Lizzie Borden Chronicles
Lifetime Channel
Part one of eight
“Acts of Borden”
Lizzie Borden was accused of murdering her Stepmother and Father with an axe in 1892. In that same year she was acquitted of both murders and set free. To this day the crime goes unsolved.
Lizzie Borden took an axe,
and gave her mother forty whacks.
When she saw what she had done,
she gave her father forty-one.
That is the famous Folk Rhyme that children skip rope to. Which is not true at all. Her Stepmother got eighteen whacks from the axe. While her Father got eleven whacks. Just like the rhyme was untrue so goes this series. What we get is a bunch of hodgepodge with a little truth thrown in.
This mini series takes place four months after the famous trial that sent Lizzie free in Fall River, Massachusetts. Lizzie (Christina Ricci) and her sister Emma (Clea DuVall) are trying to acquire their inheritance from their father when they find out he owes a lot of money. So much money that it could leave the sisters broke and actually paying out of their own pockets. Word got out of the money that could be coming the sisters way so a half brother William comes out and of course wants in on the action. Meanwhile Agent Charlie Siringo (Cole Hauser) has come to town to do some snooping into Lizzie’s past to see if he can find any evidence on her. From here on out to the end of the show we get a bunch of lies and how Lizzie is a killer at heart.
The writing on the show is miserable to watch. I found myself just staring at the television in like a trance state thinking about what other shows I should be watching. Christina Ricci cannot even save this show. The only thing believable in this show was the costumes and the scenery. Yes there were some truths in the show. She did still stay in the same town it happened and yes the kids and adults were scared of her but also made fun of her. Other than that she really led a non-eventful rest of her life.
Overall just don’t waste your time on this show. I have a better proposition. Go to the bookstore and pick up one of the many books on the trial or her life.
