Summary
Margo’s Got Money Troubles turns very serious and very dark in “Lariat Takedown”, as everything begins to go badly wrong all at once.
Well, we knew it was coming. But that doesn’t make it any easier to deal with now that it’s here. It was obvious when Mark filed for full custody of Bodhi that Margo’s Got Money Troubles was going to take a turn into more serious territory, but Episode 7, “Lariat Takedown”, goes way beyond just serious. Everything goes so wrong so quickly that there’s an unmistakable feeling of dread around the entire enterprise, and the performances – especially Elle Fanning’s and Nick Offerman’s – are turned up a notch to suit. With only one more episode to go, this is shaping up to be one of the better and most affecting shows of the year.
Anyway, as expected, Margo, Shyanne, and Jinx respond to Mark’s efforts in the only logical way – they turn to Lace. But the reality of a California custody battle is no small affair. Despite his previous determined disinterest, Mark still has parental rights as Bodhi’s father, whenever and however he decides to exert them. He also comes from a wealthy family, which means he can afford to throw money around on court proceedings that Margo can’t. That limits her options. Financially, the only viable ones are letting Mark have his way, which is unacceptable, or going through mediation.
Legally speaking, Mark has a claim that’s too strong to ignore. Margo is a struggling single mother whose only source of income is sex work, and she lives with her estranged father, who just so happens to be a drug addict. We know he doesn’t really care about Bodhi’s well-being, but that’s not really the point as far as the paperwork is concerned. Margo needs to present not only herself as a capable mother, but also her circumstances as a sustainable environment in which to safely raise Bodhi. And she can’t, because they’re not.
There’s never a good time for a relapse, but this is definitely among the worst. When Margo and Susie find Jinx locked in the bathroom with a needle hanging out of his arm, it initially feels like a personal betrayal more than anything else. There’s a harrowing moment when Jinx, barely conscious, falls on top of Margo in the full bathtub, and she almost drowns, pinned beneath his bulk. She’s able to save Jinx with a syringe full of naloxone that she had acquired from a drug store and kept around just in case, which is in itself an awfully saddening little detail.
But the signs were there. Between that trip to Vegas, his back injury, and the repercussions of the restraining order after breaking Mark’s hand, the writing was on the wall, and when Margo reveals that Jinx has obviously been skimming from the drugs provided to treat his back injury, it recontextualises several previous episodes. With a fresh eye, there were multiple instances where Jinx was probably a little bit high on painkillers, with everyone else too wrapped up in their own issues to notice.
But this is only the tip of the iceberg. Jinx is immediately remorseful – Offerman continues to do career-best work in Margo’s Got Money Troubles, especially here in Episode 7 – but his relapse has made Margo’s circumstances even more tenuous. On Lace’s advice, Jinx has to move out immediately, despite having nowhere else to go, and is forced to hide out at Shyanne’s place while she’s living with Kenny. But the process isn’t fast enough, since someone – Mark, obviously – makes an anonymous tip-off to Child Protective Services, who are in the apartment when Margo and Jinx arrive to clear out his things. In a deeply degrading sequence, Margo has to be evaluated as a mother. The agents snooping around her apartment, watching her change Bodhi, and interrogating Susie about Margo’s sex work are awful to watch, and Jinx is forced to come clean about his addiction and relapse to try to distance himself from her living situation. It’s truly grim.
And the entirety of “Lariat Takedown” feels like that. It’s ostensibly funny when Shyanne socks Mark’s mother, Elizabeth, in the mouth, breaking her jaw, but then you realise what a terrible bearing that’s going to have on the mediation. It’s uncomfortable listening to Mark’s misogynistic accusations about Margo’s OnlyFans career and the potential implications for Bodhi as he gets older, but you also have to acknowledge that he might have a point, even if he’s making it under false pretences. Ultimately, it’s just hard to look at all this and see a way in which Margo can get out of it. The tragedy is that some version of this situation has probably played out more times than anyone could count.
