HBO’s ‘The Staircase’ Episode 8: Freedom for Peterson, but questions linger
HBO Max’s new series “The Staircase” is a dramatic retelling of the 2001 death of Kathleen Peterson and the Durham murder trial of her husband, Michael.
The scripted series, starring Colin Firth as Michael Peterson and Toni Collette as Kathleen Peterson, is based on the Netflix documentary series of the same, but draws on other source material and takes dramatic license — which makes for a very different viewing experience than fans of the documentary have known.
The series was created, produced, written and directed by Antonio Campos, with Maggie Cohn as co-showrunner.
HBO Max released the series on May 5, with a new episode debuting each Thursday through June 9.
We’re recapping all of the episodes. This week we have the final installment: Episode 8: “America’s Sweetheart or Time Over Time.”
Note: The narrative of Campos’ dramatic retelling of the Peterson saga jumps around in time. Even though many of us — locals who lived through the original coverage of the case and those who have watched the documentary series — likely know the significance of various plot points, we’ll try in the recaps to stick with the dramatic timeline and not spoil events that take place in future episodes.
Also note: Remember, this is a dramatic scripted version of events, which means some things depicted may or may not have happened the way we see.
Below the recap you’ll find links to other coverage of “The Staircase,” including a timeline of Peterson events, an update on where major players in the case are now, a closer look at The Owl Theory and more.
‘Why are we really sitting here?’
FEBRUARY 24, 2017: We open once again on the day of the Alford Plea. If you remember from Episode 7, Michael had told his attorney David Rudolf (Michael Stuhlbarg) that he was not taking the plea because it would mean admitting that he killed Kathleen.
Now, he’s back in front of Jean-Xavier de Lestrade’s (Vincent Vermignon) camera, and he has something he wants to say. Michael rubs his eyes and wipes away tears. He wants to talk about baseball, he says. He looks at the clock and it’s just after 3 p.m.
“Why are we really sitting here, Michael?” de Lestsrade asks.
After a break for opening credits, we see the clock about half an hour later and Michael says: “That’s all I’ve got to say.” What?!? We don’t know what he said.
Michael asks de Lestrade if they’re friends and de Lestrade says yes. Michael asks him not to say anything to Sophie, to just let her see it.
Michael leaves the room and de Lestrade looks troubled.
He walks into the hallway, where Sophie Brunet (Juliette Binoche) and Rudolf are waiting, and they walk away.
The night before the retrial hearing
DECEMBER 9, 2011: We back up a bit to the night before the hearing to request a new trial. We’re at the Durham Clarion Inn with Peterson’s family. Bill (Tim Guinee), Patty (Trini Alvarado) and Clayton (Dane DeHaan) exchange tense glances while Clayton’s kids play in the pool.
Then we see Todd (Patrick Schwarzenegger) doing a social media video from his hotel room, letting his followers know that he’s “not on a Cabo diet today” because he’s back in Durham with his family, eating beef sliders.
Todd talks to Clayton about building his online following. Clayton asks if some of the people are true crime fans and Todd says yes, but adds that even the people who don’t like their dad are glad that he’s doing well. “You’re doing great, man,” Clayton says, and Todd looks genuinely happy.
Then we switch to Martha (Odessa Young) and Margaret’s (Sophie Turner) hotel room. Martha is coloring her hair (again), while Margaret lies on the bed thumbing through a paperback copy of Michael’s war novel “Bitter Peace.” Martha says that her therapist recommended reading it years ago, but she’d put it off till now. “There’s a lot to dissect in there, Margie,” she says.
Martha’s phone dings and Margaret picks it up and says: “you have a match. You want to see?” Martha pauses and then asks Margaret to check it. Margaret looks at the match and looks confused. Then says, “She’s cute” and shows the phone to Martha.
Margaret stands in the bathroom door, smiling, and Martha asks her why she’s smiling. Margaret tells her she never said anything to her (about her sexuality) and Martha says: “You never asked, no one ever asked me. I would have told you.”
Margaret says she figured she didn’t want to talk about it, and Martha points out that’s the problem with their family — they never talk about anything. Margaret didn’t ask about her trip to Germany, she says, and Margaret wonders why everything has to be so serious all the time. Margaret’s birthday is the next day and she says she just wants to eat candy and “act like 15-year-olds who’ve never had a hotel room to themselves.”
