S01.E07: Seek and Ye Shall

[peachmangosteen]

Airs June 2nd.

[MrsR]

So this is the episode where the time jumps really began to irritate me. 

Knowing where this story has ended up in 2022 probably colors my perception, I will admit that, but still.

Toni really earned her salary in this episode. She was fantastic. Who gives a shit about bonuses.

[Kirsty]

So, the first four episodes were really gripping and I'd recommend them. But (so far) the second half of the season is not, and I couldn't recommend it. The show obviously never had enough material for eight episodes, so there's a lot of padding.

That said, I can see why Toni Colette and Juliette Binoche took part in this show. Colette is fantastic. She brings Kathleen to life and makes her imperfect and very relatable. And her story -- business woman in corporate America works all hours to keep her husband in the life he's accustomed to -- is not one I've seen before. I like the money angle to this story. I like the portrayal of Kathleen's stress and the way she's doing absolutely everything and holding it all together while Michael literally fucks around.

I can also see that Binoche's character is unusual and... I don't know if unlikeable is the right word, but Sophie is definitely hard to like. There's way too much time spent on her and her cans of product placement. To me, the only interesting thing about those women who fall in love with convicted killers is why? What's her damage? Why would this French movie editor with a husband and child commute from Paris to Durham to make moony eyes at a man in prison who was at the very least involved in the deaths of two women? But the show doesn't seem to be interested in that question. Instead we get some guff about complicated love from her colleague. I think that's utter bullshit. Complicated love is a normal long distance relationship. Sophie's relationship with Michael, on the other hand, is something only a qualified professional could explain.

Edited June 2, 2022 by Kirsty

[Suzysite]

So the lesson from this episode is that you can be beaten in the head with a flashlight, and you will die but not have a skull fracture.  Veery interesting. 

[Snazzy Daisy]

So, the medical examiner also loves drinking Coke huh! 🙄

Sophie edited Michael’s documentary but she is not aware of Dennis Rowe? I thought Dennis name was mentioned several times in the earlier discussions between Michael and his lawyer.

The 2 best reactions in this episode - stressed out vs gaslight narcissist. 

 

Foreshadowing? 🤔

Edited June 3, 2022 by SnazzyDaisy

[AZChristian]

I loved it from the moment Michael sat down in the Chinese restaurant until Kathleen blew the bats out of the attic with the leaf blower.  Now THAT is how a lot of people would have reacted when they reached their last straw.  

And I suspect it might have been another incident like that that led to her death.  Maybe they had recovered from the restaurant scene (or another like it).  He promised he'd find a job and get a regular income to help with expenses . . . and he'd stop screwing around.  Things are calm for a bit, and she goes into the house and finds those e-mails and websites.

BLAM. Fireworks begin anew.

But this time she headed upstairs to pack and leave his sorry butt (and to take her income with her).  He tries to stop her, she either falls or he pushes her . . . and then he ends up having to kill her to keep his dirty secrets.

My heart went out to the younger daughter when the German nanny was telling her that Michael wanted to get rid of her and keep the older daughter.

[poeticlicensed]

I have to say I'm totally over this story with the exception of the scenes with Kathleen leading up to her death. I dont care about Michael Peterson in prison or not, and I really don't care about the documentary. But the scenes with Toni Collette as Kathleen are riveting. I remember Nortel imploding but I dont remember specifics. She had to have been under so much pressure. The scene in the Chinese restaurant when she yelled at him was a breaking point. The look on her face when he told her he got 10k was tragic. She probably made that biweekly so it was a drop in a bucket. I remember at the trial when Rudolf said everything was fine with them financially. Clearly it wasn't. She was likely compensated in part with stock and was counting on that to fund her retirement and its all gone.No wonder she was drinking heavily. No wonder they had arguments. 

[Ellaria]

23 hours ago, MrsR said:

So this is the episode where the time jumps really began to irritate me. 

Knowing where this story has ended up in 2022 probably colors my perception, I will admit that, but still.

I agree. The non-linear storytelling is not advantageous to what they are trying to communicate. 

I enjoyed this episode more than the past two. The fictionalized scenes with Kathleen were well-done. While no one - sadly - knows what she may have been feeling in the last days of her life, I’m glad that this show is making an attempt to tell us. It takes the focus away from Michael himself and instead places it on the destructive force that he may have been.

Alternatively, I don’t care about Sophie. This show seems to think that I should. I don’t like that they have transformed her into an intrepid investigator trying to prove alternative theories. They are using this character to tell missing elements of the story but it’s not working for me.

