After the better part of the season built to the eventual murders of Andrew and Abby Borden, Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story episode 6 finally brings us to the point in the story where we explore the fallout and what comes after their deaths.
For the first time this season, Monster actually begins an episode by picking up right where the previous one left off. Lizzie and Maggie have fulfilled their plan to end the lives of Andrew and Abby, and they have a long day ahead of them now. Maggie pulls Lizzie back from her shock as she reminds her they have a lot to do now, as a knock could be coming at the door any second.
Trigger warning: This article mentions the topic of sexual assault.
As if on cue, they hear a banging at the door, and we see Lizzie go to the door, reaching out her hand to open it. When the door swings open, we see Aileen Wuornos and her girlfriend Shelby at the door asking if this is the Lizzie Borden house as she informs the woman, Carolyn, who opens the door, that they have a reservation.
Carolyn welcomes them inside as they take in the place, Shelby talking about how much Aileen loves Lizzie. The pair mentions they’re reading The Ballad of Lizzie Borden as they continue to take in everything before making their way into the living room where Andrew was killed. Carolyn mentions that no one really knows what happened that day, but Aileen interjects that she knows exactly what happened as she’s lived that shit as well.
After sending Carolyn away, Aileen pleasures Shelby with her hand on the couch where Andrew was killed. When they go prepare to swap places, Aileen sees a vision of Andrew’s body on the couch beside them as the scene cuts.
Aileen and Shelby arrive at the Lizzie Borden house
We next see the women in the dining room as Shelby reaches Chapter 12 of the book, which discusses Maggie and Lizzie crossing their own private Rubicon, holding hands at the door and kissing one final time. Our story jumps back in time to this moment in which time has passed and it’s time to enact the next step of their plan.
Lizzie opens the door and shouts for Maggie to get help as Maggie runs into town screaming for help, while Lizzie has a fit of panic on the front lawn. Most of the police are tied up, resulting in a smaller response team. Just as the police prepare to fall back to give Lizzie a moment, Maggie asks about Mrs. Borden and Lizzie races up the stairs to the room where Abby was killed. Lizzie puts on quite a performance for the officers faking a fainting spell before rushing to her bedroom as Maggie then helps show the men to the cellar where the axes are kept, pointing out how one is missing. One officer finds a bloody cloth, but Lizzie explains it’s used for her womanly time of the month, and the man drops it disgusted.
As the officers review the crime scene, Maggie and Lizzie listen in on their conversation as they deduce that the murders have to have been the work of a man, possibly two, as no woman could have wielded an axe with such force.
We cut back to Aileen and Shelby as they make their way to Lizzie’s bedroom before returning to the main storyline as Shelby continues to read from the book and mentions how doctors gave Lizzie Bromo Caffeine to help her, which surprises Aileen, who isn’t a fan of doctors, especially the one who told her she had schizophrenia. Shelby continues the story as she reveals the doctor gave her morphine, which Aileen is impressed by. She goes to her bag and pulls out some heroin as she tells Shelby they’re going to role-play: her as Lizzie and Shelby as the doctor. As the drugs set in, Aileen’s idolization of Lizzie becomes even more apparent and the mastermind she was.
Aileen asks what happened to the dress she wore when she killed her parents, and Shelby notes that she had burned it. We cut back to the past to find Lizzie burning the dress in the stove as an officer comes in to question her about her actions. Lizzie explains she got pain on it and decided to burn it, as she distracts him by asking for the doctor to be called to give her more of whatever he’d been prescribing her.
Suspicions fell on John as the police question him, but he gives them a detailed description of his alibi, putting his photographic memory to good use. He asks for permission to speak with his niece and goes inside to find Lizzie in bed resting.
As she rests, he tells her that he knows what she did, telling her that as a butcher he recognized that this was very personal. She continues to pretend to be asleep as he presses her to give the money he requested from her father, and in return he’ll help her with her alibi and even testify in court on her behalf, as she nods in agreement without saying a word. He then shifts the conversation to talking about what she will tell the police, but Lizzie makes it clear to him that she doesn’t need his help.
Lizzie makes her way downstairs to find a room full of guests, including several police officers who question her with the show pulling directly from those transcripts as a message on the screen informs viewers. Lizzie notes that everyone was very sick this morning after eating some swordfish and mutton stew, which had apparently gone off, as well as some bad oysters. John Morse hadn’t dined with them and left in the morning to visit a relation in Woods Corner, confirming his alibi.
Around 8, she awoke feeling a bit better and joined Mrs. Borden for some light dusting to help calm their sour stomachs. She then decided to go into town and remembered seeing Mrs. Borden putting some fresh shams on the beds in the guest room and was preparing to head out to visit a sick friend. As she left the house, she recalled hearing Mrs. Borden ordering Maggie to clean all the windows inside and out.
