‘Margo’s Got Money Troubles’: Elle Fanning Is a Triumph in David E. Kelley’s Infectious Apple TV Series

Alci Rengifo

Elle Fanning has long ago proven she is capable of some piercing performances. Her trajectory includes strong roles in Television, film and international cinema. Yet, she reaches new and higher places with “Margo’s Got Money Troubles.” This new Apple TV+ series pairs her with David E. Kelley, the well-known TV veteran maverick. He can make smash hits, cult favorites and a few misses, but he never stops demanding our attention. Together they have made a show that is fun, moving, charming, heartbreaking and with just enough artsiness. Kelley is adapting Rufi Thorpe’s 2024 novel into a lively meditation on that age-old story of a young woman facing motherhood alone. They say millennials and Gen Z overall are having less kids, but someone is still having them and the writing captures some universal truths that will always be around.

Margo (Fanning) opens the story as a talented writing student attending Fullerton College. Her literature professor, Mark (Michael Angarano), takes notice and encourages her gifts. He also invites her to hang out off campus which, of course, leads to them sleeping together. The younger student is swooned by his poems and charming banter in bed, ignoring the warnings of her friends and roommates. Soon enough, she is pregnant. In another unsurprising development, Mark is both a coward and married. Left with only the support of her mother, Shyanne (Michelle Pfeiffer), Margo decides to keep the baby and name him Bodhi. Nothing will go smoothly from here. After giving birth, Margo’s presence with a screeching infant irritates her roommates. She also needs help from Shyanne with her baby while goes to work at a quirky family restaurant. When Margo is fired for typically absurd reasons, she begins job hunting with little luck. Inspiration strikes when the single mom looks at the option of OnlyFans.

“Margo’s Got Money Troubles” is that rare new series that is a truly addictive watch. It may be on Apple TV+ but never does it become one of the streamer’s more typical slow burner narratives. It’s the kind of story done well in films like “Tully,” tackling the realities of motherhood with a frank eye combined with human comedy. Kelley has also studied the current generation well and frames Margo as a new kind of outlier. The norm for most American women is to go to college and rise in the social ladder. Tensions rise in Margo’s apartment because none of her roommates can relate, with one berating her at 2 a.m. for having a crying baby when she needs sleep before a biochemistry exam. The friend that does stick by Margo is Susie (Thaddea Graham), a wrestling fanatic who once both women are the only tenants left, confesses she’s a cosplayer. She becomes even more endeared to Margo when the latter’s father turns out to be Jinx (Nick Offerman), a former pro-wrestler. 

Fanning wonderfully captures the physical toll of losing sleep and stressing over money now that she is responsible for a young life. Margo suddenly has to grow up even quicker. Part of the show’s magic is that Kelley intelligently makes it all about much more than just the baby. The pregnancy at the center then affects everyone around Margo in various ways. Shyanne, played with such flawed brilliance by Michelle Pfeiffer, becomes insecure over her own guilty conscience of having been a bad mother. At first, she almost breaks down when taking care of Bodhi because when Bodhi only seems to get quiet with his mother, she feels it must be some punishment on her. In another funny, yet believable subplot, Shyanne becomes engaged to Kenny (Greg Kinnear), a youth pastor who claims to be open-minded but has a funny way of still seeming to judge Margo for her situation. The young mom gets shamed by her college friends for having slept with her professor, and then a religious pro-life type will shame her from another angle. As tends to happen, a sudden life change can bring out the best and worst in others. Jinx and Margo (Nicole Kidman), a former wrestler turned lawyer, have a more truly open, rational approach, possibly because they already come from such an outlier world. Jinx can still be just as broken as Shyanne, though they both genuinely care for Margo.

The other refreshing layer to “Margo’s Got Money Troubles” is how it becomes a fun tribute to creatives who find ways to survive through their calling. Margo may not have finished school, but she’s a born writer and so gives her OnlyFans content a unique twist. She creates a green alien alter ego, “HungryGhost,” at first hilariously only willing to do videos with just enough teasing. She eventually grows into telling fans their penises resemble certain Pokémon characters. There’s an almost indie film spirit to the moments where she gets together with Susie and two OnlyFans creators named KC (Rico Nasty) and Rose (Lindsey Normington) to make more elaborate content. They begin producing the equivalent of short films, including clips where HungryGhost grows to be 40 feet tall. Their B-movie antics and Margo’s brand for dialogue (“Feed me memes and tinfoil and old-timey film strips. Give me your boredom, your sadness, your anxiety. I will eat it all”) soon starts making them some real money. 

In the end, the essential and timeless message of the story is that no matter what era, women are constantly having to answer for the right to have the last say in what happens with their body. Margo is fighting to provide for Bodhi and be respected. The pressure doesn’t always come from the other gender. Marcia Gay Harden is ominously memorable as Mark’s rich mother, who offers Margo a trust fund for Bodhi if she signs an agreement to leave the professor alone and never even attend Fullerton College ever again. It all just makes us root for Margo even more. At his best, David E. Kelley makes television with that classic pacing where every episode ends on just the right micro-cliffhanger. The approach works so well in this series because the characters are so good and so well-performed by an A-list cast. For Fanning, in particular, this is another career high mark, full of the fear, tension and well-earned joy of someone taking bold chances because they are suddenly tethered to a new life.

“Margo’s Got Money Troubles” begins streaming April 15 with new episodes premiering Wednesdays on Apple TV+.