Hacks returns for a third delicious season – and does not disappoint

Hacks
★★★★★
Stan*

The second season of Hacks didn’t end on a cliffhanger and while it would have left many of us bereft, could certainly have worked as a satisfying enough conclusion to this sharp, insightful comedy-drama.

Jean Smart and Hannah Einbinder are back for a third season.Credit: Stan

Even so, the deliciously acerbic Deborah (Jean Smart), the old-school Joan Rivers-esque comedian and the goofy but earnest Gen Z comedy writer Ava (Hannah Einbinder), who was hired to help freshen up Deborah’s material, are back for a third season – and it does not disappoint.

A year on from where we left them, Deborah is enjoying a renaissance on the back of the Netflix special Ava helped her write (she’s even made the exclusive recipient list for Tom Cruise’s annual coconut cake) and Ava, who she “fired” and set free, is back in LA living with her actress girlfriend Ruby (Lorenza Izzo) and writing for a satirical news program.

But both women are less than content, despite their respective successes; Ava remains bitter/mildly obsessed with the fact Deborah cut her off completely after she effectively re-launched her career, and Deborah, who now has two young writers working for her, is restless – even now she’s back at the top of her game.

When the pair run into each other at a comedy festival, it doesn’t take long for their dynamic to pick up where it left; soon they’re texting each other jokes and insults like flirtatious teenagers. When Deborah ends up guest-hosting a late-night show, it’s Ava she turns to for help writing material.

And then Deborah learns that this TV show will be looking for a new host – something she has been, in her view, denied for decades – and she asks Ava for help pitching herself for the gig. Ava uproots her life and moves back to Las Vegas, much to her girlfriend’s disgust: “You’re always going to be working for her,” she tells Ava.

But in this season, there’s something of a shift in the power dynamic. There’s still a certain codependency between them, and Deborah is just as demanding and selfish as ever, at least initially, but across the season they achieve something closer to equality.

Don’t worry, there are still more insults and put-downs than a Hollywood celebrity roast – especially in the episode in which Deborah is the subject of an actual roast, in which her daughter DJ (Kaitlin Olson) steals the show, something that leads to matching mother-daughter epiphanies.

As Deborah’s team – manager Jimmy (Hacks co-creator and showrunner Paul W Downs), his ditsy assistant Kayla (Megan Stalter) and Deborah’s PA Marcus (Carl Clemons-Hopkins) – work towards achieving Deborah’s TV dream, this season explores some complex subjects, and there’s more pathos.

Deborah reveals more vulnerability about growing old, she opens up – a little – about her childhood and even concedes that some of her older material has not dated well and is now highly problematic (although only when a supercut of her worst jokes goes viral).

Ava, too, relinquishes some of her undergraduate smugness – although nothing will convince her that Deborah’s hiring of actors with dwarfism to deliver Christmas presents is acceptable.

Among the rapid-fire one-liners and scathing critiques of everything from culture wars, the wellness industry and Hollywood’s sexism and ageism, it’s Ava and Deborah’s relationship that remains the core of Hacks. And this season sees it, and both characters, evolve further, but thankfully not enough to find either of them completely likeable.

Jean Smart as old-school comedy legend Deborah Vance.Credit: Stan

There’s a slew of big-name guest actors this time around, too – I won’t spoil them – and the delicious finale ensures there will definitely be a fourth season. I’m already excited.

*Nine is the owner of Stan and this masthead.

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