"Monsters" isn't exactly a mystery, but we still have questions about the Menéndez brothers. Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re breaking down the lingering questions and unresolved mysteries that stuck with us after watching Ryan Murphy’s chilling true-crime miniseries “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menéndez Story.”
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00:00There is something that I haven't told you, but I haven't told you because of the way you would react, what you would think, how it would sound.
00:09Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're breaking down the lingering questions and unresolved mysteries that stuck with us after watching Ryan Murphy's chilling true crime miniseries, Monsters, the Lyle and Eric Menendez story.
00:21You're not chickening out, are you?
00:25Why was it implied that Lyle and Eric had a relationship?
00:28Well, it kind of seems like it was always happening because, I mean, I was always afraid of him.
00:33Your dad or Lyle?
00:34My dad. I was never afraid of Lyle. I always felt like Lyle was my, uh, my protector.
00:40After Monsters premiered on Netflix, one question was on every viewer's mind.
00:45Did the Menendez brothers actually engage in an illicit romantic and physical relationship?
00:50A few scenes certainly imply that, particularly one set at a party early on.
00:55However, by all accounts, it would seem that this was fabricated for Monsters.
01:00So why did showrunners Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan decide to leave it in?
01:04Why didn't you tell anybody about the abuse by your father?
01:10You're telling us everything else, but you're not telling us that.
01:14Lyle Menendez actor Nicolas Chavez declined to speculate, feeling that the question was best left for Murphy and Brennan.
01:22Cooper Koch, who plays Eric Menendez, gave a more robust explanation, sharing that he believed Eric,
01:27and that he didn't, quote,
01:32I can't tell what I am, and I never will be able to tell, is what I'm saying.
01:36And yeah, maybe I am a sociopath, and maybe I should have got AIDS,
01:40and maybe I'll only like it this way, because with girls, it was like, how could I even know?
01:46Hi, Lyle. I'm just writing to say I believe you.
01:50You couldn't have done the things they say you did.
01:52Or if you did, you certainly had a good reason.
01:55As the Netflix show accurately depicts,
01:58Lyle and Eric were subject to a massive media frenzy following their imprisonment.
02:02This was not necessarily a bad thing for them.
02:05Despite the overwhelming attention their actions generated,
02:08the brothers had and continue to have fans, supporters, and even financial backers.
02:13Lyle begins a friendly phone conversation with a woman named Norma.
02:17It's just my story.
02:19Explain what it's felt like my whole life to be Lyle Menendez.
02:22There's just no way that anybody would say that I deserve to go to prison.
02:25Lyle, that's a really good idea.
02:28This isn't a tribute to Norma Bates of the Psycho franchise.
02:31Norma Novelli really existed,
02:34and did indeed write a book based on her correspondence with the elder Menendez brother.
02:38With that having been said, Novelli didn't get Lyle's consent,
02:42and the book failed to make much of an impact on the trial.
02:45I could tell from your eyes the very first time I saw you.
02:49If you need anything, anything at all,
02:52maybe just even somebody to talk to,
02:54give me a call.
02:56All my love, Norma.
02:59Why was Lyle going bald?
03:01You are the hypocrite, huh?
03:03What about this?
03:04Oh!
03:07Ah!
03:08Oh, oh.
03:11Perhaps one of the most heartbreaking Monsters reveals
03:14is that this occurs when Kitty Menendez,
03:16engaged in a heated argument with Lyle,
03:18walks over to her son and rips his hairpiece off.
03:21According to Lyle's court testimony,
03:23this actually occurred,
03:25and due to the chemical solvent required to attach the toupee,
03:28was incredibly painful for him.
03:30How long have you had that?
03:34Like, uh, three years ago?
03:37Four?
03:38One thing that's unclear, though,
03:40is precisely why this was happening.
03:42Monsters seems to imply that Lyle's premature hair loss
03:45was the result of his high stress levels,
03:47brought on by Jose's verbal, physical, and emotional abuse.
03:51However, it should be noted that this is fictionalized speculation,
03:55and that his genes could simply be to blame.
03:57You wanna be a killer, right?
03:59Yeah.
04:00Right?
04:01What did the last scene mean?
04:03Captain!
04:04Captain!
04:05Yes, sir?
04:06What kind of sharks are we getting today?
