I know that we have all discussed in great detail how Monsters both portrayed Lyle as a bully and implied that him and Erik were lovers but, aside from those two examples, I’m curious to hear what other parts of the show exceeded Ryan Murphy’s usual brand of sensationalism and, in actuality, only existed to serve as a sounding board for his own opinions about the brothers.

While there were undoubtedly countless moments like this throughout all nine episodes, there were a few in particular that not only stood out to me but took me out of the show altogether. Ryan Murphy has never been know for his subtlety but never in any of his shows that I’ve seen, from Nip/Tuck to American Horror Story, have I ever felt as beaten over the head with his commentary than with Monsters.

It first became apparent to me when Jill Lansing and Leslie Abramson discussed the brothers, as well as their version of events, in the cafeteria. We have no reason to believe their lawyers had concerns of them being lying sociopaths. What we do know is that, as recently as 1997, Leslie was not just doing her job by representing her client but believed them and cared for them. We do catch moments of that throughout Monsters but even she wasn’t immune from Murphy’s view of the case. We even see Erik yelling at her, saying that she put him in glasses and sweaters and that it didn’t work. Yes, it’s true that Erik and Lyle wore outfits that reflected a sense of naive innocence. Yes, it is true that they were still convicted of murder. With that said, however, was it Erik that condemned those decisions or was it Ryan Murphy’s way of expressing to us how ridiculous of an act that he perceived it to be? His use of Jill as a loud speaker was even worse, as he presented her as someone who hated her client, thought he was an idiot and even quit because of it when, in reality, none of those things were true. Again, was what all she said to Lyle in their final scene how Jill felt or a way for Ryan Murphy to, once again, condemn Lyle for what was, and I’m sure we can all agree, a very dumb decision on his part. In both of these cases, along with Leslie asking Lyle to cry on command and her objections in that last trial (“All I said was hi”), Ryan Murphy paints a picture of two women who were given a job to do but, like him, hardly believed in their reasons for killing their parents.

The most glaring example for me, however, is from one of the only scenes we get of the jury deciding whether or not the convict him. I wish that I could remember the exact words of the specific juror’s monologue but it read more like an op-ed than a reenactment of the jury’s deliberations and there was not even close to the same passion given to alternative dialogue expressing sympathy for Erik and Lyle. The whole scene felt like exactly what it was (or what I believe it to be) - Ryan Murphy’s last chance to force his own beliefs into the story before it ended. I won’t even try getting into everything around Dominick Dunne but it’s very interesting of all the perspectives he chose to give, that one in particular was given the most attention throughout the last few episodes of the show. He didn’t show every perspective as much as he cherry picked which parts of each one aligned with his own and the scenes with Dominick Dunne demonstrate that well.

Those are mine, but what about you guys? What scenes or pieces of dialogues did you feel came across as masturbatory and relevant solely to further push Ryan Murphy’s agenda onto his audience?