It’s such an impressive feat, the turnaround that Apple TV and David E. Kelley have accomplished with turning Rufi Thorpe’s novel, Margo’s Got Money Troubles, which was released back in 2024, into an 8-episode TV series that’s airing weekly, two years later. While it seems like Apple TV might’ve rushed to quickly get this out, there’s not a single part of this show so far that makes it seem like they should’ve slowed down.
Margo’s Got Money Troubles Episode 2 takes a much slower pace compared to the last episode, where we saw Margo Millet (Elle Fanning) engaging in sexual activity with her professor, Mark Gable (Michel Angarano), which led to her finding out she’s pregnant with his baby. We got to see the months leading up to her giving birth, which displayed a range of emotions from Margo and the people around her but most importantly, her mother, Shyanne Millet (Michelle Pfeiffer), and Mark, who had their own opinions surrounding the baby.
Parenting is an overall theme with Margo’s Got Money Troubles and the responsibility that comes with it. That theme is strongly highlighted with this second episode, and it runs through both Margo and Shyanne. There’s a conversation as they’re driving back from the hospital to Margo’s apartment, and she’s doing her best to send encouraging words, but the words don’t come across as sincere. Michelle Pfeiffer’s facial expressions as she says, “Yeah… it’s like riding a bike,” in response to Margo asking if it all came naturally to her. If you close your eyes, there’s some faith that she’s telling the truth, but Pfeiffer gives it all away with her expressions and hints that she worries for how her own daughter is going to handle looking after baby Bohdi by herself, as she sees herself in Margo.
Instantly, Margo is starting to feel like none of it is going to come naturally to her at all. We get a montage of Bodhi continuously crying as she tries to find ways for him to stop, feeding him, etc., but nothing helps. On the phone with her friend, she showers Bodhi with praises, not remembering life before him before she begins to breakdown.
She’s beginning to get mood swings and doesn’t know if it’s postpartum or just the self-awareness that she’s “terrible at this”. This scene is a powerful moment because it really showcases how people love to look at the positives of having a baby and use words such as “miracle” to talk about how magical that experience is, but no one tells the truth and talks about the hardships of it. She tears up talking about the struggles of breastfeeding and how Bodhi “refuses to get a good latch” and how it’s making her body feel and look, and it’s just a scene that leaves you feeling sympathy for Margo as she tries to get ahold of things.
Breast milk is one of the most important things for a baby, but breastfeeding is one of the hardest things to do as a mother, and truthfully, not every mother will be able to pull through with it. Not even Shyanne was able to stick with breastfeeding Margo when she was a baby, as she got an infection from it. Being a mother can be one of the best experiences in the world, but it’s not easy. This second episode of Margo’s Got Money Troubles sends that message across perfectly.
Her roommates, with Susie (Thaddea Graham) being the exception, can’t stand the long nights of crying. They fail to sympathise with Margo and show their true colours, advising her to go outside if she can’t get Bodhi to stop crying and also referring to her child as “it”. It’s sickening to see women go against other women in a time of need. Yes, you may have a biochem exam in the morning, but if Margo was ever really your friend, if you cared for her, supported her or even had the little ounce of sympathy, you’d assist with helping Bodhi go to sleep, but instead, you fail to acknowledge the baby as a living, breathing human. It’s disgusting and selfish but puts into perspective how the people around you will lie and pretend like everything is okay until it’s too late.
To make matters worse, Margo is already discovering firsthand how difficult being a mother is and trying to balance that with life. She’s unable to find a babysitter, and when she leaves Bohdi with Shyanne, it all goes wrong. Shyanne has never felt like she was capable of being a mother, let alone a grandmother, calling the baby a “fucker” and, overall, calling herself an awful grandmother. Margo doesn’t let any of this go to heart and is able to make her mother feel like she’s enough. Once again, an amazing scene because it shows that no matter what age you are, the feeling of being a mother never goes away and those struggles are always going to be there, but unlike before, it highlights that with some support, the day can begin looking a little brighter.
This unfortunately leads to Margo being let go from her job, which means paying bills is now going to be more of a struggle. If that wasn’t bad enough, her two useless roommates have decided to move out, giving her one week’s notice and increasing her rate by $1000. In a situation like this, she doesn’t know what to do except one thing, and that’s confront the father of her child.
Mark is everything that we hate about men. From suggesting an abortion to pretending he’s a feminist to questioning if the child is even his and hiding from her that he has children of his own already. Now when faced with his son, he can’t help but be lost in his son’s beauty, but it’s never going to be real love with how he handles this situation that he caused. Margo doesn’t beg for $3000 but instead demands it because she’s been put into this unfair scenario because of his actions. He can never have real love for Bohdi because he refuses to hold accountability, and even in this scene, he doesn’t acknowledge with words that it’s his son.
Margo leaves without saying a word, leaving to join her mother on her date with her extremely religious boyfriend, Kenny (Greg Kinnear), the president and youth ministry director of his local church. Shyanne is putting on this facade in front of Kenny, saying she doesn’t drink (she does), scared that he’d have something to say about Margo having a baby out of wedlock, but he doesn’t, or at least he thinks he doesn’t. He begins to talk about how the real problem is women who sleep with their professors or similar situations and accuses them of victim blaming and failing to accept the consequences, which feels like a recurring theme of Margo’s Got Money Troubles.
During the dinner, Margo gets a phone call from Elizabeth Gable (Marcia Gay Harden), Mark’s mother, who’s calling to schedule a meeting with her about the demands she made. She makes it clear that she doesn’t find extortion funny and urges Margo to meet with her. If anything, this says more about the type of man Mark is. Unable to confront the issues he’s created on his own, a married man with kids who slept with his student and got them pregnant is running to their mother as soon as they have to hold some accountability for their actions, circling back to that theme of consequences as now Margo finds herself dealing with the consequences of demanding money from Mark. It all comes around in a full circle.
The dinner ends with Kenny proposing to Shyanne, ending it on a somewhat beautiful note as it doesn’t seem like a relationship Shyanne will be able to deal with long-term with the secrets she’s already hiding from him, such as her drinking habits. How long can she go before it all comes out?
Returning back home, she has a conversation with Susie, her one true friend who admits that she’s into cosplay and was keeping it hidden because of their previous roommates, highlighting their overall nasty personalities. She tells Margo that she can help her when it comes to outfits before leaving.
A major storyline in this episode is that we finally get to see Jinx, Margo’s father who has been recovering from something, using boxing as a way to help him with healing. We find out that he didn’t have access to his phone, which is why Margo wasn’t getting any responses from him. At a diner, we discover he’s the famous wrestler that Susie is a fan of and answer the question of why Margo was knowledgeable on him. He comes across a fan and trades his championship belt for the fan’s motorbike, which he uses to make his way to Margo.
Just as Susie left Margo after talking about fitting her in some outfits, there was a knock on the door. Margo goes to answer it, revealing her father at the door, whom she genuinely thought was dead for a moment. This brings a great close to Margo’s Got Money Troubles because not only are we getting the reunion between them, which is going to open up interesting conversations regarding where he’s been, but Margo might also get another supportive figure to help her with Bohdi. The anticipated reaction of Susie finding out that her favourite wrestler and Margo are related is going to be a hilarious scene.
