Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story Ends With an Afterlife Reunion
Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story ends with a meeting in the afterlife.
Convicted murderer Aileen Wuornos, played by Sarah Paulson, is greeted after her execution by the ghosts of Lizzie Borden, played by Ella Beatty, and her maid Maggie, also called Bridget, played by Vicky Krieps. That final image closes the eight-part Netflix season.
The finale is titled "Carnival". Max Winkler, who directed six of the eight episodes including the premiere and the finale, told The Hollywood Reporter he knew that ending when production started.
Winkler stayed close to the death-row thread throughout the shoot. Watching Paulson perform Wuornos's final meal, he said: "I cried when she was doing [her final meal]." It is a short line. It says a lot about the day on set.
The season fictionalises a real 19th-century case. In 1892, aged 32, Lizzie Borden was tried and acquitted for the axe murders of her father and stepmother. Creators Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan took liberties to fill gaps in what is unrecorded about what happened inside the Borden house.
The screen version takes a firm position. It posits that Lizzie killed her father, Andrew Borden, and her stepmother, Abby Borden. After her acquittal, Lizzie buys a mansion with her inheritance, according to Time.
Vulture described that telling as presenting Lizzie as not only guilty but justified. That reading is the publication's interpretation, not a statement from Netflix or the creators.
The season premiered on Netflix on September 17, as reported by Deadline. It is the fourth instalment of Monster, an anthology series, meaning each season centres on a different real-life figure.
The wider Monster slate includes Monster: The Ed Gein Story, starring Charlie Hunnam, with Addison Rae appearing opposite him. The Lizzie Borden season pairs its historical plot with Wuornos, who was executed in Florida in 2002, to link two cases across a century.
What makes this stand out for viewers is structure. Two timelines run side by side. Both end in death. The finale joins them in one place.
