Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story brings Lizzie Borden and Aileen Wuornos together in an unsettling finale that deliberately blurs the line between reality, memory and the supernatural.

The fourth season of Monster follows Lizzie Borden, played by Ella Beatty, as she struggles against an abusive family and a society that gives women little power. At the same time, the series follows Sarah Paulson’s Aileen Wuornos decades later, showing how Wuornos becomes increasingly fascinated by Lizzie’s story and the fact that she escaped punishment for her parents’ murders.

By the finale, the stories of the two women finally collide in a mysterious sequence that leaves the exact meaning open to interpretation.

What Happens To Lizzie Borden After Her Trial?

After being found not guilty of murdering her father and stepmother, Lizzie inherits part of her father’s fortune and uses the money to purchase a new home.

She names the property Maplecroft and fills it with animals, but her freedom comes with a heavy cost. Lizzie remains largely isolated from the outside world.

When she eventually ventures out, she discovers that the murders have become a cultural obsession. Books have been written about her, while children even dress up as Lizzie Borden for Halloween.

Although the verdict cleared her legally, it does little to erase her reputation.

Lizzie’s sister Emma also suffers because of the family name. She tells Lizzie that the murders have destroyed her prospects because nobody wants to hire or marry a Borden.

Eventually, Emma decides she cannot continue living under the weight of the family’s notoriety. She leaves in the hope that moving somewhere new and taking another name will give her the opportunity to start over.

Bridget Returns To Lizzie

Lizzie initially views Maplecroft as a sanctuary, but over time, the house begins to feel more like a prison.

Bridget “Maggie” Sullivan, meanwhile, is living in a mountain shack with an older man she married. Her life has become miserable and repetitive, with her husband treating her more like a servant than a partner.

Eventually, Bridget decides she has had enough.

She terrifies her husband with an ax before leaving and arriving at Lizzie’s home. Bridget tells Lizzie that she is moving in and that the two of them can finally begin a new life together.

Lizzie, however, remains emotionally trapped by everything that happened in the past.

Bridget tells her that she needs to seek forgiveness before she can truly move forward.

Lizzie follows her advice and goes into the woods behind Maplecroft. There, she prays and asks her father and stepmother for forgiveness.

Afterward, Lizzie appears ready to let go of the past.

She and Bridget begin building a new life together and become involved with the suffrage movement. The two women find new friendships, purpose and a sense of belonging.

Lizzie And Bridget Find A New Purpose

The suffragettes eventually win the right to vote, and the victory is celebrated with a large party.

The women gather together, drink champagne and celebrate their achievement.

But while everyone around her is smiling, Lizzie looks strangely distant.

The mood suddenly changes when the music playing at the celebration transitions into Natalie Merchant’s “Carnival,” the same song associated with Aileen Wuornos’ execution.

That musical transition sets up the finale’s most disturbing twist.

What Happens To Aileen Wuornos?

While Lizzie’s story has moved toward a new beginning, Wuornos’ life reaches its final moments.

Throughout the season, Wuornos becomes increasingly obsessed with Lizzie Borden. She sees similarities between their stories and views Lizzie’s actions as justified responses to abusive men.

But unlike Lizzie, Wuornos is convicted of murder and sentenced to death by lethal injection.

During her final meal, Wuornos argues that the men she killed would have escaped punishment if their situations had been reversed. She maintains that her actions were self-defense and questions the different treatment she received because of her gender and social position.

On the day of her execution, Wuornos is strapped to a table as an audience watches from behind a curtain.

Before the execution begins, she asks for a song.

The executioner agrees, and “Carnival” by Natalie Merchant begins playing.

The lethal drugs are administered, and Wuornos loses consciousness.

The Final Scene Connects Lizzie And Wuornos

The series then returns to the suffragette celebration.

As “Carnival” plays, Lizzie stands among the celebrating women, but her expression is noticeably detached. She appears to be somewhere else entirely.

The story cuts back to Wuornos.

Although her execution is taking place in the real world, the song continues as Wuornos opens her eyes in another space.

Standing before her are Lizzie and Bridget.

“We’re here to take you to the next place,” Lizzie tells her.

Lizzie and Bridget comfort the frightened Wuornos before a door opens to an intense white light.

The three women walk toward it together.

The series then cuts back to Wuornos’ body in the real world, where the executioner, coroner and police confirm her death.

What Does The Ending Mean?

The finale deliberately avoids providing one definitive explanation for the connection between Lizzie and Wuornos.

One interpretation is that the two women are genuinely connected on a spiritual level. Their stories, separated by decades, appear to converge after Wuornos’ death, with Lizzie and Bridget becoming the figures who guide her toward whatever comes next.

Another interpretation is more psychological.

The connection could represent the version of Lizzie that Wuornos created in her own mind. Throughout the season, Wuornos increasingly idolizes Lizzie and sees her as someone who escaped punishment for killing men she believed deserved it.

Lizzie’s strange reaction to “Carnival” at the suffragette celebration further complicates the scene, suggesting that she may somehow sense what is happening to Wuornos.

The finale ultimately leaves that question unresolved.

Rather than confirming whether the two women are literally connected after death or whether the sequence represents Wuornos’ imagined version of Lizzie, Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story ends by allowing both interpretations to coexist.

Source: Compiled from various sources