How Netflix’s New ‘Monster’ Hit Goes Spectacularly Off the Rails

Photo Illustration by Thomas Levinson/The Daily Beast/Netflix When you look up Lizzie Borden and Aileen Wuornos on Google, the AI overview tells you the two women “never met and shared no historical connection.” No s--t, Sherlock, considering Wuornos was born nearly 30 years after Borden died.

But that doesn’t stop the new season of the true-crime anthology Monster (streaming now on Netflix) from drawing a line between the two, culminating in a fever-dream final sequence that sums up The Lizzie Borden Story’s descent into delirium.

As with the previous version of Ryan Murphy’s anthology series, the hit show has a “throw everything against the wall” approach that raises compelling questions amid the lurid, bombastic choices.

Still, by the end of the eight episodes, it feels like you have been (metaphorically) slapped across the face.

Even if that is the point, the series veers so far into murderous make-believe that any of the salient observations about how women killers are portrayed and misunderstood are immediately drowned out by goofy extremes.

Of course, any dramatization of a historical event requires some suspension of disbelief regarding its accuracy.

But Monster has always been keen on serving vibes rather than precision in depicting infamous convicted killers like Jeffrey Dahmer , Lyle and Erik Menendez , and Ed Gein , who have all drawn media and Hollywood attention.

The first episode wastes no time in depicting Lizzie ( Ella Beatty ) and her axe giving her (step)mother around 40 whacks.

She then gives her father 41—or thereabouts.

The nursery rhyme is core to Borden’s reputation, appearing in the premiere and finale.

When Lizzie hears children singing the evocative lyrics in the latter, it triggers a split-second flashback to visceral rage and a fountain of gore.

By this point, the sight of a character drenched in blood has little impact.

Creator Ian Brennan has said he believes Borden committed the crimes, an opinion evident in this depiction and in Lizzie’s pleas for forgiveness from God, Andrew ( Charlie Hunnam ), and Abby ( Rebecca Hall ) for the “terrible thing” she did as the story nears its conclusion.

But unlike the three male titular figures featured in the Ryan Murphy -produced Netflix series, Lizzie Borden was acquitted of the double homicide that has made her a household name.