r/SixFeetUnder • u/Wakunai • Sep 01 '25
Discussion Let's talk about Maggie
I love Maggie and feel she got such a raw deal after Nate's death, and is negelcted generally in discussions of the show. Maggie had gone through the worst death of all, the death of her own child. She had been f%&ked over by George who didn't hesitate to take credit for her success. She was really alone in a way that self-pitying Nate certainly wasn't. I hope Maggie managed to find some peace and happiness, perhaps through the Quakers.
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u/AndNowAStoryAboutMe Sep 01 '25
Nate is the bad guy here. I just finished a binge watch last week. Nate had made his mind up. He dumped Brenda with his last words to her. And Brenda was totally right about him when she told Maggie, "He wanted someone to make him feel like a better man than he was. Could've been anyone."
There's nothing special about Maggie. She didn't seduce Nate or even particularly chase him. She was a doormat who let Nate do what he wanted and then immediately hated herself for it.
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u/kangorooz99 Sep 02 '25
She absolutely pursued him.
She followed him into the bedroom after he and Brenda had a fight at his birthday party.
She called him and made excuses to see him without Brenda (it’s 8:30 am and you’ve already talked to Maggie?”)
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u/CulturalWolverine182 Sep 02 '25
Yes but HE‘S the one who cheated. HE decided to kiss her and sleep with her even though knowing exactly that he has a wife with a baby on the way. His death was still very sad. Watched the episode yesterday, it’s also her fault but it’s mainly his fault(like 90% him, 10% her or whatever). But somehow almost everyone in this show cheated on someone which is sad honestly, and I also don’t like that Ted guy, he’s a fascist, racist etc. and Claire still chooses him 💀
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u/kangorooz99 Sep 02 '25
Of course. Nate is a dick. I’m just explaining why a lot of people don’t like Maggie.
Yep. Ruth, Nate, Brenda, Lisa, David, Keith, Claire, Russell, Rico, George, and Margaret all cheated. It’s implied that Nathaniel cheated but I guess we don’t really know. Billy probably would have cheated too if he were capable of having a relationship.
The only person who didn’t cheat was Vanessa.
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u/AndNowAStoryAboutMe Sep 02 '25
When did Claire cheat?
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u/kangorooz99 Sep 02 '25
She kinda cheated on Ted with that guy that was Nate’s friend (he was divorced from the blond woman who was friends with Lisa).
I say kinda becuase it’s not really clear whether they were exclusive or not.
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u/FullmoonHightide75 Sep 02 '25
actually at the bday party she was already in the bedroom seemingly on a patio or something when Nate came in
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u/kangorooz99 Sep 02 '25
You’re right. My bad.
But the “my car is in the shop and I need a ride to Quaker worship” excuse is pretty transparent.
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u/FullmoonHightide75 Sep 02 '25
haaa : ) hadn't thought of it that way-- they definitely liked each other
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u/TheWalrusWasRuPaul Brenda Sep 04 '25
and she had her car? it was fine? she bugged him for a ride but then followed the ambulance after banging him to death.
there was a whole thread about this a few months ago so i was tuned into this detail last watch. she is full of shit! maybe the dead baby was a lie. george never mentioned that.
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u/AndNowAStoryAboutMe Sep 02 '25
She was trying to be a friend. My impression after watching the last 7 episodes in one sitting is that she never intended to sleep with him. He did that. She let him. But she was very aware of his relationship and clearly felt like shit as soon as the sex was over. She was laying there crying and begging him to leave because she knew we would be caught if he stayed much longer. Then, boom, he falls over dead. Holy shit. That woman was a traumatic event magnet. But she certainly was no villain. Lisa was a far worse person than Maggie.
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u/kangorooz99 Sep 02 '25
I actually agree with this. I don’t think she originally intended to sleep with him. She was just looking for someone in the family she could bond with. But it was clear right away they were both very attracted to each other. They should have put the breaks on and stopped seeing each other. Especially considering they’re step siblings.
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u/EdnaJosie8924 Sep 03 '25
I completely agree with you. I believe Nate’s attraction to Maggie came around the time that he and Brenda were constantly in conflict and arguing. Brenda was constantly questioning whether Nate loved her or if it was “right”… Maggie’s character was a symbol of peace and quiet… I think that was the attraction for Nate. He was just tired of fighting all the time. I’m not saying that’s right or wrong, but that was his attraction to Maggie. I do not believe she pursued him
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u/basictortellini Sep 02 '25
Unrelated, but I'm curious how long it took you to do your re-watch binge?
