Crime, Conspiracy, Cults and Murder - Ep. 15 | The Menendez Brothers | Victims OR Killers?

Episode Date: October 30, 2024

The Menendez brothers’ story raises a haunting question: Were they ruthless killers after an inheritance, or abused victims driven to desperation? I dive into this episode questioning the complex case that still stirs debates decades later. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Crime, conspiracy, cults, serial killers, and murder, all things that I love to consume, and I know you do too, you sick-minded, intellectual, beautiful freak. And today, we are talking about probably one of the most infamous, uh, sibling murder cases, I guess, but also one of the most infamous cases, especially in the 90s.

It really coincided with like the heavy media tension in the 90s with like the OJ Simpson case, also with this case, the Menendez brothers. And I'm sure most of you know who the Menendez brothers are, but for those of you who don't know, we're going to talk about them today and deep dive into what crimes they committed and a little update on what's going on and a new Netflix show that came out about them at Monsters and how that kind of tells the story in a loose, kind of weird way. We'll talk about it. We'll get into it. But for those of you who don't know, the Menendez brothers

Lyle and Eric became infamous for the brutal murders of their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez in 1989. The gruesome case not only captivated a nation, but also opened up a conversation about family abuse, media sensationalism, and the criminal justice system. And the trial, which unfolded across three separate hearings, saw both brothers sentenced to life without parole. It's not really a spoiler alert. They've been in there for a while. Although their guilt was never really in question. But the reasons behind their actions remain subject to an ongoing debate. And that's kind of what we're going to talk about today, along with the show that just came out and the public perception of whether they should be in prison or not.

So without further ado, let's unbuckle our seatbelts, go Mach 5 down the highway, slam on the brakes and bust through this windshield into this crazy brother murder case together. Before we get into the video, I just want to say, if you guys don't already know, my movie is done. I made a movie. I made a found footage tour movie. I'm really proud of it. I'm really excited for you guys to see it. Well, you have screening dates. We're coming to Dallas. We're coming to L.A. And we're coming to Buffalo, New York. I think we have at least two of those locations, officially locked in and you can buy tickets right now. Down below, I'll leave a link down in the description and in the comments for you guys.

And then we should have the dates for Buffalo soon as well. We will be limited to how many screenings we can do due to personal reasons and whatnot. I wish I could travel around the world and do it, but I can't at the moment. But we'll have more details on hopefully maybe some more screenings down the line and distribution down the line. But until then, we have those screening dates. And Selena and I will be hosting those screenings. So we'll see you there.

We'll be doing Q&As after as well. So yeah, go buy the tickets while you can. Let's get back to the video. How sick is this? So first, let's do what we always do and go back a little bit and talk about the family, specifically, obviously, the Menendez family. Because to understand the full scope of this case, one must go back and look at the family's background. Jose Menendez, first born in Cuba, was a self-made success story.

He immigrated to the U.S. after the Cuban Revolution, determined to build a life through hard work. And his determination led him from washing dishes to a high-profile. career as an entertainment executive. But first, Jose would attend a Southern Illinois University, where he would meet his future wife, Mary Louise Anderson, otherwise known as Kitty. And his wife, Kitty Menendez, was a former beauty pageant contestant. And they would be married in 1963,

and that is when they would move to New York, where Jose would earn his accounting degree from Queens College. And the couple's first son, Joseph Lyle, who goes by his middle name, Lyle, was born January 10th, 1968, in New York. Kitty would quit her teaching job after Lyle was born. the family would move to New Jersey, where Eric would be born November 27th, 1970, in Gloucester

Township. And the family would live in Hopewell Township, where both brothers would attend Princeton Day School. So the couple's image really reflected like the American dream, especially at the time, with successful careers, wealth, and two talented sons that they had. Jose would later become an executive at Hertz Global Holdings and later at RCA Records. And in 1986, the family would move to Beverly Hills, California, when he was appointed CEO of artisan entertainment, then known as live entertainment. And their Beverly Hills mansion had been previously owned by celebrities like Michael Jackson and Alton John, symbolizing their high status.

