‘Monster,’ the TV Show, Devolves Into a Poor Impersonation of ‘Monster’ the Movie — SkimNews
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- 'Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story' premieres on Netflix as the fourth season of Ryan Murphy’s anthology, shifting focus to Lizzie Borden but failing to deliver incisive social critique despite its metafictional framing.
- Ryan Murphy’s 'Monster' franchise expands to include Aileen Wuornos and Elizabeth Báthory as parallel figures to Lizzie Borden, though their inclusion feels arbitrary and underdeveloped rather than thematically cohesive.
- Sarah Paulson portrays Charlize Theron’s portrayal of Aileen Wuornos in a satirical subplot, delivering a farcical impression that underscores the series’ tendency to restate rather than deepen its earlier moral questions.
- Rebecca Hall plays Abby Borden with exaggerated cruelty, elevating otherwise flat material through performance alone, turning her character into an almost comedic villain despite the show’s serious tone.
- Lizzie Borden, played by Ella Beatty, is depicted as a repressed daughter subjected to abuse and misogyny, yet the series spends excessive time building toward a murder that lacks psychological depth or narrative payoff.
- The anthology repeatedly invokes the question of who the real monster is—society or the killer—but in Season 4, this theme feels recycled, superficial, and disconnected from the emotional weight it once carried.
Why it matters: For Netflix, investing in high-profile true-crime content without substantive evolution risks viewer fatigue and brand dilution; audiences expecting layered commentary get repetition instead, making future seasons harder to justify creatively or culturally.
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