04:08Uh, we're looking at blue sharks,
04:10mako,
04:11maybe a great white.
04:13They'll be juveniles, mostly.
04:14The events of Monsters conclude
04:16with Eric and Lyle being shipped off to separate prisons
04:19following their 1996 sentencing.
04:21The two brothers wouldn't meet face-to-face again until 2018.
04:25However, that isn't the true final scene of the show.
04:29That would be Monsters' brief coda,
04:31which flashes the viewer back to the family's fateful shark fishing trip.
04:35The thing that I needed the most,
04:37I had it with me.
04:39I had you.
04:43And I love you.
04:45The audience is made privy to a previously unheard conversation
04:49between their parents,
04:50in which the two discuss their plans for the future.
04:53Cut to the Menendez boys,
04:55where we see them make their final decision.
04:57Were Lyle and Eric simply in it for the money?
05:00On a quest for revenge?
05:02It's somewhat unclear what Murphy and Brennan are implying.
05:05You're not chickening out, are you?
05:08You bought the guns.
05:15No.
05:17How many of the events depicted on the show actually occurred?
05:20This is done. This is done.
05:22You understand?
05:24No more between you two.
05:26And you are never, never to touch him.
05:28Not ever.
05:30For obvious reasons,
05:31no one will ever be able to answer this question
05:34in a way that satisfies everybody.
05:36Otherwise, there wouldn't be a monster season
05:38focusing on the Menendez brothers.
05:40Keeping that in mind,
05:41it's still tantalizing to speculate,
05:43and the show continually keeps its audience in a state of limbo,
05:46questioning who we should believe and why.
05:49Told my cousin.
05:51She was living with us.
05:54And, uh...
05:57I wanted to sleep in the basement with her
05:59so that my dad couldn't come down there.
06:01Although Lyle and Eric claimed several harrowing instances of abuse,
06:05little in the way of proof physically exists.
06:08Otherwise, the boys surely would have been exonerated.
06:11However, new misconduct claims unearthed in 2023
06:15against Jose Menendez may prove to be encouraging
06:18for those who believe they should go free.
06:20I mean, I'm proud of you.
06:21I'm proud of you, Lyle.
06:22Because finally, you are doing something.
06:24Great! That's my boy! Good!
06:27Eric made his choice.
06:30You made your choice.
06:33Was Jose really abused by his mother?
06:36There is something that I haven't told you,
06:38but I haven't told you because of the way you would react,
06:41what you would think,
06:43how it would sound.
06:45Javier Bardem's portrayal of Jose Menendez
06:47was acclaimed by critics and audiences alike,
06:50making Jose feel at once like a towering, larger-than-life supervillain
06:54and a very real abuser.
06:56However, the show focuses heavily on the idea of intergenerational trauma
07:01and how it's insidiously passed down.
07:03A shockingly raw scene later on in the season
07:06depicts Bardem's character calling his mother,
07:08confronting her about the abuse he appears to have suffered at her hands.
07:24Crucially, Jose reveals that his mother had also confided in him
07:28about her own childhood abuse.
07:30As one of the show's themes is the slipperiness of the truth
07:34and Jose is obviously no longer alive,
07:36it's almost completely unlikely that we'll ever know the answer.
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08:08Why did they do it?
08:09I came here to feel better.
08:11How can I make you feel better, Eric?
08:13I came here so that you tell me I'm not a bad person.
08:18Tell me I'm not a bad person.
08:19You killed your mom and dad, Eric.
08:21Ah, the million-dollar question.
08:23As with the veracity of the brothers' claims,
08:26it's likely never gonna be truly clear as to whether or not
08:29Lyle and Eric took their parents' lives for fear that they would lose their own,
08:32or if they were simply vindictive over having been edited out of their father's will.
08:37Are we really gonna do this?
08:44Yeah.
08:46Of course, it goes without saying that the truth is not nearly so black and white
08:50and that all we really have to go on are court records,
08:53testimonies, and the brothers' own account of the evening of August 20th, 1989.
08:58The real-life Menendez brothers have consistently maintained
09:01that the decision to go through with their plan was spurred by years of horrific abuse.
09:06Was your father physically abusive, Eric?
09:14Which monster's moment shocked you the most?
09:16Let us know in the comments below.