The Netflix purchase of WB is far from certain, but a common argument against it is that the largest streaming service buying another huge streaming service would be anti-competitive. But Netflix already has a deal with WB and HBO Max, licensing a number of programs from their roster. That continues as all this is going on, with the addition of two fantastic new miniseries from HBO that have just landed on Netflix’s top 10 list.
The two shows are both crime stories based on real events, and both are excellent in their own ways. Here they are:
- Love and Death (Elizabeth Olsen, Jesse Plemons) – “Two churchgoing couples enjoy small town family life in Texas – until somebody picks up an axe.” This is based on a woman, Candace Wheeler, who was accused of killing her former lover’s wife in 1980, a crime she was (spoilers, I suppose), ultimately acquitted of after she claimed self-defense.
- The Staircase (Colin Firth, Toni Collette) – “Exploring the life of Michael Peterson, his sprawling N.C. family, and the suspicious death of his wife, Kathleen Peterson.” This is based on the true story of Peterson being convicted of murdering his second wife in 2001. Eight years after he was convicted in 2003, he was given a new trial, and ultimately in 2017, his charge was reduced to manslaughter, and he was freed after time served.
Love and Death is ultimately about whether you believe Olsen’s Wheeler really was acting in self-defense, given the situation and the details of the crime. In The Staircase, you are trying to figure out what actually happened, a brutal stair fall or a purposeful murder. While the crimes have conclusive legal ends in real life, the series are meant to be a bit more nebulous for the viewer.
How these were received by critics and audiences is interesting. I really liked both, and the performances of Olsen and Firth were excellent in their respective features. Love and Death has a middling 63% on Rotten Tomatoes but a quite high 88% audience score. Meanwhile, The Staircase has a very high 92% from critics, but only a 59% from audiences. I’m not quite clear why on either count, but I would recommend both if you like HBO’s crime dramas. Here there’s the added dimension of them being based on true stories, but both have excellent casts, and I can understand why they’re now doing well on Netflix. Soon, we could have a lot more of these to sift through…
Follow me on Twitter, YouTube, Bluesky and Instagram.
Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.