Review: Not Beating The C*nt Allegations
Comedy meets capitalism in ‘Hacks’ Season 4
The Yearning Rating: ✰✰✰✰
Romance: ✰
Sex: ✰✰
Storytelling: ✰✰✰✰
Performance: ✰✰✰✰✰
Yearning: ✰✰✰✰✰
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Written by Ali Romig
Season 4 of the hit odd couple comedy Hacks picks up mere seconds after the events of Season 3’s jaw-dropping finale. Ava (Hannah Einbinder) has just blackmailed her (tor)mentor Deborah Vance (Jean Smart) into giving her the head writer gig for the latter’s new late night show. For the past year, fans have been wondering how the volatile Vance might react to this unexpected extortion. After all, Deborah doesn’t take too kindly to being backed into corners.
But in a surprising turn of events, over the course of the first three episodes, Deborah seems to accept that Ava’s outplayed her. Sure, she makes Ava’s first few days uncomfortable—mailing Ava’s dirty panties to their boss and anonymously reporting that Ava has come to work high—but the fight in her seems to fade when confronted with just how serious Ava is about the lengths she’s willing to go. As Ava says, “I know you’ve been at this for 50 years, but guess what? That means you’re tired, and I’m just getting warmed up.”
This kind of push-and-pull between Ava and Deborah is familiar territory for the show. In fact, almost every season has started with the pair at odds (if not outright feuding). In addition to the near constant jokes and amazing cast (Robbie Hoffman is here this season!), it’s one of the things that makes Hacks so watchable—their tension is just delicious! But might this get old after a while? That was my initial thought when I started Season 4. How exactly will they make this feel different from every other fight these two have had? To my delight, the season so far has managed to avoid rehashing played out dynamics by focusing on how its two stars have changed over four seasons.
Deborah, historically sure-footed and stoic, is more unsteady this season. She’s always operated as if she had nothing and nobody to lose. She’d say whatever she wanted, do whatever she wanted, take down whoever she wanted. Hers were the actions of someone with the perennial upper hand of personal indifference. Now, she’s reached the zenith of her career, and the foundation she’s built to get there is noticeably wobbly. Jean Smart does a fantastic job of playing everything with a barely concealed, vibrating desperation. Ava on the other hand, once Deborah’s willing punching bag and literal caddy, is now—dare I say it?—her equal. A monster of her own making. Ava won’t back down for anything, quite literally shouting at Deborah in the middle of a party to admit that “she’s won.” The most shocking part? Deborah actually complies.
The changes in Ava are especially interesting to me, and not just because they seem like a character devolvement rather than evolvement. Ava, once so idealistic, has hardened drastically in order to get ahead, but her transformation is nowhere near complete. Einbinder does a great job pulling off both the bumbling Ava we know and the colder, more seasoned Ava. For now she exists in an in-between place, shifting from optimistic to calculating in a way that feels naive at best. While Deborah and Ava’s feud kicks off the season, the question of what striving for commercial success can do to you feels like the real meat of the story.
By the end of episode three, Deborah and Ava reach a “truce”, opening the door for the rest of the season to delve into themes beyond their interpersonal drama. While I’ve only seen what’s out so far, I’d put money on the intersection of art and commerce taking center stage. The artificial L.A. backdrop and the “show within a show” framework Hacks Season 4 is embracing feel ripe for satirical meta-commentary on the state of the industry. Jimmy (Paul W. Downs) and Kayla’s (Megan Stalter) burgeoning agency only brings more insider jabs to the table as they struggle to manage their clients and bring on an assistant (played by Hoffman, who is actually just playing herself?). Other cast members who enjoyed their own storylines in seasons past feel markedly absent now—another sign that the show is ready to focus more squarely on these questions of industry and success. By the end of episode 2, Deborah has been warned that her late night spot needs to become a “mega-hit” and fast. There’s no time to enjoy the win of landing the job if you can’t keep it.
The thing is, Deborah and Ava are two people whose bond is based on their genuine passion for comedy. They both see it as an art…and maybe even more than that—a religion. Their relationship is at its purest and most fulfilling when they are connecting over this simple truth. So what happens when you invite capitalistic pressure into the room? What does that do to your art? To you? As someone who works in a creative industry, I spend a lot of time thinking about this. At what point does “success” become a hollow trade for finding joy and connection in the craft?
Early in the season, Deborah tells Ava that she’s not right for the head writer job because she made her material more fresh, vulnerable, and honest. But she also made it niche (read: gay, lol). There’s no place for niche in late night. Does this also mean there’s no place for vulnerability or honesty in late night? In anything considered “popular”? It’s an interesting question, and one the show could tackle from numerous directions—how they choose to do so over the course of the ten-episode season remains to be seen. One thing is for sure: no one is getting out of this unscathed.
New episodes of Hacks will drop every Thursday at 9 PM ET on Max.
Can't they just marry already? 😁🥹