The fourth episode of Ryan Murphy’s Monster series brings Aileen Wuornos onto the screen, played by Sarah Paulson, and draws a direct line between her seven killings and the axe-murderess of Fall River, Massachusetts, in 1892. The show makes no effort to hide the comparison.
The Hitchhike Scene
Wuornos is hitchhiking in Florida in 1988 when she’s picked up by a man. She introduces herself as Lizzie Borden. “Like the axe murderer?” he asks. She gleefully sings Suzi Quatro out loud, then negotiates sex work with the driver. The encounter ends in bloodshed. Taken to an empty lot, Wuornos is sexually assaulted by the man, after which she shoots him dead with a pistol.
In real life, Wuornos testified that she was raped by one of her victims. Monster doesn’t stop there. Paulson’s Wuornos suddenly hacks at his penis with an axe. It’s a blatant Borden association, and it’s gratuitous as hell.
Reading Borden’s Biography
The series shows Wuornos finding comfort in Borden’s story. She reads her biography aloud in a hotel room with her girlfriend, Shelby (Jessie Lee) — not Tyria Moore, Wuornos’ real girlfriend. In a furious monologue in episode 4, Wuornos celebrates Borden as a feminist icon and her direct inspiration.
“She gave the world a warning that women shouldn’t stand for this shit anymore,” Monster’s Wuornos declares. “The way women are treated, still, to this day, that’s why I’m gonna do something about it.”
Staying in the Borden House
Episode 5 sees Wuornos staying in the Borden house, a 134-year-old crime scene turned macabre bed and breakfast. There’s no evidence Wuornos ever visited the house. In a deeply inappropriate Ryan Murphy moment, Wuornos hallucinates Abby (Borden’s stepmother) during sex with Shelby on the couch where Andrew (Borden’s father) was murdered.
Later in the show, Wuornos uses heroin in Lizzie’s room as a moment of “shooting up” solidarity. “Lizzie did, and so am I,” she says. It’s presence, which comes across as a jaw-droppingly ridiculous moment. In episode 6, Shelby and Wuornos mark their anniversary by sharing pizza at the dining table where Abby and Andrew’s bodies were left there by the police, after which Wuornos has a ghostly fan encounter with Borden herself.
What the Show Actually Does
The link between Wuornos and Borden comes from Monster, which pairs two famous female killers in one series. One was found not guilty, the other put to death. The show treats both women as murderers who acted out of necessity due to how they were treated, especially by men. This pairing might also serve as a way for the creators to fit Wuornos’ story into the Monster series, rather than running a separate series like the disputed chapters on serial killers Jeffrey Dahmer and Ed Gein.
Charlize Theron’s Oscar Moment
Charlize Theron took home an Oscar for her performance as Wuornos in Patty Jenkins’ 2003 film Monster, so the two titles will now appear together in streaming catalogues at least.
The Order of the Episodes
Here’s how the Wuornos storyline plays out across the episodes:
- Episode 4: The hitchhiking scene, the rape, the axe hack, and the feminist declaration.
- Episode 5: The Borden house, the Abby hallucination, the heroin moment.
- Episode 6: The anniversary pizza on the dining table, the ghostly fan encounter.
The Verdict on the Stunt
A career built on bold moves now includes forcing Wuornos to channel Borden, and it’s a bad one. Murphy has done it, and it does a disservice to both women.
The hallucination scene is the worst of it. Wuornos is having sex with Shelby on the couch where Andrew was murdered, and Abby appears. It’s inappropriate, disrespectful, and adds nothing to the story. It’s a stunt, pure and simple.
The Bottom Line
Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story is now streaming on Netflix. If you’re curious about the Bordens, you’ll find a version of their story here. If you want to understand Wuornos, you’ll need to look elsewhere.
What Murphy does best is put on a show, and that’s exactly what this series is doing. The question of whether it rises to the level of art can wait for another time. Right now, the truth stands plain: this is a stunt, and it’s a mess.
The show attempts to present Borden and Wuornos as sisters in arms. The reality is more complex than that. Rather than grapple with that complexity, the show simply abandons it, cutting the axe and walking away without further explanation.
Source material: “Did Lizzie Borden inspire Aileen Wuornos? Netflixs Monster series says she did.,” Mashable.
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