In this podventure, we discuss the episode “A Model Child,” in which Melanie Jacobs is disappointed when her parents bar her from entering a local beauty pageant for kids. Melanie admires Monica Winters, who looks very grown up for an 11-year-old and is allowed to enter the pageant. But as Melanie and Monica start to make friends, the question arises: is Monica as happy as Melanie had always assumed? Or is there something tragic and even dangerous at play behind the scenes of her image-focused lifestyle? Also the Miss Norway fish dress, beauty as a proxy for value, and the inherent dignity of all people.
04/06/2026