The Parent Trap | MONSTERS: THE LYLE AND ERIK MENENDEZ STORY [2x6] (REACTION)

No character arc will EVER be good enough for Jose and Kitty...sorry not sorry 🤷🏽‍♀️🤷🏽‍♀️
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🤍 Elaina
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#menendezbrothers #monsters #season2 #reaction
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[@th3spiritualdirector]

Hey guys! Just wanted to jump on here and first thank you all for all the comments! I see you all and appreciate you all! Also, for my reactions, you’ll see that I pause and talk a lot, this helps to avoid any copyright issues and allows me to leave in more of the show for you all and I also love to talk 😂 I hope you still find joy in them regardless! Thank you all and as always , I LOVE YOU ✌🏽

[@JUNI-r1r]

Its honestly so heartbreaking just watching jose drag erik to the bedroom and shut the door even though they dont show anything, it makes me think about how he was still abusing erik just days before what happened. It makes me feel so sick

[@ijunida]

1. When Lyle finally spoke up about the abuse and confronted Jose directly he fell on death ears and instead his feelings were invalidated. 2. When Erik said ‘No’ to Jose for the first time he was denied and being told he would be under Jose’s power for the rest of his life. 3. Even when their father wasn’t there Kitty acted just as abusive and wouldn’t have listened to her son’s feelings or concerns. She would have no matter what sided with the father rather than do the hard thing and stand by her children and against him. 4. Even when they got the chance to speak to a therapist they were made to feel like they couldn’t have opened up since everything they were going to tell Dr. Oziel he could pass on directly to Jose and he made sure the therapist didn’t trust the boys wouldn’t have believed them anyways. I think these moments were key moments to explain what drove Lyle and Erik to that drastic action of ending their parent’s life and what made them feel like they had no other way out and no other choice. I think if any of the adults in these key moments would have acted differently and shown the boys in any way that their feelings were valid or concerns where listened to or if Jose for example would have just said “I’m sorry I hit you” instead of “I should’ve hit you harder” then Jose and Kitty would’ve still been alive today maybe. In the documentary Erik said a vital point for him was hanging on to that hope that once he was old enough and could go to college as well he would get far away from his father and would finally get some peace for once but once Jose told him that he was to stay in LA for college and stay living at home for it that he lost all hope and knew that there was no way out of the grasp of his father. I think also the mentioning of that generational abuse in the family this episode only further solidified that in order to break that cycle of abuse they needed a clean cut (by taking out the generation that carried on that abuse). I genuinely think even if the boys were not sentenced to life in prison and would have lived on normal lives with wives and children they would have known better and treated their children better.

[@selenealvarado84]

My exact sentiments For a second there i thought I wrote this comment, couldn’t have said it better. These were broken boys and probably felt alone in the world and knew they could only rely on each other. Leaving was not an option, as powerful and rich as Jose was Going to the police was not at option either, that man could talk his way out of anything and surely would’ve painted the boys crazy or wanting attention

[@Anazitar658]

One of the most interesting points I have not heard discussed is whether or not Lyle‘s sexual abuse continued past him being 8years old.. Lyle underwent numerous psychological evaluations for the trial and one of the main experts Dr John Conte suspected that Lyle was omitting some of the truth in regarding to when the sexual abuse with his parents stoped. Lyle testified that the abuse occurred between the ages of 6-8 and the abuse from his father stoped as Lyle voiced for it to stop and this Jose prompted Jose into grooming Erik. Dr Conte a clinical social worker and expert in child sexual abuse interviewed and psychologically analysed Lyle for 60+ hours as well as interviewing almost all family/extended family etc… His job was to verify and validate whether or not Lyle’s statement of sexual abuse was cohesive. Dr Conte testified in trial that the only time he thought Lyle was lying was via omission about certain topics into when the abuse stopped. Dr Conte voiced that he wanted to spend more time with Lyle to investigate this area… I find this REALLY interesting as it is well known that Lyle NEVER wanted to speak about the sexual abuse and it only surfaced due to Erik wanting to voice it. Lyle was also known for not discussing the sexual abuse as much as Erik. I speculate that if Dr Conte‘s hypothesis has some truth, Lyle‘s prideful nature might of disallowed him from saying that the abuse occurred past 8 years old? REFERENCE: Linked below @ 2:23:25mins is Dr Conte’s expert testimony regarding the topic above I am discussing. kzbin.info/www/bejne/r4fJYnmsqqymftEsi=VEXioFI4GKdy3WIB But yet again keep in mind this is just a speculation. I‘d love to start a chat about this:) What‘s people’s thoughts on this?

[@Anazitar658]

Yes PLEASE react to the brothers IRL trial testimonies!

[@livxedits.]

i saw lyle (irl) testify that his mother kitty would make him touch her everywhere and she would also kiss him on the lips as well as walk around the house naked and sometimes while she was changing she would call lyle up to her room and ask him if he thought she looked pretty, in a way she sexually abused him too.

