Although "Black Bird" is predominately set within prison and federal agencies, writer Dennis Lehane successfully manages to integrate Jimmy's familial troubles into the mix — especially his fraught relationship with his father, "Big Jim," played by the late Ray Liotta in one of his final roles. For viewers yearning for an extra helping of domestic family drama in their next true crime show, look no further than HBO Max's miniseries "The Staircase."
Based on the documentary series of the same title, "The Staircase" employs a non-linear narrative approach like "Black Bird." It tells the true, beguiling story of North Carolina novelist Michael Peterson (Colin Firth), who's accused of murdering his wife Kathleen Peterson (Toni Collette) after she's found dead at the bottom of the family home's staircase.
The cuts between timelines in "Black Bird" from Jimmy to detective Brian Miller can sometimes feel a little jarring, but "The Staircase" trapezes between its various timelines with a chilly grace. Created by independent film auteur Antonio Campos, the HBO Max miniseries wisely makes certain that every child in the Peterson-Ratcliff clan is a vivid character with their own inner life. With such a fully realized ensemble, Campos constructs the perfect canvas to explore the emotional reverberations that Kathleen's untimely death and Michael's legal trials send throughout the family tree.