In Lyle, the older son was basically primed to follow in his father's successful footsteps in business. He would attend Princeton University, but he would be placed on academic probation for having terrible grades, and he would also be suspended for plagiarism. Whereas Eric, the younger brother, earned average grades but had a remarkable talent for tennis. He would even go on to become a nationally ranked tennis player at only 18 years old. So outwardly, the Menendez family wasn't all perfect,

but it seemed to be the American Dream family. But beneath the surface, it was much, much darker. Because according to Lyle and Eric, their picture perfect childhoods were a complete facade. Because the brother's defense during the trials centered around accusations of abuse at the hands of their father, and their mother by extension.

I was like, I was about 11. Did she help you with your baths? Yes. And how old do you believe you were when that happened? I was in sixth grade. I guess, I'm pretty sure I was 12. And was that within a year of the episode you previously described at 11? Yes.

Alan had begun thinking back to some very disturbing things he had witnessed at the Menendez house as had cousin Diane Hernandez. He would take their heads and push them underwater until they started panicking and kneaded up. He would let him up again. Because their father, Jose, was apparently a very domineering figure, not only pressuring the boys to succeed at academics and athletics, but also allegedly abusing them physically and mentally. And Kitty, meanwhile, was described as a very passive and distant mother, who, according to the defense, was aware of the abuse and didn't help to stop it. And testimonies in the trial would reveal that she struggled with alcoholism and also struggled with mental health

issues, rendering her a very ineffective protector of her kids. The prosecution, however, painted a very different picture, which we will get into further along, so stay with me. So let's get into the days leading up to the murder. So like I said, leading up to the murder, Lyle and Eric would start planning their crime meticulously. To prepare, they would purchase their weapons that they would use later on on their parents. So on August 18th, 1989, two days before the the murders. The brothers would go to a Big Five sporting goods store in San Diego and they would buy two 12 gauge shotguns, which is still just crazy to me that you could just buy that the same day. I, we're not going to get into that. But they would choose this location because it was far enough

from Beverly Hills, minimizing the chance of anyone actually recognizing them. And the brothers tried to be really obscure when purchasing the weapons using fake identification and claiming that the guns were for hunting. They would also buy ammunition and other equipment such as shotgun shells loaded with buckshot, which we will see down the line will cause significant damage to whatever you shoot. And after that, Lyle and Eric would begin working on their alibi. So on the night of the murder, they would purchase tickets to go see the movie Batman. I can never think of Batman the same after this case, which they claimed to have seen at a local theater. This was the cover-up because they would actually be going to their parents' house and doing what they did.

So on the night of the murder, Jose and Kitty would be relaxing in their den in their family Beverly Hills mansion. Jose would be seated on the couch watching the television, and Kitty was lying on the other end of the couch, either sleeping or reading, were not quite sure. And Lyle and Eric would wait until their parents were more vulnerable and in an unsuspecting state. And once that happened, Lyle and Eric would enter the den with armed shotguns. Lyle, the older brother, would take the lead first. Without warning, he would aim the shotgun at the back of Jose's head and pull the trigger, firing at point-blank range. And this is with a shotgun. so the force of the blast killed Jose instantly, obviously,

and he would slump over the couch after the fact. And blood would be splattered everywhere around the room. The crime scene photos I do not recommend looking at it, and I will not show them here. And Kitty, obviously being awakened by the gunshot, would be next. She would attempt to escape, but disoriented and in a state of panic, she managed to get up from the couch, but before she could run out of the room,

Eric chased after her, firing multiple rounds as she tried to flee. She would be hit in the leg and she would collapse near the entrance of the den, but Eric would just continue to shoot, aiming at her head and her body, ensuring that she was fatally wounded. Kitty would be shot a total of nine to ten times. I've kind of seen, they were collectively shot 14 to 15 times.

