The true-crime anthology series, Monster, always makes all the headlines whenever a new season premieres. But is it really a great show? The question is harder to answer than it seems, considering the sharp division between critics, fans, and award organizers.
For example, none of the show’s three seasons is certified fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. However, the first season received 12 Emmy nominations while the second received 12 nominations. The third will likely be showered with accolades, too. Fan and viewer reaction has also varied for each season. Season 1 became Netflix’s second most-watched English-language series of all time (all within 28 days), and the third Netflix series to pass 1 billion hours viewed (in just under 60 days). Season 2 was the third most-watched Netflix series in the second half of 2024.
Ranking all three seasons thus requires one to look at things from a broader perspective. Here, we shall focus on production quality, performances, and entertainment (shock) value. Which chapter really leaves a bigger impact on the viewer?
Here are all 3 seasons of Netflix’s anthology series ‘Monster’ ranked.
3
The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story (2022)
Once upon a time, there lived José Enrique Menendez (portrayed by Javier Bardem), a movie studio CEO, and his wife Mary Louise “Kitty” Menendez (portrayed by Chloë Sevigny). As their teenage sons conversed one day, they both agreed that they despised their overbearing parents, and proposed — theoretically — to whack them. Each laughed off the suggestion, but on one evening, police received a call informing them that Jose and Kit had been shot. Interestingly, they were killed as they were watching the critically acclaimed Bond movie, The Spy Who Loved Me, in the theater den of their Beverly Hills mansion. As if that’s not Hollywood enough, the brothers tried to purchase tickets for Tim Burton’s Batman, to use as their alibi, but were forced to abandon the plan when they realized the theater time-stamped its ticket stubs.
Killer Brothers or Framed Brothers?
Much praise goes to actors Cooper Kooch and Nicholas Alexander Chavez for their portrayals of Erik and Lyle, respectively. They magnificently nail the emotions of teens, who, for all their sober demeanor and adoration of the family unit, are monsters with wild ideas and the independent spirit of career outlaws. Whilst it may seem odd that a Hollywood superstar like Javier Bardem should appear in a true crime of this ilk (he hadn’t done TV in years), once you have watched the show, it becomes apparent that no one was better suited to play the part of no-nonsense-over-achieving-daddy with excellent diction and very punctilious home habits.
However, despite being the second-best-ranked chapter on Rotten Tomatoes, Season 2 deserves to be last because it’s too ambitious and overly sordid without enough riveting moments to compensate. Had the budget, scope, and sexual content (incest is even implied) been a little modest, this may have been a great season. It has, after all, an absorbing tale and features a superlative band of actors. It is the tonal inconsistency and sheer ridiculous production scale that make everything seem absurd, an ill-advised and unnecessary attempt by Netflix to try and outdo other TV shows about Hollywood, as well as movies like Mank and Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood. And since events are depicted using the Rashomon effect (the phenomenon of the unreliability of eyewitnesses, named after Akira Kurosawa’s 1950 Japanese film Rashomon, in which eyewitness accounts of four people differ), viewers are left more confused and educated. Were Lyle and Erik really involved in the parricide or not?
2
The Ed Gein Story (2025)
The newest season is about Edward Theodore Gein (portrayed by Charlie Hunnam), also known as the Butcher of Plainfield and the Plainfield Ghoul. A recluse residing in Plainfield, Wisconsin, he gathered widespread notoriety in the late 1950s after police discovered that he exhumed numerous corpses from local cemeteries and created keepsakes from their bones and skin. Gein, who had an Oedipus-like relationship with his mother, also confessed to killing two women: a tavern owner and a hardware store owner.
Netflix’s Version of ‘Psycho’
The second chapter begins on a high note and is a shocking, gloomy stroll through the seemingly unremarkable rural life in his 1950s. When Gein strikes his brother dead for suggesting they run away from their controlling mother, we are reminded of how fragile and ephemeral life is. Beyond that, the cinematography is marvelous. The camera, gliding around the barns, farmlands, and roads, scarcely populated with well-meaning residents, reminds us that awareness was still as uncommon then as it is now. A killer could be in your community, but you’ll hardly notice it. Everything seems sterile, but it’s all beautiful to watch.
That is just one instance of the season’s unlovely elegance. Charlie Hunnam adds the sweet layer by giving a performance no one expected of him. The voice he chose for Ed Gein really creeps you out. Can he now be crowned as one of the best accent kings? Watch him in The Gentlemen and Sons of Anarchy to see how wildly different he sounds. Truly remarkable. But even though this might be one of Hunnam’s best performances, the season has several flaws. It has plenty of unnecessary meta commentary and subplots. It also seems to focus more on how Ed Gein influenced pop culture than on his crimes and psychological framework.
1
The Jeffrey Dahmer Story (2022)
From a young age, Jeffrey Dahmer (portrayed by Evan Peters) had an interest in dead animals, referring to them as his “fiddlesticks.” Increasingly unhinged as he grew older, he eventually decided to do the unthinkable: commit a murder. Nothing was ever the same from then on. Damer would go on to dismember 17 men and boys between 1978 and 1991. Most of his killings involved cannibalism, necrophilia, and the preservation of body parts.
The Worst of His Kind
An irresistible mix of tension and shocking moments, the first season is a high point in small-screen storytelling. Showrunner Ryan Murphy (better known for American Horror Story and American Crime Story) put his keen ear for dialogue and outrageous remarks to good use. “I am a pervert. I’m an exhibitionist. I’m a masturbator. And a killer,” Dahmer says at one point, a moment that will leave you shaking for days. Much credit goes to Evan Peters for his incredible performance and to Niecy Nash, who portrays Dahmer’s suspicious neighbor so convincingly that she won an Emmy for her work.
Overall, the season hardly has any notable flaws. Right away, we are struck by the emotional disconnection between the killer and the rest of the world. From his body language to his inability to have normal conversations, we know that he is days, months, or a few years away from despicable deeds. While all this is happening, we are forced to watch nonchalantly, like bewildered birds. The season seems to take its squalid, darkened view of Wisconsin from the most undesirable sections of the tabloids, and even though it’s about one real person, it seems inspired by some of the most notorious movie killers. Better yet, it paints a perfect picture of parenthood and its frustrations. It’s hard not to pity Dahmer’s father, who wants the best for his son but finds himself unable to control him. Not an easy watch, but don’t miss it.
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