HBO’s ‘The Staircase’ Episode 1: The death of Kathleen Peterson and Michael’s arrest
HBO Max has released its new series “The Staircase,” a dramatic retelling of the 2001 death of Kathleen Peterson and the Durham murder trial of her husband, Michael — the longest murder trial in North Carolina history.
The dramatic 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 materia. So it’s not a straight retelling of the documentary. The series was created, produced, written and directed by Antonio Campos, with Maggie Cohn as co-showrunner.
HBO Max released the first three episodes — streaming only — on Thursday, May 5, with a new episode debuting each Thursday through June 9 .
We’re recapping episodes, starting here with Episode 1: 911.
Note: The narrative of Campos’ scripted 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 scripted version of events, which means some things (or many 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.
Of course, spoilers are ahead.
Episode 1: Kathleen’s death, 9/11 call
February 2017: Episode 1 opens on February 24, 2017, and a gray-haired Michael Peterson (Firth) crawls out of bed, then stands before a mirror, scratching at a spot on his necktie. He hears a child laughing and turns, and believes he sees a child run by. “Are the kids here?” he calls out? A woman’s voice answers and tells him no.
December 2001: Time immediately jumps to audio of the 911 call Michael Peterson made on the night Kathleen (Collette) died (Dec. 9, 2001), and Todd Peterson (Patrick Schwarzenegger) arriving home with a date to find police cars surrounding the house.
Todd walks across the lawn to the front door, passing two white reindeer lawn ornaments, one standing upright and the other on its side.
Police let Todd enter the home and he sees Kathleen’s lifeless body at the bottom of the back staircase, near the kitchen. The scene is bloody and graphic, and looks disturbingly realistic.
The house is swarming with police, but Todd finds his father and asks what happened. He tells Michael that Kathleen is dead and Michael runs to Kathleen’s body and throws himself on top of her. Police order Todd to make him stop and he helps Michael to a sink to wash his hands. A detective enters and tells him to stop washing his hands.
At several points, Todd asks for a grief counselor for his dad. Police tell them the house is a crime scene and they can’t leave.
Establishing themes: family, drinking
September 2001: We jump a little further back in 2001, to a party for Martha Ratliff (Odessa Young), who is going away to college. There are some important points to note in this scene:
- Kathleen’s daughter Caitlin Atwater (Olivia DeJonge) expresses a feeling that favoritism is being shown to Martha.
- We see Kathleen run up the back staircase and stumble.
- We see Todd on the phone talking about his FUTAZI website, which we can see in the background.
- At dinner, we get a toast from Michael that talks about the importance of family always sticking together.
- At the same dinner, Todd mentions the past few years being “tough” for his brother, Clayton (Dane DeHaan), and Michael cuts him off with, “We don’t talk about spring break.”
Word of Kathleen’s death spreads
December 2001: Todd calls Michael’s brother, Bill (Tim Guinee), to tell him that Kathleen is dead. Bill is a lawyer living in Reno, Nevada. Todd describes the scene at the house — that it’s being treated as a crime scene — and Bill tells him that is not normal, and advises him that neither of them should say a word to police.
We see Detective Art Holland (Cory Scott Allen) outside the Peterson home making a call to Durham District Attorney Jim Hardin (Cullen Moss) to alert him. Yes, he tells Hardin, it’s that Michael Peterson. Hardin asks about the blood and Holland tells him it looks like her “head exploded.”
The police let the family know that they can’t stay in the home that night because it’s being processed. They say they can stay with neighbor Larry Pollard (Joel McKinnon Miller). (Reality check: The real Larry Pollard told The News & Observer in a recent interview that this never happened — the Petersons never stayed at his home.)
The next morning we see Michael call Kathleen’s brother-in-law and tell him — very quickly — about her death, asking him to relay the news to Kathleen’s sister, Candace. Todd tells Michael he’ll make the other notifications. Todd then remembers the next day is Margaret’s birthday.
Kathleen’s work stress, Michael’s affairs
2001: Time jumps back to before Kathleen’s death, and she’s having to fire someone at Nortel Networks, a Research Triangle Park tech company where Kathleen worked.
Later that day, we see Michael, who is running for Durham City Council, watching himself in a TV interview about the race, and he references “the bozo DA Jim Hardin.” The interviewer also mentions Peterson’s Purple Heart medal scandal. (Reality check: Peterson ran for mayor of Durham in 1999 before running for City Council in 2001. The revelations about his medals from Vietnam came about during the mayoral race, uncovered by News & Observer reporter Dan Kane.)
In this same scene, Michael gets a phone call from a male escort he’d contacted and they discuss getting together on the 5th of the month. They can meet at the hotel by the airport “or at my place.” Michael asks the escort if he is ready to have sex.
Kathleen is now home making dinner while talking to Michael, and she’s worried about money and stressed out about the situation at Nortel.
Time to hire a lawyer
December 2001: We’re back to just after Kathleen’s death, and we see Durham County medical examiner Deborah Radisch (Susan Pourfar) performing the autopsy. They find Kathleen’s own hair and a pine needle in her fingers.
After further examination, Radisch says: “I’m guessing she didn’t die right away. She struggled.”
Then we see Bill with Michael, Clayton and Todd and they are discussing lawyers. Clayton asks if they could hire Larry Pollard and Bill says, “I don’t think Larry’s tough enough.”
Bill suggests the lawyer they considered “before Clayton went away for spring break” — he means David Rudolf. Michael is irritated and says no: “He’s the kind of guy you get when you’re guilty.” Bill counters that Rudolf is “really smart, not one of these good old boys like so many of the guys down here.” (Reality check: The reference to Clayton on “spring break” appears to be about his time spent in prison.)