Margaret wants to “celebrate the moment,” she says.
A Durham Herald Christmas Ball?
DECEMBER 7, 2001: The day before Kathleen’s death, Michael awakens and walks to the attic door — which is still wide open and he still doesn’t bother to close it! — and he peers upward. Then we see Kathleen sitting in her office at work. She glances at her computer screen, which shows the nosedive in Nortel stocks.
Kathleen calls her sister Candace (Rosemarie DeWitt), to whom she hasn’t spoken since their fight at Thanksgiving. Kathleen thanks her for hosting the family for the holiday. Candace doesn’t seem thrilled to talk to her, but asks her if work is better and Kathleen says no. She says they’re sending her to Toronto the next week. Candace tells Kathleen she’s at the doctor’s office, but is vague about why she’s there.
Kathleen proposes she ditch her Toronto trip and she and Candace take off for Turks and Caicos. Candace laughs and asks if she’s joking and Kathleen says of course and they hang up.
Kathleen opens her email and there’s something there from Michael.
He tells her he snagged two tickets to the Durham Herald Christmas Ball (was that a thing?!). It was sold out, he says, but he “pulled some strings.” Then he adds: “You looked great last night. If ONLY we hadn’t gone to Pao Lim. Let’s work on our marriage tonight.”
Kathleen looks irritated.
Enjoy your Prince Charming
DECEMBER 7, 2001: Next we see Michael pulling into the driveway at home, and he looks up at the trees. More “owl” foreshadowing.
He walks into the house and hears music blasting upstairs (“Tell It To My Heart”). He calls out to Kathleen and finds her in their room, drinking wine and getting dressed for the big Durham Herald Christmas Ball. She’s in a great mood and they have sex on the dressing table.
Michael and Kathleen attend the ball and have a great time, they can’t keep their hands off each other.
Jim Hardin is there! What? While in the bathroom, we see that Kathleen is still having neck pain from her pool injury. She takes a pain pill and stares into the mirror. Then Freda Black walks in. What!!?? Kathleen tells her she likes her makeup.
“Enjoy your Prince Charming!” Freda calls out to Kathleen as she leaves.
Kathleen goes back out and she and Michael dance to a sexy version of “Dream a Little Dream of Me” (there’s a live band at this big Durham Herald Christmas Ball).
Then we see them dancing to fast music, jumping around the dance floor to “Finally (It Has Happened To Me)“ and then later slow dancing again to “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” — laughing and giggling and having a great time.
At home later, Michael wakes up from a nightmare and looks at Kathleen beside him.
Candace speaks in court
DECMEMBER 2011: Now we’re at the place where we learn how we got from Michael in prison to Michael in street clothes in 2017 fretting over his Alford plea: a hearing in which Rudolf presents evidence of misconduct by NC SBI — by agent Duane Deaver (Myke Holmes) in particular.
We see Michael’s family in the gallery and we see Kathleen’s sisters Candace Zamperini (DeWitt) and Lori Campbell (Maria Dizzia) walk in. Candace notices Brunet and whispers to Lori: “That’s the girlfriend, poor stupid woman.”
DA Tracey Cline (Ro Underwood) is at the prosecutor’s table and de Lestrade and his film crew are catching it all.
Michael walks in, sits down and smiles at his family.
Judge Orlando Hudson (Eric Lee) is seated.
FEBRUARY 2017: The action then flips to 2017 for the Alford plea hearing. Michael’s family isn’t there — just Sophie — but Candace and Lori are there, as well as Kathleen’s daughter, Caitlin Atwater (Olivia DeJonge). Caitlin asks Candace where she thinks everyone is and Candace says, “I guess they came to their senses.”
Candace asks to make a statement before the court. And it’s quite the statement, full of heartbreak and anger.
As she speaks, recounting for the court the horrors of losing her sister in such a violent way, the scene flips back and forth from the 2017 hearing to the 2011 hearing, showing her speaking against Michael at both.
Alford Schmalford
DECEMBER 2011: Judge Hudson thanks Zamperini for her moving words, but in each instance decides against her wishes. In 2011, he allows the hearing to go forward, and this is where we pick up again, on the 10th anniversary of Kathleen’s death.
