The latest episode of The Staircase left the audience dangling with many questions, one of the “what is justice?”. Episode put forward a character that has been in the limelight since the start, and she was a definitive figure to put forward the jury’s questions like justice, fate, and liberty of the audience. You already know whom we are talking about, silver-haired mystery Sophie Brunet.
HBO Max’s The Staircase is based on real-life occurrences circling the death of Kathleen Peterson in 2001. Colin Firth (Michael Peterson) finds his life in turmoil when he finds his wife, Toni Collette (Kathleen), unconscious at the base of the stairs. Turns out she’s dead, and Michael is the sole suspect. The show revolves around Michael’s relationship with his wife and how media engulfs his life, despite his pleas for purity and innocence.
Who is Sophie?
Juliette Binoche is playing the character of Sophie Brunet. It was in the 4th episode when their true identity of Sophie came to light. We see Sophie Brunet is connected to the true-crime documentary on which this show is based. She operated as an editor on the 2004 original documentary on the case. You can find her name on the IMDb site under people who worked on the film.
She was introduced in the first episode, and she is the only one in the present timeline with Michael Peterson as there is no clue if other Petersons are in contact with their father or not, or so it looks like. We got to know more about her enigmatic aura when she was put in front of Jean’s camera for an interview.
According to her IMDb, she has worked on other projects such as Blue is the Warmest Colour, Call My Agent and Jeuxd’ influence.
Are Michael And Sophie Related?
We saw Sophie writing the letter to Michael, behind bars, at the end of episode 4. And it came to light that they exchanged many letters while her working on the documentary, and Michael was making rounds to courts and prisons.
They were in a relationship for 12 long years, but in 2019, the couple split because Michael was too old to move to French with Sophie and start a new life. It was also not easy for Sophie to move as they wanted to stay close to each other and their families.
Where To Watch The Staircase?
It is streaming exclusively on HBO Max. The first 3 episodes debuted on 5th May, and the following episodes will be released weekly on Thursdays till 9th June.
Total Episodes & Runtime
The miniseries have 8 episodes, and each of them is 60 mins long.
Docuseries 2004 Version
Netflix has the Documentary version of The Staircase, 2004. It has 13 episodes and features the case very closely, including original courtroom interviews, video footage, and more. This 2004 documentary inspired the 2022 new miniseries.
