The End of Lyle & Erik Menendez Story Explained

Warning! This post contains major spoilers for Monsters: The Lyle & Erik Menendez Story.

After unfolding through multiple perspectives and going through every important event that happened before Kitty and Jose’s murders, Monsters: The Lyle & Erik Menendez Story Ends by inviting viewers to form their own judgments. Serving as Netflix’s follow-up Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, Monsters: The Lyle & Erik Menendez Story is the second installment in the overarching anthology series that portrays the true stories of murderers through a lens of psychological complexity and social impact.

Instead of just depicting how Erik and Lyle plot their parents’ murder and show the aftermath of their actions, the Netflix true crime show explores the broader implications of the central crime. In its nine-episode runtime, Monsters: The Lyle & Erik Menendez Story Goes back and forth between timelines and even presents alternative theories to give audiences a well-rounded view of the murders. Once that’s out of the way, it finally reveals the verdict of the Erik and Lyle murder case before closing with one crucial scene that encapsulates the relationships within the Menendez family.

The last scene of The Monsters Season 2: What the ending with Erik & Lyle on the boat means

The yacht scene provides a nuanced perspective of the brothers’ motives and the events leading up to the murder.

Before Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez StoryAs the end credits begin to roll, it features a scene where Jose and Kitty have an intimate conversation while looking forward to fishing for sharks from their yacht. Jose apologizes for cheating on her and assures her that she is important to him. He even encourages her to return to journalism since it could help him when he runs for senator. However, as they take the first steps to repair their relationship, Lyle and Erik remain on the back side of the boat, believing that their parents are plotting their murders.

Although Kitty questions why their boys are not joining them, Jose asks her to leave them alone. The scene seemingly presents a “what-if” scenario where things could have ended differently for the family. If Jose had asked his sons to join them and established they had no intentions of harming them, Erik and Lyle may have buried their suspicions and changed their minds. However, after enduring years of abuse from their parents, the two couldn’t help but believe their parents were deadset on killing them, prompting them to carry out their vicious murder plan.

It may look like the scene tries to paint an objective picture of the family dynamics and the events that lead up to the murders. However, it subjectively highlights how both parties in the family tainted their relationships to an extent where it became impossible to see their interactions as purely innocent or malicious. The scene invites audiences to think about the brothers’ perspective by highlighting how they misunderstood their parents’ intentions, but also reminds them that their paranoia is likely a consequence of the abuse they’ve endured over the years.

The verdict of the Erik & Lyle Menendez case at the end of Monsters explained

Eril & Lyle Menendez do not receive the death penalty

As the show’s finale establishes, the jury finds Lyle and Erik Menendez guilty of two counts of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder. It comes down to the members of the jury to decide whether they deserve the death penalty for their crimes or a life sentence without parole. One juror firmly believes that they should show no mercy to the siblings but suddenly falls to the ground after suffering a heart attack. Her replacement then helps other jurors realize that they should consider the possibility that the siblings were abused by their parents.

Therefore, the jury shows some mercy on them The brothers are sentenced to life in prison. Eric’s defense attorney, Leslie Abramson, tries to make provisions to ensure that the brothers end up in the same facility. However, despite her best efforts, the two were transferred to different prisons. With that, Erik and Lyle accept their fate as two different vans take them to separate correctional facilities.

What happened to Eric & Lyle Menendez and where are they today

The two eventually ended up in the same facility

in the last moments, Monsters: The Lyle & Erik Menendez Story Describes exactly how the Mendez brothers were sent to various institutions after the trial. After they were separated, both were treated as maximum security inmates and kept away from other prisoners. In April 2018, however, Lyle ends up in the same facility as Erik. According to reports (by NYDailyNews), the two brothers hugged and burst into tears when they met since they were reunited after 22 years.

Lyle Menendez married Anna Erickson on July 2, 1996, but the two got a divorce when Erickson learned he was cheating on her. A little over two years after the divorce, Lil Mendez married Rebecca Snead in Mule Creek State Prison’s visiting area. Erik Menendez also married Tammi Ruth Saccoman on June 12, 1999. In 2023, the brothers demanded a hearing after new evidence revealed that their father, Jose Mendez, sexually assaulted boy band member Roy Rosselló. Since the new evidence reveals that Jose Menendez was a violent man, The brothers’ lawyers believe that this could reverse their life sentence (via CNN).

