Netflix Viewers Are Issuing an Emetophobia Warning Over a Difficult Lizzie Borden Scene

Netflix's latest entry in the Monster anthology has already sparked plenty of discussion about one of America's most infamous historical crime cases.

But for some viewers, it isn't the murders or the darker psychological themes that have made one particular episode difficult to watch.

Instead, it is a scene involving illness that has prompted viewers to warn others — especially people who experience emetophobia, a fear of vomiting or seeing someone vomit.

Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story, created by Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan, premiered in September 2026 as the latest chapter in Netflix's long-running true-crime-inspired anthology. Ella Beatty plays Lizzie Borden, with Vicky Krieps as Bridget “Maggie” Sullivan, Charlie Hunnam as Andrew Borden and Rebecca Hall as Abby Borden.

The eight-episode series takes substantial creative liberties with the historical record while exploring Lizzie's restrictive Victorian household, her relationship with Maggie and the notorious 1892 Borden murders. Netflix itself describes the production as a historical crime drama rather than a straightforward documentary reconstruction.

And early in the series, one scene has generated an entirely different kind of viewer conversation.

The Scene Some Viewers Wanted a Warning About

The moment appears in the second episode, “Strong Kitty.”

Without going into unnecessary detail, the sequence involves Lizzie and Maggie serving oysters to Andrew and Abby Borden as part of a poisoning plot.

The characters subsequently become violently ill.

For viewers who are particularly sensitive to vomiting-related scenes, the sequence can therefore be difficult to watch.

That has prompted people online to share warnings with other viewers who might otherwise begin the episode without knowing what is coming.

The conversation isn't necessarily about whether the scene belongs in the story.

Instead, it is about giving viewers enough information to decide whether they want to watch that particular sequence.

The scene in Monsters: The Lizzie Borden Story has sparked a debate on Reddit (Netflix)

What Is Emetophobia?

Emetophobia is the term used for an intense fear of vomiting, seeing vomit or experiencing situations associated with vomiting.

It goes beyond simply finding the subject unpleasant.

For someone with a strong phobic response, exposure to vomiting-related imagery or situations can trigger significant anxiety or distress.

That is why content warnings can be useful.

A person who happily watches a dark crime drama may still want advance notice about a particular type of scene.

The distinction is important because reactions to different forms of fictional content can vary enormously from viewer to viewer.

Someone may have no difficulty watching a suspenseful murder mystery but find an illness-related scene particularly uncomfortable.

Why Episode 2 Became a Talking Point

The discussion around the episode illustrates something increasingly common in the streaming era.

Viewers no longer have to watch a program according to a television schedule.

They can start an entire season in one sitting, pause whenever they want and move between episodes at their own pace.

That makes advance warnings particularly useful for people with specific sensitivities.

Instead of discovering an unexpected scene halfway through an episode, viewers can decide beforehand whether they want to continue.

The reaction to Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story shows how even a relatively short sequence can become a major point of conversation when viewers have strong reactions to it.

The Production Team Knew the Scene Would Be Challenging

Interestingly, the difficulty wasn't limited to people watching at home.

Creating the sequence was apparently a major technical challenge for the production.

Director Max Winkler explained that the team spent considerable time figuring out how to stage the effect convincingly.

The filmmakers first rehearsed the sequence without the practical effects before experimenting with tubes and different techniques to control the timing and distance of the effect.

That meant the scene required considerably more preparation than viewers might assume.

What appears on screen for a relatively short period can involve extensive testing behind the scenes.

How Do You Film Something That Looks Real?

Practical effects can be particularly complicated when actors have to interact directly with them.

The production team had to work out how much material should be used, how far it should travel and how the actors would respond.

According to Entertainment Weekly's behind-the-scenes report, Winkler researched other films and sequences involving theatrical vomiting before deciding how to stage the scene.

The goal was not simply to create a realistic effect.

The sequence was designed to fit the show's deliberately heightened style.

That approach is consistent with the broader tone of Monster, which combines historical subject matter with psychological drama and stylized storytelling.

Rebecca Hall Had Her Own Challenge

Rebecca Hall, who plays Abby Borden, reportedly wasn't particularly comfortable with the subject matter.

The director explained that Hall has a strong physical reaction to vomiting-related situations, which created an unusual challenge during filming.

Rather than making the experience easier, the realism of the practical effects made the sequence more complicated.

The actor's reaction also demonstrates why the scene may have such a strong effect on certain viewers.

There is a difference between knowing intellectually that something is fictional and having an automatic physical response to seeing it.

Charlie Hunnam Wasn't Exactly Looking Forward to It

Charlie Hunnam faced another problem.

The actor has described himself as a germaphobe, making the prospect of spending a day covered in fake material particularly unpleasant.

Entertainment Weekly reported that Hunnam found the experience uncomfortable despite knowing that the effects were artificial.

For an actor, however, that discomfort can become part of the challenge of performing a convincing scene.

The audience sees the finished sequence.

The actors experience the practical effects, repetition and technical preparation required to produce it.

Ella Beatty Had a Different Perspective

Ella Beatty, who plays Lizzie, had a somewhat different role in the sequence.

Because her character isn't the one experiencing the physical effects in the same way as Andrew and Abby, she was able to observe more of the technical process.

That gave her an unusual view of how the production transformed a complicated practical-effects setup into a finished television scene.

It's another example of how dramatically different the experience of filming can be from watching the final edit.

The Show Takes Major Creative Liberties

The conversation around the scene also needs to be separated from the actual history of Lizzie Borden.

The real 1892 case remains one of America's most famous unsolved historical mysteries.

