Roush Review: Feuding Frenemies in ‘Hacks’ Ferociously Funny Season 4

Hacks

Matt's Rating:

Can’t they just get along?

There wouldn’t be much of a show if the Emmy-winning (for best comedy, finally) Hacks didn’t put obstacles between comedy legend Deborah Vance (the peerless Jean Smart, winner of three Emmys for this role) and her defiantly progressive and long-suffering writing partner Ava (a resilient and resourceful Hannah Einbinder). Their generational differences and conflicting attitudes provide an endless well of barbed humor, but never have these frenemies been at such odds as when the brilliant fourth season begins.

If looks could kill, Deborah would be on murderers’ row as she snarls at Ava, who resorted to blackmail to get the head writer’s job she was promised on the late-night TV show both fought so hard to attain. This is Deborah’s dream, and she’s not about to let this “ginger Judas” spoil it.

Their conflict becomes apparent to all, escalating to hilariously nasty pranks and less amusingly overt hostility, alarming their boyish manager, now producer, Jimmy (series co-creator Paul W. Downs) and causing an HR crisis on set. In her best supporting role since The Unicorn, Michaela Watkins is a riot as the HR “chaperone” who fields loaded questions like Deborah’s “What is the corporate policy on extortion?” and rightly observes, “There’s a lot of disruptive tension between the two of you.”

Courtesy of Max

Even network boss Winnie Landell (Helen Hunt) is forced to intervene, reminding them, “This is a bigger stage than you’ve ever been on” and that success in late night TV is never guaranteed, even with the double-whammy promotional hook of Deborah’s gender and age. (At a press conference before skeptical reporters, the defensive Deborah barks, “I’m not a woman, I’m a comedian!”)

As Hacks lurches toward opening night of Late Night with Deborah Vance, any backstage truce is fragile with so much at stake in the scramble to hire writers, book guests, settle on a tone, and find a way to make noise in today’s fractured media landscape. Beyond Deborah and Ava’s fraught tango of ego and ambition, Hacks also spends time with the adorable Jimmy and his caustic sidekick Kayla (Megan Stalter, a literal scream) as they start their own talent-management agency, where Jimmy’s nice-guy approach clashes with Kayla’s uproarious “gorilla mode” style. Their big discovery: a TikTok “Dance Mom” from Canada, smartly played by Julianne Nicholson (Paradise) as a wide-eyed rube who rapidly succumbs to Hollywood excess.

When a late-night veteran warns Ava that hers is “a job for a lunatic,” she’s not joking. Deborah’s mood swings and demands are a greater form of professional torture than ever, and before the season reaches its dramatic conclusion during a live broadcast, just about everyone has experienced a personal meltdown. “I’m being tough because the job is tough,” insists Deborah, who’s seen and now done it all.

Related

'Hacks' Stars Tease Deborah & Ava's Season 4 Feud: 'The Gloves Are Off'

In a world where audience demographics are broken down into “gay dads under 50” and “college-educated Singaporeans,” and where compromising your sensibility and integrity is the price of fame, is it possible for anyone to achieve their dream without it becoming a nightmare?

Take it from Deborah Vance: “When you’re in the public eye, people love to turn on you and tear you to shreds. It’s painful being the witch of the week.” Her advice? “You need to make the laughs yours.”

If anyone deserves to have the last laugh, it’s Deborah — and by extension, the great Jean Smart. They’ve never been better.

Hacks, Season Premiere (two episodes), Thursday, April 10, Max

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