Hacks – Heaven Review

The interesting thing about Hacks (or, at this stage of the game, perhaps it’s both a feature and a bug of the series structure) is that each season tells an arc and ends with a reset. Usually, that reset sees Ava and Deborah at odds for some reason – whether it is Deb trying to dump Ava to save her from herself or Ava blackmailing Deborah to keep her on staff, there’s a shift in their relationship that makes sure the next season starts from scratch with a new arc aimed at getting our girls back on a level playing field. Naturally, four seasons in, the series has pretty much exhausted the ways it can end the season with the pair divorced (either creatively or personally), needing a full reset personally and professionally at the start of the next season. I had speculated that perhaps the upcoming season five (the series was just renewed for another season) would see the duo focusing on Ava’s career with Deborah acting as her mentor and writing partner. But it looks like we’re not getting that. Instead, we’re getting something of a retread of the first season – and I’m not entirely sure how I feel about that.

Torpedoing Deborah’s late night dreams so that she could fight for Ava was a nice twist. After all, for years we’ve see Ava be the part of the pair who wears her heart on her sleeve and is willing to do anything for Deborah – at the expense of both her career and personal life. So I was hoping we’d see some of the personal growth from Deborah in the season finale. Instead, we got many of the same beats we have seen in past finales, with Deborah starting to find a groove, lose interest, and attempt to shove Ava away – although, as always, with some pretty true points.* But we don’t really know how many months have passed since the pair made it to Singapore with their loophole utilizing comedy residency that saw Deborah performing old work for foreign audiences. How much longer is left on her do not compete?

*One thing I genuinely wish the series would dive a bit deeper into is the co-dependent relationship between Ava and Deborah. We’ve seen Ava throw away good work, relationships, friendships, etc. solely to stay at Deborah’s side throughout the series (even when Deborah tells her not to). Various characters, including both Ava and Deborah, have commented on how unhealthy it all is. And yet, the series never wants to do more than scratch the surface of how this relationship has warped Ava’s life. Yes, she’s creatively fulfilled when they’re working together and yes, Ava and Deborah love and care about each other. But there’s a great arc lurking here – presumably once the series is in its final installment – interrogating just who Ava could be outside of Deborah’s orbit. I’m not saying they should “break up” and never speak again, but I’d be interested to see Ava try to find a life outside of Deborah’s bubble while still keeping Deborah as a friend. Of course, Deborah has her own issues with abandonment and certainly loves that Ava is hers and hers alone – but still, that would be a hell of an interesting arc to explore.

This is the first time in the four years of the show where I’ve gotten to the end of the season and not been excited to see just where things are headed. Because it feels like we’ve been here before. We’ve seen Deborah and Ava try to take on the establishment together. We’ve watched them build a new act for Deborah. We’ve seen how great they are together. And sure, this time Ava has gained a heck of a lot more maturity and perspective – her ability to acknowledge that Deborah was just trying to hurt her on that boat and her willingness to walk away on her own are proof she’s really growing – but I’m not sure how much that growth will impact this storyline. And we’ve seen Deborah angry and driven with a chip on her shoulder before – what’s the new angle there?

I’ve had faith in Paul W. Downs, Lucia Aniello, and Jen Statsky to write the series out of many a corner, but I’m not entirely sure there’s a new arc to be found in this set-up. And that’s the nature of storytelling – at some point, your characters have done all they can do within the confines of the story being told, and I’m worried Hacks is at or near that end point. Deborah is going to work until she dies, that’s part of her character. And, by now, it’s clear that Ava will be by her side until that moment comes. But how many more roadblocks can be thrown in Deborah’s way for them to overcome? This setback isn’t all that imposing assuming we’ve gone through several months of her 18-month hiatus. Another comeback is another comeback. I guess a new twist would be that comeback failing to take? But still, where do we go from here that doesn’t rehash what we’ve already seen. That’s the question I’m left with at the close of this season.

Overall, this was an uneven season of the series. The resolution of the rift between Ava and Deborah never felt organic to me, the questions surrounding Jimmy and Kayla’s partnership were resolved far too easily and without nearly enough discussion, and the talk show setting wasn’t used as well as it could have been. However, Hannah Einbinder, in particular, was absolutely on fire throughout the season as Ava finally started to grow up and see Deborah and her place in her life without the rose-colored glasses that have blinded her to Deborah’s faults for so long. I’ll gladly watch Einbinder and Jean Smart bounce off one another until I can’t anymore, but I’m worried that season five might be the beginning of a creative fall for the series. A fall that started in season four.