Brothers in Arms
Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Melendez Story
Ah, the Menendez Brothers.
I hadn't thought about them in years until Ryan Murphy announced they would be the focus of the second season of Monsters (although it could also have been a season of American Crime Story, for that matter; how does he decide? How did he decide Grotesquerie would stand alone when it could have been a season of American Horror Story? For that matter, why is the Aaron Hernandez one American Sports Story instead of American Crime Story?). It's been over thirty years since the original murders, and this case was the first one I remember that was, thanks to cable television, part of the public discourse; the trial was televised and people watched; everyone had an opinion; and the tabloid coverage was crazy. I don't remember another crime story have this kind of impact before, but it set the stage for OJ's trial, the Jon-Benet Ramsey murder, and so many since then it's hard to really keep track of them all. But I do believe the brothers were the first to be so much in the public eye once they were arrested; a "viral" crime before anyone knew what that even meant.
I wasn't sure I wanted to watch this latest take on the Menendez brothers and the murder of their parents, to be honest. I've watched at least one documentary on the case years ago, and I watched the made-for-TV movie with Billy Warlock of Days of Our Lives and Baywatch fame (I remember especially the scene when his wig was torn off his head), and of course I read Dominick Dunne's coverage in Vanity Fair. As I mentioned, it was one of the first murder cases to get national attention, to be was all over the 24 hour news channels, not to mention Court TV and all the others. The national tabloids, magazines, and even local newspapers and stations scrambled for coverage1 . I remember the first trial ended in a hung jury, and I kind of lost interest after that--as did the media. The only reason I knew there was a second trial that ended in convictions was thanks to Dominick Dunne. The case would get back into the news periodically in the years since, but I didn't really pay much attention. Books and documentaries and fictional adaptations continued to be churned out in the decades since their conviction, and like I said, I wasn't really planning on watching this new series2. I thought they were psychotic killers who murdered their parents for their money.
And yet, one Saturday night after we'd finished watching all the football games, Paul suggested we start watching Monsters, and I thought, why not? If it's not good, we can always stop watching.
I didn't think the first episode was very good3, but we decided to give the show one more episode on Sunday, and then we were hooked. It's a very Ryan Murphy show, to be sure: it's visually beautiful, and the acting is excellent. The two young men who play the brothers, Cooper Koch (Eric) and Nicholas Alexander Chavez (Lyle), late of General Hospital, are gorgeous to look at, are often shown in some form of undress (including a full frontal shot of Koch), and they deliver some astonishing performance (so does the entire cast). There's one scene that Koch does that is almost the entire episode, him doing a monologue about his life, his parents, his brother, and his failures, his weakness, that is an Emmy reel in and of itself. Javier Bardem and Chloe Sevigny are also fantastic, as is Nathan Lane as Dominick Dunne; Leslie Grossman and Ari Graynor also shine in supporting roles. One thing you always have to give Murphy credit for--incredible actors giving incredible performances is something you can usually expect from one of his shows. (Jessica Lange's four seasons on American Horror Story is a masterclass in acting talent and range.)
While I know the family has had some objections to the series--not the least of which is the implication that the brothers had that incestuous closeness; but some of the scenes that showed that were from other people's perspectives; for example, the scene in which they are in the shower together--a cousin has stated that the dad did make the boys shower together--and Lyle did testify under oath that when they were kids, his dad encourage him to also molest Erik. (I think seeing a report on that is what made me think there were hints of incest in their relationship; I honestly don't remember as it was thirty years ago and I didn't pay that much attention. I did think, when I first read about the murders, that they were guilty (they did shoot their parents) and when they switched the sexual abuse defense, I 1000% thought they were making that up (no one could say it didn't happen) as a "get out of jail" free card.
And watching this show? For the very first time, I thought they might have been telling the truth. I knew boys were capable of being raped and molested and abused as children, even as teenagers; the priest scandals were just slowly beginning to come out into the light. but the amount of Americans--men especially--refused to accept the fact that boys could also be victims was astonishingly high. For one thing, most victims were too ashamed to do anything about it (another toxic masculinity issue), and because other men wouldn't believe them, or think "they wanted it" (you know, the same things they say about women rape victims). The shame of "being unmanned" was still a thing in the 1990's--the toxically masculine also have issues with gay men because it besmirches manhood or something fucking stupid like that, or "womanizes" men. And it was very difficult for anyone to believe a father could do that to his sons.
And bearing that in mind, I completely understand why the Menendez brothers wouldn't have told anyone, nor would they have told the cops or their original lawyer. It makes sense. And they only admitted to it when it looked like they were definitely headed for the chair.
It. Makes. Sense.
And I would have probably voted to acquit.
The show also highly sexualizes its young stars in a way that we are seeing more of these days (certainly in Ryan Murphy series; I have to say I do approve of the objectification of men--and I also like that the gay male beauty standard, so often maligned within our own community, has clearly spread to straight men of all ages. I'm amazed, for example, how many young men have realized the importance of leg day and building up a lovely round hard butt. The two young actors playing the leads, Cooper Koch (Erik) and Nicholas Alexander Chavez, are incredibly gorgeous; Koch even does a full frontal scene sans prosthetic. They also had good chemistry between them, which...I can certainly understand why the family was furious about the hints of incest in the series--but that was what the person whose perspective was being shown thought. Lyle also testified to abusing Erik when they were younger--and like I said, they seemed almost unnaturally close.
And when it was all over, Paul asked, "do you think they were abused?"
GREG: I didn't at the time, but now I'm not so sure. And they're the only ones who know for sure, so we'll never know.
I think the show has changed a lot of minds about the brothers--and now that a member of Menudo had come forth to claim he was also sexually abused by Jose Menendez, they may even finally get out of jail...but would they have been so "viral" at the time if they weren't good looking young men?
When we got to the episode on the Ryan Murphy series where OJ went on the run in the Bronco. Paul turned to me and said, "The 90's were a time, weren't they?" to which I replied, "Jon-Benet Ramsey, Versace, OJ, the Menendez brothers--yeah, it was one major crime mystery after another." ↩︎
I have a love/hate relationship with Ryan Murphy productions. When he hits the ball cleanly, he knocks it out of the park. But most of the time his shows collapse under their own weight and endings rarely resolved everything. But his better shows are usually based on a true story... because the story's already written. ↩︎
It was very over the top and campy; it wasn't until later that I realized that each episode is the story from someone else's perspective (aka Rashomon), which is something I absolutely love, so I should rewatch that episode to get a better sense of it.