Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, the highly anticipated second season of the true-crime anthology created by Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan, is finally out. I spent the entire weekend watching the series, and after doing so, I have quite a few thoughts. The series was nine episodes of TV that delivered dramatic, shocking, and sometimes comical moments. But did it provide an accurate portrayal of the Menendez family? All I can say is that it’s a Ryan Murphy project.
What exactly do I mean when I say this is a Ryan Murphy project? Well, those of us who watch Murphy’s shows know that he has a flair for the dramatic and tends to take a lot of liberties. With Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, it seemed he did that quite a bit. I want to be clear because this is such a sensitive topic for many people and a polarizing story; this review only reflects what I feel. I am not trying to sway anyone on their takes. When the Menendez brothers killed their parents in 1989, I was far too young to even know about it. And even when they were arrested and went to trial in the early 90s, because I was a kid, it was not something I paid attention to. That being said, I expected this season of Monsters to be more nuanced and that this story would be handled with a certain level of care. Unfortunately, in some ways, I felt that it wasn’t.
Portrayal of Lyle and Erik
None of us, except the brothers and their family and friends, know what Lyle and Erik were like and what they went through growing up, but how they were portrayed was sometimes questionable. First, I have to give props to Nicholas Alexander Chavez and Cooper Koch because those two were terrific. As most of you know, I’m a big supporter of Chavez and have been since his days at General Hospital as Spencer Cassadine. I had no doubt he would not deliver a stellar performance. Koch was new to me, but he blew me away. I was drawn to him from the moment episode one began. The way he played Erik’s emotional turmoil was painful to watch. It was incredibly raw and real. Though Murphy and Brennan did some interesting things to his character, they still made me feel for him. Lyles’s portrayal did and didn’t do that for me.
Chavez is a fantastic actor, and I was looking forward to seeing him bring Lyle to life. He was terrific, especially in episode seven. However, I believe how his character was written took away from him at some points. For most of the series, Lyle was painted as a bully and highly arrogant. Unlike feeling sympathetic to Erik, I ended up disliking Lyle. I don’t know what Lyle was like, and I don’t know if the creators intended to make Lyle look like the bad guy who orchestrated the entire murder plot of killing their parents, Kitty (Chloe Sevigny) and Jose (Javier Bardem), but that’s how it came across. Erik, who released a statement about the series, even said that Lyles’s portrayal was inaccurate.
There were some good moments where I did feel something for Lyle (the toupee scene and the courtroom scenes, for sure), but for the most part, he came off as manipulative and even cruel to his brother. Given the fact that all of episode five was spent with Erik talking about the abuse he endured, I assumed that we would be given something similar to Lyle. But, even in those scenes when he did speak to Leslie Abramson (portrayed by the impressive Ari Graynor) and Jill (Jess Weixler), he came off as disingenuous and remorseless. I wanted to believe that he was written that way as if to say he used this behavior as a defense mechanism. And that may very well have been the case. But, when you watch the trial prep scenes and see Lyle ask if he should cry, then he proceeds to cry as if he’s performing, and in the next scene, he’s giving his testimony, you can’t tell.
Over-sexualization of the brothers
Those familiar with the Menendez brother’s story know they came forward with allegations of abuse they experienced at the hands of their parents. But mainly the sexual abuse from their father. Because of this, we know this is something sensitive to showcase. What’s interesting is that the creators did show care as it pertained to making sure that they didn’t make us watch the boys being sexually abused. However, I am referring to other things, particularly with Erik. This isn’t to say that Lyle wasn’t over-sexualized in the series because how many times can we watch him walking around in a Speedo? But Erik was extremely, and I do mean extremely, oversexualized. Erik’s’ sexual orientation has always been called into question, and frankly, it’s none of our business. But, in Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, they leaned heavily into the possibility that Erik was gay. But it was done in poor taste.
The prison shower scene between Erik and another inmate was utterly pointless and gratuitous for the sake of being gratuitous. It did nothing to move the plot along. I am no prude about nudity as long as it has a real purpose. Especially if it’s full frontal, this particular scene served none. Even the one that occurred much later in the series had me asking, “Why?” and “Who is this for?” A great example of what I mean when I say real purpose would be Lyles’s shower scene. And that’s only because it was a scene in which we see Lyle realizing that his hair is falling out as he’s washing it. And we only see part of his body briefly. I won’t even get into the other scene that was done to show the audience the brothers were rumored to be having an incestuous relationship because, again, gratuitous for the sake of being gratuitous. There is something to be said about it being just fine to tell us something without feeling like you have to show it.
Lost the plot
One of the things that I enjoy about the Monsters anthology is the formula Murphy and Brennan use to tell a story. They typically start episode one with the crime, then we go back and forth between the past and present. Throughout the series, we see the motivations that led to the crimes being committed or what made these people “monsters.” When I watched Dahmer, which was also controversial, I felt like a story was being told, and it was well done. With Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, I thought we were on a good roll until after episode five. And that was when we lost the plot.
While I did understand that we needed to see the parent’s side of things as well, episode six didn’t tell me much about Kitty and Jose, and it didn’t make me look at them any differently. It’s not like I knew who they were, but I wondered what was supposed to happen after that episode ended. Was I supposed to feel sympathy for them? They just came off as frustrated parents and a couple that had reached the end of their relationship. The backstory felt like filler. Even the stuff in episode seven that seemed to be about Dominick Dunne (Nathan Lane) and his perspective felt off. In all honesty, those scenes could have been scrapped. That brings me to my very last thing—the story’s pacing.
I don’t know where Murphy and Brennan pulled their source material from to tell this story, but I felt like this season was rushed. Dahmer, season one of the Monster series, had ten episodes, but this was only nine. Considering that this season was shorter, more time should have been spent on the brothers. The series started strong with the first five episodes, and it really felt like we were going somewhere. But after that, things fell off the rails to the point that it felt like we were rushing to the finish. The scenes during the brother’s first trial were engaging and emotional, but by episode nine, when we were back in the courtroom for their second trial, I felt as bored as Leslie Abramson and Erik playing hangman.
Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story had some solid moments and some strong acting, which was the main thing that saved this series for me. However, the writing could have been a lot better. And I was expecting so much more from the story. I hoped this series was not going to sensationalize a case that has been already for decades. When I look at Murphy’s series like Feud and even the first season of Monster, I wonder why this one did not have that same level of storytelling. I know this is one of those stories that would not end on a high note with a pretty ribbon tied to seal it up. After all, this is a real story about real people who committed a horrible act because they felt it was their only option. By the end of the series, depending on how you interpret the final scene, the viewer is essentially told that Kitty and Jose are the innocent ones and that Lyle and Erik are, in fact, monsters. At least, that’s how it felt to me. I’m not sure what the ultimate goal was in telling the story of the Menendez brothers this way, but it missed the mark in many ways.
Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story is streaming now on Netflix.