[@UrbanDecayLova247]

Not even “in a way” she def was sexually abusing him. A previous gf of Lyle’s also testified that Kitty was very cold to her and would ask inappropriate things like if her and Lyle were sleeping together or how he would never end up with a girl like her. I know they’ve said Erik got it the worse with Jose, but I find Kitty’s abuse towards Lyle is often downplayed.

[@UrbanDecayLova247]

I don’t think this episode was done to sympathize with the parents. If anything it just validates the abuse Erik & Lyle had been sharing in the last two episodes. I think it’s interesting that in real life Kitty told her therapist she hated her sons, but she also said she was afraid of them. I just find that interesting, almost like she started to sense her & Jose’s abuse was going to come back to bite them, especially with Erik & Lyle getting older. Jose’s sister said one of the reasons she believed her nephews is because their mom SA’d Jose. Knowing that didn’t make her sympathize with her brother, it just gave her more reason to trust her nephews.

[@JUNI-r1r]

I was waiting for your reaction to this episode, also im from springhill fl and we stayed, sheltered in our home, and got strong rain/winds and a power outage for almost 2 whole days. Thanks for keeping us in mind, most got it way worse than my family, sending my love and prayers to everyone who lost their lives/lost family because of hurricane milton 🙏🏼🙏🏼

[@yugi960]

34:20 I think the whole episode reflects the perspectives that the parents had of the boys, in the end, it's a parent-centred episode. When the boys are insensitive to her and she falls, it coincides with the sessions she had in which she describes them as parasites. In real life, during the trials, the relatives commented on their mother's bad behaviour towards them, and what was not shown in the series was Lyle confessing that Kitty abused him several times until he told she to stop and their relationship got worse (something that was confessed in the trial).

[@ILikeTheIvy]

Love you spoke for what happened with the hurricane. My brother lives in florida, he loves storm chasing etc but even this scared him, he was there with his wife, his stepbrother who is disabled and their cats. So much destruction happened its gonna cost a fortune to fix. I am in the UK so made me worry more. I'm close to my brother more than anyone. It got to me bad I love your reviews. This was another heavy episode. Feel the more I watch of the show or the trial or reading about the brothers is triggering but I cant look away. I really hope they get out and can live their lives as they deserve. ❤ I don't even know these brothers but I want so much for them.

[@MariaDonkova]

