Hacks – What Happens in Vegas Review

We knew going into this season that part of Deborah’s journey in her foray into hosting a late-night show was going to be learning a bit from Ava about how to manage a staff without flying off the handle and firing them at the drop of a hat. After all, we know Deborah has the ability to schmooze her way through Hollywood and play that game. But she lacks the deft touch needed to ensure that her underlings make it through a season without suing her (and even with Stacey, the dedicate HR liaison played by the impeccable Michaela Watkins on her tail, I still worry there might be a lawsuit in her future). What I didn’t expect to happen this early in the season, however, was to see just how much Ava will need to learn from Deborah in terms of how to play the bad cop when the situation calls for it. Because boy does she need to understand how to be a leader.

The trip to Vegas was a fun foray out of Los Angeles and back to the show’s home turf (the return of Poppy Liu’s Kiki and Lauren Weedman’s Mayor Pezzimenti were a welcome sight). And while the comedy of the episode was limited compared to the one-two punch of the season premiere last week (an episode without Jimmy and Kayla is always going to be missing a bit of that mad-cap energy that really makes Hacks fly), this week was much more about breaking down how Ava and Deborah are going to fare in their new roles at the show – and it certainly looks like one of them is much better equipped for what’s to come than the other.

I shouldn’t be all that surprised that Ava’s journey in season four appears to be centered around her growing up into a more complex adult than in the past. After all, in past seasons, her growth as a character was measured in what she could achieve for Deborah. Whether she could put her own ego aside and work with Deborah, whether she could navigate Deborah’s ever-changing moods, whether she could learn to be part of a team. And Deborah was on a similar, parallel journey, focused more on learning to trust again – a journey that was ground to a halt with Ava’s perceived betrayal at the end of season three, precipitated by Deborah’s own fear of failure (which also came with a side of trying to protect Ava from that fear being realized by hurting her before the potential failure of the series crushed Ava – see, this is a complex comedy!).

Here, in season four, we’re seeing the Deborah is still lashing out from her own fear of failure, but she’s also able to temper that with the skills she’s learned over the years of how to work a room and people in Hollywood. Ava, on the other hand, is still desperately trying to be likeable. She’s trying to be a friend and colleague rather than a boss. Taking a suitcase of drugs and getting blitzed out of her mind with the staff writers? That’s not good. Fighting with Deborah in front of the writers? Yeah, not great. Not being willing or able to fire a writer who not only has bad ideas, but who also doesn’t contribute quality pitches? She needs to get over that impulse and realize she’s the boss. As loathe as she would be to admit it, Ava needs to actually be more like Deborah when it comes to running the writers’ room. She thinks she took a page from Deborah’s book when she blackmailed her*, but she really just took a leap of faith and won. It didn’t change her as a person, it broke her most important relationship and all she has to show for it is a new gig she’s great at in theory and not so great at in practice.

*Put a pin in Kiki’s warning that Deborah will hold a grudge and strike back when you least expect it. Deborah might still be outwardly mad at Ava – and only using her because she needs her – but I don’t for a second believe she won’t have a real punishment for Ava down the line. And I’m sure it will come at a truly devastating moment for them both.

The key to this series, as I’ve said before and will likely say again is balance. Ava and Deborah, when they totally in sync and working toward a shared goal, perfectly balance each other out. But now, while Deborah might not be the team player she’s been in the past (when it was a team of two – and someone she can much more easily control than an entire room of writers), she’s much better at tempering her inner fears when she has to and being the person she needs to be. Ava, on the other hand, is still unmoored without Deborah fully there to balance her more self-destructive tendencies. In order for the late show – and this duo – to work, they need to find their inner and outer balance once more.

So, not the funniest of episodes from Hacks, but a crucial one in laying out the ongoing journey of our leading ladies. While I, like many, would love to see Ava and Deborah truly back on even footing and working alongside one another with the amazing chemistry of the past, I know we have to continue down this path to redemption as hard it might be to walk. And I suspect things are going to still get a bit worse before they veer into the stage of true trust and acceptance – if they even manage to make it there this season. But I was happy to see that Ava still needs to learn a thing or two from Deborah – and that Deb needs to let go of the reins a bit in order for this show to really work. There’s still some growing to do – and hopefully the next step in the process has a bit more laughs to go with it.