I feel like it's maybe hard to determine how many times because a shotgun blast is so widespread. But according to forensic analysis, the bullets left her face completely unrecognizable. And she would suffer massive injuries across her torso as well. And the nature of the injuries were so severe that investigators initially thought that this had to be part of a mob-style execution, which ended up working in Lyle and Eric's favor. But after Kitty collapsed from being shot, the first initial times,

Eric and Lyle would circle back to Jose and Kitty and make sure that they were killed. So the entire attack really only took a few minutes, but Kitty and Jose's body were left in an extremely gruesome state. And by the end of the massacre, about 14 to 15 rounds were fired. six into Jose and about 10 into Kitty. And to cover their tracks after the murder, the brothers would drive to Mulholland Drive to dispose of the shotguns by dumping them into the canyon. And after they would return home back to their house

in the Beverly Hills, where they would place a frantic call to 911. And Lyle would be just sobbing on the phone, claiming that they had found their parents shot to death in their house after returning from the movie. And their alibi at first really held up, and the police really didn't suspect them at all. They didn't even actually swab them for shotguns.

on residue, which helped them later on in the case, but obviously we know how it ended up, but initially it did help them. However, they would act very odd after their parents would die, which would then make them look suspicious, starting off with very extravagant spending and erratic behavior following the murders,

which raised some big red flags to the people investigating the case. And the 911 call is like, believable, which kind of, adds to the whole trial and stuff to really good, really good acting, because we know that they killed them. Like, we know that much. They admitted to that. So we know that Eric was faking the call. So that, that doesn't work into their favor. But anyway, here it is. What's the problem?

The problem? The people, the people, what? No, no. Were they shot? Were they shot? They were shot? Yes. I was trying to get to see him further. Other units are funny. What happened?

I don't know. Who shot who? I don't know. He came home and found who shot. The people that you did the shooting. Let me talk to Eric. I was the person that was shot. Your mom and dad?

I love my dad. Okay, hold on a second. Okay, we're on our way over there with an ambulance. Okay, I got to go. Okay. So like I said, said, following the murders instead of displaying signs of grief, like most people would, you think, especially if they did it. I feel like people would like overly act like they were sad if they

didn't want to go to jail. But the boys didn't. Lyle and Eric just began spending lavishly. Within six months, they would spend $700,000 of their father's money. Lyle would purchase a Rolex, a Porsche, and an entire restaurant in Princeton. While Eric would invest in a personal tennis coach and even would try his hand at concert production, spending $40,000 on a failed rock concert. The brothers would also travel extensively, vacationing in the Caribbean, and enjoying a lifestyle far removed from mourning sons.

So naturally, their extravagant spending raised some red flags within the investigation team. At a time when they probably should have been grieving, at least fake grieving, you know, they were indulging in a high-rolling lifestyle that seemed very out of ordinary for what had just happened to their family. So it wasn't long before law enforcement,

began to view them as suspects. And despite their initial escape from suspicion, it was actually Eric's overwhelming guilt that ultimately led to the brother's downfall. Eric had been in therapy with Dr. Jerome Oseill before the murders. And after the killings, the therapist reached out to him again. So in a series of therapy sessions,

Eric eventually confessed to Dr. Oseill that he and his brother had killed their parents. And unbeknownst to Eric, Oseil had actually taped the therapy session. And Oseille's involvement would later become pivotal, Pivotable? What? Oseal's involvement would later become pivotal to the trial. He would confide in Judilon Smith,

a woman who he was having an extramarital affair with, and Smith reported the taped confessions to the police. And the issue of whether these tapes were protected by doctor-patient confidentiality became a focal point later in the legal battles over the next two years. But ultimately, two of the tapes containing confessions were admitted into evidence. So the first trial began in 1993,

and the courtroom drama captivated. the nation. Separate juries would be compiled for each brother and the trials would be broadcast on court TV, which had basically just launched and really capitalized on the public's fascination with high profile legal cases, which we have seen with OJ Simpson's case, Ted Bundy's case, even like Johnny Depp and Amber Hurd's cases, etc. And the trial became a media sensation, drawing endless analyses and attention both for its soap opera-like elements and for the sensational claims made by the defense. And let's get into the defense. You said it's some point your father had anal sex with you. Is that right? Yes. Just started with after