The acting continues to be terrific. Parker Posey is excellent as Freda Black.

Overall, I don’t think that the show has done a good job of pulling together the odd aspects of this story. It’s one thing to depict them. It’s an entirely another thing to create a narrative with them that provides unique insight. There is something missing for me.

[MrsR]

3 minutes ago, Ellaria Sand said:

They are using this character to tell missing elements of the story but it’s not working for me.

Me neither.

Dennis Rowe was actually murdered in 2004. They moved that so that Sophie could find the file on her dopplegangers desk much later. I call bullshit.

[sadie]

Wait, what? Didn’t we already see Michael get out of prison last ep? Why are we going backwards and then forwards and then backwards? What do they think they are doing in terms of storytelling? It’s not only not effective, it’s confusing in the bad way, not in the interesting artsy way they think.

And Freda Black is now a drunk working in a laundromat and no one is giving me how we got here? Huh? 

Toni Collete is the only thing I’m hanging onto at this point to keep watching. I believe Michael killed Kathleen, but even if he didn’t I think he’s one of the most vile people I’ve ever encountered. His wife is literally killing herself with stress trying to support him and his entire family, and he can’t be bothered to get an actual job, and he can’t even be bothered to be faithful and then he tries to sit there and tell her unfun she is, why does his entire family love him so much, I’m just baffled.

And I can’t tell what story they’re trying to tell here? I feel like they want us to think he’s innocent but hate his guts at the same time? And why this Sophie woman would find anything at all appealing about this guy is an utter mystery, that again they aren’t explaining.

This series started out so strong and has just delved into a mess. 

[applecrisp]

On 6/2/2022 at 3:39 PM, Kirsty said:

So, the first four episodes were really gripping and I'd recommend them. But (so far) the second half of the season is not, and I couldn't recommend it. The show obviously never had enough material for eight episodes, so there's a lot of padding.

That said, I can see why Toni Colette and Juliette Binoche took part in this show. Colette is fantastic. She brings Kathleen to life and makes her imperfect and very relatable. And her story -- business woman in corporate America works all hours to keep her husband in the life he's accustomed to -- is not one I've seen before. I like the money angle to this story. I like the portrayal of Kathleen's stress and the way she's doing absolutely everything and holding it all together while Michael literally fucks around.

I can also see that Binoche's character is unusual and... I don't know if unlikeable is the right word, but Sophie is definitely hard to like. There's way too much time spent on her and her cans of product placement. To me, the only interesting thing about those women who fall in love with convicted killers is why? What's her damage? Why would this French movie editor with a husband and child commute from Paris to Durham to make moony eyes at a man in prison who was at the very least involved in the deaths of two women? But the show doesn't seem to be interested in that question. Instead we get some guff about complicated love from her colleague. I think that's utter bullshit. Complicated love is a normal long distance relationship. Sophie's relationship with Michael, on the other hand, is something only a qualified professional could explain.

Still watching and want to until the end. Your post is really good. I agree and watch this with a lot of annoyance. 

I really hate Mike

[Jodithgrace]

I don’t understand the bat situation. Bats sometimes live in people’s attics, but they roost in there in the daytime, and go out and hunt at night. The scene made it seem like the bats were somehow trapped in the attic, and Kathleen with the snowblower, breaks the window and lets them out. 
 

And that was the least confusing part of the episode. They go from one scene where Mike’s brother is discussing the possible hearing for the retrial with David, to David leaving what could be the same room to complain to Sofia about Michael not taking the plea. So confusing! 

[poeticlicensed]

1 hour ago, Jodithgrace said:

And that was the least confusing part of the episode. They go from one scene where Mike’s brother is discussing the possible hearing for the retrial with David, to David leaving what could be the same room to complain to Sofia about Michael not taking the plea. So confusing! 

Unfortunately I think the writers know too much bout the case and assume the viewers know the entire story also. They've lost sight of the fact that some people are not familiar with the case and time hopping is making it very confusing. 

[Kiddvideo]

I have to agree with the 2nd half of this being lesser quality. The show still had potential before.

I really hate the adopted daughters for some reason — I think it’s the wigs, which are the show’s true tragedy. Even the way they were using chopsticks like spoons was pissing me off.

Who has their entire retirement savings in company stock? I couldn’t feel sorry her. This was 2001 not 1921 and mutual funds were a thing. And she was supposed to be a successful executive? And let’s blow the money we desperately need on Christmas presents.