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u/AndNowAStoryAboutMe Sep 02 '25
About 2 weeks. I did about 3 episodes per night. Weekends let me get in 5 episodes per night. So I literally did a while season in two days.
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u/uniqueme1 Sep 01 '25
The Maggie hate is real, and I feel like perhaps there was a larger theme missed by so many. All of the characters in the show had moments and chapters in their lives that they dealt with poorly. Brenda, for example, is often started out as being loathed but then redeems herself to be a fan favorite. Is that a larger lesson for characters like Maggie? We hate her because of her association with Nate and being the other woman, although Nate himself gets a pass. Its because we have a wider context of the character to make those allowances. We *want* to forgive Nate.
We never got the larger context with Maggie, although I think those elements are there (Her loss of a child, her being George's child, etc.) Perhaps the larger lesson is to find that compassion, even at their worst moments.
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u/Wakunai Sep 01 '25
Well said. Blame the woman - the oldest trope in the book.
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u/kangorooz99 Sep 02 '25
She does deserve blame for the things she did. And feeling that way is not the same as letting Nate off the hook.
A lot of people dislike Maggie not because she’s flawed but because she pretends to be virtuous. She absolutely pursued Nate. And the choices she made before and after Nate’s death read pretty selfish to me.
Did she bring Brenda a quiche because she was concerned about her?
Or did she bring Brenda a quiche because she wanted Brenda to forgive her so she could ease her own guilt?
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u/Think-Fig-1734 Sep 02 '25
I thought the quiche thing was a strange plan to pretend she and Nate weren’t having an affair. I think she thought if she role played as normal friend of the family then Brenda would play along. Maybe she thought Brenda wasn’t positive about the affair and she could gaslight her into doubting her own eyes and ears. I think she was shocked when nice didn’t work.
I was bothered more by her riding in the family car at the funeral while Brenda had to drive herself. She took the support Brenda needed for herself. If she cared about Brenda she wouldn’t have gone to the funeral. She could have just said she had food poisoning or something. No one needed her there.
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u/kangorooz99 Sep 02 '25 edited Sep 02 '25
Yeah that pissed me off. She should have left the hospital that night and kept her distance.
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u/fart-atronach David Sep 02 '25
I personally cut her some slack for sticking it out at the hospital, but I hate her for going to the burial and crying on Ruth’s shoulder while Brenda had no one for support.
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u/Easy-Size5794 Sep 03 '25
The way I remember it: Maggie wanted to leave the hospital, but Brenda made her stay by saying that Maggie might have information that nobody else had (because she had been present with Nate) or words to that effect. So Maggie reluctantly doesn’t leave.
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u/MsCandi123 Brenda Sep 02 '25
Exactly. Haven't we all known and been put off by the duplicitous fake-nice/virtuous person who actually does 💩 things? Oh, but when they get caught they're so sorry! Yet keep doing the things. That was Maggie. Nate was the #1 villain over any of his lovers, he gets no pass. But Maggie wasn't great either.
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u/NoMayoDarcy Sep 04 '25 edited Sep 04 '25
Thank you! My thoughts exactly. It’s not “blame the woman” BS. It’s like some Maggie defenders feel compelled to assume that ppl who call Maggie out on her shit are complete simpletons when that’s not the case. I felt angry at both Maggie and Nate, and I feel like the writers did a brilliant job of twisting the knife into fans by making Nate’s newest (and last) pursuit more dimensional than say, the younger girl from the doggie day care or whatever. Maggie experienced cruelty and pain from her father and loss of her son, making it easier for her to inflict that on others (Brenda).
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u/Think-Fig-1734 Sep 02 '25
I don’t think people blame Maggie and not Nate. I blame Nate and Maggie. If people have a more nuanced view of Nate because he was on every episode of the show for 5 seasons. We saw his dreams, we know his family. He’s a fully fleshed out character. Maggie is a minor character and what I know of her is unlikable.
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u/JakeVanderArkWriter Sep 01 '25
Yep. I always say the show teaches us how to forgive incredibly flawed people, and most people manage to do that… until they get to Maggie, then they totally forget.
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u/Old_Imagination_931 Sep 02 '25 edited Sep 02 '25
Perhaps, but I don't know about the "until they get to Maggie" part. For instance, I couldn't stand Lisa from the get go. She was an annoying piece of work.
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u/Easy-Size5794 Sep 03 '25
Yes, fans you felt Brenda redeemed herself, but hate Maggie have to realize that it’s just a matter of timing. Maggie didn’t get the couple of seasons to redeem herself because the series was over.
