In the second episode of Margo’s Got Money Troubles, Margo (played to perfection by Elle Fanning) is holding an ice pack on her vagina after having given birth. In the next scene, after her eccentric mother Shyanne (Michelle Pfeiffer) drops her off at her apartment, Margo struggles to lift her new baby up the stairs in his carrier while also carrying what feels like the weight of the world. In the days that follow, she experiences sleepless nights, poop on her face, and endless crying. Through it all, the bills and costs keep rising faster than Margo can keep up.
While I’m not a mother myself, all of it feels like the perfect metaphor for life in 2026. Salaries aren’t keeping up with the rate of inflation, gas prices are at all time highs, and rent is unaffordable for so many in our country. Then there’s the state of the world at large, which is exhausting in and of itself. Some days I’m so overwhelmed, I wish I could move to Michelle Pfeiffer’s other TV series—The Madison in the Montana River Valley—and spend my days taking care of horses. (For the record, I only know how to take care of a cat.)
My plan B is unrealistic, just as Margo can’t go back nine months earlier and decide not to have unprotected sex. Life is what it is, and you have to adapt. But when Margo tells her mom that she doesn’t think she’s going to make it as a new parent, Shyanne says, “Don’t be ridiculous. You’re a mother. Mother’s make it. You got this.” Margo’s response? “Why does everybody say that? ‘You got this?’” Amen, Margo (and the writers). It’s air-filled encouragement.
Margo knows she needs to get a job and make money, but she also needs to hire a babysitter. And if she hires a babysitter, most of the money she’s making will go to paying that person. It’s no wonder that Margo tells her friend, “I’m starting to realize nobody is straight with you. They all just harp on the ‘joy’ and the ‘miracle’ and ‘wonderful’…which it is, it totally is…but…” she says, before describing the physical pain that comes with breastfeeding.
“It was something that was certainly talked about a lot, in wanting to make [Margo’s struggles] feel authentic,” Elle Fanning tells Glamour. “She doesn’t have all of the answers at all, so she’s just trying to figure it out the best she can.”
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