Ryan Murphy Takes Over Netflix's Top Charts With New Season Of True Crime Anthology Series
Eight years after Ryan Murphy ushered in a new era of prestige true crime retellings with "The People Vs. O.J. Simpson," the provocateur is back with a new take on a headline-grabbing murder case. This time around, it's the disturbing and tragic story of Lyle and Erik Menéndez, two brothers who are serving life in prison for the murder of their parents. "Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story" just dropped on Netflix yesterday, but according to viewership data site FlixPatrol, it's already the most-watched show on Netflix in the United States.
Netflix admittedly seems to be in a dry spell with its TV offerings lately, as "Monsters" is beating out inexplicable hit "Emily in Paris," two-week-old Nicole Kidman vehicle "The Perfect Couple," and a handful of reality and documentary offerings like "The Circle," "Selling Sunset," and "Worst Ex Ever," among other shows. Still, the show continues a hot streak for co-creators Murphy and Ian Brennan, acting as a sort of follow-up anthology installment to their award-winning 2022 series "Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story."
As with many of Murphy's crime sagas (see also: "The Assassination of Gianni Versace"), the new series aims in part to humanize its subjects regardless of their crimes, revealing the potential motivations behind the slayings that caught the nation's attention in 1990 when the Menéndez brothers were apprehended for the murder of their wealthy parents months earlier. According to Fox Los Angeles, the brothers didn't deny killing parents José and Mary, but claimed to do so out of fear for their lives. Both said they had been molested by their father since childhood, and their defense in court presented a story in which each brother finally realized the other had also been a victim of abuse just days before the murders, a revelation that they say kicked off a series of escalating confrontations.
As expected, the show is already controversial
Prosecutors painted a different picture at the time, using the boys' spending spree after their wealthy parents' deaths to portray them as hungry for an inheritance. As with the trial of O.J. Simpson a few years later, cameras were allowed in court, and the jury ended up deadlocked, leading to a mistrial. The brothers were later found guilty of murder in a second trial that limited mentions of the familial abuse factor, according to Fox. The case is complicated and tragic, but it also has everything that Murphy and Brennan seem to be drawn to: morally murky protagonists, a Hollywood angle (the murder took place in a Beverly Hills mansion, which seems like catnip for the man behind real estate horror show "Watcher"), and discussions of sexuality and power.
The latter topic has already begun to cause the new show controversy, as the show bizarrely decided to portray Erik and Lyle as a possible incestuous couple. According to Metro news, family members of the Menéndez brothers have pushed back after the show reportedly included scenes of the pair showering together and kissing. Unfortunately, this type of controversy and sensationalism also seems to be a classic go-to for a Ryan Murphy retelling. It hasn't stopped viewers from flocking to the series in droves, but I'm curious to see if the show's place on the Netflix Top 10 holds strong in the face of bad word of mouth from offended viewers and piling negative reviews.
"Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story" stars Javier Bardem, Chloë Sevigny, Nicholas Chavez, Cooper Koch, and Nathan Lane. All episodes are now streaming on Netflix.