Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story - Netflix

[Rollergirl11]

Anyone watching? It’s really quite bizarre; it’s almost played for laughs.

Is that Milli Vanilli they’re playing?! 🤪😂

I don't doubt at all that the abuse took place. I believe they were abused from a young age and that they were deeply, irrecoverably damaged as a result.

The problem comes when they basically planned out a cold blooded brutal murder days, weeks and possibly a year in advance.

The question I had was why didn't they just leave. I get that people will say its very hard to leave a domestic abuse scenario and that they shouldn't be blamed, but they could both have literally packed a bag, walked out the door and started a new life anywhere. They didn't have kids, they hated their mother and they were confident enough to go off to college and have social lives. Lyle was at Princeton and Erik modelling.

I think they were so used to the lifestyle they lived they didnt want to give it up. They possibly thought they were owed the money for what they suffered and thought taking their parents out of the picture was a better solution. Which is murder, no matter what the situation.

If its true that they were considering killing the therapist as well shows how dangerous they actually were in their determination to cover up the crime. They were very calculating in how they planned it and tried to get away with it, it wasn't an act of self defence.

I think life in prison was the right decision rather than the death penalty. They were a product of their environment. Whether they should be released now is an interesting question.

I'm only on Episode 3, but is anyone else getting a resemblance of Joey Essex from Lyle?

Yes @SnobblyBobbly, I thought the same thing! I also think that from certain angles Erik reminds me of Miles Nazaire from Made in Chelsea!

I thought he was gorgeous and now I can't unsee it.🥲

He does! Lyle's asking his lawyer for fake tan at the moment which is even more Joey-like! 😄

Erik reminds me of Evan Peters, fittingly.

The more I watch the more confused I become too. I’d forgotten that there isn’t any definitive evidence that the SA took place. I strongly believed it had but then on episode 7 the other angle (that the brothers were coached in how to present the evidence by their lawyers) is given more airtime. Plus we see Lyle bragging to his penpal Norma about his amazing performance on the stand. Both could be true- that the SA happened but that they needed some coaching on how to put it across. I still have two episodes to go so let’s see!

I don’t think there’s any evidence of the SA as such but there are / were photos of both of the boys taken when they were naked with close ups of their genitalia- which is obviously very questionable and quite frankly disgusting. These were discussed in the trial.

Also, in recent years others - I think one was a cousin - have come forward to say they were also abused by the Dad.

A singer called Roy Rosselló alleges that the father raped him.

Lyle and Erik told family members about the abuse long before the murders took place. One was a cousin - Andy Cano - who testified that Erik told him about the abuse. Erik also wrote him a letter about it in 1988 which wasn't used in the defense but did resurface years later. Another cousin - Diane VanderMolen

• testified in court that Lyle told her about his abuse.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/menendez-brothers-lyle-erik-abuse-claims-supported-by-newly-discovered-evidence-48-hours/

I think the series deliberately leaves it open as to whether the abuse actually took place, or took place as described. (I'm just over half way through, and this is how it reads to me so far). You are invited to see the brothers as unsympathetic and manipulative, and able to turn on a performance when going through it with the lawyers.
For example, when Dominick Dunne makes that comment to the lawyer about how he believed Lyle's testimony - so either it's the truth or he's a psychopath (words along those lines). Then there's a comment between the brothers when they're heading to a hearing, where Lyle specifically mentions the cinnamon and lemon juice - as if those are details they'd discussed and agreed to include. And then, at the very end of the episode where Erik is describing the abuse to his lawyer, there is a moment where he has a very odd sort of slow side-eye expression, like he is checking her reaction.
It's well done, I think.
I also think the actor playing Erik is particularly good.

Just finished this and loved it. It's quite a long watch with 9 episodes but it's not often that I'm so quiet watching something. Some amazing performances by several actors. Managed to wait until the end before I googled the real people. Ari Graynor who played the female lawyer was fab too! Javier Bardem is my looker in this 😊 although not with that hair!

Finished it but found it a very uncomfortable watch. If the allegations of sexual abuse are false (and I think the narrative was trying to steer us that way) then the intimate details of abuse described in earlier episodes feel, I don’t know what the right word is - voyeuristic? Gratuitous? Especially the repetition of them across multiple episodes. I could easily have abandoned the series halfway through as it didn’t really finish with any answers! Horrific crimes all round, whatever the truth is.

Javier Bardem is really good in this, he always does a great job IMO.
(My favourite role of his was The Dancer Upstairs - so good. And 🔥.)

I'm on episode 8 of 9.
I honestly don't know what to believe 🤔
I'd like to find out more, so can anyone recommend further reading/viewing on the subject (as I suspect there will be no clear-cut answers by the end)?

Your best bet is You Tube. The whole original trial is on there as well as multiple documentaries etc. Just search for the Menendez brothers trial and the names of the brothers etc.

@Pigeonqueen

Many thanks.

It's hard to believe these guys are in their mid 50s now!

What do we honestly think?
Do you believe that the boys were sexually abused?

This looks interesting:

www.radiotimes.com/tv/documentaries/lyle-erik-menendez-netflix-documentary-newsupdate/

Yes, I do.

But I also think they were coached in how to use their experiences to gain the most sympathy they could.

The two things are not mutually exclusive.

As the child of an abusive parent I can recognise a lot of myself in their behaviours - I mean obviously I’d never kill my own parent but I can understand the rage that would drive someone to that, and do something so violent. And I can also understand the spending etc afterwards.

he massively does.

there’s a documentary about csa involving the boys in a Latino boy band Menudo, Ricky Martin was in it at one point. They were linked with Jose Menendez and several of them said he and others abused them.

i think there’s plenty to suggest Jose was a sexual predator and no great loss to the world

I find it weird when people say "there was no evidence of sexual abuse" what kinda of evidence are you expecting from two children? If it's done behind closed doors, if their own mother is ignoring it, if they'd told family members, if there's medical info backing it up, if there's photos people really think he'd be sexually abusing his children in public for it to be evidence enough?

Ooh interesting !

There are several documented incidents that prove it, Medical records, photos , letters .
Both brothers were evaluated for years by top Doctors , Criminologists , SA specialists and all have concluded that both boys were victims of Mental , physical and Sexual abuse .

Its one of the most disturbing cases , from the outside the boys looked like they had it all, living in Beverly Hills , Tennis Lessons, Expensive education , parties.
The father engaged in various sexual encounters with both men and women , he had the means to pay for whatever he was into , away from his kids , why do that to his own kids?
How did the producer prove that the father was abused as a child too?
what about their Mother ? Why didn’t she put a stop to it?

Exactly, it's one of the reasons rape is so difficult to prove. Unless someone is filming it there's rarely evidence.
The only way I think this will ever change is if someone comes up with a lie detector test that is 100% accurate.
I personally choose to believe people when they tell me they've been victims of SA, I really don't think it's the sort of thing that many people lie about.