‘Hacks’ thrives on creative kinship
Kinder and gentler Season 3 still retains cutting comedy edge
In its third season, the oddcouple comedy “Hacks” has matured into a deeper, kinder exploration of friendship and creativity while mostly retaining its hilarious edge.
Prickliness is inherent to Deborah Vance, the comic legend played brilliantly by Jean Smart, a two-time Emmy winner in the role. But this installment of the Max breakout series premieres Thursday, May 2, with Deborah at her most relaxed and rational, back in her comfort zone atop the show business heap after a successful stand-up special.
Deborah even stuck to her uncharacteristically selfless decision last season to let Ava (Hannah Einbinder), the Gen Z writer who helped craft Deborah’s comeback, pursue other opportunities. More precisely, Deborah pushed Ava out. But it’s the thought that counts.
Reunited with her action-star ex (Lorenza Izzo) and writing for a “Last Week Tonight”-style show, Ava appears to be thriving. But the marvelously expressive Einbinder adds a touch of anxiousness that suggests Ava is not living her best life, just the best life possible without Deborah.
After Ava runs into Deborah at a hotel, ending months of silence, they quickly reconnect. The pair text so regularly that at one point, Deborah’s longtime housekeeper, Josefina (Rose Abdoo) picks up Deborah’s phone to let Ava know Deborah fell asleep.
This latest season is full of such telling moments, like one where Ava, having decided to spend her hiatus from her show helping her old boss, excitedly arrives at Deborah’s Las Vegas mansion. When Deborah immediately reminds Ava to remove
her shoes, Einbinder’s face shows it all flood back — Deborah’s haughtiness and the unease she inspires in employees.
But the relationship is no longer openly adversarial, especially after Ava forbids Deborah from wisecracks about Ava’s supposedly giant hands. Deborah is willing to sacrifice her favorite bit out of respect for Ava as, if not a peer, at least a fellow talent.
“Hacks” creators Jen Statsky, Lucia Aniello and Paul W. Downs (who also plays Ava’s and Deborah’s manager, Jimmy) lean into the personal growth Deborah and Ava experience working together after being paired up professionally by Jimmy. Ava semi-successfully taught Deborah to stay away from stereotypes in her comedy and avoid single-use plastic cups for her hydration needs. Deborah taught Ava about discipline and show business realities while being just maternal enough to hook the younger woman before curtly dismissing her when she became clingy.
Season 3 takes a moment to acknowledge the slight pathology of this relationship before fully embracing it. Deborah and Ava simply find each other funny and write better together. Through moments where they riff until they get it just right, or one comes to the rescue of the other’s incomplete joke, “Hacks” captures the electricity of creative connection better than any show since “Mad Men.”
Supporting characters also go gentler this season. Jimmy, for instance, shows a new patience for pipe-dreamer assistant Kayla (Megan Stalter, still delivering naivete-wrapped killer lines) that seems a wiser approach than constant exasperation.
But things get goofy when Deborah and Ava speak their subtext, openly discussing what they learned from each other. We can accept such soul-baring from Ava but not Deborah, whose air of mystery fuels “Hacks.”
As Deborah nears what could be a career-crowning achievement, her behavior thankfully becomes less predictable. Selfdoubt clouds her judgment before she remembers who she is with an assuredness that brooks no doubters.
These moments underscore Deborah’s — and Smart’s — undeniable power. Cast in the role of a lifetime in her late 60s, Smart embodied her complicated character from the jump yet continues to add intriguing dimensions. The fun of anticipating Deborah’s misbehavior comes from knowing Smart will bring truth to each twist.