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Sometimes truth is a whole lot stranger than fiction.
Two weeks ago, NBC’s sensational true-crime satire Trial & Error aired its season finale. Starring the always delightful John Lithgow, the mockumentary series follows the fictional murder trial of Larry Henderson (Lithgow), an eccentric poetry professor accused of murdering his wife, Margaret, who died after being thrown through a plate-glass window. Even if you’ve managed to avoid the plethora of true-crime shows that are slowly turning us into a country much more likely to locate the Carmen Sandiegos of the world, Trial & Error is a quirky fish-out-water sitcom that can be enjoyed at face value. But if you’re one of the many true-crime fans who devoured the 2004 docu-series The Staircase, you already know there’s an extra layer of depth embedded into the DNA of this silly sitcom.
If you’re still catching up on Trial & Error, be warned. You’re about to enter spoiler country.
Long before we were addicted to the real-life intrigue of The Jinx or Making a Murderer, there was The Staircase, which is available to stream on Sundance Now. Directed by Jean-Xavier de Lestrade, the intimate eight-episode documentary series follows the high-profile murder trial of Michael Peterson, a man accused of killing his wife (Kathleen). Peterson maintained his innocence, claiming his wife died after accidentally falling down a set of stairs. Even if Trial & Error creator Jeff Astroff hadn’t previously revealed that The Staircase was the inspiration for his NBC sitcom, the similarities between Lithgow’s fictional Larry Henderson and The Staircase’s Michael Peterson would be too stark to ignore. During the documentary, it’s revealed that a family friend of Peterson’s had previously died under the same bizarre set of circumstances and that he was a closeted bisexual who engaged in extramarital affairs. Trial & Error’s Larry Henderson, we learn as the season progresses, has more or less the same backstory.
These similarities, along with the cozy friendship that develops between Larry and his lawyer and the sitcom’s use of the “murder board” (Murder board! Murder board! Murder board!), are apparent to anyone who’s watched the 2004 doc. But Trial & Error’s most notable homage to The Staircase is a furtive internet supposition never mentioned during the docu-series and only known by true-crime buffs who flocked to Google in search of answers: The Owl Theory.
First posited by Durham attorney T. Lawrence Pollard, the theory asserts that Kathleen Peterson was killed after being attacked by an owl. Yes, on the surface this sounds ludicrous, but both an owl feather and a small wooden slither of a tree branch were found near Peterson’s body. While the theory was initially ridiculed, a number of experts — as well as the director of The Staircase himself — have since supported this bizarre alternative to Peterson’s peculiar passing.
“At face value, this theory seemed absurd,” de Lestrade wrote in a first-person piece back in 2013 for The Daily Beast. “Yet, today, I have to admit that numerous facts favor this owl theory.”
During Trial & Error’s season (hopefully not series) finale, it’s revealed that Margaret Henderson (portrayed by surprise guest star Andie MacDowell) was attacked by an owl, which led to her crashing through a window and meeting her untimely demise.
The lesson: Owls are shady as f*ck.
Is an owl responsible for the death of Kathleen Peterson? Seeing as I’m not a scientist, detective, or renowned owl aficionado, my official response is shrug emoji. Unofficially? Well, the term “nocturnal bird of prey” isn’t the first thing that pops in my mind when I think of the term “not a murderer.”
In reality, Michael Peterson was released from jail pending a retrial back in 2011, which was captured on the two-part followup series The Staircase 2. In February of this year, he accepted a deal that allowed him to enter an Alford plea, meaning he maintains his innocence while agreeing that prosecutors have the evidence to convict him.
Trial & Error was one of the most original sitcoms of the year. If the series returns, it will focus on an entirely new case for Season 2. Considering the true-crime craze shows no signs of slowing down, the creative team will have plenty of options from which to choose. The jury may be out on a second season, but the verdict is already in on NBC’s enjoyable freshman series.
