Margo's Got Money Troubles

Margo feels a little hurt because she doesn’t from hear Becca, who must be back home for the holidays. Becca eventually turns up at Margo’s place in early January, before Margo is due to leave for Shyanne’s wedding. Margo is initially glad to see Becca. However, when she declines going to a party with Becca, Becca turns mean. She accuses Margo of thinking she is above her old friends after becoming a mother; she also says Margo believes she is special because her professor slept with her. Jinx overhears this and instructs Becca to leave. Before she goes, Becca reveals that everyone is talking about Margo ever since an old classmate saw her on OnlyFans.

Not long after, an anonymous account posts screenshots from Margo’s OnlyFans account on her personal Facebook page. People comment on the pictures before Margo can take them down; the commenters include Shyanne, who claims she is ashamed of Margo. The same thing happens to Margo’s personal Instagram account. Additionally, someone posts a link to Margo’s personal Instagram account on the HungryGhost account’s OnlyFans page.

Margo takes Jinx’s advice and deletes all her personal social media accounts. However, Shyanne messages her at midnight, telling her not to come to Vegas for the wedding. Kenny saw the pictures, and in addition to Shyanne being completely mortified, Kenny is angry with Shyanne as well. The next morning, Margo tells Rose that she has been doxed, but that she wants to keep going.

Jinx and Margo meet with a lawyer, Michael T. Ward, to discuss Mark’s petition for sole custody of Bodhi. The lawyer tells them that California courts are more likely to grant split custody. He doesn’t think the OnlyFans work will be a problem and suggests that they either respond with a request for joint custody or ask for mediation. Margo decides to ask for mediation and hires Ward.

Margo apologizes to Shyanne through a text message, but Shyanne doesn’t respond. Margo sees pictures of Shyanne’s wedding on Facebook instead, through her HungryGhost account. JB discovers Margo’s true identity as well and messages her, confessing he is hurt because he fell in love with a girl who was pretending all along. Margo immediately gives him her number, and he calls. As they talk, she tries to explain how some of the things that she told him were true and that she couldn’t be entirely honest as she was prioritizing her safety. However, JB is still extremely hurt and hangs up.

Suzie, who has been helping out with both Bodhi and the TikToks, gets fired from her job. She tentatively asks if she can get compensated for her help, and Margo immediately agrees, embarrassed that she hasn’t been doing so already.

Margo and Suzie arrive at KC and Rose’s place to shoot the next set of videos. However, they find that KC is intoxicated and unable to shoot. Margo is upset, as this throws off her schedule, and Rose rushes to suggest that they should come up with better material anyway, as Margo’s recent suggestions were below par. Margo begins crying, feeling like a failure. On their way back home, Suzie reassures Margo that Rose was trying to shift the blame for their unpreparedness onto Margo. Margo feels better, but she also thinks about how she needs to come up with more innovative ideas.

Margo goes to mediation with Mark. The session is led by a woman named Nadia. Mark states that he wants full custody of Bodhi because he is worried about Margo’s fitness as a mother; he cites Jinx’s behavior, coupled with Margo’s financial distress that has led her into pornography. Margo points out that although she is only creating explicit content—she is not actually having sex with anyone. She accuses Mark of trying to punish her for his own prejudices about her work.

During mediation, Mark reveals that he is getting a divorce and has not entirely thought through organizing care for Bodhi while he is at work. Margo, in turn, demonstrates the stability of her living situation. Jinx’s help, coupled with the fact that she is home for most of the day and brings in a good income, allows her to remain Bodhi’s primary caregiver through the day. She also explains to Nadia that Jinx is not violent or unstable; he is just theatrical, because of his history in professional wrestling. She further points out that Jinx was angry about the imbalanced power dynamic between Mark and Margo, as teacher and student.

Mark is unable to concede Margo’s fitness as a mother, claiming she is too young in addition to his concerns about sex work. Margo retaliates, claiming he didn’t think she was too young for him to sleep with her. Their arguments lead Nadia to separate them into different rooms to continue the mediation. Margo states she is unwilling to concede legal and physical custody, but she will allow visitation and waive child support. Mark refuses these terms, and Nadia suggests they cool off and try again later.

At home, Margo contemplates the taboos around sex. She thinks about how the Biblical Mary took control of her narrative though she might have been raped and was forced to lie about it. Margo comes up with a plan: She shoots a new video where she interacts with a robot vacuum cleaner whom she addresses as “Rigoberto,” which speaks back to her in a robotic voice. Rigoberto controls Ghost, making her various things; the video builds up to Ghost masturbating on camera, showing her vagina for the first time.

An hour after Margo posts the video, charging $25 for it, 500 people have bought it. Margo is stunned and delighted. She writes to JB once again, telling him she was trying to protect her boundaries as that was the only way she knew how to be a “‘good’ sex worker” (206), especially with a baby. She also points out that she asked him to stop paying her as their interactions weren’t just client services; she says that writing to him was the best part of her days.

Ward, the lawyer, phones Margo to tell her that Mark has requested she undergo a complete psychological evaluation. If she clears it, then he is willing to give her physical and legal custody of Bodhi and take weekly visitations; Margo agrees. She instantly likes her evaluator, Dr. Clare Sharp. Margo has no idea how she did on the written test, where she had to answer true or false to a series of statements. She also has an interview with Dr. Sharp the following week, after which there will be a home visit.

After the Ghost and Rigoberto video, Margo has a number of ideas, and she spends a whole day filming videos with Rose and KC. Afterward, she and Rose talk about their lives. Margo says that although she chose to keep Bodhi, she strongly supports women’s choices to keep or terminate a pregnancy. She has realized how little she actually knew about childbirth and raising a baby, including the physical and biological changes she would undergo. She has also seen that young mothers have no institutional support. Rose says that she was in college to study physics and started an OnlyFans account as a way to make some money. However, when word got out about this, she was asked to leave the institution because she had violated the university’s values.

JB writes back to Margo, asking if they can speak. On the phone, he suggests that he visit for a weekend to see how things go between them; Margo excitedly agrees.

During her interview with Dr. Sharp, Margo talks about her relationships with Mark and Jinx. She admits that now, in retrospect, she can see how the power dynamic between her and Mark was skewed. Although she thinks Jinx shouldn’t have threatened him, she admits it felt good to have someone in her corner.

One morning, Suzie complains to Margo that Jinx has been in the bathroom for too long. Margo goes in to find Jinx unconscious, with a needle sticking out of his arm. Alarmed, she manages to shake him awake and get him dressed; she helps him into his room, away from Suzie. Jinx admits that he keeps his stash hidden inside the hollow towel rod in the bathroom; Margo finds it and flushes it all away, and she hides the needles in her closet.

After Suzie leaves for class, Margo gets the full story from Jinx, who is still extremely intoxicated. He tells her that after his back injury, he found the pain medication that Margo had hidden in her closet almost immediately, and he went through it in no time. Following this, he began buying more stock from a dealer he knew; Jinx admits he was high when he called and yelled at Mark. He says that he has been fighting this battle his entire life, so he is not surprised or disappointed that he relapsed again.

Margo is tempted to kick him out of the house immediately, but she is alarmed when Jinx admits he will probably keep using for a while. She thinks about all the things he has done for her, including caring for Bodhi and accepting Margo completely. She decides she will help Jinx fight this battle.

Margo gets Jinx into methadone treatment the very next day, laying it down as a condition to him staying with her. Jinx agrees, and to their surprise, he feels better almost immediately; this makes him feel hopeful about recovery for the first time.