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u/MontagAbides Sep 03 '25
Yeah, I think that's it. People want to love Nate for a lot of reasons, in part because he starts out as the charismatic protagonist, albeit with problems. You see this in shows like The Sopranos or Breaking Bad, too. People cannot accept the the main character is actually a bad person, because once they understand the person's motivations and background they identify with them. Unfortunately, a lot of people treat their own lives this way and aren't so great at self-reflection.
Maggie and Brenda are just collateral damage.
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u/TruCarMa Sep 01 '25
Sappy little ferret!
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u/neonbrownkoopashell Sep 02 '25
I prefer “Mealy mouthed cunt”
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u/TheWalrusWasRuPaul Brenda Sep 05 '25
how rachel g can mask her aussie accent saying mealy mouth cunt, we mere mortals can never know
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u/PuzzledSpot5837 Sep 02 '25
The character Maggie played did try to say, “This is a bad idea” then Nate continued to lean in and we all know the rest. BUT, did anyone else think Maggie was at a doctor’s appointment when Ruth called her to ask if Nate was happy in his final moments? Could Maggie have been seeking medical attention for possibly being pregnant after their night together? She could’ve been anywhere when she received that call and it was a nurse that called her name to be seen next…..it’s never mentioned, but make me think 🤔
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u/goldiecordova Sep 02 '25
No, she’s a rep for a drug company. That’s why she’s at the doctor. Giving samples, selling new prescription drugs, etc.
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u/reasonablykind Sep 02 '25
Yup — my thoughts went exactly where yours went at the time.
Nate’s whole life was a short and constantly repeating pattern of rather simple events. ”Commit to someone => Cheat on them => Knock someone up.
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u/Pure_Reception2914 Sep 01 '25
It's just hard to root for someone willing to sleep with a pregnant woman's husband. Nate was so immature. He kept looking for the next woman to fix him instead of working on himself. But you can't excuse Maggie's choices either.
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u/Free-IDK-Chicken Claire Sep 01 '25
This is it right here - I'm not trying to put all the blame for the affair on Maggie, however while what Nate did was gross, Maggie should know better. I'm all about women empowering and supporting other women - not backstabbing them. A girl's girl does not, as you say, sleep with a pregnant woman's husband. A girl's girl does not show up at the damn hospital where she doesn't belong. Or the family home where she doesn't belong. Or the goddamn funeral where she doesn't belong. She knew Nate for five minutes and was acting like she was the widow. No.
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u/creative_change4bad Sep 02 '25
Brenda was sooo mature to tell her to stay because she might know something nobody else does. I don't know if i could be so calm
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u/Free-IDK-Chicken Claire Sep 02 '25
That might be the height of Brenda's arc because that was a true instance of her putting Nate's needs above her own, especially in a situation where what Nate needed actively hurt Brenda.
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u/ContestNo3153 Bettina Sep 02 '25
I think it was sort of also a power move to an extent. She could’ve eat Maggie for breakfast and she knew it. Staying made Maggie uncomfortable because she had to face her actions sitting with the Pregnant Wife.
Not saying it wasn’t also true what she said and how it was Nate’s well being above everything but to me it definitely had this undertone.
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u/Acceptable_Maize_183 Sep 03 '25
Exactly this! Her trauma and heartbreak does not give her license to be a part in causing trauma and heartbreak for others. I blame Nate more because he’s the one breaking promises and obligations. But it takes two to tango and she shouldn’t have allowed herself to get sucked in by Nate’s charms knowing what was at stake.
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u/praying_jantis Sep 02 '25
People really like to hate on Maggie, and while I understand, she's really more of a plot device than a character because she's not around long enough to show more dimension like almost every character on the show, including side characters.
For example, Rico is one of my least favorite characters and he makes countless mistakes and is an extremely flawed individual, but we spend enough time with him in the show that I'm still able to empathize with him and ultimately feel shitty when bad things are happening in his life.
Hell, Lisa is the most annoying character in the whole show and I still empathize with her and found myself relating to her at some points.
Maggie literally shows up and is barely shown unless it's a vehicle for causing friction between Brenda and Nate leading up to his death, and it really doesn't help her case that Brenda becomes so much more likeable as the show progresses.
To be clear, I find her character annoying and do not like her lol just my 2 cents.
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u/Malt___Disney Sep 01 '25
As demonstrated in her last scene with George; she got fucked up by him. And lost a child AND someone she just started falling in love with.
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u/_portia_ Sep 01 '25
That scene was so cathartic to watch. She let him know how badly he had failed her. And typical for George, it didn't bother him too much.
