i refuse to believe that the second wife knew and tolerated his gay promiscuity, I can't think of any wife that would be ok with that and risking her sexual health.

 

[ahtisyourself]

She was also strangled as she had a broken thyroid cartilage. An owl didn’t do that to her. The whole owl theory is an insulting pile of dung.

 

[bubbadabut]

I just can't give the owl theory any credence at all. I'm sure Peterson himself has said he doesn't believe it either. I think when people hear about the feathers, they think of the ones we see in pillows or cushions. The actual feathers are microscopic, invisible to the human eye. So small, that a renowned ornithology expert from the Smithsonian could not identify them from any particular type of bird. As far as I'm aware, they've never even been tested for bird DNA, therefore they've never even been identified as owl feathers at all. They could be pigeon, sparrow, anything.

I have wooden stairs, and they attract all kinds of detritus like a bitch. I can guarantee that if I put water on my hand, a forensic expert would find microscopic feathers on it, along with all other kinds of animal and insect matter.

Her injuries in no way resemble other injuries from bird strikes. No puncture wounds, etc. I am almost certain that the feathers were picked up from where she was sitting outside, or picked up from the stairs, by sticking to her blood. An owl would've left more than 2 tiny, microscopic feathers.

She was killed by a human, most probably her husband. If not him, one of her step-sons, and least likely, by an intruder.

 

[TheOpposite]

The first wife never died. The one who ended up at the bottom of the stairs in Germany was Martha and Margaret’s mother. His first wife was the mother of the two boys and they adopted the girls after their mother’s death.

I watched the Netflix doc ages ago but wasn’t it heavily hinted that he was the girls biological dad? i thought the Owl theory was bandied about because she had lacerations but no skull fractures? Which is why the poker as a murder weapon was contested?

My memory is getting shit nowadays or I watch too many of these crimes that I can’t remember what murder weapon goes with what murder

 

[Tui]

Fascinated by this case. Have seen the Netflix doco and listened to the bbc podcast which added interesting info about the financial difficulties the Petersens had.

I don’t think he was involved in the friends death in Germany. The PM said she had no head injuries but cranium filled with blood, recent headaches, I think they decided it was a subarachnoid haemorrhage? Which fits. She just so happened to be standing at the top of the stairs when she lost consciousness.

I still just cannot decide whether he killed Kathleen. With the financial difficulties and affairs there was possible motive, he was physically strong enough to have the means to kill, but I found the blood spatter evidence quite interesting especially just the limited physical space in the stairwell to bludgeon someone with a long blowpoke without striking the walls etc with the poke. She was intoxicated with diazepam in her system, I know it sounds batshit but I can’t discount owl theory. The lacerations on her scalp are consistent with a raptor attack, there were many reports of owls taking hats or clipping humans heads in the area, lots of tree cover when you see their garden… it’s not completely beyond the realm of possibility that she was struck by an owl and disorientated and intoxicated struggled up the stairs then fell to the bottom and bled out. From the evidence I’ve seen I definitely feel there is sufficient reasonable doubt.

 

[Smca53]

Gutting when you get to the end of episode 3 and realise they’re weekly from now on

I’m positive he did it

 

[Vee6]

He so did it

 

[bubbadabut]

Just watched the last one.

Spoiler

That final scene with him smirking. Reminded me of that scene in "The Jinx" where he says "killed 'em all".

I didn't realise he wasn't still with Sophie. What a chump she was to believe him, he's obviously a serial liar. I was hoping their house together was a bungalow, for her sake.

 

[LemonPledge]

I was hoping the dramatised version might present a different angle to the case, but some of the producers of the documentary are co-executive producers on the series, so it will probably present the same version of events and lean towards Michael's innocence.

I think the series is cast incredibly well, I wasn't sure about Colin Firth as Michael Petersen to begin with but he nails the tone of voice and mannerisms. I guess it helps when you have hours of documentary footage to work with!

 

[ahtisyourself]

I’d say Todd knows more than he is letting on but can’t say too much without being done for withholding. I’ve no doubt he’s going through something right now but I also believe he’s telling the truth about Michael.

 

[bubbadabut]

I think the casting is excellent, especially the two prosecutors.

The Petersons are such a creepy family. In real life, the one played by Sophie Turner looks a lot like Michael. Wouldn't be surprised if he was her biological father. She was always the one who was most steadfast in her support of him.

 

[Multi-21]

I watched the documentary on Netflix and now the first three episodes of the adaptation with Colin Firth and Toni Colette. Still can’t make up my mind if he did it or not!

 

[ahtisyourself]

I think exactly the same about the scene, if I walked in on my partner in that state my first thought would be someone had attacked him and I would more than likely describe the scene to the emergency services ie at the bottom of the stairs covered in blood but that I didn’t know what had happened

100% I’d assume a burglary gone wrong or something. She was in such a state and there was so much blood that I wouldn’t think for one second that it was a fall down the stairs. He knows what happened.

 

[Heyholetsgo]

To quote Twin Peaks " The Owls are not what they seem!"

 

[Stillwater]

I viewed that as part of his manipulation I suppose. She’s ostensibly enjoying a vibrant, healthy sex life but he’s keeping her where he needs her (“satisfied”) to carry on funding his life and disguising his man activity.

 

[Holmessk]

I viewed that as part of his manipulation I suppose. She’s ostensibly enjoying a vibrant, healthy sex life but he’s keeping her where he needs her (“satisfied”) to carry on funding his life and disguising his man activity.

I wondered if they were trying to show she was in sexual thrall with him which might be a reason to put up with his god awful behaviour /personality. He totally did it. I've watched both and I said it from episode 1.