sports practices, he would massage me and we would have these talks and he would show me and he would fondle me and he would ask me to do the same with him and I would I would touch him and we would undress. So what was so pivotal in the case for the defense on their side was that Eric and Lyle had been driven to murder because of years of sexual and emotional abuse from their parents. Lyle's and Eric's testimony would provide very graphic accounts of their father's alleged sexual abuse

and misconduct. Lyle's testimony would provide very graphic accounts of their father's sexual misconduct. She harassed me. What do you mean she harassed you? He just kept exposing herself, picking me up. at the clubs with, you know, in a robe exposed,

leaving her underwear around, calling me into the room when she was, she knew that she was, you know, changing. And he would describe a cycle of manipulation and fear and control that continued throughout their lives. Eric would also recount very similar stories, saying that the abuse continued well into his teenage years. These episodes with your father,

what time of day did they usually occur? At night. Before or after dinner? Either before or after, usually before when he right got home from work, but sometimes it would happen after. If it were before dinner, would you still be expected to come down to dinner? Yes, unless I was unable to. And were there times when you were unable to eat dinner? There was times when I was unable to come down to dinner.

Why was that? Because I was crying too much or I was too much of a mess and I was shaking and I was shaking and I couldn't. And the defense portrayed Kitty as just a broken woman who was overwhelmed with depression and alcohol and drug use, unable to protect their kids from Jose's tyranny, basically. And there's also accounts that she was also guilty

in said abuse as well, allegedly. She would come in after I'd been in there a while. She would help wash my hair and wash me with a sponge. And Eric's attorney, Leslie Abramson became a household name basically due to her vigorous defense on her client. She argued that the brothers genuinely feared for their lives, and according to the defense, the murders weren't premeditated, but an act of desperation to free themselves from their father's abuse. However, the prosecution would present a very different narrative, arguing that

the Menendez brothers were motivated by greed and greed alone. Prosecutors would point to the brothers reckless spending after the murders as evidence of their true intent. They argued that the brothers killed their parents just to gain control of the family inheritance, essentially, which at the time, their life insurance policy was worth about $14 million, which in today's money is $35.5 million roughly. So a lot of fucking money. And this would add weight to the argument, although legal technicalities did prevent the brothers from collecting on it. So the first trials of Lyle and Eric Menendez actually had a hung jury, with the jurors divided on whether the brothers actually committed the murders or were acting in self-defense. The trial would last six months and

was an absolute cultural phenomenon. Reflecting the nation's deep divisions on family, abuse, wealth, and justice, some viewers would sympathize with the brothers believing that their claims of abuse and saw the murders as just a tragic consequence of their tortured childhood. And others would view them as just spoiled,

wealthy young men that took advantage of their parents and committed a monstrous crime. So immediately after the trial, a retrial was announced. And the second trial would be held in 1995. And because of the media circus that happened But the first trial, Judge Stanley Wiseberg decided to ban television cameras from the courtroom for this trial. Additionally, the judge would rule that there was insufficient amount of evidence to rule that the sexual abuse claims were valid, severely limiting the defense's arguments.

So in March 1996, after the second trial, Lyle and Eric Menendez would be convicted of two counts of first degree murder. murder of a Maria Menendez, a human being for our financial gain while lying in wait with a firearm. The prosecution had successfully portrayed the brothers as cold-blooded killers, motivated purely by greed. And on July 2nd, 1996, the day after I was born, which is weird.

I just know that my mom was probably watching this while giving birth, which is weird to think about. I think she was, actually. I gotta check in on that, but this makes a lot of sense for me doing this kind of stuff now. Not that I think about it, sorry, I'm having a like a moment right now. Anyway, on July 2nd, 1996,

both brothers would be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. And the public who had been absolutely encapsulated by this case for seven years had seen all this drama finally come to an end and people were still divided. And Lyle and Eric would initially be sent to separate prisons for their sentencing,

but in 2018, they were actually reunited, and allowed to serve their time together in San Diego. And over the years, the brothers have actually become mentors to the other inmates, particularly those who have suffered sexual abuse. Eric leads self-help groups, while Lyle continues to advocate for his and his brother's innocence, insisting that the abuse that they suffered justified their actions. And the Menendez brothers' case continues to fascinate the public, as we've seen, with documentaries, TV shows, and books revisiting the tragic story.