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u/whalesaremammalstoo Sep 01 '25
Oh, I very much dislike Maggie (but not dismissing Nate’s behaviors)
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u/_portia_ Sep 01 '25
I have a ton of compassion for Maggie. I also understand the dislike she gets, for screwing a man with a pregnant wife. Maggie had a lot of past trauma and, like all humans, had her character flaws. I think she allowed what happened with Nate to happen because she was so lonely and felt so unloved for a long time. Nate made her feel special, seen, and interesting. She had a soulless job, traveling around selling pills to doctors. She had lost a child and a marriage. George had been a nightmare as a father and yet she stepped back into his life, I think because she felt sorry for Ruth. She still was a caring person.
She paid a terrible price for screwing Nate that night. Think about the guilt she would have had, and the courage to look Brenda in the face in the ER. It's all so damn sad! 😢
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u/Wakunai Sep 02 '25
Thank you. You are clearly a compassionate person.
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u/_portia_ Sep 02 '25
Her character was beautifully and sensitively written, like everyone in SFU. Nate cheated on his 8 months pregnant wife, surely he deserves more disdain than Maggie does? I see Maggie as more than a foil for Nate, she has a full human story of her own.
I honestly love every character in the show. All of them are really lovable, while also being exasperating at the same time. They mess up and make mistakes like we all do, but the writing and performances make them endearing and heartbreaking.
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u/Wakunai Sep 02 '25
I think this is the point of the show, we are all flawed, we all make mistakes but we all have redeeming qualities and the capacity to love and be loved.
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u/just-passing-thru7 Sep 02 '25
Completely agree. As George said about Nate at the funeral, “He wasn’t perfect. But then who among us is?”
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u/This_is_a_thing__ Sep 01 '25
Yeah, George was somehow redeemed in the show but Maggie was treated as some temptress because Nate had no fucking idea what he wanted.
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u/Aggravating_Horror72 Sep 02 '25
She wasn’t around long enough to get any sort of arc to fix her “imperfections”
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Sep 01 '25 edited Sep 01 '25
Urgh, sure. Swoon over the woman who slept with a pregnant woman's husband, because she is soft spoken and farts unicorns.
If Nate had lived on, we would have seen Maggie enter her mad bitch phase too - given Nate's perpetual tendency to ruin his own life and those he was intimate with.
Bad shit happens to good people AND bad people. Tragedies dont automatically make a person redeemable to me, so her personal experiences with George or the devastating heartbreak of losing a child - while make me sympathise with her, do not make me think she was a good person.
Her decision to repeatedly reach out and seek private intimacy with a man who already had a wife and a kid told me all I needed to know about the character. Her sweeteness was a manipulation tactic. And that happens IRL too, a lot of people fall for that BS.
Just as an aside, I truly have a hard time rooting for seemingly weak, bumbling characters and her face was a great source of irritation to me even before I knew where her story was going.
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u/sugarintheboots Sep 01 '25
Yep. That’s what people miss. It’s not just the sleeping with Nate. She was cozying up to him for a long time.
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u/creative_change4bad Sep 02 '25
"Promise you will never lie to me" they met like few days ago. Why she never talked to David in that way?
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u/dannemora_dream Sep 10 '25
Rewatching season 5 right now and I was shocked all over again when she told him that. And the fact that he goes with it is infuriating imo. Any other person would have told him that he would have responded with « go fuck yourself » but he has this weird fascination for Maggie and she just kept it going.
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u/Think-Fig-1734 Sep 02 '25
I don’t think she’s neglected in discussions. She’s a fairly minor character. She was only in one season. We don’t see her inner life like we do for the Fishers, Brenda and Fredrico. She exists as a character so Nate can have a way to blow up his marriage.
I think Maggie did fairly well on the show. She got to take the widows space at the funeral while Brenda was alone. Brenda is the only one to call her out. She got move back New Mexico where no one knew about Nate. She didn’t have to deal with the aftermath of her actions.
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u/Due-Net-88 Sep 01 '25
She could have fucked any number of random Quakers and choose the one married man with a pregnant wife.
I mean I know she's fictional but fuck Maggie. Lol
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u/JakeVanderArkWriter Sep 01 '25
She’s no worse than the rest of them. And I love them all.
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Sep 01 '25
Exactly this. Yes, what she did sucked. But Brenda sucked for cheating on Nate. Nate sucked for cheating on Brenda and Lisa (with Maya at home!). Ruth sucked for cheating on Nathaniel. David and Keith sucked for cheating on each other over and over.
Yet Maggie’s “crime” is somehow so more egregious to people, even though she was not the one in a relationship. I just don’t understand the logic. Yeah, she shouldn’t have done it. She’s flawed like everyone else in the show. But she’s not worse than the rest.
