Update to my own question:
I reinstalled two more times, on a couple different computers (all Win 7). Finally, on one it did what I expect: it recognized that I had one free state return allowed, and it recognized that I had already downloaded MN, so it again downloaded MN for free, and now I can review my return, as I wanted to do. I'm not sure why it did not work the first two times, but all is well. I'll leave this question up, in case someone else sees the same unexpected behavior.
