It’s the relationship reset I didn’t know I needed: Season 4 of Hacks, which premiered April 10 on Max, came in like a lion, breathing new and fiery depth into the partnership between Deborah Vance (played brilliantly by Jean Smart) and Ava Daniels (Hannah Einbinder)—and leaving me loathing the week by week rollout of episodes. (C’mon, Max, can’t you just let us binge it in all its glory?)
*Spoilers ahead*
In case you forgot where we last left off, season 3 of Hacks had Deborah triumphantly getting the Late Night hosting gig, but then making the heartless—and mostly insecure—decision to deny Ava the head writer position out of fear it was a bad plan to shake things up too much right out of the gate. (She claimed it was a network decision to leave the current head writer in place.) But when Ava discovers via Winnie—played by Helen Hunt—that Deborah has complete authority on who she wants to hire, the pair face off. The season closes with Ava blackmailing Deborah by threatening to out the fact that she slept with the CEO of the network right before he offered her the full-time gig. A new head writer is begrudgingly born.
Season 4 picks up there with a vindictive war being waged between Deborah and Ava at the exact same time the network wants to externally highlight the female-focused camaraderie between the pair. Sharp-tongued insults rain down—not to mention line-crossing pranks (like when Deborah leaves a pair of Ava’s underwear in one of her colleague’s drawer). Let’s just say HR—and Winnie—are forced to get involved.
But that’s just it: Even though time has passed since season 3 ended, I’m still feeling warm and fuzzy over the mother/daughter-like relationship that deepened last season as they sought out the Late Night gig. Season 4 delivers a total 180 with the duo so hostile toward each other that it feels as though there’s no way to recover—at least not in 10 episodes (the length of this season). Simultaneously, viewers have been gifted a sense of renewed investment. Everything is the same, but also nothing and Deborah and Ava are power tripping their way through their new and high-stakes gig in a way that’s equal parts hilarious and hard to watch. (The humor is somehow supercharged by the conflict, too.)
Add to that the inside baseball feel of a show that seems to have evolved to chart what happens when you suddenly find yourself at the top of the entertainment industry (as Deborah now is after landing the Late Night gig) and the pressures that come with that level of power (what’s your Carpool Karaoke, Winnie demands practically on day 1).
Of course, even better is the fact that the show’s other dynamic duo (Kayla and Jimmy, played by Megan Stalter and Paul W. Downs, who happens to be the co-creator of the show) are alive and well and also navigating a new path that places them both on equal ground. Kayla is an actual manager now—and with that gets to hire her own assistant. (This not only yields a ton of comedy, but a full circle moment for the pair.)
Back to Max and their strategy of making us wait until Thursdays for new episodes to drop: I’m mad about it, but I also appreciate it. Like White Lotus, Hacks is yet another show where the delayed gratification allows the best plot points to simmer and build.
Best of all is that, somehow, this now four-year-old series has found a way to stay completely fresh and funny after all this time.
