Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story – Episode 6 Recap & Review

Don’t Dream It’s Over

Episode 6 of Monsters: Lyle and Erik Menendez Story begins in 1962, Illinois. Here, we see how Jose and Kitty first met. They hooked up at college, with Jose’s family not happy about his desire to marry this “All American” girl. Kitty and her mum fall out over her choice too, so the pair decide they’re going to get married together even without their parents’ blessing.

Jose promises to give her everything, more than she ever thought possible. It seems like the whirlwind romance… until we cut to therapy. Kitty admits she hates her children, believing kids are parasites. Lyle scares Kitty, while she thinks Erik is pathetic. She cares in her own way, like when they’re asleep, but most days she hardly recognizes them. She believes that Louise – Jose’s on and off again girlfriend he’s been having an affair with – is just her husband’s way of having a break from the kids, whom she believes has been stolen him from her.

We then fast forward to Christmas, and it’s a tense affair. The boys show up late, where they find Kitty given a new convertible along with jewellery. As for the boys? They just get a book each. This is a lesson to them, as it happens to be their bible that they’re going to use to live up to their father’s legacy. He wants them to commit the words to heart, and he’s even blacked out most of the “bullshit” too.

This time, we get the burglary drama from Jose’s perspective. What we don’t see, is him crying and struggling to hold it together. It’s not because he’s ashamed of his kids though it seems, the insinuation is that it’s due to his ruined reputation. As a result, he decides they need to pack up and leave. This was never about his big job but actually to get away from their ruined reputation in town.

Unfortunately, we also see that Dr Jerry Oziel was warned prior to receiving the Menendez boys that this is just a court-mandated order so he should just half-arse the whole affair. And shockingly, both Kitty and Jose are in the room with the boys. When Erik and Lyle mention how home wasn’t the easiest, the therapist is silent while Jose resents them and berates their lives. This explains why they may not have opened up about the abuse.

Jose is at his wit’s end and isn’t sure how to handle the kids. In the morning, he breaks the news that his dream was always to have a family… and that’s failed. He’s on his way to New York to make more money, and berates Kitty and the kids, claiming he doesn’t love any part of this.

Kitty is just trying to get through every day though, and that’s made all the harder by them being over at Beverly Hills away from her friends. She’s also suicidal too. After spilling her heart out, Jose simply tells her to go back to bed.

Jose heads off and closes his deal but unfortunately he turns his anger and frustration to a hooker than he has in his apartment that night. We see his “Spartan rage” come pouring out. As for Kitty, the boys see her descend into a drunken mess at dinner, pretending to be poisoned and wishing the boys should have succumbed to this fate.

When Jose returns home, he confronts his wife. He’s been making changes, getting rid of his mistress and deciding that Kitty needs to confront her anger and stop popping pills. As for the boys, Jose decides to lay all the blame for the burglaries on Erik, given he’s under 21, and Lyle hasn’t completely messed up his life yet.

Jose presses on with wanting to be an elected official but of course, with Lyle off at Princeton, this throws his plans up in the air. Lyle is kicked out and suspended for a year. Jose takes him to a graveyard where he shows off a lot of land he’s reserved for their deaths. Jose laughs in the face of the abuse he gave to Lyle when his son confronts him, and likens his son to a dog. In fact, Jose’s big regret here is that he didn’t hit him harder, like Jose’s father hit him.

Back home, Jose turns his attention to Erik. He’s decided that tennis is a no-go and instead, he’s going to head off to business school in UCLA. Erik is going to stay living at home though to keep tabs on the guy. Erik’s real dream is to be a male model, which only angers Jose further.

Erik argues with his father but unfortunately, he takes him upstairs and abuses him, locking the door. Kitty happens to be outside and listens, before deciding to walk away. It’s here where Jose broaches the subject to Kitty about him sleeping with boys (Craig in particular). Jose worries about AIDs and this is projected across to Kitty. She checks his penis that night but she doesn’t touch it.

Kitty relays her concerns to Jose that night and asks him if something sexual is going on with the kids. She doesn’t want there to be any secrets, and he immediately fumbles his words. Jose points out that when he was little, he was abused by his mother. Jose shrugs it off as nothing, admitting the abuse that his sister, Marta, received was just something that happened in their family.

Jose and Kitty then head to therapy together, where Kitty points out that she too also suffered from abuse as a kid. She had to sit at the table and watch as her father struck her mum. Kitty claims she was drawn to this level of abuse, something she claims is “very masculine”. Jose walks out when the questions turn to sexual abuse. He rings his mum that night in the dark and confronts her. Unfortunately, she gaslights him and denies everything, angering Jose further. 

This desire not to see the truth of how awful their situating is, eventually leads to Erik and Lyle killing their parents.

The Episode Review

This is the longest episode of the entire series and after the bombshell in episode 5, this chapter instead turns the focus to Jose. The motif here is that abuse is passed down through family generations and we see this quite clearly through the abuse that both Kitty and Jose suffered from, and how that has been projected onto their children.

Nowhere else is this abuse and neglect highlighted better than in those family photos at the end. Erik struggles to even touch his father, while the boys force a smile while Jose and Kitty are close together and grin. They’re also first to leave as well, not even caring about their children as they’re left standing awkwardly in frame.

There are so many moments here that reflect how awful the abuse is that the boys suffered from, and Jose pointing out how his father would hit him so hard his head would ring for days is absolutely shocking to listen to.

Ultimately, everything is geared up for a dramatic few episodes to follow after hearing every side of this shocking case.