Margo’s Got Money Troubles tells the tale of a single mother who turns to OnlyFans to pay for the numerous expenses of having a baby. Apple TV has picked up the novel of the same name by Rufi Thorpe creating a witty and relatable adaptation starring Elle Fanning as the protagonist Margo (Millet). The series shows the realities of motherhood while Margo navigates the messiness of adolescence, but it falls short in its coverage of serious issues.
Episode 1 establishes a sexual relationship between Margo and her English professor Mark Gable (Michael Angarano, Sky High). Gable love-bombs Margo, writing her love poems and gushing over her genius. Yet, the series does not engage with the nefarious implications of the relationship as Gable fades into the background; his character is a glorified sperm donor serving no purpose other than being the father of Margo’s child. The novel offers a look into how a normal teacher-student dynamic can become something more sinister when Professor Gable starts crossing lines with Margo. A montage of their coffee dates, Gable kissing Margo on campus, and him slipping her poems professing his love all before the provocative sex scenes.
Instead, we shift focus to Margo’s eccentric mother Shyanne (Michelle Pfeiffer, Hairspray) who is distraught at the idea of her boyfriend Kenny (Greg Kinnear, As Good as It Gets) finding out about her daughter’s relationship with Gable. Kenny is a devout Christian and espouses pro-life talking points in Episode 2, remarking that Margo is experiencing the consequences of her actions. Again, the implications of Kenny’s comments – that getting an abortion would be wrong since that is skirting responsibility – are misogynistic as he is putting the blame entirely on Margo when she was groomed by a creepy man.
We don’t really sit with the problematic ideals Kenny has, causing his relationship with Shyanne to be underdeveloped. Pfeiffer plays up Shyanne’s airheaded blonde bimbo act in front of Kenny. Their dynamic is fascinating, Shyanne does not fit Kenny’s religious lifestyle, so she lies. It is a disaster waiting to happen, but also has the potential to be expanded into a commentary on how conservative men treat women.
Kenny is clearly trying to change Shyanne to fit his “conquest fantasy,” the idea that he can reform her into the perfect trad-wife. He reflects a broader trend of conservative men being attracted to women who lie left of them on the political spectrum. Kinnear does a wonderful job balancing the problematic aspects of Kenny’s worldview with thoughtful earnestness. He slut shames Margo, and in the same breath asks for her blessing to propose to Shyanne. Hopefully, their dynamic in future episodes lives up to its potential for cultural commentary rather than only exploring the absurd comedic angle, especially with Margo pursuing unorthodox ways to solve her money troubles.
In Episode 3, Elle Fanning finally puts the research she did on OnlyFans into practice when Margo creates her profile. The retro alien vibe that Fanning explains Margo has comes through in the very beginning as Margo uses two alien emojis to censor her nipples on her newly created OnlyFans page. Margo fits into the “weird girl” trope, she’s textbook manic pixie dream girl – it comes through in her outfits, her inability to read social cues and her candidness in each and every interaction.
Margo’s weird girl is meant to be fully genuine unlike a “cool girl” persona that some women feel the need to perform for men. There is a tension between the apparent candidness and the idea that Margo is a victim of fitting the male fantasy, which lands her into the broke single mom position that she is in.
To cope with this, in Episode 4 Margo fully doubles down on her OnlyFans side hustle. She seeks out local creators to collaborate with on the platform who are using her to keep their content fresh. Fanning does a great job of playing a self assured young woman who doesn’t really know how in over her head she is.
Both the weird girls of the show are punished, and their only way out is to lean into their weirdness, capitalizing off of it by selling it to men. Both Shyanne and Margo find men who are attracted to a woman who subverts expectations, and both end up paying for it once the fantasy is over. Shyanne seems to be willing to let the weird girl in her die for Kenny.
For Margo, the question is: will she lose the weird girl in her, after having to sell her?