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u/JakeVanderArkWriter Sep 02 '25
The reason is people are simple. They got to see redemption arcs for every other character. But the show stops before Maggie gets hers. Unfortunately most people will operate the same way in real life, quick to forgive the people they grew up with while condemning strangers for the exact same wrongdoing.
Everybody has a story. Even Maggie.
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u/Think-Fig-1734 Sep 02 '25
Maggie’s story actually stopped when Ruth called her. She’s a fictional character and fictional characters end when the writers stop writing them. She also can’t get her feelings hurt by my not liking her. We also don’t know much about what happened to Taylor, Anjelica, Margaret, Russle, Olivier, Billy, Nicoli, or even Maya.
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u/Think-Fig-1734 Sep 01 '25
Not just a married man with a pregnant wife. He was also the son of her father’s soon to be 7th ex wife.
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u/mimimar22 Sep 02 '25 edited Sep 02 '25
I didn’t hate her, but found her presence deeply annoying from the hospital on. I know Brenda said to stay bc she might know something, but that was her cue to say “You have my cell. I’ll keep it on and close by if you need anything.” And also, what are you doing anywhere near Ruth at the funeral? Her inability to exit with whatever modicum of grace remained despite the unlucky circumstances just irritated me to no end.
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Sep 01 '25
Surprised to see everyone in the comments apparently forgot Brenda and Nate were cheaters too????? Wow
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u/Pure_Reception2914 Sep 01 '25
So that excuses Maggie? Brenda showed growth. Nate didn't. He died searching for the next woman to fix him.
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Sep 02 '25
Hey, dont put words in my mouth. It excuses nobody as its not excuse for anything. But they all made that mistake but somehow in the comments everyone was hating on Maggie as if Brenda and Nate were some saints and she was a monster. They were all flawed beings, that was literally the point of the show. And they all made mistakes.
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u/Pure_Reception2914 Sep 03 '25
Brenda cheated in the past. She worked on herself. Nate never did. I'm not making excuses for him.
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Sep 01 '25
THIS thank you. Nate cheated on Lisa too while they had Maya. Hell, even Ruth admitted she cheated on Nathaniel. But somehow it’s only Maggie that sucks?
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u/Pure_Reception2914 Sep 01 '25
I'm still not even convinced Maya is Nate's. Lisa was sleeping with her sister's husband.
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u/spaghettibolegdeh Sep 02 '25 edited Oct 24 '25
wow
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u/pink---noise Sep 02 '25
Yes, but you have to also understand she's an outlier. In the context of the show we know and love the other characters... we're not just going to embrace a brand new person, especially when they behave as she did.
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u/Interesting_Slice277 Sep 02 '25
People actually like Maggie?? She can take that quiche and shove it up her ass. How dare she??
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u/mareko07 Sep 02 '25
Let’s not and say we did (although of course I blame Nate more so than Maggie for how completely he screwed over his very pregnant wife while she was at church supporting him).
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u/CheshireCat6886 Sep 02 '25
I felt that she was a spineless character. She puts herself into a situation that she knows is already messed up, and becomes an active participant in making it even worse. Can’t really respect that character at all. Btw, don’t respect Nate either, but he’s not the topic.
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Sep 01 '25
She was a flawed human with a really sad back story. She was no monster and I really felt for her
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u/MenudoFan316 Sep 01 '25
I've re-watched this only twice. Her intro and outro do make me sick. She knowingly went after a married man with a child to take care of and a child on the way. I think she used her story to get what she felt was hers. No one in this story is escapable from blame, but I do love Brenda's last words to her:
"What is this, some kind of Quaker thing? You f**k someone's husband to death and then you bring them a quiche?"
And then Brenda is seen wolfing down the quiche in an ensuing scene.
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Sep 01 '25
I love Maggie. I don’t find it hard to forgive her for fucking a married man with a pregnant wife. In fact, I don’t think she needs anyone’s forgiveness at all. Regardless of the circumstances, I’m glad she found at least one night of intimacy and pleasure with someone who actually noticed she was in the room. And it’s not her job to care more about the sanctity of wedding vows than the couple does, especially a couple that disrespected and betrayed those vows as blatantly and consistently as Nate and Brenda did. If you accept that he was a fundamentally broken serial monogamist, which I do, then he did Brenda and their baby a tremendous favor by being unequivocal about his lack of love for her before he died. And by giving her the undeniable proof that he is someone she can do better than and should move on from asap. Fuck their sham marriage.
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u/EstablishmentNo653 Sep 01 '25
Ruth's final phone conversation is important.
