Elle Fanning’s Sexy New TV Show Is My Only Must-Watch for the Year

Both the book and series also raise the issue of how society deems women to be “fit” mothers. Margo, because of her OnlyFans work, is ostracized. Her work is taboo, but, importantly, it is not illegal. It is the means by which she is able to provide for her son. Here, Thorpe sheds light on the double standard many women face—they must work to support their families, but if the work is not “respectable,” then it doesn’t count as work. Though the series only mentions it in one line, Margo raises a valid point. Her OnlyFans pays for rent, groceries, diapers and healthcare—all things that are, for many, so tenuous. If she is able to achieve these things with work that allows her the flexibility to also be a present parent for her child, why should she not take it?

Finally, there is the controversy of Margo’s profession and what it says about her as a person and a woman—parenting question aside. Jinx, Shyanne, and other people in Margo’s life are used as foils to make all the expected arguments against sex work. Shyanne is terrified that Margo is going to make people think she’s trashy and unworthy of respect. Jinx (before coming around) equates it with pornography. Even Margo’s former professor, who engages her in a custody battle, uses her OnlyFans work as an argument that she is immoral. But to the reader and viewer, Margo isn’t one of “those” girls, as Jinx puts it. She is a deeply sympathetic character. A young woman, still in some ways herself a child, trying to provide for her family, do right by them, earn a living, and honor her creativity. HungryGhost, her OnlyFans persona, is a brand. Can the online brand one presents be separated from the person in real life?

The series, while quite faithful to the novel, streamlines the original story, cutting some characters while moving others to the forefront. Particularly, Margo’s potential love interest in the novel didn’t make the cut, and I felt there was something lost in the dimension of Margo’s character for the lack of the love interest in the series. Not because she needs one to be complete, but because the conversations between them illuminated a part of her work that made it more worthy of empathy. Overall, though, the series worked (I found myself laughing and tearing up in intervals), and the novel I rated four stars (my baseline for “good” is a three). If one show is going to surprise you—in a good way—my money’s on Margo.

Margo’s Got Money Troubles episodes 1-3 premiere on AppleTV+ on April 15.