Lizzie Borden, The Lizzie Borden Chronicles

Lizzie Borden (Christina Ricci)

The Lizzie Borden Chronicles, a limited horror series, was based on the real life story of Lizzie Borden, infamous for allegedly murdering her father and stepmother with an ax. She was acquitted in court and went on to live a life of wealth and infamy. There was also speculation that she might have been a lesbian and had an affair with actress Nance O’Neil.

On the TV show, director Stephen Kay said the relationship between Lizzie and Nance was only subtext:

“The last person literally living with Lizzie was Nance and so my brain went to, it could have been a completely platonic relationship, a person in her life who loved her.” AfterEllen

In the premiere Emma, Lizzie’s sister, told her she often dreamt of marrying a guy named “Archibald”, to which Lizzie responded with: “I never imagined a husband.” The show did introduce the character of Nance in episode 2, performing in a seductive (and violent) show Lizzie and her sister went to see in New York. After the show, Nance was thrilled to meet Lizzie and invited the sisters to the decadent after-party, where women wore suits and kissed each other.

In episode 2, Lizzie saved Adele, a street prostitute, from being abused by a client, and let her stay in her house. Adele developed a crush on Lizzie and they kissed while in a closet together. Later on, Adele was almost raped, but stabbed her assailant with a pitchfork, then panicked and got Lizzie who decided to just kill him.

Adele was next seen after she’d been locked in a coffin for a few nights by Lizzie as punishment, because Lizzie was worried that Adele wouldn’t keep quiet about the killing. Lizzie freed her the following episode, with a menacing “Promise me that you won’t misbehave again!”, and Adele agreed, crying. Adele’s former pimp showed up at the house, sending a terrified Adele into the back room, but he was only there to discuss “business” with Lizzie.

Adele started to get anxious and nervous when people kept asking questions about the missing man, prompting Lizzie to kill her by slitting her throat and killing Adele’s former pimp at the same time, making it look like they killed each other.

At the end of the season Lizzie boarded an ocean liner to Europe, while her sister Emma managed to escape her and remain behind.

Appearances:

• 8 episodes.

Female love interests:

• Adele 💀 (Kimberly-Sue Murray, guest, 3 episodes)

Relationship story arc with a woman: No

No male love interests

Relationship story arc with a man: No

Male love interest after being identified as a lesbian? No

Filter Relationship Arc:

• None

Storyline during sweeps? No

[1] A relationship story arc is defined as explicit, developed on screen, and lasting more than 3 episodes. It is listed as questionable or subtext if romance is only implied, mentioned instead of shown on screen, part of a dream sequence, or otherwise not explicit for the viewer.
[2] Sweeps episodes air in February, May, July and November, the periods when advertising rates are set. A character is marked as "sweeps" when there is a very limited number of episodes that address their sexuality, all air during sweeps period, and the storyline is otherwise ignore/dropped.