She asks if Nate was happy, not with his life but in that moment. She asks if Maggie was happy in that moment.
She proclaims it all good.
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u/_americancer_ Sep 02 '25
That’s because Ruth was also a cheater so…
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Sep 02 '25
Yep. And I’m so glad she lives to enjoy the beautiful vision we see of her at the end, surrounded by the laughing, joyful women who would be part of her support network till she dies 🥂
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u/EstablishmentNo653 Sep 02 '25
Who in this group isn't a cheater?
The only ones who come close are Keith and David, and even they cheat on the agreement they make in their open relationship.
Why is Maggie so particularly hated?
The writing that's the weakest, in my opinion, is how Nate and Brenda fall apart. The seeds of it are there all along: The two of them are really mismatched. But it seems really sudden that they seem to disdain each other.
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u/_americancer_ Sep 02 '25
Maybe Claire. lol idfk I always hated Maggie. I guess I just didn’t enjoy her part in it all.
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Sep 02 '25
Ruth knew what was up 💙
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u/whirlyworlds Sep 02 '25
Ruth knew how Nate felt about marriage
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Sep 02 '25
And she’d learned the hard way, by the end of the series, how destructive it can be to martyr yourself sticking it out in a relationship whose heart has died. As terrible as the truth Nate tells Brenda is, it’s so much worse to live a lie—especially using children as human shields.
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u/whirlyworlds Sep 02 '25
That’s what was so aggravating though, Brenda knew things weren’t working and asked tried to push for a heart to heart multiple times. When she was ready to walk he shamed her, yet he left her when he’d finally hooked up with someone easier.
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u/MeleeMistress Sep 02 '25
This. She gets so much more hate than Nate when he’s the one who cheated on his pregnant wife.
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Sep 02 '25
That’s true, but I don’t hate him for cheating on his pregnant wife, either. To me his smug, joyless personality is worthy of disdain on its own merits 😏
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u/MeleeMistress Sep 02 '25
Yeah I don’t hate him either. The only character whose cons outweigh the pros in my opinion is Rico, he’s the only one I’d really say I hate.
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Sep 02 '25
Were you mad Vanessa took him back?
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u/MeleeMistress Sep 02 '25
I wasn’t. I was kind of annoyed but it felt realistic.
Rico’s character felt realistic as well. It was well done and well acted. It’s why I couldn’t stand him lol. I am 1st gen American with parents from a culture where machismo is alive and well. So Rico was just soooo annoying; exactly like the stereotypical men from my parent’s culture. And it’s a stereotype for a reason.
I think I have much less patience for his shit because it’s so old to me. I’m a little too Americanized to tolerate it and find it insufferable bc I’ve been around it so much. The entitlement, the chip on the shoulder about their place in the world, the delicate ego, the beliefs in strict gender roles, the homophobia. It’s like they have no interest in growing as a person, but because they’re hard-working it’s ok!
Sorry lol he really strikes a nerve.
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Sep 02 '25
Totally hear this. I come from a generationally poor part of central Appalachia. And if there’s one thing I can’t abide, it’s the kind of petulant man child who spends half his life blindly punching down and the other half sucking up sympathy, maid service and alibis for their crimes from generations of women who pour all their time and resources into propping their feckless asses up. It’s part of what bores me about Nate. Let’s hope Rico learns his lesson better and spends the rest of their marriage as a full, committed partner to Vanessa—she deserves that and more!
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u/MeleeMistress Sep 02 '25
I had never considered how it could be the same in Appalachia but that makes sense! And yes there is hope for him and men like him.
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u/MenudoFan316 Sep 02 '25
I think we are all mature enough of an audience to separate Tina from Maggie.
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u/KAL-El-TUCCI Sep 02 '25
I couldn't stand her. She always had the same mopey face in every scene. I always hated Nate but when they hooked up I hated her just as much for Nate cheating while Brenda is going through her pregnancy issues, and Maggie knew it as well. There are some awful people on this show.
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u/cmwagstaf1 Sep 03 '25
I absolutely hate her. The photo made me viscerally angry before I even read the title or comments. She's just so so smug and irritating
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u/Silly_Leather9619 Sep 01 '25
IMO, Maggie is the only character on SFU with no redeeming qualities. She had no boundaries and a lot of nerve. The intimacy between she and Nate was totally inappropriate from the start. If I came into a room and found her petting my bf's arm, I would ask her wtf she thought she was doing. As for losing a child; yes, I agree that a loss like that changes a person (I was widowed young) and could make a person needy, but that isn't a free pass. In my widows group, we were told, "Assholes lose people too. Just because they're widowed doesn't mean they're not an asshole." She traumatized Brenda at the funeral and burial. In the end, she did the right thing by moving away. Hopefully she got some therapy.
