Niki Cruz
Creator David E. Kelley has another hit on his hands with Apple TV’s Margo’s Got Money Troubles. The show, based on the 2024 book by Rufi Thorpe, offers a refreshingly honest look at the realities of early motherhood and postpartum.
In the series, Elle Fanning plays Margo, an aspiring writer and college student who gets pregnant during an affair she has with her professor. To the dismay of her mother, Shyanne (Michelle Pfeiffer), Margo dives in headfirst. Luckily, Margo’s estranged father and former pro wrestler, Jinx (Nick Offerman), strolls into town and offers to help with child care. With bills piling up, Margo turns to the least likely of places for a semblance of stability — OnlyFans. With not many options, she opens an account and takes back her power as a single mother and creative, writing sensual comedic sketches with other creators.
While the show makes room for lighter moments, it sinks its teeth into meatier material, focusing on Margo as she navigates the chaotic early stages of motherhood and deals with her dysfunctional family, including her new step-father-to-be Kenny (Greg Kinnear). At the core of the show is the mother-daughter relationship between the young mother and her own young mother, Shyanne. The two are tethered in dysfunction by having to grow up together and survive as a unit. It’s only when Margo becomes a mother that they are forced to deal with their complex dynamic.
Michelle Pfeiffer on balancing the complicated mother-daughter relationship with Elle Fanning:
“There was just a lot of discovery along the way starting with such a strong foundation to work from. She’s such a great actress, and so wonderful to play off of, and she’s just ready for anything you throw at her. Her acting has such a truth to it, a purity to it, that it’s really easy to just really let it happen and unfold. We didn’t really spend a lot of time talking about it, honestly. When we would it was because we’re hanging around on the set, but it wasn’t really because we had to.”
The writers could’ve easily played the characters as one-note and cliché. Greg Kinnear’s Kenny, a devout Christian and preacher, could’ve easily felt overwrought when playing an ultra conservative character, but Kinnear brings a wonderful sense of humanity to the role.
“All these characters are somewhat flawed, and certainly Kenny proves that more than once in the show, and yet you find little surprises,” said Kinnear. “These people, the reason that they really feel like people is because they kind of sometimes don’t do what you expect them to do, they do things that feel wrong instead of right or right instead of wrong, and you’re kind of keeping you off balance at all times, and it’s really the strength of the show.”
Fortunately for viewers, there’s more to discover about this family, as Apple TV just announced a second season.
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