Evelyn Ivins (Deja Dee) is on the stand, testifying about her research into the Greg Taylor (Daniel P. Wilson) case and the conduct of the NC SBI, saying the organization participated in unconstitutional behavior.
Then Rudolf’s investigator Ron Guerette (Robert Crayton) is testifying about Deaver’s experience, presenting evidence that he lied under oath about his experience and work.
Rudolf’s closing statement recounts the original defense argument of the case: that Kathleen died from a fall, and that Deaver is the only reason the jury was convinced her death was murder.
“We never asked for a perfect trial, but we at least deserved a fair one,” Rudolf says.
Time-hopping
2011: Judge Hudson grants a new trial in the 2011 timeline and Michael is freed.
2017: Judge Hudson accepts Michael’s Alford plea (which amounts to a guilty plea to a voluntary manslaughter charge) in the 2017 timeline, and he is really free, with time served.
2011: In the 2011 timeline, a guard removes Michael’s wrist and leg chains and puts an ankle monitor on him, telling him he has a 10 p.m. curfew that will be strictly monitored.
2011: The family celebrates his release with champagne (Todd abstains). Michael says he wants to have dinner at Amalfi’s for dinner, a place they used to go to all the time. Clayton calls to make a reservation and the owner gets on the line and says “We don’t seat convicted killers” and hangs up. Clayton tells the family that the restaurant can’t take a party that large, and they decide on Baja Palace instead.
2017: Margaret is at work (film editing) and gets a text from Clayton, showing his kids at a soccer game. She responds asking if he saw that “Dad took the plea” and Martha responds with “Thank God” and Todd replies “Finally” and Clayton says “Should we have gone today?”
Margaret replies “No. It’s still hard to be around him.”
We see Martha at some sort of dance/therapy rehearsal. She texts the group: “I agree. We all have better things to think about.”
Then we see Todd doing another social media video, telling his followers how much their support has meant to him.
Meanwhile, Kathleen’s sisters Lori and Candace are at dinner. Lori says she feels nothing, Candace says she’s still angry. Candace says they all knew something was “wrong” with Michael and they should have warned Kathleen.
“You can’t stop fate,” Lori says. “Kathleen died the day that she met him.”
America’s Sweethearts
December 8, 2001: Now it’s 2001, hours before Kathleen’s death, and we see the “America’s Sweetheart” DVD dropped onto a table at the Peterson house.
Kathleen is soaking in the tub and Michael sits beside her and asks what she’s thinking about. She’s thinking about how she’d like to go to Paris and Aruba, she says, but all she can afford is Durham.
They can also afford pasta and Blockbuster, Michael says, and he slips his hand into the tub.
2011: After Michael’s release pending a new trial, the family is at Baja Palace ordering food, and people at tables nearby are taking photos. Todd looks stressed and asks for a double tequila. Only Clayton notices (or cares).
Margaret produces the brass chalice, pours margaritas into it and tries to start with a toast to Michael.
He tells her not to start with him, so she starts with Sophie. Then Sophie toasts Martha, Martha toasts Patty, and it continues to go around the table. Michael seems physically uncomfortable the entire time.
Patty announces that she’s going to relocate to Durham to be closer to the family. Clayton tries to toast Todd but Todd is drunk by now, and knocks guacamole out of a waiter’s hands. Todd toasts Michael, saying he’s made him the man he is today.
It’s Michael’s turn to speak and he has trouble saying what he wants to say, gets up and goes to the bathroom. Todd offers to go with him and Michael snaps at him, telling him he’s still able to (use the bathroom) on his own. He seems lightheaded.
2001: Kathleen and Michael are watching “America’s Sweetheart” and Todd comes in and tells them he’s going to a Christmas party with Christina Tomasetti, and Michael points out that she’s engaged to someone else. “Just like your father,” Kathleen says laughing.
A disastrous dinner ends
2011: Martha talks to Michael about his novel (the one she’s reading). He’s pleased and flattered. He says that Kathleen always says he’s all the characters in his books. Martha mentions the queer character in his book and says she understands how hard it must have been for him as a teenager. He’s instantly uncomfortable and says that book is not his best work.
Michael then has Margaret pick a dessert and she picks cheesecake. Michael mocks her for picking cheesecake at a Mexican restaurant.
Outside, after dinner, Todd is very drunk as he hugs Michael goodbye.
In the car, Michael tells Brunet he’s worried about when they’ll send him back to prison and how he’ll survive while out because he’s broke. Brunet tells him she’s there and so are his kids.
In the parking lot, drunk Todd cries with Clayton. Patty goes over to help him get home.
Margaret and Martha sit on a bench smoking cigarettes. Martha gives Margaret a birthday present: a photo showing the view from their childhood bedroom in Germany.
Margaret, in tears, tells Martha about Michael trying to separate them when they were small. She said she didn’t tell Martha earlier because she was scared if it got out, it would hurt Michael, and she wasn’t thinking about Martha. “You weren’t,” Martha agrees.
Martha tells her she doesn’t need to protect her or anyone else anymore. They promise each other from here on out that they’ll live their own lives.
Michael and Sophie break up
2011: Michael and Brunet arrive home in the 2011 timeline, at her Durham apartment, and they get ready for bed. Michael seems nervous — it’s his first night with Brunet — and awkward sex follows.
2017: In the 2017 timeline, Michael and Brunet arrive home from the Alford plea and she’s in a hurry to pack, so that they can go to Paris as they’ve planned. Michael is watching himself in an interview with local TV station ABC11, and not super motivated to pack. In the interview, he’s asked if Kathleen is still part of his life and he says yes and wipes away tears as he talks about her. Brunet stands in the corner watching, seething.
Michael tells her he isn’t ready to go to Paris, that it’s all happening too fast. He suggests she go on without him and then he’ll follow.
Brunet reminds him that they’ve been planning on moving to Paris for months — years, even — and he wonders what another week will mean. He doesn’t want to leave his kids and grandkids, he says. They need him, he says. She tells him his kids don’t need him, they didn’t even come to his hearing.
A big fight follows.
Brunet then yells at MIchael that in all of his interviews he never mentions her, but “you keep saying this (expletive) about Kathleen walking through the door — I WALK THROUGH THE DOOR, not her!”
She tells him he will not edit her out of his life, she’s the editor, not him. He calls her controlling, says that she and Kathleen both always tried to control everything.
“Control? I’ve been taking care of you, like Kathleen took care of you!” Brunet yells. He tells her she thinks she knows everything about him, but he had a whole life before the documentary, and she knows nothing about it.
She asks if he’s going with her tomorrow and he says no. She tells him he’s the one who was always talking about “Paris, Paris, Paris, Paris” and he mutters, exasperated, “Shut up” and she screams at him. Finally he explodes, throws down some CDs he’s been shuffling and tells her he doesn’t want to live with her anymore. “Is that so hard for you to understand? I’m done! I’m [blanking] done!!” he screams.
He clasps his hand over his mouth and Brunet asks him if he ever loved her. “I don’t know,” he says. She starts crying, grabs her keys and purse and leaves.
‘I lied about Kathleen’
When we see Brunet again she’s in de Lestrade’s hotel room and they are watching the video that Michael made before the Alford plea — the one where he said he wanted to talk about baseball, and wanted Brunet to watch later.
Michael is talking about a baseball game that happened when he was a kid, 11 or 12 years old. One night he said he was fantasizing about a girl and suddenly “he” was there, in the fantasy, and it was very confusing to him. De Lestrade asks him who he means and he says “the shortstop.”
It was at that moment that Michael says he realized he had “a great attraction” for females, but for men also, and he knew it was something he’d have to hide. But one night his father found them “experimenting” and he got angry and violent.
Michael says he remembers sitting in the car afterward with his mother, listening to Mahler’s 5th Symphony with a black eye, and he knew then that it was easier and safer to lie about his sexuality.
De Lestrade asks him if there’s anything more he’d like to say, something he’d been holding back.
“I lied about Kathleen,” he says. “She never knew. I never told her about that side of me.”
He explains that he told people she knew me, hoping that would be enough, but he says they never talked about it. As he talks, tears roll down his face.
“I could never make the leap to say to her ‘this is who I am.’ To make that leap is very difficult and I never made the leap with Kathleen. Sure, I felt guilty, but when you get away with something and you keep getting away with it, it becomes ... it’s alright. I wish I could have told her. I wonder what she would have said. She’d have made it right.”
