The Staircase Review: The Beating Heart (Season 1 Episode 5)

The Staircase Season 1 Episode 5, “The Beating Heart,” is a return to form.

After The Staircase Season 1 Episode 4, “Common Sense,”  I was left disappointed. The episode felt disjointed and paled in comparison to its strong predecessors. Naturally, I was nervous this episode would leave me with a similar feeling. And while it does have its flaws, it’s a solid hour of entertainment and story progression. 

“The Beating Heart” takes us ahead 6 months from the previous episode’s ending, in which Michael received his sentence. The time jump is a surprising choice but not an unwelcome one, and really should it be surprising? This series loves to play around with time. 

Still, I figured we’d see Michael’s first week or so in prison, so it’s surprising that it was jumped past. 

When we do see Michael in prison, he isn’t fairing well. He has a badly bruised face and body, and it’s revealed that he was beaten up because he was given the single-cell over another inmate, purely due to his “fame.” 

Michael was bound to have a rough go in prison, after all, he’s lived his entire life as a typical suburbanite — he was always going to be a fish out of the water, but it’s still shocking to see and it’s a strong start to the episode. 

We follow three main storylines throughout this episode, one of which is Michael in prison, the other is that of the Peterson children and their current lives, and perhaps the most awaited one is that of the documentary crew —  namely Sophie. 

Sophie has been a mystery since The Staircase Season 1 Episode 1, “911,” and while information about her has been given to us with each passing episode, she’s still remained a huge question mark. 

Her relationship with Michael in specific has been at the top of my burning questions list, as we know nothing of how it began or why there seems to be so much light shone on it throughout the series. 

That all comes to light here as it’s revealed that Sophie has been sending letters to Michael for some time now, as well as books when he complains to her that the prison’s library isn’t stimulating enough. This might not be such a bad thing if it wasn’t for the fact that Sophie is the editor of the documentary being made about Michael’s case. 

As such, her newfound friendship with Michael affects her work on the documentary as she fights to omit certain aspects such as the cartilage story, which she deems “superfluous.” 

I don’t know how I feel about this storyline. On the one hand, it’s an interesting and true aspect of the case that should be included, but on the other, it takes away from the actual plot of the show. It’s almost romanticized here which feels extra strange when it’s revealed that Sophie is married and has a child. 

But perhaps another reason for that is how much of the “true-crime” aspect of the show takes a backseat to it.  

Seriously, there’s little time spent with Rudolf, and none spent with Freda Black or Jim Hardin, who have been among the main players up to this point. It’s very much a Michael-centric episode, which isn’t a bad thing mind you, but it feels almost like a bottle episode at times. 

We of course check in with the kids, (aside from Caitlin, who also doesn’t appear on this episode), and see what they’ve been up to in the six months since Michael was sent away. And while I do like the majority of this, I’ve been wrestling with my thoughts on Todd’s story. 

We see that Todd is now involved in a business venture with his friend Nate and the two are entertaining some women at a rental property they’re showing. 

It’s when we’re shown the morning after, that my jaw drops. 

Todd wakes up with a bra next to him, and no owner in sight. This isn’t alarming at first, but then he notices blood on the pillow, in the sink and on the wall. He immediately thinks the worst (as do I), and frantically calls Nate, only for him to reveal that Todd simply hit his head the night prior. 

It’s an odd scene, and one I don’t fully understand. Maybe it was purely for the symbolism, (as Todd has a head injury reminiscent of Kathleen and Liz), and if that’s all it was meant to be then that’s great. But it’s dropped so quickly and not spoken of again in the episode, which left me wondering why it was included at all? 

Perhaps it’ll be brought up in Season 1, Episode 6. It’s an intriguing scene and one I want to know more about. 

Back to Michael and Sophie though, because like I said earlier, this is very much an episode centered around them and their relationship. 

Sophie and her team working on the documentary, argue over her relationship with Michael throughout the episode, even asking her to cut ties with him until the documentary is finished. 

So naturally, after the documentary premieres and Michael loses his appeal, she deems it appropriate to regain contact with him. This leads us to the episode’s cliffhanger, in which Sophie shows up during visiting hours. 

I’m eager to see where this goes, as I can only assume Sophie will be visiting him frequently. She also seems set on clearing his name and getting him out of jail, so this could get interesting. Especially when you factor in Michael’s children. 

How will they feel about his dad’s new pen pal? Will they band together to free him? Will they feel uncomfortable with the situation? Whatever the answer, with what we know about these characters, this could very easily get ugly and tear the family apart further. 

Stray Thoughts: 

• The flashback scenes were some of my favorites so far. I especially liked seeing more of Margaret and her relationship with Michael. 
• The whole plot of the characters filming a documentary based on the events we’re currently seeing unfold, and it also has the same title as the TV show we’re watching is very “Truman Show”-esque, and I love it. 
• It was nice to finally learn more about the kids’ lives outside of the case. Though I wanted a bit more of Martha, especially after Episode 4. 
• There’s a scene of Patrick Schwarzenegger dancing to “Slow Motion” by Juvenile and Soulja Slim and it might just be my favorite scene of the episode. 

What did you think of this episode of The Staircase? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below. 

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The Staircase airs Thursdays on HBO Max. 

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