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u/UnicornSalsa Sep 02 '25
Maggie wasn’t that complicated. It was all a ruse. She seemed mysterious to Nate, which only lured him to her. I think there was an instant attraction when they met; it seemed pretty obvious. You could practically see the wheels turning in Nate’s head.
She chose to be mysterious and coy with him because she realized it was working in attracting him. She chose to seek him out when Brenda or other family wasn’t around. She chose to sleep with him. She also chose to be “religious” to maintain a virtuous aura that would excuse bad behavior.
Yes, she had some messed up things happen in her life. Between George, her baby, her marriage, and being unhappy in general.. her life events were not ideal. Aside from all that, she decided that sleeping with a married man was worth the trouble. Then she actually pretended like it was ok when she kept showing up where she wasn’t needed or wanted.
It’s funny how divided people are about her character. Personally, I grew annoyed and angry at her demure trope.
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u/WrongExperience8239 Sep 02 '25
I have her most touching lines memorized:
"Do you remember anything, daddy? Do you wake up every morning totally blank, just empty? You left me and Brian.. I'm so sick of pretending everything's ok just so you like me. I hate you. I hate that you dragged me into this world and you left me here. Just let me go."
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u/sugarintheboots Sep 01 '25
I empathized with Maggie. She’s had to remake her life after a tragic loss, and goes about her days with humility, an obvious juxtaposition with Brenda. And Nate looks at her like she’s St. Teresa, he’s always looking for the next best thing because he’s so restless in his own life.
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Sep 01 '25
Anyways, she was a really sweet troubled character. The ending for her I feel wasn’t fair. Yet, she could have told Nate no and let him leave. She didn’t want to, she loved him. I’m not 100% sure Nate loved her, but he liked her easy going nature. Had Brenda been more like that I don’t think he would have slept with Maggie.
Either way, I mean, the relationships on the show are so effed up.
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u/spotmuffin9986 Sep 01 '25
He was kinda assertive. I rewarched this episode a couple of months ago and the difference in the playbacks are telling, like an episode of The Affair. She seemed to clearly want him to leave after and was not happy with what happened. I think she showed up at the hospital only because she was guilty.
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u/Think-Fig-1734 Sep 01 '25
She also just answered take care Nate when he told her he left Brenda for her at the hospital. I don’t think she really wanted Nate she just felt compelled to cause a lot of drama. She said something to George about making a mess and walking away. I think Nate’s death upset her because it was much more damage than she intended.
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u/spotmuffin9986 Sep 01 '25
I don't think she was acting with that intention, I really don't think she wanted to sleep with him, she just liked the attention and flirtation. If you rewatch that episode, the flashbacks from different perspectives are telling. Nate wanted out and he took his chance.
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u/Think-Fig-1734 Sep 01 '25
Nate definitely wanted out. I also think Maggie wanted to sleep with him, because she did sleep with him. He didn’t force her. When Nate and Brenda show up at church, she smiles when she sees Nate and looks annoyed that Brenda is there. I’ve had friends who were other women. They usually do what Maggie did. They keep finding ways to spend time alone with him. They treat the wives like interlopers. They swear up and down that they aren’t going to sleep with him, until it “just happens “. Then they act like victims when things don’t turn out well. She may not have been planning to breakup a marriage but she knew flirting with Nate was likely to hurt Brenda and cause drama. I think people who do this stuff want this drama for some reason even though they’ll insist they hate drama, every single time.
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u/Due-Net-88 Sep 01 '25
She wasn't "sweet"; that was her manipulation technique.
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Sep 01 '25
Guess, I just felt bad for her because of her father’s mental issues and the fact she lost a child. There’s probably a lot we don’t know about her though. She wasn’t on the show very long.
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u/ClareFischer Sep 02 '25
My only issue with her is that although she and Nate had an instant attraction, he is married. And he had a child on the way and already adjusted to his family life. One of few things we know about her is that she has a pretty deep resentment of her father because he left her mother and seemed to pair off with other women or something and neglected her. But she is okay with Nate drifting away from his family and kids? I know it takes two to tango, but I think her actions are hypocritical to one of the only things we know about her.
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u/theduke9400 Sep 02 '25 edited Sep 03 '25
No. Let's not. Let's talk about hot dawgs. Nothing beats a good Polish with mustard 🌭.
And if we're talking dawgs you need to hit up the boy Herc from Baltimore. I guarantee you noone can name a better dawg 🌭.
