Monster

Monster is a series created by Ryan Murphy (American Crime Story, American Horror Story, 9-1-1, Hollywood, Pose, Feud, etc.). Everything Murphy touches is pretty much successful and this is no different. Everyone knows this story by now...he's one of the most notorious serial killers in the history of the United States. He would lure young men to his apartment and not only kill them but eat them. This is a story that's been told many times but this show takes the unique perspective of largely telling the story from the victims point of view. Evan Peters is absolutely brilliant as Jeffrey Dahmer. He's so good that he should be talked about for an Emmy nomination next year. This series is worth watching for Peters performance alone. This is very dark, disturbing story and Ryan Murphy does a great job telling it.

I want to star off by saying Dahmer - Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer story (what a ridiculous title) is a very tough watch. I grew up about 30min from Milwaukee and even though I was a little kid when he was arrested I still remember this story being a huge, especially around here. How he was able to get away with what he did for as long as he did is very troubling. The police dropped the ball time and time again and lots of innocent lives were lost because of it. Evan Peters deserves every bit of recognition he's getting from this series, he was brilliant. The rest of the cast is good too but it's Peters who makes this show what it is.

I had high expectations of this. After seeing Evan Peters in AHS, I just knew he would be great in this role. He did not disappoint.

I haven't seen many docos on Dahmer so don't really know that much about his personality or demeanor, but the character that Peters portrays is complex, creepy, and just plain twisted and evil.

One of the most disturbing details of Dahmer's crimes that this series highlights is how the police ignored and dismissed witness reports, and their lack of action allowed Dahmer to stay free and kill more men.

This series is excellent. I suggest you start watching it early in the afternoon as you will want to binge watch the whole series.

I knew very little about the Menendez brothers. I knew about the killings and about the molestation defense. But that's about it. The luridness of the story kept me at a distance but now, in this compelling Ryan Murphy series I was hooked from the very first episode. I could watch it as a work of fiction but the fact that it was a true story made me look back and read about it. Oh my God! There are no likeable characters in this saga but really good performances and that's enough to keep you glued to it. And here I discovered Cooper Koch as Erik Menendez. He took over my senses from beginning to end, including the episode that is just him. Superb performance and the humanity he finds in his monster makes you want to rethink the whole thing and believe them/him. He will make re-watch the series again, soon.

I ate up seasons 1 and 2, they were really well done and with intriguing plots and character studies.

Season 3, however... The first episode showed a lot of promise, and I was actually looking forward to the following episodes. However, as soon as the myriad of sub plots started I quickly lost interest and almost stopped after episode 4, but I pushed through (so you won't have to).

It seems to me like the show wanted to do a general study of infamous serial killers but needed a key character for the hook, and choosing Ed Gein makes sense, seeing as he was prolific and went on to inspire many other serial killers. But the balance is way off. There's too much fluff and non-factual plots and characters in the majority of the season compared to the actual Gein aspects.

There's characters we see a few times or even just once and then never again, some only mentioned in passing, but in a way that makes them seem important, like the son of the woman teaching "Domesticated Husbandry" is mentioned as someone we're supposed to know, but I could not for the life of me remember who he was, if we'd even seen or heard of him previously.

Of course there's a lot of gratuitous scenes as well, whether they be of the sexual/sensual or gory nature, classic Murphy.

The last episode especially was atrocious, as many others have attested, particularly ripping off Mindhunter, even with Happy Anderson reprising his role as Jerry Brudos, and at first I thought they had cast Holt McCallany as well, but it was just a look-a-like.

The season seems to practically celebrate Ed Gein as well as painting him as someone we should feel sorry for. Very little time is spent on the repercussions surrounding the victims and their families, as if they are just an afterthought or even entirely irrelevant.

When it comes to directing and writing, it was just messy, too many too blurred lines between reality and hallucinations to such a degree it was difficult to know how much of Ed's social life was real and how much of it was in his head.

I've had a lot of issues with several of Murphy's productions over the past few years and honestly think he has run out of original creativity and has just gotten used to churning out shows, making money and then moving on to the next. I really miss the earlier days of his stuff, the first four seasons of AHS were amazing for example. I wish the whole Murphy production team would take a break for a few years and come back with, hopefully, renewed creative juices!

I'd probably give seasons 1 and 2 a rating of 7-8 and I can't rate season 3 higher than a 2.