La escalera

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.

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!

Have been following this story since the original trial. My impression so far is the set decorations, especially the house, is spot on. The cast, the always phenomenal Toni Collette and exceptional Colin Firth are excellent. Supporting cast portrays their roles true to their characters. In my mind's eye I'm watching the show unfold as if I'm seeing the actual victims. The writer's had a lot to work with starting with the trial transcripts and the French documentary The Staircase, so the show feels very real.

Watched four episodes and am done. Too slow and just boring. I really love Toni Collette and Colin Firth, but it's all over the place. I'm just sick of the entire family. I watched the docu-drama on Netflix years ago. Bad situation. He probably did it.

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.