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 was disappointed in this show, I don’t think it was appropriate as a series 2 to Jeffrey Dahmer as the brothers are nowhere near comparable to JD.

There is a lot of evidence that they were abused as children, considering it is the nature of the crime to leave little evidence. In addition to this prominent psychologists who have met them agree they show psychological signs and behaviours consistent of SA.

I think the series would have been better off as it’s own show completely separate to JD, focussing more on their childhoods and the lead up to the crime. I also can’t stand Ryan Murphy, the JD series was criticised by the victims families as well.

Jose was dead when Eric made his confession to the therapist and there are hours of tapes of him explaining why and how he killed his parents to the therapist - yet no mention of SA - and yes there is a book out there based on Lyle's phone calls with a journalist (who posed as his girlfriend) basically saying how he conned the jury in the first trial. That's why he couldn't testify in the second trial.

Also, their spending sprees and behaviour after the murders was obscene. They were complete idiots who brutally killed their overbearing parents for money and absolutely deserved what they got.

The only thing the show got wrong was that in fact Eric was better at tennis than Lyle 😂 He was actually quite good.

Jose was dead when Eric made his confession to the therapist and there are hours of tapes of him explaining why and how he killed his parents to the therapist - yet no mention of SA - and yes there is a book out there based on Lyle's phone calls with a journalist (who posed as his girlfriend) basically saying how he conned the jury in the first trial. That's why he couldn't testify in the second trial.

@XelaM You’re still wrong, how many more times? There used to be nothing out there, nothing at all, that states he lied about his abuse.

And there could be many reasons why he didn’t tell his therapist about the abuse.

But also; the shame which comes from SA too. Maybe they didn't want to speak about it then?

I fully believe them. Have you watch the court footage? I'm sorry, but even the most evil of sociopaths and/or psychopaths aren't THAT good at acting.

That was raw. And the details etc. along with the 50 odd people who were their witnesses in the first trial.

Also; didn't Gypsy Rose plan her mother's murder for years? That was premeditated too. She's out and about living the high life.

Yes, she didn't shoot her mother numerous times at close range etc etc. but she did plan to kill her mum.

https://youtube.com/shorts/M74CLQuMARs?si=bjnnZ2QuDKILRx-2

Just saw this on YouTube, why the hell didn't they do anything at the time?!?

I saw this too... I don't understand. Why didn't they do anything? Were they scared of Jose? Or was it that time/generation?

I think the difference is that there was very clear medical and physical evidence of what was done to Gypsy Rose. There isn’t that here. It makes people less sympathetic. Which is a shame, as I do believe the brothers re the abuse.

@rainraino

I don't know but I think if another adult knew why Eric wanted to eat lemons yet chose to not report Jose then they belong in prison themselves.

Was it that it was only after the confessions, that the family realised why he was putting lemons on his food? That's what I thought.

@Pigeonqueen Yes, makes sense really.

I just feel like it's such a shame that it was focused on the money only, and that's the only reason why they killed them.

I don't think they were stupid but I did read that when they were assessed, they had a much lower mental age than their real ages. Which makes sense with the abuse too.

I know they spent a lot of money after the deaths but could that have been a grief thing? I don't doubt they were not spoilt etc. I read that they were just buying Lyle a condo in Princeton just before they were killed.

I can see why people thought they killed for money but I don't think they ever went without.

Does anyone know if there was any truth re Jose taking them out of the will?

Family members said that the amount of money they spent after they killed their parents wasn't unusual to how they went about spending money beforehand, that they'd always lived extravagantly.

The money thing is interesting to me because I genuinely think money always brings out the worst in people. I’ve had judgement about this myself on a much lesser scale (!) - my own mother was abusive - she was an alcoholic and schizophrenic- and I had a terrible childhood, foster care, she was sectioned, tried to stab my dad, blah blah. I was an only child and when she died in 2019 everything came to me inheritance wise. It was a lot. I was able to pay off my mortgage and I don’t need to work anymore - I was 38 when she died. We went on a nice holiday as a family, we spent a lot of the money doing nice things. And why not? But people really judged me for it because they knew I’d moaned about my Mum a lot in my life, and they didn’t see the same side to her that I had. For me I saw the money as some sort of compensation for the shit mother she was. And perhaps the Menendez brothers felt similarly - just they had a lot more money to spend!

Yes that’s the impression I got too. That they thought the amount of lemon he put on everything was weird but they had no idea of the sinister reason behind it.

There is a trailer up for a new documentary on the brothers which is out on Monday on Netflix. They themselves talk from their prison about what happened

After watching the series I thought maybe the brothers had made up the sexual abuse, but that there father was abusive in many other ways and the mother turned a blind eye

I have just watched the documentary and now I'm not sure

Horrible case

There are a lot of witnesses in the trial (cousins etc) who were very open about saying they knew there was definitely something dodgy going on when Erik and Lyle were taken to their rooms by their Dad, they said they knew they were not to go down there and disturb them, they said Kitty made it very clear to them they weren’t even allowed to walk past the rooms. One of the cousins did and she testified she heard some sort of horrible noises. It makes you wonder why none of them spoke out sooner. I don’t think any of them were in any doubt as to what was going on. Disgusting really. The series didn’t really cover this at all but the clips are all on you tube.

@Pigeonqueen oh I agree, but it's also possible that these cousins could have been motivated by money or family loyalty.

Very very hard to know.

They may well be released on appeal though as they have served over thirty years and there is obvious doubt

I just finished the documentary that came out today.

Has anyone else watched it yet?

We’re watching it later tonight. I’m curious to see what people think after watching it. I’ll come back and share my thoughts too.

Just watched the documentary. Haven't seen the drama and not sure I want to now. I totally believe them. The video footage from them in court from the first trial looked very genuine.

😂 you win the Internet today

I've finally watched it all and generally enjoyed it, but the story could have been more powerful with less episodes and the incestuous theme was unnecessary (a silly theory of Dominick Dunne). I think the series peaked with 'The Hurt Man' (none of it was gratuitous) and Cooper Koch was superb in that.

I hope the brothers are released ASAP.

'Why didn't they leave?'
Because they'd been so comprehensively abused. Not just by their Father: years of regular rape from a young age, but their Mother knowing & ignoring (possibly with her own MH issues). Then the fact that the older sibling reenacted his abuse by abusing his younger sibling (who could trust No One). Yes, glossy lifestyle, yes, College/modelling/tennis, but also, internally, two small very scared boys. Episode 5 was extremely effective.
They were indeed a product of their environment. And the sentencing reflects the fact they were wasps, & male & the location & the time imo.