“Well, if we kill our father, we must kill our mother.”
In August 1989, sisters Lyle and Eric Menendez bought a gun and moved into the Beverly Hills home they shared with their parents. They shot the parents in the arms, stomach and legs before returning to their car to reload. They continued by shooting their mother in the face to finish the job, firing 16 bullets between both of their parents.
They then tried to catch a movie at a local theater before dining at a trendy Los Angeles restaurant, where they knew they would be seen. The Menendez brothers, products of entertainment wealth and children of an immigrant father, initially claimed the mob beat their family before confessing to their parents’ murders after they were arrested.
The new limited series “Monsters: The Lyle and Eric Menendez Story” will reveal the events surrounding the Menendez murders and the brothers’ possible motives for killing Jose and Mary Louise “Kitty” Menendez. Before the OJ Simpson trial captured the attention of families across the United States, the Menendez brothers became cultural icons for the brutality of their crime and their claims in court that their father sexually and physically abused them.
The show expands the Netflix anthology franchise from Ryan Murphy and frequent collaborator Ian Brennan, which began in 2022 with a deep dive into the mind of serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer. This second season focuses on wealth, privilege, good looks and the consequences of abuse, as seen by the actors in the epic real-life drama from the early 1990s. There’s even a comparison in this latest season in which the Menendez brothers are referred to as “Jeffrey Dahmer’s uncles.”
“Dahmer” was so original in its execution that the cringe factor was cranked up to 11, but this second season, which revolves around the Menendez brothers, feels exploitative and speculative. Dahmer’s motives are well-explored, and Evan Peters’ portrayal of the character is transformative. Eric Menendez’s guilt is allowed to fester in “Monsters,” but the season drags itself out while exploring theorized motives throughout.
But the project finds heart in its all-star cast. Actors Nicolás Chávez and Cooper Koch play Lyle and Eric Menéndez, respectively, while Oscar winner Javier Bardem plays their father, José, and Chloé Sevigny plays Kitty.
But did the brothers kill their parents for financial gain? Or were their motives justified after they testified that they feared for their lives after years of being sexually abused by their father and Eric by his brother Lyle?
Time jumps around a bit in “Monsters” as we learn more about the Menendez family life and their complicated relationships. In Episode 3, we meet the other figures who wrap up this true-crime story: criminal defense attorney Eric Menendez, Leslie Abramson (the fantastic Ari Graynor) and Vanity Fair journalist Dominic Dunn (Nathan Lane). Abramson is credited with adding a sexual assault defense to Eric’s first trial, when the brothers were tried separately for murder, because he had previously used a similar angle in another murder trial, which he won.
For his part, Dunn is very familiar with murder trials and how they can go wrong after the murder of his daughter, actress Dominique Dunn, and the acquittal of her killer. Lane plays Dunn with earnestness and fear, as she is often seen regaling her friends with details of the Menendez trial.
In episode five, Eric’s graphic details about his father’s sexual assault of his attorney, Leslie Abramson, are like a single long scene that lasts for hours. It provides a definitive motive for the murder committed by persistent abuse. Murphy and Brennan present the murder as heartbreaking, emotional, and utterly manipulative.
The same premise of the movie of the week and of “Saturday Night Live” from years ago was the subject of the only season of “True Crime Law & Order” that was parodied by Edie Falco in Abramson’s role. Murphy and Brennan are turning the Menendez murder trial into a hit Netflix series, further exploring the brothers’ sexual proclivities, the rumors about Eric, their anger toward both parents and their lavish lives on and off the tennis court.
The series does a great job of portraying the relationship between Lyle and Eric, never diminishing their guilt, and even brings the 1994 Northridge earthquake into the mix. The crimes in question are shown early on, in graphic detail, as they lead back to a time when women across America were writing love letters to their brothers in prison. Their eventual arrest, in large part due to the therapist’s lady (Murphy’s beloved Leslie Grossman) coming forward with information about the murder, captures a moment when beauty in Beverly Hills privilege can mean liberation.
Nicolas Chavez is ruthless and calculating as Major Lyle Menendez and always drives because his brother chooses the passenger seat. Cooper Koch’s portrayal of Eric is more sensitive, to the point where the audience is constantly wondering whether he’s telling the truth or not. Graynor’s casting is the magic of the series, though, as he takes Leslie Abramson’s sly hairdo and buys into the idea that abuse is at the heart of everything Eric does.
The theme of “white panic” comes up in this season’s anthology series “Monster,” an episode that revolves around the Rodney King trial and white suburbanites fearing the unknown. Though details are revealed and the brothers are eventually found guilty and spend the rest of their lives in a California prison, “Monsters: The Story of Lyle and Eric Menendez” gives viewers a dubious reason for the guilty verdict.
There is no denying that these two committed crimes, but their motives will always be in doubt.
“Monsters: The Lyle and Eric Menendez Story” is now streaming on Netflix.