Monsters Season 2 True Story: How accurate is the ending of Lyle & Erik’s real life?

Monsters: The Lyle & Erik Menendez Story Surprisingly captures some of the tiniest details of the actual events. For example, his opening circuit shows Lyle Menendez wearing his father’s shoes to the court. This is a direct reference to the time when, at his parents’ Leviathan service, Lyle recalled how his father always told him he could never fill his shoes (via CBS News). While putting on his shoes, he jokingly remarked, “Guess what? I am wearing my father’s shoes today.“

Even when it comes to portraying the heinous nature of the central crime, the Netflix show seems to accurately portray it Almost everything from the weapon used by the brothers to their actions and suspicious spending habits after the murder. As you can see in the show, the Mendez siblings were not even considered suspects in the beginning because the police were convinced that the murders were the mafia. One thing the show seemingly changes is that the brothers were initially kept in separate prisons during their trials.

The Netflix true-crime show also avoids portraying as There was a lot of back and forth in court about the use of Dr. Ozil’s tapes as evidence for the crime. Even in the real trial, the defendants tried to sell the idea that the Mendez brothers only killed their parents out of self-defense, fearing that their parents were planning to kill them as well. Instead of giving the audience a one-dimensional view of the night of the murder and the motives of the brothers, the show also accurately shed light on the many perspectives that were at play in the real crime’s trial.

Did OJ Simpson really make out with the Menendez brothers in prison?

The show’s portrayal of the unlikely friend of prison is accurate

One of the most surprising segments in Monsters: The Lyle & Erik Menendez Story is when OJ Simpson ends up in a cell next to Erik Menendez in prison and the two discuss their court cases. As Lyle Menendez confirmed (via People), this actually happened, and They shared many conversations with the late football player. He also revealed that they “shared the same lawyer [meeting] Room“And also was”Hosted in the same area.“Although OJ Simpson is not physically in the Netflix series, he is voiced by Trae Ireland.

Who the real monsters are in the Netflix True-Crime series

The show avoids drawing any objective conclusions

Ryan Murphy appeared at a Netflix event (via Indiewire) that when he created the Netflix series, He was more interested in learning and exploring.”How monsters are made, as opposed to born.“ This is exactly what the show achieves by presenting several conflicting narratives surrounding the central murders. While some story beats confirm that Lyle and Erik were sexually abused by their father, others point to the discrepancies in their story. The show also highlights that both the defendants and the prosecutors have their own biases that prevented them from seeing the truth.

Even in its closing scene, Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story Describes how the Mendez brothers are convinced that their parents want to kill them because of how they were treated in the past. The parents, on the other hand, see what is going on in their sons’ heads. By shifting the viewer’s perspective with each new episode, the Netflix show intentionally wants to conclude who the real monster is because only the Menendez brothers can know the truth. As a viewer, one can only draw judgments based on the evidence provided in the series.

Will there be a Monster Season 3?

Monster Season 3 has already been confirmed

Monster Season 3 has already been confirmed. As reports confirm, it will focus on Ed Gein, who has been remanded to a mental health facility after he confessed to killing two women. Like the killers featured in previous seasons of the Netflix series, Ed Gein, too, has had a significant impact on pop culture. Many horror movie characters, like Leatherface, Norman Bates and Buffalo Bill, are loosely based on him.

According to many details surrounding the scale of Ed Gein’s crimes are based on forensic extrapolation, Monster Season 3 will have to take the same narrative route as Monsters: The Lyle & Erik Menendez Story And do not draw any objective conclusions. Charlie Hunnam, best known for playing Jax Teller in Children of AnarchyHas already beaten to play in Monster Season 3. Although the role is a far cry from what Hunnam usually plays on the big and small screens, the actor has the talent and range to portray the American assassin in the Netflix show’s third installment.