Ryan Murphy broke the golden rule of true crime in Monsters
NetflixIf you feel angry about Monster Season 2, aka Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez story, you’re not alone – Ryan Murphy made a significant mistake with his new true crime series.
The new season of the Netflix show is proving to be as controversial as the first, which was perceived by many as being empathetic towards its subject, cannibalistic serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer.
Monster Season 2 turns its attention to Lyle and Erik Menendez, who murdered their parents, Kitty and Jose, at their Beverly Hills mansion in 1989. The show isn’t without its merits – Murphy knows how to spin a good story and pull the most impeccable casts together.
However, in true crime cases, which are full of nuance, Murphy tends to have the subtlety of a sledgehammer, and this could have dire consequences for the Menendez brothers, who are fighting their case from prison. Warning: some may find this content distressing.
Lyle Menendez is made out to be the monster
What’s the golden rule in dramatizing a true crime case? Always stick to the facts. Sure, certain elements will be hyperbolized for dramatic effect, but Monster Season 2 depicts Lyle Menendez as a yuppy parody.
He’s a coke-snorting, bad-tempered sociopath who cares only for his own selfish needs. First things first, while it might fit into the description of a spoiled rich kid in the ‘80s, there’s no indication that Lyle ever did cocaine.
NetflixLyle was often described in the first trials as more assertive than Erik, and that he had a rebellious streak. As teens, the brothers burglarized two homes of wealthy residents, leading to Erik taking the fall and being sent to Dr. Jerome Oziel – the controversial therapist who taped their confession.
But during the televised testimony of family and friends, the Menendez brothers’ family and friends described Lyle’s more sensitive, mild-natured side. Donovan Goodreau, a friend of his at Princeton, said he was “generous.”
“He didn’t have a whole lot of money… what little allowance he had, he spent that very quickly. But if he had 10 dollars and we were hungry, we would all eat,” he testified.
Meanwhile, the boys’ cousin Diane Vander Molen – who maintains her belief that the brothers were molested by Jose – described how Lyle asked her to sleep in her bed as a child, “saying that his dad and him had been touching each other down there.”
Elsewhere in her testimony, she noted how Lyle had been attached to stuffed animals, right up until he was a teenager. This is one of many examples highlighted by the defense as an example of his vulnerability, and the impact the alleged abuse had on him.
Ultimately, he was a complex person, and while there are moments of this in Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, the first two episodes set the stage for his character as a spoiled brat who gets angry at the drop of a hat.
As stated by Lyle Menendez’s family members, who run his Facebook page, “Obviously, anyone who watched the testimony of Lyle or any testimony about Lyle knows that Murphy created a fictional character.
“The character was so over the top and absurd that even if this was billed as fiction, it would be boring, ridiculous, unimaginative, and clearly written by writers who perhaps should have been writing the deep dialogue that shows up in porn movies.”
Menendez family slams “caricature of Lyle”
At a screening for the Netflix series, Murphy himself said (via IndieWire) that everything in the show is real, stating, “All the stuff in here, by the way, is true. We spent many, many, many years researching this. Things you really can’t make up.”
But at the very least, Monster Season 2 exaggerates or even makes up events to push the narrative. As well as the cocaine scene, there are numerous sequences implying the Menendez brothers were sexual with each other as young adults.
NetflixIn Episode 2, when the brothers can be seen dancing together at a party, Erik wipes the drugs off Lyle’s nose before sticking his thumb in his mouth.
A later scene shows the pair having a sexual shower together, and while it’s made clear this is nothing more than a rumor spread by a reporter with ulterior motives, it begs the question: why did it need to be in the series at all?
Robert Rand, who wrote the definitive 2018 book on the brothers’ crime, The Menendez Murders – and was notably absent in Monsters – told The Hollywood Reporter that the boys were “traditional jocks who did not do drugs” and that the incestuous relationship implications are “false.”