What is the deal with those reindeer? They were featured again. And enough with the time jumping.

One episode to go. I hope they left some scenery to chew.

[debraran]

4 hours ago, Jodithgrace said:

I don’t understand the bat situation. Bats sometimes live in people’s attics, but they roost in there in the daytime, and go out and hunt at night. The scene made it seem like the bats were somehow trapped in the attic, and Kathleen with the snowblower, breaks the window and lets them out. 
 

And that was the least confusing part of the episode. They go from one scene where Mike’s brother is discussing the possible hearing for the retrial with David, to David leaving what could be the same room to complain to Sofia about Michael not taking the plea. So confusing! 

I agree. I was tired and started to FF through some parts with the kids but I thought maybe I was missing something. Very disjointed. Colin is a great actor and doing the best he could with playing Michael, has his mannerisms etc down pat, but the script is the script.

Did he really turn down the plea deal after hating prison so much initially? Did his friend Ray (who I learned was a composite of a couple of people) just get transferred in this show? In real life they said he never used real names and they can't find out exactly who he was. Maybe for the best.

Colins thoughts if anyone cares. https://www.indiewire.com/2022/05/the-staircase-colin-firth-michael-peterson-guilty-1234724163/

Edited June 4, 2022 by debraran

[debraran]

18 hours ago, sadie said:

Wait, what? Didn’t we already see Michael get out of prison last ep? Why are we going backwards and then forwards and then backwards? What do they think they are doing in terms of storytelling? It’s not only not effective, it’s confusing in the bad way, not in the interesting artsy way they think.

And Freda Black is now a drunk working in a laundromat and no one is giving me how we got here? Huh? 

Toni Collete is the only thing I’m hanging onto at this point to keep watching. I believe Michael killed Kathleen, but even if he didn’t I think he’s one of the most vile people I’ve ever encountered. His wife is literally killing herself with stress trying to support him and his entire family, and he can’t be bothered to get an actual job, and he can’t even be bothered to be faithful and then he tries to sit there and tell her unfun she is, why does his entire family love him so much, I’m just baffled.

And I can’t tell what story they’re trying to tell here? I feel like they want us to think he’s innocent but hate his guts at the same time? And why this Sophie woman would find anything at all appealing about this guy is an utter mystery, that again they aren’t explaining.

This series started out so strong and has just delved into a mess. 

I guess Freda really did work there. Wanted to see how much poetic license was in show.. Seems like a sad trajectory after the trial. https://www.newsobserver.com/entertainment/tv/warm-tv-blog/article262065182.html

Sofie is less interesting in real life knowing how small their relationship is but many relationships like this do start. A shrink as stated before could answer why better than I. And the real Michael, no disrespect, was not Colin Firth. He still is unlikable but Colin has a certain sex appeal.

Edited June 4, 2022 by debraran

[MollyB]

4 hours ago, Jodithgrace said:

I don’t understand the bat situation.

Especially when she had a professional come out and advise her that something needed to be done asap or they would get into the plumbing. (And I can't imagine why or how bats would get in the plumbing, but, hey, he's a professional.) Then we go through the tedious the-plumbing-isn't-working scenes, I guess to set us up for how her frustration is increasing.  Why didn't they have the bats relocated immediately?  How much bat poop can you stand in your attic?

22 hours ago, Ellaria Sand said:

Alternatively, I don’t care about Sophie. This show seems to think that I should. I don’t like that they have transformed her into an intrepid investigator trying to prove alternative theories. They are using this character to tell missing elements of the story but it’s not working for me.

I have no idea why she is getting so much of a story.  It would have made more sense to create a character in The Innocence Program that intrepidly searches for alternative theories than Sophie. At least it would have been an objective viewpoint.  Sophie seems to have an emotional obsession with Michael that stems from watching him on film.  She's reading a lot into his speechifying and sees him as innocent.  When she confronts the ME about the possibility of an owl attack she comes across as a desperate, emotional mess, practically demanding that the ME change her findings.  If this was to convince me that he didn't commit the crime, it fails miserably.

3 hours ago, Kiddvideo said:

And let’s blow the money we desperately need on Christmas presents.

Especially coming right after the Christmas present reveal of her daughter getting the wrong watch.  Now we know that she bought a cheaper model because of financial concerns, but then she blows $$ on the damn reindeer.  

[poeticlicensed]

3 hours ago, Kiddvideo said:

Who has their entire retirement savings in company stock? I couldn’t feel sorry her. This was 2001 not 1921 and mutual funds were a thing. And she was supposed to be a successful executive? And let’s blow the money we desperately need on Christmas presents.