We begin to notice a recurring theme: Todd as family caretaker. During this scene, Todd says they should get a cake for Martha. He asks Clayton to get a cake and they argue — Clayton pointing out that he’s the older brother and shouldn’t be bossed around; Todd points out that he’s the one who saw Kathleen’s dead body and he’s stressed and needs a little help. Clayton says OK.
Bill gets a phone call from the funeral home and finds out that police found a condom during their search of the home. Michael says “it’s a witch hunt” and said Kathleen had warned him about going after city hall. This is “revenge,” Michael says.
Later, we see a Chief Medical Examiner John Butts (Jeff Benninghofen) pressure Radisch about the wording of her autopsy, when she says she can’t explain why there are no skull fractures. He wants her to reconsider adding “blunt force trauma” as the cause of death.
Next we see Michael and Bill meeting with attorney David Rudolf (Michael Stuhlbarg) in a diner. Rudolf mentions to Michael that he defended former Carolina Panthers player Rae Carruth, who shot and killed his pregnant girlfriend. He asks Michael some questions about the night Kathleen died, offers him some advice (make sure the family sticks together) and tells him a defense will cost him a half million dollars.
When the Petersons leave, Rudolf’s investigator Ron Guerette enters and Rudolf asks him what he found out. Ron tells him that his cop friends tell him the death scene was rough. (Reality check: Guerette is played by Robert Crayton, a Black actor, but Guerette was white.)
Kathleen’s family
Kathleen’s sisters — Candace Zamperini (Rosemarie DeWitt) and Lori Campbell (Maria Dizzia) — arrive, still confused about exactly how Kathleen died and why the police are interested.
Michael tells them she fell — that they were celebrating the sale of his book with a movie and wine by the pool. Todd mentions that Kathleen was “pretty tipsy.” Kathleen went inside by herself, Michael tells her, and then he found her. As to why the police are investigating, Michael says it’s because they don’t like him, because of his Herald-Sun columns. Bill notes how badly Michael is being treated by police.
Later, the family is around the dinner table at the Pollard home, talking about a wake and services for Kathleen when suddenly, Martha Ratliff (Odessa Young) enters with a cake and everyone starts singing “Happy Birthday” to Margaret Ratliff (Sophie Turner), who seems a little thrown.
“Kathleen would have wanted you to have some cake,” Michael tells her.
The girls return to the house alone later to retrieve things for the wake, and sit in Kathleen’s closet looking at photos.
Kathleen Peterson’s swimming pool neck injury
September 2001: We’re now at an “Empty Nest Party” by the swimming pool at the Peterson home, presumably to celebrate the last kid going off to college. Lots of people are there, and Kathleen is shown drinking a lot (possibly intoxicated).
Mike is telling a story about Mexican Coke (Coca-Cola) to a group of neighbors and Kathleen says she’s going swimming. She kicks off her shoes and dives into the pool, and Larry Pollard alerts Mike that something’s wrong. We see Kathleen motionless at the bottom of the pool and Mike jumps in to save her.
Kathleen wakes up in the hospital wearing a neck brace. Michael is sitting on her bed watching television. She asks him what happened and he tells her that a plane has flown into the World Trade Center in New York.
Reality check: Did Kathleen dive into a pool and injure her neck months before her death? Neighbor Larry Pollard told The News & Observer in a recent interview: “She did fall into the pool, and she did wear a brace, but that was way before the death.”
Michael: ‘I’m cooked’
December 2001: We see Michael getting ready for the funeral and Bill tells him he’ll try to find a lawyer that doesn’t cost “NFL player money.”
Durham police officers return to the house to do a follow-up search. Mike loses his temper and yells at them. At the funeral, Michael is shown embracing Kathleen’s mother.
When the family returns home from the funeral, Michael discovers that police have removed his computer, but left behind printouts of images of nude male escorts that had been on the computer. He calls for Bill and shows him and Bill says, “This is a message.” Mike responds, “I’m cooked. I’m home cooking.”
Michael calls Rudolf (who is running on a treadmill at home and arguing with his wife) and hires him.
Next we get DA Jim Hardin prepping for the grand jury and inviting assistant DA Freda Black (Parker Posey) to join the team as his “right hand.” Hardin tells her: “We need a strong feminine presence on this case. That’s you.”
Later, we see Michael at home, surrounded by family, receiving the phone call from Rudolf that the grand jury indicted him and he’ll be going to jail. Rudolf tells Peterson to bring $50 for the commissary and to bring a Bible. “Bible? I’d rather bring a fucking Koran,” Peterson replies. Rudolf tells him it’s about optics.
Next we get the memorable scene of Michael — in his black T-shirt and brown jacket — addressing the press outside the Durham jail. This is the “I have whispered her name in my heart a thousand times” press conference. Caitlin speaks up for Michael and notes how much her mother loved him.
Meanwhile, Hardin and Black are showing Kathleen’s autopsy photos to her sisters, Candace and Lori, and tell them that they believe Michael beat her to death and possibly strangled her. Why? Hardin shows them the photos of the male escorts and offers the theory that Kathleen found the images on his computer that night and a fight ensued.
Cut to Michael sitting in a jail cell with his Bible, then back to 2017. A woman enters the room and helps him with this tie, reminds him that he’s “starting his life again today.”
Recaps of ‘The 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
More coverage of HBO’s Peterson saga ‘The Staircase’
For full coverage of HBO Max’s “The Staircase” and other background on the death of Kathleen Peterson and the murder trial of Michael Peterson, visit: newsobserver.com/topics/staircase
▪ HBO Max’s “Staircase” series: What to expect (vs. the Netflix option) and how to watch
▪ “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
This story was originally published May 5, 2022 at 8:00 AM.