A&EFamily members and viewers alike have criticized these creative decisions, with another post on Lyle’s Facebook page stating, “So these ‘writers/creators’ got up in the morning, ate their cornflakes, and went to an office where they decided to lie about rape survivors who have suffered every single day of their life.
“The professionals did this for money. How ironic. Never forget: There was more evidence of abuse in the first trial than there is in most successful child abuse prosecutions.
“They had a plethora of material to draw from, and this is what they chose to do????? It’s laughable. It’s pathetic. And it is re-victimizing. It is imaginary. It is fiction. And to put out into the world the absurd notion that the brothers were lovers is the height of pure evil.”
They went on to say, “How convenient that the new evidence was never brought up! The truth is that I have no idea what I just watched because it bears no resemblance to reality or the human beings I know.”
Even Erik himself has jumped in to defend his brother and criticize how he was depicted in the show. Erik’s wife, Tammi Menendez, shared the statement on her X/Twitter page.
“I believed we had moved beyond the lies and ruinous character portrayals of Lyle, creating a caricature of Lyle rooted in horrible and blatant lies rampant in the show… I believe Ryan Murphy cannot be this naive and inaccurate about the facts of our lives so as to do this without bad intent,” he said.
“It is sad for me to know that Netflix’s dishonest portrayal of the tragedies surrounding our crime have taken the painful truths several steps backward – back through time to an era when the prosecution built a narrative on a belief system that males were not sexually abused, and that males experienced rape trauma differently than women.”
“Is the truth not enough? Let the truth stand as the truth,” Erik added, finishing by thanking all of those who have supported him.
As for the viewers at home, one Redditor commented, “They didn’t do that stuff with each other… He also didn’t do drugs, let alone coke.” Another wrote, “I hate and despise the sexualization of the brothers. Ryan Murphy minimizes the horrific rape they endured at the hands of their father since they were six.”
How it could impact the Menendez brothers’ fight for freedom
It’s important to point out that the judge in the second trial moved to block expert testimony on the alleged abuse, and therefore it was not considered in the court case. Legally, Murphy hasn’t done anything wrong.
However, Erik and Lyle Menendez are currently fighting their case from prison, and the fear now is that it will impact their latest appeal. In 2023, their attorney Cliff Gardner filed a habeas petition – a legal request to a court to determine if a person’s detention is lawful.
The hope is that, in light of new evidence supporting the brothers’ claims of abuse, the first-degree murder charge is vacated and replaced with manslaughter, which would mean Lyle and Erik would be freed.
Among the new evidence is a letter allegedly written by Erik to his cousin Andy Cano in December 1988, approximately eight months before the murders.
“I’ve been trying to avoid dad,” the letter states. “It’s still happening, Andy, but it’s worse for me now… every night I stay up thinking he might come in… I’m afraid… he’s crazy. He’s warned me a hundred times about telling anyone, especially Lyle.”
There’s also the affidavit of Roy Rossello, a former member of the popular Puerto Rican boy band group Menudo. As is described in Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed, Roy has accused then-head of RCA Records Jose of raping him in the ‘80s.
Right now, the public’s perception is critical. By casting Lyle Menendez as an unfeeling, coked-up caricature and adding sensationalized scenes, Monster Season 2 risks trivializing the abuse they claim to have suffered.
A&EIf you want to learn more about the real case, the original trials – before the judge restricted testimony on the alleged abuse – show detailed accounts from various family and friends, as well as experts, and they can all be watched via Court TV.
There’s also a Netflix documentary on the Menendez brothers dropping on October 9, and a number of other docs worth watching, including Menendez Brothers: Misjudged and Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed.
Significantly, if you do decide to give Monster Season 2 a watch, just remember to have your wits about you – Murphy knows you can’t let the truth get in the way of a good story.
For more on the case, take a look at what legal experts think about the Menendez brothers’ fight for freedom and how much Jose Menendez was worth before he died. You can also take a look at the most shocking documentaries to watch on Netflix.