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I dont know which one of those possibilities scares me more.
He essentially platforms talking points against the brothers.
The series itself takes that perspective.
TheMonstersfranchise is no stranger to controversy.
Empathetically depicting traumatized characters while attending to the harm they inflict requires nuanced storytelling.
This is especially true as conversations around mental health have questioned the sensationalizing spectacle of thesociopath and psychopath.
His work has always been more of a retread than reckoning.
Instead of pursuing new questions about these cases, he re-stokes ones that have been undeniably answered.
It also covers the failed FBI investigation and humanises Cunanans victims and their families.
The show purposely de-centered Cunanan, starting with the title.
It explored law enforcements relationship to the queer community.
Thats a valid storytelling decision.
Except the spectacle of Cunanans actions was still center stage in every episode.
But where did that dissociation come from?
Its not that Cunananhasto be viewed with empathy alongside the men he victimized.
The first trial ended in a hung jury; the second ended in a conviction for murder.
BothErikand Lyletalked tocousins on both sides of the familyabout what was happening to them as children.
The shows subtitle isThe Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, except it completely sidelines this evidence again.
But the series never tells the story from their perspective at all.
The precariousness of evidence about the childhood abuse is both-sided, instead of contextualized.
She seems to believe him.
But the shows structure leaves the impression that the abuse mostly came up when they were facing criminal charges.
The defense attorneys, Jill Lansing and Leslie Abramson, treat the abuse allegations as pure courtroom strategy.
The prosecutions machinations and political motivations getting a conviction after major losses like the O.J.
Simpson case and the judges decision toleave out evidence of abusein the second trial are not explored.
