Monstruos

There are two monsters is this heartbreaking and compelling story, but they are not Erik (Cooper Koch) and Lyle (Nicholas Alexander Chavez), they are Jose (Javier Bardem) and Kitty (Chloë Savigny).

I don't want to delve too deeply into the legal aspects of this case, because this is not a documentary, but a dramatic series. However, let me start by saying, if Erik and Lyle had been Erika and Lyla-two daughters-they would never have spent a day in jail. That's not to say that Erik and Lyle were blameless, but the mitigating circumstances were so overwhelming and compelling that they should have been sentenced to voluntary manslaughter with a 10 year sentence.

Then there is Dominic Dunne (Nathan Lane) a despicable man who trafficked in gossip and celebrity cocktail parties. He was sort of a straight Truman Capote.

I want to highlight Episode 5 'The Hurt Man.' There are only two characters in the entire scene: Leslie Abramson (Ari Gaynor) and Erik. Director Michael Upendahl places the camera about 12 feet away from the table where the two are seated. Abramson with her back to the camera (we never see her face) and Lyle facing. Slowly, imperceptibly, the camera pushes in on Erik until it passes Abramson and ends with a close up of Erik as he explains the title of the episode. Riveting!

Cooper Koch does a tremendous job throughout, but especially in that episode. Nicholas Chavez is also terrific as Lyle. Javier Bardem and Chloë Savigny are outstanding as Jose and Kitty.

Monster is a series created by Ryan Murphy (American Crime Story, American Horror Story, 9-1-1, Hollywood, Pose, Feud, etc.). Everything Murphy touches is pretty much successful and this is no different. Everyone knows this story by now...he's one of the most notorious serial killers in the history of the United States. He would lure young men to his apartment and not only kill them but eat them. This is a story that's been told many times but this show takes the unique perspective of largely telling the story from the victims point of view. Evan Peters is absolutely brilliant as Jeffrey Dahmer. He's so good that he should be talked about for an Emmy nomination next year. This series is worth watching for Peters performance alone. This is very dark, disturbing story and Ryan Murphy does a great job telling it.

I ate up seasons 1 and 2, they were really well done and with intriguing plots and character studies.

Season 3, however... The first episode showed a lot of promise, and I was actually looking forward to the following episodes. However, as soon as the myriad of sub plots started I quickly lost interest and almost stopped after episode 4, but I pushed through (so you won't have to).

It seems to me like the show wanted to do a general study of infamous serial killers but needed a key character for the hook, and choosing Ed Gein makes sense, seeing as he was prolific and went on to inspire many other serial killers. But the balance is way off. There's too much fluff and non-factual plots and characters in the majority of the season compared to the actual Gein aspects.

There's characters we see a few times or even just once and then never again, some only mentioned in passing, but in a way that makes them seem important, like the son of the woman teaching "Domesticated Husbandry" is mentioned as someone we're supposed to know, but I could not for the life of me remember who he was, if we'd even seen or heard of him previously.

Of course there's a lot of gratuitous scenes as well, whether they be of the sexual/sensual or gory nature, classic Murphy.

The last episode especially was atrocious, as many others have attested, particularly ripping off Mindhunter, even with Happy Anderson reprising his role as Jerry Brudos, and at first I thought they had cast Holt McCallany as well, but it was just a look-a-like.

The season seems to practically celebrate Ed Gein as well as painting him as someone we should feel sorry for. Very little time is spent on the repercussions surrounding the victims and their families, as if they are just an afterthought or even entirely irrelevant.

When it comes to directing and writing, it was just messy, too many too blurred lines between reality and hallucinations to such a degree it was difficult to know how much of Ed's social life was real and how much of it was in his head.

I've had a lot of issues with several of Murphy's productions over the past few years and honestly think he has run out of original creativity and has just gotten used to churning out shows, making money and then moving on to the next. I really miss the earlier days of his stuff, the first four seasons of AHS were amazing for example. I wish the whole Murphy production team would take a break for a few years and come back with, hopefully, renewed creative juices!

I'd probably give seasons 1 and 2 a rating of 7-8 and I can't rate season 3 higher than a 2.

I'm reading a lot of these reviews and it seems like the point of season 3 went over a lot of your heads. The majority of things that happen when Ed is on screen is in his head. It's the fanciful creation that he made up. What we're seeing on screen is the delusions of a schizophrenic mind which is why it is so jangled and weird and off-putting and not anywhere close to the truth. If you remember this as you're watching the series it'll come off as much better. You're not going to get the honest truth from Ed's perspective because he didn't see it the way we see it. The only stuff that portrays as accurate is when we switch to the movies that were inspired by Ed's life. The scenes with Hitchcock and Psycho and Texas chainsaw massacres creation. Those are the truest parts. Ed was inspired by war photos he saw in world war II in the Nazi camps and Toby Hopper and Hitchcock were inspired by what Ed actually did in real life to create what they did.

Now that we got that out of the way I just want to say that Charlie hunnam's performance is amazing although I do worry about what he had to do to get in a mental state to portray this character. He definitely needs an Emmy nomination.

The only reason this didn't get a higher rating for me was the very last episode with the various other serial killers. It's one thing to show Ed gein's crazy mind and the things he thought of but it's another thing to exploit the crimes that Ted Bundy and Richard Speck did for views and voyeurism. Plus both of their stories were pretty much untrue in their relation to Ed gein. Maybe this is just another example of him making this stuff up in his mind?

I had high expectations of this. After seeing Evan Peters in AHS, I just knew he would be great in this role. He did not disappoint.

I haven't seen many docos on Dahmer so don't really know that much about his personality or demeanor, but the character that Peters portrays is complex, creepy, and just plain twisted and evil.

One of the most disturbing details of Dahmer's crimes that this series highlights is how the police ignored and dismissed witness reports, and their lack of action allowed Dahmer to stay free and kill more men.

This series is excellent. I suggest you start watching it early in the afternoon as you will want to binge watch the whole series.