Because the case opened a larger conversation about the nature of family abuse, and its potential long-term effects. But it also underscored the ways in which wealth and media can influence the public perception of crime, which we've talked about and which we've seen. So like I said, numerous documentaries have chronicled this case, exploring the different aspects of the trial and the crime. One of the earliest documentaries was the 2000 episode

of Menendez Brothers, Blood Brothers, from court TV series, Mugshots. And this was followed by American Scandals in 2015 with Barbara Walters, which featured an episode titled Menendez Brothers, the Bad Son. Their story continues now, the scene being set for murder. Describe your relationship with your father. What words come into your mind? Brutal, painful. And other documentary specials like Truth and Lies,

The Menendez Brothers, 2017, have aired on ABC, shedding light on the psychological and familial dynamics at play in the murders. And in 2021, ABC's 2020 aired a special titled, Inside the Menendez Movement, highlighting a growing trend on social media. particularly TikTok, where younger generations express sympathy for the brothers, focusing on the alleged abuse that they suffered. But I do not think that anyone in their right, um, say to my eye would do what they did to their parents. Looking at the case of the Mendez brothers is literally so heartbreaking and I don't know how they're not out of jail.

But when I tell you that if I was the people that were in their lives and I was hearing all the stories that was coming out about their parents, do you? I would have turned into a whole different person. I would have been calling the police, CPS. I would have been calling their f-be freaking I. I would be calling everybody in their mama. So the documentary basically examines how the Menendez brothers have become controversial figures in modern discourse,

with many now questioning whether their sentence was justified. And the Menendez case has adapted into several films and television specials. In 1994, CBS aired Menendez a killing in Beverly Hills, a made-for-TV movie depicting the murders and subsequent trial. The brothers were also portrayed in 2017 Lifetime film called Menendez Blood Brothers. And that same year, NBC released a law and order,

True Crime, the Menendez murders, in eight-episode series that provided a more sympathetic view to the brothers, focusing on the alleged abuse that Jose put upon them, allegedly. And this one specifically would garner significant praise earning them actually a primetime Emmy nomination for outstanding lead actress in a limited series given to Eddie Falco. And even in comedy spaces like Saturday Night Live, there was a parody of the brothers trial in 1993,

And in the 1994 movie, Natural Board Killers, they loosely reference the brothers. And their story even made brief appearances on shows like The Fresh Prince of Bel-Lare and the sopranos, underscoring how the case really permeated the public's consciousness. The Menendez brothers will be free before I am. Well, Menendez brothers got home on time. Which brings us to today. And recently, only a few days ago, a new Netflix series called Monsters, which is actually the second installment from the first installment, which was about Jeffrey Dahmer, the

Jeffrey Dahmer story. Now, Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan made Monster the Lyle and Eric Menendez story. And it's basically just a retelling of the infamous crime with its lead-up and aftermath that took place on August 20th, 1989. And I watched it and, hmm, um, I just, I don't know. Hollywood specifically telling these kinds of stories, similar to Dahmer. I love Evan Peters. Let's just talk about that for a minute. I think he's a fantastic actor. And he does an amazing job of any role that he plays. And that's kind of how I feel about the actors in the Lyle and Eric Menendez story. I think everyone acted so well and it was so well done that if it was just like a fake you know story, I'd be more enthralled in it and impressed by it. But since it's a real story and

it plays on things that are true and things that maybe are true and very sensitive topics, it's just like they Hollywoodize it, I guess, I don't know. And they really draw it out to where near the end of it, it kind of just got like stale and lost for me, but we'll talk about it a little bit. So basically, it follows the brother, Lyle and Eric. Lyle being played by Nicholas Alexander Chavez, and Eric being played by Cooper Cawkes. And it's about them having endured emotional, physical, and sexual. The series argues at the hands of their father. So it plays into that that happened, or at least they show it because they bounce back in different time frames. So it's kind of showing that that was the case. And it may very well be the case, but in the sentencing,

it doesn't turn out that way. So it's a bit like, again, very Hollywoodized. But Jose played by Javier Bardem, which is one of my favorite actors, okay, by far again, amazing performance. He plays a evil dad, basically, so well. I'd recommend just watching it because it is a good show, like, besides all of it, you know, the things being Hollywoodized and all that kind of stuff. And also So Kitty played by Chloe Savini, she did also an extremely, extremely good job. Very convincing characters. And it basically tells the chronicles of the brothers' upbringing and the murders and everything thereafter.

So the show attempts to unpack the circumstances that led up to the crime while highlighting Eric and Lyle's trauma. But in the end, again, the narrative almost feels like futile. And I'm not alone in my opinion either. There are other outlets feel like this, but also more importantly, well, I guess kind of importantly, the brothers themselves, at least Eric, spoke out about it saying he was not happy basically. He said, the 53 year old criticized the show,

calling it a dishonest portrayal of the 1989 murders of his parents, Jose and Marie Luis Kitty Menendez, a crime he and his brother obviously committed. He would also go on to say, I believed we had moved beyond the lies and ruinous character portrayals of Lyle, creating a caricature of Lyle rooted in horrible and blatant lies ramped in the show.

I can only believe they were done so on purpose. It is with a heavy heart that I say, I believe Ryan Murphy cannot be this naive and inaccurate about the facts of our lives so as to do this without bad intent. Eric Quinn continued, it is sad for me to know that Netflix's dishonest portrayal of the tragedies surrounding our crime have taken the painful truth several steps backwards.

Back through time to an era when the prosecution built a narrative on a belief system that males were not sexually abused and that males experienced rape trauma differently than women. And he also stated that Murphy, the creator of monsters, shapes his horrible narrative through vile and appalling character portrayals of Lyle and me in a disheartening slander. He went on, is the truth not enough? Let the truth stand as the truth. How demoralizing is it to know that one man with power can undermine decades of progress in shedding

light on childhood trauma? And that's, I don't know, like I know that, you know, they're in prison and we don't know what happened before. But, I mean, what he says in a whole is true in just talking about you know, abuse of boys in general over girls or just in general, you know, how it's undermined. So I don't know how Ryan Murphy would feel about that after portraying that. But again, they are murderers. So it's like, it's just a big this. Like I don't even know where I stand. I'm not going to say where I stand.

Do I think that should be in prison? I'm not going to say, honestly. Hurting a child, like in any awful way, you should burn in hell, kind of? And then is that justified if that happened to you in there? probably, but do we know if it? I don't know. So it's just a big I don't know. But essentially, let's go back to the show and obviously there are spoilers, not really spoilers, because if you listen to this fur in the video, you know exactly what happens. But basically it opens in October 1989, two months after Kitty and Jose's death. Eric and Lyle are riding in a limo as Kenny G's

songbird plays on the radio. Lyle and Eric head to their parents memorial service. Lyle, the older brother, seems unbothered and controlled, but Eric begins sobbing uncontrollably, seemingly out of nowhere. So the scene immediately illustrates who the men are. One brother is emotional and all feeling, and the other is tightly wound and rageful. And from there, the narrative jumps back and forth in time. It unpacks the reign of terror that permeated the Menendez household and pushed the brothers to homicide.

Bartum, as I said, is terrifying and vile as Jose, in a good way, like acting-wise. And Savini portrays a compassionate, pathetic excuse of a woman in the best way. And for their parts, Eric and Lyle are a grotesque blend of entitlement and prey, which is probably why Eric doesn't like how he was portrayed in the film or how his brother was portrayed in the film. And the first episode ends with a gruesome, the gruesome killing of the Menendez parents. My God, it is jaw-dropping, and it's, it's, you know, well done for Hollywood. Again, did it happen exactly like that? I don't know, all we have his accounts, but

it is gruesome all the same. And then it goes into the months following the murders, where the brothers, specifically Eric, are very tortured by the images of his dead parents in his brain, and Eric would end up confessing to the therapist Dr. Jerome O'Zill, played by Dallas Roberts, which eventually leads to the arrest of Lyle and Eric. So like I said again, the first half of the Menendez show is pretty good. But by episode five, The Hurt Man, it is really a standout among the other episodes. Because basically, there's no sensual abuse actually depicted in, which I did appreciate. But Eric speaks to his lawyer, Leslie, at length, in a vivid detail about the lifetime grape

and abuse he endured at the hands of his father. And this episode is cleverly shot in one long take as the camera slowly zooms in on his face. But unfortunately, following this fifth episode, the show kind of falls off for me. It kind of teeters between ominous and like a light camp. There's also a weird scene where we're like the toupee. It's kind of weird and overdone.

You'll see it if you watch the show. But the rest of the episodes are like just kind of repetitive, essentially. Like in episode six, don't dream it's over. It kind of goes over more of hook. Jose and Kitty's relationship and how their courtship happened and everything. And while it showcases Savini and Bartum's abilities to act, it doesn't really add to anything.

And the remaining episodes are equally as taxing. In addition to the Menendez family, just as they did in Dahmer, Monster the Jeffrey Dahmer story, Murphy and Brennan platform some major players orbiting the brothers and their trials. Like Vanity Fair reporter, Dominic Dune, played by Nathan Lane,

and how he fixates on the case and its details. After losing his own daughter to enact of violence, he becomes absolutely consumed with making sure that Eric and Lyle are punished, especially in the court of public opinion. And in episode seven, showtime and nine in Hangman, it reimagines Kitty and Jose's murder in Dominic's perspective, essentially. He also narrates how the brothers navigate prison, including the relationship inside and outside of prison walls. So that part was pretty great, and it does add to the story overall. And in the series, as in real life, the brothers have two trials spanning over seven years. But the courtroom scenes in

Menendez are just very dragged out and tiresome almost because the tone is already so off-kilter. These sequences are like strange and never-ending. So despite like the extremely gripping subject matter and outstanding performances, Monsters the Lyle and Eric Menendez story kind of fell flat in my opinion. Therefore, it just kind of dissolves into a retelling of unspeakable abuses and gruesome crimes. Again, very Hollywoodized. But I do think that they did a good job of like imitation almost. like there's a lot of TikToks that are side by side of like Eric and Lyle in real life and Eric and Lyle in the show kind of doing the same movements and all that. So there is attention to detail, but not in like the right ways kind of, I guess.

Hard to explain. Not saying you shouldn't watch it. It's just, you know, I always think you should keep that in mind, especially watching real life to TV versions of what actually happened. Like they're always going to romanticize it in Hollywood. There's always going to be something they missed or some overarching idea that they, they missed. But with the release of the show, the public's interest has naturally reignited, as each generation discovers the case anew. The narrative surrounding the brothers continues to evolve and shaped by new

media interpretations and cultural shifts in how society views crime and justice. But the Menida's brother's story is, is one of tragedy on multiple layers. It is a story about a wealthy family torn apart by abuse and violence and conflicting narratives about the motive and responsibility, and whether driven by genuine fear or greed, Liles and Eric's actions resulted in the brutal deaths of their parents and a trial that captivated the world. And decades later, as we were doing right now, the case continues to resonate in both true crime community

and in the broader discussions about interactions of wealth, media, and justice. So it just goes to show, just like, read a book, basically. Don't believe everything you see on TV necessarily, you know? Everything's dramatized and romanticized and Hollywoodized and all that kind of stuff. But this case is truly interesting, and I still think about it to the stay.

I mean, it's very infamous and whether they should be set free or whether it was justified is up to you. Talk about it in the comments below. I would actually really like to hear what you guys thought. And if you watch the show, I would love to hear what you thought. But until then, I'm done. I'm done today.

If you like the video, like it. That's cool. That's cool. And also, if you wanna subscribe, you can subscribe, this is obviously best as YouTube channel over. And I got a movie coming out. That's a positive. I got a movie coming out real soon.

Screenings, I mean. I have screening dates coming out real soon. If I have them, I'll put them in the comments or in the description. If not, they're coming very soon. So stay tuned for that. Okay, bye.