Thursday, April 07, 2005

TV: "The Staircase"

Watched the first two episodes of "The Staircase" on the Sundance Channel, after reading a good review at Slate.

The case seems very simple at first. Michael finds his wife, Kathleen, dying at the foot of the stairs in a pool of blood. He says she fell. The police don't believe him. How are they going to stretch this out over 8 episodes (shown 2 at a time)? A revelation about Michael's personal life in episode 2 answers that. And looking at the episode guide, looks like there's another twist next week. And I was wondering why one son wasn't interviewed in the first two shows - the Biography section answers that.

I'd call it "thought-provoking", but I should clarify that I don't mean deep thoughts. Thoughts like: why didn't the defense tell Michael to stop dyeing his hair (he was 58 at the time) to look more sympathetic, less likely to kill his wife? (Episode 2 cleared that up.) Is there a psychological reason that some people are more likely to become defense attorneys than prosecutors? And, oh, did he do it?

No comments: