Nick Offerman Says Filming Jinx’s Bathtub Relapse Scene Hurt More Than Actual Wrestling

Spoilers ahead for Margo’s Got Money Troubles Season 1, Episode 7.

Nick Offerman didn’t pull any punches talking about Jinx’s devastating relapse in Episode 7 of Apple TV+’s Margo’s Got Money Troubles — and it turns out the most physically brutal moment of the entire season wasn’t in the boxing ring. It was a bathtub.

In the penultimate episode of Season 1, Thaddea Graham’s Susie stumbles upon a deeply troubled Jinx, and things quickly escalate when both Susie and Elle Fanning’s Margo discover him passed out in the bathtub after slipping back into old habits. The scene is raw, physical, and emotionally gutting — and Offerman told TheWrap exactly how much went into making it happen.

“I did a bunch of wrestling in the show, and I think I beat myself up more flopping out of that tub onto a hard floor than I did in the actual wrestling ring,” Offerman said. “It was really intense.”

To protect the cast during what became an incredibly demanding sequence, the production team built a replica bathtub constructed from half-inch thick foam rubber, with rubber tiles lining the surrounding walls to absorb the impact of all the “thrashing and contusioning” the scene required. Offerman was full of praise for the stunt team, crediting them for “taking a beating to figure out how to do it so that we don’t have to take a beating.”

The sequence’s most dangerous moment comes when Jinx collapses directly onto Margo, sending both of them crashing into the tub. Offerman — who described himself as “a big old football player” — said his biggest concern throughout was accidentally injuring Fanning. “I always want to be careful that I’m not inadvertently crushing somebody’s ribs or something,” he admitted. The crew also rigged a plexiglass panel on the side of the tub to capture an underwater shot of Fanning during the scene. Offerman estimated only a single stunt double shot made it into the final cut — the rest was him and Fanning going full throttle, take after take.

To understand what was driving Jinx to that dark place, Offerman said he leaned on real conversations with people “who suffered or are suffering the same kind of addiction disease.” His conclusion was that the relapse boiled down to escapism — an inability to confront mounting pressures head-on.

“He’s like, ‘Oh, actually, I’m broke. I’m a loser,'” Offerman recalled of Jinx’s internal spiral. “Things are bleak, and I think it’s just too easy to slip back into.”

He also noted the original script — drawn from Rufi Thorpe’s novel — made the relapse slightly more explicit, with Margo realizing during the Vegas trip that Jinx had been secretly taking more painkillers than she was giving him following his injury in the ring with Nicole Kidman’s Lace.

Beyond the physicality of it all, Offerman made clear that Margo’s Got Money Troubles is exactly the kind of project he lives for — crediting showrunner David E. Kelley as one of his all-time favorite writers and calling the series a “lush work of art.” He wrapped up with something that felt deeply personal: “It’s messy and it’s alive, like people.”

Margo’s Got Money Troubles drops new episodes every Wednesday on Apple TV+.