I'm guessing she had a 401k but the bulk was in company stock, which she got as bonuses or got a sweet deal to purchase. When you work for a big company, its easy to get lulled into a mindset that the stock will never crash. Remember Enron and all the employees who became millionaires because they had stock and then it went poof. 

3 hours ago, Kiddvideo said:

really hate the adopted daughters for some reason — I think it’s the wigs, which are the show’s true tragedy. Even the way they were using chopsticks like spoons was pissing me off.

I hate all the children except for Kathleen's daughter. Spoiled entitled brats. Gee I wonder where they got it from. 

53 minutes ago, debraran said:

Did he really turn down the plea deal after hating prison so much initially

Yes because he's that much of a narcissist. 

[QQQQ]

I had no idea there are laws about getting bats out of ones home. I grew up next to a church in the 70s and 80s, so it wasn't unusual to have a bat make its way to our house from the church's bell tower. I'm fairly certain my parents' use of a tennis racquet would not be considered humane today. 🦇

Bats in the Attic

[SunnyBeBe]

About Michael not working a regular job…..I don’t recall if this series covered it, so I’ll take my comments to the Real Case thread.  

[monakane]

On 6/4/2022 at 9:44 AM, Kiddvideo said:

Who has their entire retirement savings in company stock? I couldn’t feel sorry her. This was 2001 not 1921 and mutual funds were a thing. And she was supposed to be a successful executive? And let’s blow the money we desperately need on Christmas presents

That's what happened at Enron.  It also happened to a lot of people at that time.  Companies would encourage employees to invest in their stock as a form of retirement.  

[SeanC]

On 6/4/2022 at 2:38 PM, poeticlicensed said:

I hate all the children except for Kathleen's daughter. Spoiled entitled brats. Gee I wonder where they got it from. 

What exactly have Margaret or Martha done that indicates they're spoiled? Their situation is quite sad.

[bosawks]

Man, I wanted those bats to take a beeline straight to Michael.

[poeticlicensed]

16 hours ago, SeanC said:

What exactly have Margaret or Martha done that indicates they're spoiled? Their situation is quite sad.

When your scholarship gets yanked for crap grades and you complain that your dad opened the letter. Seriously 

[SeanC]

1 hour ago, poeticlicensed said:

When your scholarship gets yanked for crap grades and you complain that your dad opened the letter. Seriously 

That's a pretty basic violation of privacy, and she's going through a hard time at school. Not to mention how he treats her throughout that conversation. I don't see anything there that suggests she's spoiled.

[debraran]

1 hour ago, SeanC said:

That's a pretty basic violation of privacy, and she's going through a hard time at school. Not to mention how he treats her throughout that conversation. I don't see anything there that suggests she's spoiled.

He also minimized her emotional issues, called her "lazy" and lied about her mother's feelings about her coming home. Seemed like a jerk.

[Anela]

She has just lost everything financially, and he sits and tells her that she used to be fun?? What the fuck?? 

Those poor girls. Finding out that the only father you can remember having, wanted to give you up, and the only one feeling guilt is the sister he wanted to keep. Fuck this guy.

[Milburn Stone]

On 6/3/2022 at 5:12 PM, sadie said:

Wait, what? Didn’t we already see Michael get out of prison last ep? Why are we going backwards and then forwards and then backwards? What do they think they are doing in terms of storytelling? It’s not only not effective, it’s confusing in the bad way, not in the interesting artsy way they think.

I agree. Non-linearity in the previous episodes has occasionally made me have to think hard to place scenes in the timeline, but that's OK, I don't mind doing a little work. The non-linearity in this episode just made me go, "OK, I give up."

[Zima]

On 6/7/2022 at 10:19 PM, SeanC said:

What exactly have Margaret or Martha done that indicates they're spoiled? Their situation is quite sad.

On 6/8/2022 at 4:21 PM, SeanC said:

That's a pretty basic violation of privacy, and she's going through a hard time at school. Not to mention how he treats her throughout that conversation. I don't see anything there that suggests she's spoiled.

On 6/8/2022 at 5:48 PM, debraran said:

He also minimized her emotional issues, called her "lazy" and lied about her mother's feelings about her coming home. Seemed like a jerk.

Thank you! I was starting to wonder if I was the only one who had any empathy for those poor girls. I'm intrigued by their role in the story, and hope we find out more about what happened to them. How awful.