Christina Ricci Is A Perfectly Dark Lizzie Borden

I was obsessed with Christina Ricci's portrayal of Lizzie Borden in last year's Lifetime movie, Lizzie Borden Took An Ax, so when I found out that she'd be starring in a miniseries that is essentially a continuation of that story, I was excited, to say the least. And now that I've seen the first episode in the series, it's easy to see why Lifetime brought her back for round two. This time, Lizzie's looking for revenge. As history tells it, the real Lizzie Borden was acquitted of the murder of her father and stepmother and never proven guilty, but in the Lifetime version, she simply got away with murder. And now that she's seen how easy it is, she just might do it again. The Lizzie Borden Chronicles makes Lizzie a mega-villain, but thanks to Ricci, she's an almost likable killer.

The real-life Lizzie Borden went on to live a quiet life after her acquittal until she died in 1927 of pneumonia, but that doesn't really work for TV. Instead in The Lizzie Borden Chronicles, she's basically finding a way to kill anyone who tries to prevent her from getting what she wants, even if that happens to be her half-brother, William. Between the mysterious string of murders that are suddenly happening all over her hometown of Fall River, Mass. and the fact that Lizzie takes great joy in striking fear into the hearts of children who jump rope to the famous rhyme based on her case, she's actually pretty terrifying — even though she's sweet as pie to her sister, Emma, and still attends church every Sunday.

Don't get me wrong, you definitely don't root for Lizzie in this version of the story, but you can understand why she wants these people out of her way and there's something fun about seeing her claim her victims, who are obviously marked for death the second they even think about crossing her. And for the record, I'm totally fine with The Lizzie Borden Chronicles taking creative liberties with what actually happened in real life, because this version is deliciously fun.

The Lizzie Borden Chronicles might be a bit cheesy at times, but it's definitely worth watching to see a compelling and interesting female horror villain on TV — especially because she seems to be so tickled every time she gets the opportunity to kill again. I'm kind of bummed the series is only sticking around for eight episodes, because it's so damn entertaining.

Image: Michael Tomkins/Lifetime