This episode was definitely very sad, and hard to watch. Firstly, I want to make it absolutely clear that I do not sympathize with Jose or Kitty’s actions. They were very much grown adults who knew what they were doing, and I personally believe that they deserved everything they got coming to them. However, I would be lying if I said I didn’t feel a tiny bit of sympathy for what they went through in their childhood, as well as the father. The fact that both parents were abused as children, says a lot about this family’s entire dynamic. This was clearly a generational cycle situation going on, and Jose’s mother molested him, while her uncle did it to her. It doesn’t mention Kitty’s background too much, but in previous adaptations (such as the Law and Order series) her sister explained how she believes that Kitty might’ve been molested herself. Of course, Kitty on her own never admitted to it, either because she forgot about the situation, due to disassociation, or because of deep rooted shame and guilt. I’m guessing kitty’s hatred of the boys stems far deeper than simply being jealous of them “stealing” her husbands affection. It was mentioned that she witnessed a lot of violence in her home, maybe even from her father to her mother. Or maybe, she had kids too soon and never really go to form a good bond with them? Who knows. She probably saw herself in Erik, due to him being the youngest, and she was too out of all her siblings. Maybe she saw the way that the boys were interacting with each other, and felt envy. That she never got to have a good relationship with her siblings, or family. If you see later in the show, where the parents go to a marriage counselor, the therapist mentioned any possible abuse that happened their lives, to make their marriage fail. Jose got really angry, despite it only have been a question, and stormed out of the room immediately. All while avoiding the subject at hand completely. He clearly felt uncomfortable talking about it openly, and only ever mentioned his past to Kitty at the dinner table. Jose’s reaction here was very telling. He either didn’t want to acknowledge that what he went through was abuse, and it was wrong. Or he simply didn’t see any point in addressing the topic. He probably saw it as “whatever it happened, but it didn’t matter.” He doesn’t take it as seriously as he should’ve. You see this earlier on, when he was talking to his wife at the table, about how uncomfortable he felt at first, but since his mother told him it was nothing he believed it. To him it really was nothing. He also worshiped his mother, and had a similar dynamic with her like he did with Lyle. He like all children, obviously trusted her and loved her. So what she said goes. He was probably raised not to question the parents beliefs, or practices. Anything that the mother did to him was probably justified, since she was his mother and authority figure. So he probably took this, internalized it, and was later desensitized in his mind to what’s appropriate and not appropriate with your family. He most likely didn’t see his behavior with the boys as sexual, or at the very least child molestation. He has somehow convinced himself in his mind, that what he was doing was okay and normal, and all parents do this with their children (particularly their sons). Obviously, he knew it was wrong legally, but morally did he really care? I’m not asking this question to deflect the blame off of him, but to dig into the mind of a person who does such morally deprived things, that it would be normal to wonder what went wrong. This man didn’t have a moral compass. He just did whatever he pleased, without a single care about his sons feelings. He probably set up this image in his own mind, to believe that this was “peak masculinity,” and was (as messed up as this sounds) trying to toughen Erik up. He had a growing resentment towards his youngest son, because according to him, he wasn’t “manly” enough. He constantly cried, and displayed emotions that Jose considered to be inappropriate. So it’s really interesting to see, how the parents abuse in a way affected not only their relationship, but also their parenting tactics and beliefs. Trauma can make some people more prone to doing crazy things, although it doesn’t excuse. I still, like I said earlier, don’t feel any sympathy for Jose as an adult man. He, like everyone else still had a choice. He could’ve ended that terrible cycle right then and there, and given his boys the childhood that he never got to experience. Instead, he actively chose to abuse, and hurt his sons, when he didn’t have to. Same with Kitty. I’m sorry that these people had to go through what they did. No child deserves to be abused. However, we all grow up and make our own decisions about how we live our lives. I guess you could be a little more lenient, and less harsh on Lyle molesting Erik as a kid, given their ages. When you come to a certain point in life where you are able to tell right from wrong, then your action’s definitely define you at that moment. The way your brain is wired, mixed with environmental exposure, can have tremendous affect on how you’re prone to act. However, you are still responsible for upholding a decent attitude as a person at the end of the day. You cannot continuously use your poor mental health as a get out of jail free card, to do whatever you please. The majority of us I’m sure, can recognize these problems and attempt to find a solution. We don’t try to run away from them, we get down to the root cause, and get help. I for example, struggle with mental illness myself. However, what do I do? I search for therapy so I can get better, and be better for myself, and the people around me. I am aware that sometimes our mental health can make it quite difficult for us to maintain healthy relationships with people, but we still try despite all the turmoils. Going to therapy is certainly better than doing nothing. I can’t sit here and say, “well I’m depressed so I get a free pass to treat others like crap, because I had a bad day.” I get it, some of us struggle with temper issues, we can be more prone to getting angry and snapping at others quicker, but you still need to recognize that your actions have consequences, and they are entirely your responsibility. You apologize to the people you’ve hurt, and don’t continue acting one way because of your mental illness. You try and do something about it. I shouldn’t have to deal with being made to feel bad because someone else does. Nor should that person because I have anxiety. Sure, your past and trauma is not your fault, but how you respond to it is. It’s an explanation for your actions, it’s not an excuse. Going back to Jose’s situation, he’s obviously at the very bottom of the mental illness pyramid. He doesn’t have the standard OCD, depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, etc. He’s a narcissist, a sadist, lacks a moral compass, lacks basic human empathy, compassion, enjoys causing physical pain (as you saw with the animal abuse), and displays an unnatural attraction to hurting children, and teenagers. He was blinded to these problems in his life, and didn’t recognize them as problems. He didn’t see a reason to change, or get any help, because this was probably normalized to him from a very early age. However it just goes to show how trauma can affect certain people in different ways. Erik and Lyle didn’t have the same desire to commit those awful crimes like José. So different people respond in different ways. I can remember back in 2022 or some time around that, where there was this little movement of people trying to normalize pedophilic attraction to minors, and some went as far as to try and include it within the LGBT community as a “sexual orientation,” instead of a paraphiliac disorder . Conservatives, and everyone erupted with controversy, and anger, obviously. If a father admits that he experiences an attraction to children, especially his own children, what you do, is take those boys away from that home and put them in a safer place, while he gets therapy. Even if, he makes a point to never act on his urges, it’s better to be safe than sorry. If some random guy came up to you and told he that he’s been watching you for days, all while fantasizing about killing you, would you be like, “oh well he hasn’t acted on it yet, so I’m fine.” Or would you obviously try and distance yourself from that person, since they have the potential to act on their fantasies. The second choice is most smart. I personally don’t believe, nor am I made aware that you can cure a pedophile. Once the brain is damaged like this, this there’s no going back. For the most part, they still have those urges and always will. So it’s best to simply distance the man from the children, and limit all visitation rights. He can get help on his own, but it’s very rare for someone like this to even recognize that they need help in the first place. It would’ve still been better for Jose to have gotten any kind of help, rather than just succumbing to his perverted desires. You don’t get to ruin a child’s life, especially your own child’s for your gross sexual gratification. At the end, I feel like you can show compassion and sympathy for the innocent children these people once were. As crazy as it sounds, even the worst human imaginable were somebody’s babies once. I can watch the Jeffery Dhamer show and feel sorry for how his mother abandoned him, and his father’s negligence. Where my sympathy starts to gradually decrease however, is when he goes on his little killing spree.

[@RedundantHuman-CandyBites]

❤🔥👍🏼

[@ILikeTheIvy]

Dig your hat btw