De Lestrade asks him if he killed Kathleen.
“Kathleen’s death was an accident,” Michael responds.
De Lestrade turns off the video and Brunet says: “This man, this man is a liar. He lied about everything. Everything! The whole time he lied.” De Lestrade tells her that maybe this is him trying to stop
“I don’t know what to think,” he says. “I don’t know. But I know you will be happier without him.”
“He didn’t,” she says. “He couldn’t.” De Lestrade shrugs and shakes his head.
A last conversation by the pool
DECEMBER 9, 2001: Hours before her death, we see Kathleen at the answering machine listening to a message from Caitlin, who tells her she can’t wait to see her at Christmas. Kathleen smiles.
Then she gets a work call from someone saying they need to get on a conference call the next day to get some things straight before she leaves for Toronto. She sighs. She calls the person back and tells her she left her laptop at the office, and asks her to send the presentation to Michael’s email address.
She lets Michael know that she’ll need to access his email to get the work info. He says OK but asks her not to do it that night, to wait until morning, so that they can enjoy their night.
Then we see them sitting by the pool drinking wine.
This is where it gets trippy. (While the following poolside conversation happens, we see flashes of all the adult children living their lives in 2017)
Kathleen tells Michael that Caitlin called and that she’s driving down for Christmas and she’s “bringing the baby.” She asks if he has talked to Margaret and he says no. She chastises him for never talking to her about her divorce. Then she says that Martha is doing better, finally doing what she wants. She says Martha has a dance recital and Margaret is there with her, the way she should be.
“They’re all OK,” Kathleen tells him. “You’ll be OK, too.”
She stands up and looks at him and says, “Why didn’t you tell me?”
Michael: “There was a moment where I knew who I was but it was just a moment. And that became one thing after another. I got further and further from that moment. And then you came along. So far from that moment. It wasn’t a lie, it just wasn’t the whole thing. What two people really know each other, really? Most of it is just smoke and mirrors. People don’t actually know who they’re with.”
Then we see Michael inside his apartment after Brunet has left, leaving a message for one of the kids, letting them know he’s not going to Paris, and saying he hopes they can all get together soon.
He puts out photos of Kathleen all over the apartment — him with Kathleen, Kathleen with the kids — and then sits down on his bed. He looks at her picture on his nightstand. Then he stares off into space as the camera slowly moves around him, from his back until it’s directly in front of his face. His eyes raise a little to look into the camera.
He smiles every so slightly, and then the smile fades.
The screen fades to black and then these words appear: “Despite the freedom to go anywhere, Michael never left Durham, NC. He still maintains his innocence in the death of Kathleen Atwater Peterson.”
THE END.
Recaps of HBO Max ‘Staircase’ episodes
HBO’s “The Staircase” Episode 1: The death of Kathleen Peterson and an arrest
HBO’s “The Staircase” Episode 2: Peterson prepares his defense, the French arrive
HBO’s “The Staircase” Episode 3: Building a case, Peterson’s trial begins
HBO’s “The Staircase” Episode 4: The verdict and another version of Kathleen’s death
HBO’s ‘The Staircase’ Episode 5: Prison life and a fight about documentary’s balance
HBO’s ‘The Staircase’ Episode 6: The Owl Theory takes flight + preparing for Alford
HBO’s ‘The Staircase’ Episode 7: SBI and the undoing of the case against Peterson
More coverage of HBO’s Peterson saga ‘The Staircase’
You can find more coverage of the HBO Max series “The Staircase” and the trial of Michael Peterson at newsobserver.com/topics/staircase. Here are a few of the stories:
▪ HBO Max’s “Staircase” series: What to expect (vs. the Netflix option) and how to watch
▪ The “Staircase” Peterson saga in pop culture: movies, TV, books and podcasts
▪ “The Staircase” updates: Whatever happened to key people (and Durham house)
▪ A “Staircase” timeline: From Kathleen Peterson’s death to her husband’s trial and plea
▪ Who is Larry Pollard from HBO’s ‘Staircase’? The Owl Theory, ‘smoking feather’ and more
▪ HBO’s ‘The Staircase’: Who was Kathleen Peterson and where did she work?
