Viewers are pretty wary of the Menéndez Brothers’ new series… but maybe not for the reasons Ryan Murphy had hoped

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Footage: ‘Monsters: The Lyle And Erik Menéndez Story’, Netflix

A month ago we got our first look at Monsters: The Story of Lyle and Erik Menéndezthe second season of Ryan Murphy’s Netflix anthology series focused on provocative true crime stories.

With its moody lighting, dramatic music, and long, passionate embrace between handsome actors Nicholas Alexander Chavez and Cooper Koch, who play Lyle and Erik, respectively, the teaser left us with one question: Wait a minute, is this supposed be homoerotic?

Now that the season has premiered, we have our answer. It’s a sickening, uncomfortable, and controversial story. Yes???

If you didn’t know, the trials of the Menéndez Brothers for the murder of their parents, José and Kitty, were one of the media sensations of the ’90s. At first, the brothers maintained their innocence and it was thought to be a mafia attack on their wealthy and powerful family, but after a tape of Erik confessing to his psychologist was leaked, the young men claimed it was retaliation for a childhood of psychological and physical abuse at the hands of their parents.

In 1996, Lyle and Erik Menéndez were found guilty of murder and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Erik (left) & Lyle (right) Menéndez | Photo credit: Getty Images

During the media frenzy surrounding the case, a number of rumors circulated about the brothers, including the idea that Lyle and Erik might have been incestuous lovers who planned to murder their parents after they were discovered. Although the claim was unsubstantiated, Lyle did tearfully admit that he perpetuated their father’s cycle of abuse toward his younger brother, while questions persisted about Erik’s sexuality, particularly after prosecutor Pamela Bozanich alleged that he was gay and had sex with inmates.

To this day, both men maintain that they are straight and both even married women while serving their life sentences.

That is to say, the story of the Menéndez brothers is nuanced and quite complex. As heinous as the crime they committed was, the evidence shows that they were victims of abuse. Could a modern retelling of their crime and trials approach the story through a more humanistic, compassionate lens?

Monsterswhich premiered on Netflix on September 19, doesn’t necessarily provide conclusive answers, and that ambiguity only makes people angrier.

The series jumps through time regularly and does not shy away from describing the violent household in which the brothers grew up. It is a difficult film to watch, and that is without even mentioning the scene in which the gruesome murder of José and Kitty is recreated down to the smallest detail.

Javier Bardem plays the demanding patriarch José as downright terrifying, while Chloë Sevigny’s pill-addicted Kitty is cruel and complicit. In many ways, the show wants us to understand that the parents may be the real “monsters” of this story.

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Still, there are plenty of moments that seem to deliberately leave the door open to the theory that Lyle and Erik were lovers. Some of them, like gratuitous shots of the brothers in tiny swimsuits or stepping out of the shower, barely covered by a towel, feel like typical salacious Ryan Murphy fare.

But there are other examples where the brothers kiss each other on the lips, or dance sensually at a party and put their fingers in their mouths, openly prompting the audience to think about the true nature of their relationship.

In another scene in episode 3, Erik has a shirtless conversation with a fellow inmate in prison, in which he openly considers whether he “likes hanging out with guys.” It’s an intriguing moment, but one that Monsters doesn’t go into much depth here.

Of course, there is value in telling a story about the long-term effects of abuse, how the Menéndez brothers’ traumatic upbringing may have distorted and damaged their understanding of and relationship to love and sexuality. You could argue that another Netflix series, Baby reindeertreats that subject with due care.

But that’s not necessarily the case. Then again, it’s a Ryan Murphy-produced show, so it’s flashy and even funny at times, full of standout performances (Chavez and Koch give truly star-making performances here) and period-accurate details and references that can be fun to see on screen. It’s meant to be entertaining first and foremost, but all that can muddy the message at best and feel exploitative at worst.

If these complaints sound familiar, the anthology’s first season, which focused on Jeffrey Dahmer, was met with similar outrage. Many accused the series of glorifying a serial killer and unfairly profiting from the stories of victims and their families for shock value.

Naturally, Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story also became one of the most-watched original series of all time on Netflix, earning multiple Emmy nominations (including Outstanding Supporting Actress for Niecy Nash-Betts). So it’s no surprise that they’re back for more with a third season, starring Charlie Hunnam as the infamous Ed Gein.

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As television continues to tell these horrific, difficult and disturbing stories – about real peopleliving and dead—here we are, tuning in and talking about them. Wait a minute…are we the Monsters?

For the sake of completeness: an alleged statement by Erik in which he denounced the “blatant lies” of Monsters—which appears to have originated from his wife Tammi’s social media counts—has made its way across the internet. You can read it in full below:

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