Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story ending explained – What happens?

The penultimate episode of the Ryan Murphy true crime series saw the Menendez brothers faced with a second trial after the hung jury in the first. While it was not the verdict anyone on their side had hoped for, other mitigating factors meant that their case was pushed from the spotlight.

In a slightly random turn of events, the series momentarily hones in on the story of OJ Simpson, who stood trial for the murders of his ex-wife Nicole Brown and her friend Ron Goldman in 1994. The finale begins with the controversial OJ Simpson verdict and then goes forward to 1995 as both Lyle (Nicholas Chavez) and Erik (Cooper Koch) prepare to stand trial once again.

The series "dives into the historic case that took the world by storm, paved the way for audiences’ modern-day fascination with true crime, and in return asks those audiences: Who are the real monsters?"

But how exactly does the series wrap up? Read on for a full breakdown of the final episode of Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, Netflix's fictionalised retelling of events.

If you’re looking for what happened in the real-life story of the case, you can read that here.

Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story ending explained

The episode starts off in the shadow of the OJ Simpson verdict, which is making Leslie Abramson (Ari Gaynor) pessimistic about their own chances at trial. On the flip side, Lyle thinks it shows they have a shot at walking free by making a catchphrase for their trial, but also admits to writing letters asking for donations and ordering a new $2500 wig to prison.

The brothers get into a heated argument after pointing the blame at one another and after that, the second trial begins.

Because of the newly published book, The Private Diary of Lyle Menendez: In His Own Words!, Lyle's defence makes the decision to not have him testify as he can be cross-examined about what he said on the phone to the book's author, Norma Novelli.

Pretty soon into the trial, it's clear that things aren't going in favour of the defence as Abramson objects to multiple statements but the judge continues to overrule her.

In the trial, we hear from a car salesman who testifies that upon gifting his son Lyle a car, José was condenmed by Lyle about the car itself, calling it "a piece of s**t", proving to be evidence of Lyle's reported "selfish brat" behaviour.

We also hear from Craig Cignarelli (Charlie Hall) about their unproduced 'Friends' screenplay, which has no resemblance to the hit sitcom. Instead, it was a screenplay the pair wrote wrote about a character named Hamilton Cromwell, who murders his parents.

Craig then says that Erik told him he went back to the home on the night of the murders to get his ID for the movies, seeing that his parents were sleeping. Upon going back outside to Lyle, they decided that it was an opportune time to go in and kill them.

When asked about the film, The Billionaire Boys Club, Craig says that Erik actually knew the story on which the movie was based on firsthand from their friend Brian. 14 months prior to the killings of José and Kitty, Brian admits that Erik knew of the story of his own parent's murder. Brian then describes how Lyle wrote him a letter from prison detailing a fictional instance of watching At Close Range with Lyle and José.

Erik eventually takes the stand and is cross-examined by the prosecution, telling the court how he feared for his life after admitting to Lyle about the years of abuse at the hands of his father. The prosecution claims the allegations of abuse are a lie and that the murders were premeditated.

As a witness, the prosecution calls the pool cleaner for the Menendez home who claims that the day before the killings, the brothers didn't seem scared of their parents at all.

Similarly, the boat captain claimed that the brothers didn't seem scared of their parents on the day of the murders. The housekeeper of the Menendez home, who lived there for five days of the week, also testifies that the house wasn't full of "shouting" and "fighting" as the boys had claimed, as well as José's work colleague testifying that José was "not an angry man".

The prosecution claims it's the "abuse excuse" and in this trial, the brother's alleged abuse is a version of the story that the jury are clearly not buying this time round. Dominick Dunne (Nathan Lane) is also bored of covering the trial, saying he's leaving Los Angeles and that the rest of the US is also tired of the Menendez brothers.

Through his storytelling to his friends, we learn that Lyle is in a committed relationship with Anna Eriksson and that Erik is having a rough time in prison, getting into fights and still in a relationship with Tammi Saccoman.

What happens to Erik and Lyle at the end of Monsters?

Ultimately, the jury finds the brothers guilty on two counts of first-degree murder and conspiracy to murder. The jury then adjorns to consider the two sentencing options: life without parole or death. In the juror's room, we see that sparks continue to fly amongst the group as they disagree about the brothers' stories and allegations of abuse. One of the jurors has a heart attack in the middle of deliberations and is replaced by a stand-in who seems confused about what to decide.

The jury ultimately decides on a verdict of life without parole and afterwards, Abramson does all she can to ensure the brothers are kept together in the same facility. But once back in their cells, both brothers are told that they're being moved.

Although it looks as though they're being transported together, the brothers are placed in separate cars which eventually veer off in different directions to different prisons, much to Erik's confusion.

What happens in the boat scene at the end of Monsters?

While it seems as though the episode is finished after the brothers are separated, we then flashback to the day of the murders on the Menendez boat trip.

We see Kitty and José having a light-hearted conversation about fishing for sharks, which soon turns as Kitty speaks about José's affair in New York. José tells her that was in the past and tells Kitty how much he loves her, saying they've "made it". He tells Kitty that she should go back into journalism, especially since he's planning on running for Senate.

The pair seem jovial and happy as the camera then pans to Lyle and Erik who are sitting on the bow of the boat, away from their parents. Kitty asks José what is going on with them but they seem at a loss. We then see Erik ask Lyle: "You're not chickening out, are you? We bought the guns."

"No, let's f**king do it," Lyle says, and his brother repeats the sentence as they look out at the sea.

Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story is now streaming on Netflix – sign up for Netflix from £4.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream.

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