“Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story” is an ominous retelling of the notorious crime. Created by Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan, the second of their “Monster” anthology for Netflix follows brothers Lyle (an unimaginable Nicholas Alexander Chavez) and Erik (an impressive Cooper Koch). Having endured emotional, bodily and sexual abuse — the collection argues — by the hands of their father, José (Javier Bardem) and mom, Mary Louise, aka “Kitty” (Chloë Sevigny), the pair homicide their dad and mom in chilly blood. Chronicling the brothers’ upbringing, the murders and the whole lot thereafter, the collection is overlong and exhausting. The present makes an attempt to unpack the circumstances that led to the crime whereas highlighting Erik and Lyle’s trauma. However in the long run, the narrative feels futile and weird.
“Menendez” opens in October 1989, two months after Kitty and José’s deaths. Driving in a limo as Kenny G’s “Songbird” performs on the radio, Lyle and Erik head to their dad and mom’ memorial service. Lyle, the older brother, appears unbothered and managed, however Erik begins sobbing uncontrollably, seemingly out of nowhere. The scene instantly illustrates who the boys are. One brother is emotional and all-feeling, and the opposite is tightly wound and rageful.
From there, the narrative oscillates forwards and backwards in time. It unpacks the reign of terror that permeated the Menendez family, and pushed the brothers to parricide. Bardem is terrifying and vile as José, whereas Sevigny portrays a compassionless, pathetic girl. For his or her half, Erik and Lyle are a grotesque mix of entitlement and prey.
The killings are rendered in extremely graphic and gory element, and the plot recounts numerous police mishaps, which initially allow the brothers to keep away from suspicion. Within the months following the murders, deeply suicidal and tortured by photographs of his lifeless dad and mom, Erik confesses to his therapist, Dr. Jerome Oziel (Dallas Roberts), which finally results in his and Lyle’s detainment. Judalon Smyth (a wonderfully forged Leslie Grossman) delights as Dr. Oziel’s mistress and former affected person who performs a pivotal position within the brothers’ arrest and 1993 trial. The collection additionally introduces protection lawyer Leslie Abramson (Ari Graynor), whose tenacity and expertise are pigeonholed by the misogyny within the authorized area, the courtroom system and her fondness for Erik.
The primary half of “Menendez” is great, however Episode 5, “The Damage Man,” is the standout. Although no sexual abuse is explicitly depicted, Erik speaks to his lawyer Leslie at size and in vivid element in regards to the lifetime of rape and abuse he endured by the hands of his father. The episode is cleverly shot in a single lengthy take because the digicam slowly zooms in on his face.
Sadly, following its fifth episode, the present falls into the deep finish. The unwieldy tone, which teeters between ominous and lightweight camp (there’s a stunning toupee and overdone homoeroticism), implodes on itself, and the remainder of the episodes are a repetitive slog.
Episode 6, “Don’t Dream It’s Over,” remembers José and Kitty’s relationship, from their courtship by way of their more and more tense marriage. Whereas this chapter exhibits the couple’s respective childhoods (each marred by abuse), and permits Bardem and Sevigny to showcase their sturdy abilities, it does little so as to add to the stress or texture of the collection total. The overloaded episode ought to have been edited out totally, integrating these flashbacks into the primary half of the collection.
The remaining episodes are equally taxing. Along with the Menendez household, simply as they did in “Dahmer — Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story,” Murphy and Brennan platform some main gamers orbiting the brothers and their trials. Vainness Truthful reporter Dominick Dunne (Nathan Lane) fixates on the case’s particulars. After shedding his solely daughter to an act of violence, he turns into consumed with ensuring Erik and Lyle are punished, particularly within the courtroom of public opinion. Episodes 7, “Showtime,” and 9, “Hold Man,” reimagine Kitty and José’s murderers by way of Dominick’s perspective. He additionally narrates how the brothers navigate jail, together with their relationships inside and out of doors the jail partitions. Although Lane is nice, his character provides little to the story total.
Within the collection, as in actual life, the brothers have two trials spanning seven years — and the courtroom scenes in “Menendez” are tiresome and grating. As a result of the tone is already so off-kilter, these sequences are an odd, endless train boasting innumerable witnesses, authorized maneuvering and testimony.
Los Angeles within the late ’80s and early ’90s was a definite place. Rodney King’s beating, the ensuing riots, California’s dying penalty and even O.J. Simpson’s arrest and acquittal all swirled across the brothers’ time within the highlight. Nonetheless, as a substitute of subtly infusing these plot factors, Murphy and Brennan insist on clobbering the viewers over the pinnacle with these info. At one level, Erik even speaks to Simpson from his adjoining jail cell, suggesting that the accused former soccer participant take a plea cut price.
Regardless of the gripping material and the excellent performances, “‘Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story” has no thought what it desires to be. Subsequently, it simply dissolves right into a retelling of unspeakable abuses and grotesque crimes. Nonetheless, the larger problem is who and the place we’re as a society. Once we have interaction within the platforming of murderous and unwell folks, regardless of how heinous their upbringings might have been, we lean into our personal unchecked monstrosities.
“Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story” is now out there to stream on Netflix.