Hacks Review

It’s hard to think of an actor who has notched more quality TV work over the last decade than Jean Smart. From her work as a crime syndicate’s matriarch on season two of Fargo (the best season of the series), her work as the therapist to a band of mutants in season one of Legion (the best season of the series – notice the trend?), and a vigilante turned government agent in Watchmen, to her most recent work on HBO as the sarcastic mother to Kate Winslet’s Mare on Mare of Easttown (easily the show’s best asset), Smart is having a hell of a run. Throw into the mix that she’s 69 – well over the age where Hollywood typically casts aside actresses – and it’s nothing short of incredible. While those roles allowed Smart key supporting work in complex and interesting series, it’s her starring turn in HBO’s comedy Hacks that is truly allowing her a chance to shine – and carry a series on her own.

Hacks is, at its heart, a two-hander comedy, with Smart as Deborah Vance, a Joan Rivers-esque comedienne of a certain age who has a solid gig playing Vegas, but who isn’t exactly pulling in the youth audience. Her agent pairs her up with a new writing partner – Ava, played by Hannah Einbinder, who more than holds her own against Smart – a wunderkind who managed to screw up her meteoric rise to the top in Hollywood. It’s an odd couple set up – hard working older woman who had to claw her way to the top and the upstart kid who is entitled and doesn’t feel like she has to work particularly hard to earn her success – that ultimately (or, at least we can assume because we’ve seen this set-up many times before) will end up with the two women learning from each other. But, of course, not without acerbic one-liners and a lot of growing pains.

But even though we’ve seen this scenario before, it feels fresh, fun, and most importantly, funny. Smart is just so damn good at navigating “difficult” characters and turning them into someone we grow to care about. Yes, Deborah is hard on Ava – and yes, she could be a bit nicer and more understanding – but Deborah is the one who has the sustained success and knows what it takes to really become something. She has every right to resent Ava’s lackadaisical approach to work. And the show is at its best when it allows Smart and Einbinder to play off each other (it’s less successful when we get to see Vance’s actual stand-up routines – writing funny fake comedy routines is not easy, and I think we can all take it as read that Vance is good if out of date with her material). In a series like this, character needs to be king above all else. The jokes aren’t coming in at a mile a minute (a la something like Veep), but that’s perfectly alright because the series is trying to create a real arc and not simply a joke delivery mechanism.

And Hacks has a lot of story that it wants to tell. Exploring how Hollywood treats women (spoiler: It’s not good), both young and old. How comedy can be as insidious as any entertainment arena – and how it is often the worst of the worst when it comes to sexism, ageism, and pretty much any other ism you can come up with. There’s a generational conflict (the Boomer attitude of “we’ve worked hard and deserve to keep reaping the benefits” vs the Zennial “it’s our turn, step aside old timers – oh, and we shouldn’t have to do the work you did”). But the key that makes the show work – outside of the great leading performances – is that the show doesn’t take sides in the conflicts. Ava and Deborah aren’t right or wrong – they just are. And that’s not an easy balance to get right. As the show continues to move forward, that’s the area I’m most interested in seeing develop. Because if the writers (and the show has a stacked team in Lucia Aniello, Paul W. Downs, and Jen Statsky, all Broad City veterans, with Statsky having spent time with The Good Place of late) can maintain that balanced perspective in the long term, well, this show could become an all-timer.

But right now, it’s a very good series that is willing to ask some interesting, deep questions about comedy, gender, and generations – all while continuing to be funny. Starring the best actress working on TV today: Jean Smart. While it won’t be for everyone (the comedy has a razor edge to it – so if that’s not your thing, you should take a pass), it’s pretty damn great.

Hacks is currently airing its first season on HBO. New episodes drop Thursdays.