Two murders, two brothers, and a web of lies. This is how Netflix approached the telling of the difficult case of the Menendez brothers.
Lyle and Eric Menendez’s case has been well-known for three decades. Recently, their names resurfaced in the news again, thanks to Netflix’s second season of “Monster.”
At the young ages of 21 and 18, the brothers came together to plan how they were going to murder their parents. However, this is not how the director, Ryan Murphy, decides to begin the story.
The opening sequence shows the Menendez brothers preparing to attend an event following their parents’ death. This is when the first hint of their “relationship” appears — when Lyle, played by Nicholas Alexander Chavez, comforted Erik, played by Cooper Koch, as he began to panic. This is also the first time Erik is shown as having guilt over the crime they committed.
Later in that same episode, Erik becomes overwhelmed by the weight of what they have done, confessing to his therapist, Jerome Oziel, played by Dallas Roberts. In the real timeline, this event takes place two months after their parents’ deaths. Five more months pass before the pair are arrested.
The show follows the brothers before their arrest and makes it seem like they do not care about their crime. They’re shown spending significant amounts of money not guaranteed by their father’s will.
After all the drinking, partying, and spending, the Menendez brothers are finally caught on March 8, 1990. The show continues, depicting the boys’ time in jail, their discussions with their lawyers, and their multiple trials. Most of the time spent in jail, Erik struggles with grief while Lyle is cocky and arrogant, sure they will get off with no charges.
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The storytelling is technically done well, even though the brothers’ portrayal feels wrong. Not only did Murphy make decisions that directly made these boys seem like they were liars throughout the entirety of their case, but he also made the brothers seem like they were lovers.
It almost romanticized the relationship they had, making their bond seem incestual. Even if their claims of sexual assault by their father are simply accusations, they should not be taken lightly, as the show contradicts.
Netflix is no stranger to backlash over the fictionalization of real events after “Monster” season one — an adaptation of Jeffery Dahmer’s case. Both cases reopened several trauma wounds for victims and their families. It feels different for the Menendez brothers, though. They are still alive, and the show forces them to relive their grief and wrongdoing.
The streamer also released a bad-faith documentary in which the documentarians spoke directly with the brothers. Creating a dramatic show that portrays them in such a bad light while also talking to them one-on-one to understand their side of the story presents a large break in trust.
Netflix still shows no remorse for both this season and the first as they already confirmed that the third season will follow the horrific case of Ed Gein. Personally, I can not be a supporter of the series knowing there are so many details twisted and turned to describe real events.
It is morally wrong for a real-life event to be told in such a dramatized fashion, as the creators of “Monster” have already done and will continue to do.