In town, she noticed they were having a sale on calico and raced home to tell Maggie, who wanted to leave immediately to go purchase some. However, Lizzie wanted to iron a few handkerchiefs first, as she finds it soothing. While waiting for the iron to warm up, she read Harper’s Magazine and heard a knock in the kitchen. She thought it might be her father, so she yelled and heard him shout back, “Why is this door locked?” as Maggie responded, "Pshaw," which made her laugh so much that she was laughing all the way down the stairs to greet her father.
This detail catches the officer’s attention as he points out how she said she was warming the iron downstairs, so she wouldn't have come running from downstairs. Lizzie quickly corrects that she was upstairs and came down, where she helped her father take off his boots and gave him his slippers before he laid down to take a nap.
Lizzie then recalls remembering an upcoming fishing trip and heading outside to look for some sinkers, which was when she heard a groan. It wasn’t a shout, but a loud groan from inside the house. That’s when she saw the screendoor was open and thought her dad must have awakened, but when she came inside, that’s when she saw her father murdered. One of the cops asks about the timing of when she found her mother’s body, and Lizzie interjects that she wasn’t her mother; she was her stepmother. The officer thanks her for the statement before noting that if there is one thing they’re certain of, it’s that she was innocent.
We jump back to Aileen and Shelby, as Aileen laughs about the cops buying Lizzie’s story as she tells Shelby that’s why she has no need to be worried about them, as they’re just a bunch of dumbf-cks. The doorbell rings with their pizza as Shelby brings in the pizza, singing happy anniversary to her before Aileen tells her to just shut up and put the pizza on the table between Lizzie’s dead parents. Shelby is confused as she points out how there is nothing there, and Aileen laughs it off, recalling how she had just read that the bodies had been placed on the table.
Lizzie’s story begins to unravel as Lizzie and Aileen come face-to-face
We return to Lizzie’s story and learn how the bodies would remain on the table for three days before finally being taken away. Lizzie slept alone in the house during these days as we watch Lizzie come down at night and sit beside them, crying to herself about how her father didn’t deserve this. Abby on the other hand? Well, let’s just say that Lizzie has no regrets about killing her stepmother.
Suspicion would soon fall on Lizzie with the police cutting open her parents’ stomachs to test the content of their stomachs. It didn’t help that the detectives found Lizzie’s grief at the funeral unconvincing, so they took her parents' bodies and chopped off their heads to boil the flesh off and take a better look at the wounds and get an idea of what kind of axe was used.
Shelby is growing tired and stops reading for the night, as Aileen excuses herself to use the restroom after telling her, “I love you” and “happy anniversary.” Aileen hears something in the night and follows the noise upstairs. She comes to a room where she sees Lizzie sitting on the couch surrounded by candles.
Lizzie asks what Aileen is doing here, as she admits she’s always been a bit of a fan and has liked her ever since she heard her story. Lizzie asks how she knows her story, and Aileen informs her she’s famous as a woman who didn’t take any shit. What she did was violent, but she was forced to do it. Lizzie asks if she’s killed people, and Aileen confesses that she has, but not her father and stepmother.
Aileen wishes she had, as she recalls how she was beaten and raped by her various relatives, including her brother and grandfather. She wishes she had killed them, as they all deserved a bullet in their mouths, but instead she’s killed Johns who picked her up as a hooker. Some of the Johns aren’t bad, but some are truly bad men, and so she targeted them for hurting her. She recalls thinking, "f-ck that" just like Lizzie did, and finally standing up for herself, knowing no one else was coming. She thanks Lizzie, who holds out her hand and touches Aileen’s face.
When Shelby awakens in the morning, she begins looking for Aileen and eventually finds her upstairs sitting in the middle of the empty room. Aileen tells Shelby about seeing Lizzie and how real it felt as Shelby reminds her they have to head out in an hour. Before they head out, Aileen brings Shelby outside to visit the dovecot.
We cut back to Lizzie and Maggie, as Maggie assures her everything will be okay as long as they stick to their story. Lizzie begs her not to go, as they can be together once they get the money, but Maggie pulls back as she asks her for one last dance. Their final dance becomes woven together with a dance between Aileen and Shelby.
As Maggie packs her things and prepares to leave, we see Aileen and Shelby do the same as they leave the house and prepare to hit the road. Aileen turns to take one final look at the house as she sees Lizzie in the window. We then cut to the past to see the police showing up for Lizzie and informing her she’s under arrest. They load her into the police carriage and ride off.
If you or someone you know needs to reach out about sexual abuse or assault, RAINN is available 24/7 at 800-656-HOPE (4673), or online at RAINN.org.
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