Lizzie Borden was accused of killing her father, Andrew Borden, and stepmother, Abby Borden, but she was acquitted at trial.

Netflix's own Tudum coverage emphasizes that the series is a fictionalized interpretation built from details about the historical figures rather than a literal recreation of everything that happened.

That distinction matters.

Viewers watching the series should not automatically assume that every relationship, conversation or event shown on screen is historically documented.

The production is using the historical case as the foundation for a dramatic interpretation.

Who Plays the Major Characters?

The cast brings together a mixture of established actors and newer performers.

Ella Beatty leads the series as Lizzie Borden.

Vicky Krieps plays Bridget “Maggie” Sullivan, the household maid whose relationship with Lizzie becomes central to the story.

Charlie Hunnam portrays Andrew Borden, while Rebecca Hall plays Abby Borden.

Billie Lourd appears as Emma Borden, Lizzie's sister.

Sarah Paulson also appears as Aileen Wuornos, connecting the season to the broader Monster anthology.

The casting gives the production a deliberately recognizable ensemble while allowing the story to move beyond the courtroom and into the imagined private world of the Borden household.

Why Lizzie Borden Still Fascinates Audiences

More than a century after the original case, Lizzie Borden remains a remarkably durable figure in American true-crime history.

The reason isn't simply the crime itself.

It is the uncertainty.

Lizzie was accused.

She was tried.

She was acquitted.

And the question of what actually happened in the Borden household has never completely disappeared.

That unresolved element gives filmmakers and writers room to revisit the story from different perspectives.

Netflix's new series uses that uncertainty to explore family relationships, social expectations, gender roles and the psychological pressures surrounding its fictionalized version of Lizzie.

The Emetophobia Conversation Is About More Than One Scene

The reaction to Episode 2 highlights a broader issue in modern streaming television.

Audiences increasingly discuss content warnings for specific triggers, including medical situations, violence, intense psychological themes and other potentially distressing material.

For people with emetophobia, knowing that a scene involving vomiting is coming can make a significant difference in deciding whether to watch, skip ahead or pause the episode.

That doesn't mean everyone will have the same reaction.

Some viewers may barely notice the sequence.

Others may find it extremely uncomfortable.

Both reactions can exist at the same time.

What Viewers Should Know Before Starting

Anyone planning to watch Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story should know that Netflix classifies the series as a mature historical crime drama and describes it as psychological, dark and violent.

The series contains disturbing themes beyond the scene discussed here.

For viewers with specific sensitivities, checking episode-specific content information before starting may therefore be worthwhile.

And for anyone with emetophobia, Episode 2 is the installment that has generated particular discussion because of its illness-related sequence.

The cast have revealed how they filmed it (Netflix)

A Scene That Became a Story of Its Own

There is an interesting irony in the response.

The filmmakers created the scene to serve the story.

Viewers, however, have turned the scene itself into part of the conversation surrounding the series.

People are discussing the practical effects.

They're talking about the actors' reactions.

And some are warning other viewers about what they are about to see.

That is how streaming television works in the social-media era.

A single scene can become a separate conversation almost immediately after an episode is released.

What Happened Behind the Camera May Be Almost as Interesting

The behind-the-scenes story also demonstrates how much planning can go into a sequence that lasts only a few minutes.

Winkler and the cast had to coordinate rehearsals, practical effects, camera positioning, actor reactions and repeated takes.

The process reportedly involved experimenting with different methods before the filmmakers settled on the version used on screen.

For viewers, it may simply look like an outrageous moment in a dark television drama.

For the production team, it was an elaborate technical exercise.

Rebecca Hall as Lizzie's stepmother, Abby Borden (Netflix)

The Bigger Question Behind the Viewer Warnings

The controversy surrounding the scene isn't really about whether viewers should watch the show.

It's about whether they should know what they're getting into.

Streaming has given audiences enormous freedom over what they watch and when they watch it.

That freedom also means viewers increasingly rely on information from other viewers to identify scenes that may not be obvious from official episode descriptions.

For someone with emetophobia, a simple warning can be far more useful than discovering the scene unexpectedly.

Netflix's Lizzie Borden Story Is Already Generating Debate

The emetophobia discussion is only one part of the wider conversation surrounding Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story.

The series has attracted attention because it takes a famous historical murder case and turns it into an eight-episode psychological drama.

Netflix's official episode guide confirms that the season runs for eight episodes, beginning with “Bloodbath” and continuing through “Strong Kitty,” “Whack Job!,” “R.I.P (Rest in Pestilence) Abby Borden,” “41,” “Bed and Breakfast,” “The Trial of the Century” and “Carnival.”

The production is therefore much broader than the controversial Episode 2 sequence.

It is an extended examination of a historical case that has fascinated audiences for generations.

One Warning Could Change the Viewing Experience

For most people, knowing a difficult scene is coming may be enough to make the viewing experience more comfortable.

For people with a strong fear response, however, advance information can be much more important.

That's why the growing conversation around emetophobia warnings, streaming content advisories and episode-specific triggers is unlikely to disappear.

As television becomes increasingly immersive and visually ambitious, filmmakers are capable of producing scenes that feel remarkably convincing.

And sometimes, the most memorable moment isn't the one viewers expected to discuss.

For Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story, that appears to be exactly what happened with Episode 2.

The series is ultimately a fictionalized exploration of one of America's most famous historical crime cases.

But for viewers with emetophobia, there is another piece of information worth knowing before pressing play:

Episode 2 contains a sequence that some viewers have specifically warned others about.

For everyone else, it is simply another example of how Netflix's latest Monster installment is finding ways to make a 130-year-old mystery feel surprisingly immediate.