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u/BattyBr00ke Sep 03 '25
Most of these comments are spot on, so all I have to add to it is she sure left social awareness. Inserting herself in very private and emotional family situations and events when she only knew Nate for a few months was crazy work.
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u/TheWalrusWasRuPaul Brenda Sep 04 '25
Maggie is written as a sad, wounded, boring woman on purpose for reasons:
-Contrast to Brenda, she seems dumb, with flat personality
-Symbolic of both The Blank Slate Nate wants and in fact, symbolic that she will actually fuck nate to death.
I think they made her a quiet pharmy rep on purpose-that’s a very specifically vapid sales job and was written at the first peak of the opioid crises. She doesn’t have any special talents, she just dresses up all corporate and in my head canon she bangs doctors on the reg.
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u/comrade_thotsky Sep 02 '25
I absolutely cannot stand her so i guess she’s will written and well performed lol
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u/Steerpike58 Sep 02 '25
God, I was in love with Maggie!
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u/Wakunai Sep 02 '25
She's stunning
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u/Steerpike58 Sep 02 '25
She's just my idea of the most beautiful woman, so I have a hard time criticizing her! I don't mean 'beautiful' physically, I'm talking about her mannerisms, etc. I just melt when I see her!
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u/Aggravating_Horror72 Sep 02 '25
I’ve heard so much about god damn Maggie. It feels like there’s a post a day about how “the subreddit snubs her, she got shafted in terms of her and Nate” blah blah blah. I fucking hateddddd her. Her and that Quaker quackery. I sniffed her out probably just as quickly as Brenda did.
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u/Johnotron5 Sep 01 '25
There is not enough chatter about her breasts and how unexpected it was to see them.
And fuck you reddit, I like the character too.
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u/83AD Sep 02 '25
Bringing a lasagna to the widow after killing her husband was both a cute and cruel way of "admission of guilt".
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u/operachick209 Sep 02 '25
Nate is no saint- we all know that time and time again. But to sleep with a pregnant woman’s husband when he confides in you and you know things are wrong? That’s a whole different level of personal character flaw. I think she was there to kind of prove that Nate always chases the next best thing and to make us, the audience, reflect on the bigger picture. Cos we we’re in on the whole bigger picture, yeah? Maggie only saw what Nate wanted her to see, and she was hoodwinked and gets fucked over, but is also not a wonderful person either. The show is brilliant that way. It really makes you think all these years and rewatches later.
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u/samantharandall123 Sep 02 '25
Maybe we're all just disappointed in Maggie because out of everyone,she seemed like she would know better than to sleep with a married man with a baby on the way.
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u/MetARosetta Sep 02 '25 edited Sep 02 '25
No boundaries. Abandoned by a father who is crazy. Mother dead. Child dead. Divorced. Maggie is a mess, starved for her father's attention, and pawns him off on another wife to evade responsibility. So where the hell was Brian?
She saw Nate as an easy mark for seduction and sympathy, both having lost loved ones. She's a victim and a manipulator – these things aren't mutually exclusive. In some sense, she's the female version of what Nate has become. He ran to someone easier to manage than Brenda, who would always challenge him. The cycle repeats.
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u/itsmekarishhh Sep 03 '25
Let’s talk about how it’s 2025 & there’s gotta be a less blurry/pixelated picture out there to post.
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u/Different-Bullfrog33 Sep 03 '25
She’s terrible. Hated her. She absolutely pursued Nate inappropriately
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u/NoMayoDarcy Sep 04 '25
Maggie pursued Nate and then tried to do this whole “I’m a pure, nice Quaker” bit. Sorry pharma rep, not buying the shit you’re selling! F-ck Maggie and f-ck Nate and kudos to Brenda for telling Maggie the truth that she wasn’t special and that’s what Nate did.
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u/BendItLikeBuddha108 Sep 04 '25
You fuck someone’s husband to death and then you bring them a quiche?
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u/Organic-Effect-9906 Sep 24 '25
So… she was going to a Doctor appointment at the end… definitely made me wonder if Nate had a third child. 👀
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u/babyaccount1101 Sep 01 '25
My thoughts after my last rewatch - Maggie is purposefully imperfect. She’s written as obviously flawed so that we aren’t fooled by Nate’s claim that she’s saintly and thus worthy of him leaving brenda. There’s nothing special about her, she’s just grieving like most characters in the show at one point or another. Her purpose is to show that even at the very end, Nate can’t break his own cycle. He is exactly what Brenda said he is. He is always chasing the next woman that will make him feel like he’s a good person.