Blame It on the Rain

The series Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story exceeded my expectations in every way. With a talented cast, including Javier Bardem, Chloë Sevigny, Cooper Koch, Nicholas Alexander Chavez, Ari Graynor, and Nathan Lane, this show delivered exceptional performances. The series seamlessly navigated a range of emotions, making me laugh, cry, and feel happy. I applaud the show's thoughtful portrayal of male victims of sexual abuse, a topic often overlooked. The cast's performances were outstanding, and their chemistry on-screen was undeniable. Overall, this show was a true masterpiece, and I feel fortunate to have experienced it.

Even with diving into this series with prior knowledge of the subject, it was still quite dark and very well portrayed but the two leads. They did a great job with time-relevant pop culture, music and vehicles. The acting was great and I loved the different points of view. Sometimes the story jumps in time and in perspectives, which isn't my preference but the series does a good job of avoiding any confusion with that. They do show some instances of... weird relationship boundaries that I question if it is relevant or needed at all. Overall, not as great as the Dahmer "season" but still a great watch.

First off I'm writing about the Mendendez brothers season because IMDB is too idiotic to separate the seasons. You'd think this would be no-brainer since each season has a totally different cast and story.

I thought this entire series was way too sympathetic towards the Menendez brothers. They gave way too much air time to the totally unproven allegations of abuse by the parents. The actor who played Erik was way too doe eyed and innocent. The real Erik Menendez is a smarmy little creep.

The truth of the Menendez brothers is they're sociopaths who viciously slaughtered their parents. They called themselves 'sociopaths' their parents called them the same and they proved it by their actions.

The real brothers performance in the court room was terrible acting. Still, it was polished and practiced and a lot of people buy it. This, even though they never mentioned any abuse in therapy. They never mentioned it to the police. It never came up until the retained Lesley Abramson.

They killed their parents, twice, once with the shotguns and then their reputation in the courtroom. 'Monsters' is an appropriate name for them.

There are rumors about the Menendez brothers getting a new trial or re-sentencing, in part, because of this movie. If that happens it will a total miscarriage of justice.

It was okay. Javier and Chloe were my standouts. I'm still on the fence as to the innocence of the Brothers but I guess that's the point. Speaking of- they both did a fine job.

The soundtrack was really rather chilling in points (hummm!!!) and Milli Vanilli are always welcome at mine.

So while I enjoyed it for what it was, I really detest how these shows bring out a fresh slew of fan girls who fall in love with the actor portraying a role, and then decide that the actual killers were innocent little sugar-sprites. It's disgusting but nothing new I suppose.

Next year we have the gorgeous Charlie from Sons of Anarchy as Ed Gein. Seriously, Ryan!? I know you like your boys pretty but Ed was anything but..... Place your bets now folks! Henry Cavill as Pee Wee Gaskins!?

S1- 9/10; S2- 7/10

Season 1 is absolutely fantastic and equally terrifying and that makes it, in my opinion, one of the best shows about a serial killer.

However, Ryan Murphy approached the second season differently.

Season 2, which tackles the Menendez brothers' trial, has a less dramatic and at times almost comical tone than Dahmer for obvious reasons but it's still pretty solid. There's less emotional scenes but since this time the narrative shifts and the audience is supposed to sympathise with the perpetrators, since they present themselves as the victims, it makes sense why it's not as disturbing or dramatic as the first season. Strong performances from the main cast, especially the brothers and Javier Bardem of course and overall an interesting case but a terrible tragedy.