“Margo’s Got Money Troubles,” but at least she’s got a feminist icon of a dad in her corner.
In the three-episode premiere of Apple TV’s adaptation of Rufi Thorpe’s popular novel, we meet Elle Fanning’s Margo: an aspiring writer who finds out she’s pregnant and drops out of college to try to take care of her baby, Bodhi, who’s born at the end of Episode 1.
Without a college degree and with few resources to help her get back on her feet, Margo’s financial problems mount as she enters motherhood. But Margo’s got other troubles, too: Her baby’s father is a rich, married English professor who refuses to offer any support after encouraging his former student to get an abortion; her mother Shayanne is a self-absorbed ex-Hooters waitress (Michelle Pfeiffer) trying to be on her best behavior to please her religious fiancé; her father Jinx (Nick Offerman) is a former professional wrestler recovering from a drug addiction; all of her roommates except one — Susie (Thaddea Graham) — move out of their shared apartment once Margo’s crying infant enters the picture; and Margo is quickly fired from her waitressing job after missing shifts and bringing her baby to work.
Why Margo starts an OnlyFans account
Though things don’t turn around for Margo in one fell swoop — this is no fairytale — she is able to carve out a semblance of a plan by the end of Episode 3.
It all starts when her dad suddenly reappears in her life after getting out of rehab. He offers to move in, pitch in around the house, and help care for the baby. Though Margo welcomes the assistance, his greatest contribution in her life is — surprisingly — not the free childcare. The man changes his daughter’s path by inadvertently planting a seed for Margo to create an OnlyFans account — in the least creepy way possible!
Here’s how it happens: Margo, Jinx, and Susie are watching a wrestling match on TV, when Jinx mentions the woman in the ring had been let go by WWE after the organization discovered the wrestler had an OnlyFans account. When he says the wrestler was making more in one month on the subscription site than in a whole year doing wrestling, viewers can practically see the light bulb go off in Margo’s head.
By the end of Episode 3, Margo decides to take her own shot with the money-making tool: She creates an OnlyFans account under the name “HungryGhost,” paying homage to a poem her baby daddy wrote, and receives her very first fan (aka subscriber.)
So far, no one in Margo’s circle knows about her OnlyFans plan. The Apple TV trailer reveals that Jinx will ultimately be supportive of his daughter’s new career path, but how will we get there?
Nick Offerman praises Jinx’s open-mindedness
Per Nick Offerman, the journey to accept Margo’s latest hustle isn’t without its bumps. The actor says viewers will see a negative “knee-jerk reaction” from Jinx when he first finds out about Margo’s OnlyFans work.
“If I say to you, ‘I’ve started an OnlyFans account,’ what do you think of?” Offerman says. “You don’t think it’s me in my jeans sitting on birthday cakes. You think of things that are more prurient.”
But Jinx’s mind will quickly change once he’s able to understand Margo and her situation, and he’ll completely change his tune.
“I’m thrilled on behalf of society — and on behalf of feminism — that this patriarchal, masculine, dipsh*t is like, ‘You know what, honey? I thought about it, and actually I love you, and I support if this what you want to do — you’re not hurting anybody. You’re using what skills you have in the given world that’s available to feed your child.”
Offerman believes we could all learn from Jinx’s open-mindedness. “Think about people’s journey before you judge them,” he says.
Click “PLAY” on the video above to watch our full Q&A with Offerman, his co-star Thaddea Graham, and showrunner Eva Anderson. Then, grade the premiere in our poll below and head to the comments: What did you think of the first three episodes of “Margo’s Got Money Troubles?”