The Series Finale of ‘Hacks’ Showed What the Rest of Season 5 Was Missing

SPOILER ALERT: This story contains spoilers from the series finale of “Hacks,” now streaming on HBO Max.

In the closing minutes of “Hacks,” Deborah Vance (Jean Smart) and Ava Daniels (Hannah Einbinder) do what they conspicuously have not for most of the streaming comedy’s fifth and final season: workshop some jokes. 

The push and pull between the two women’s comedic sensibilities was once the backbone of the professional romance, which concluded its half-decade run on HBO Max this week. Ava, a television writer ostracized from her industry after a backlash-provoking tweet, pushed Deborah, a legendary stand-up who had cocooned herself in the stale comfort of a Las Vegas residency, to incorporate edge and honesty into her act. Deborah, for her part, showed Ava what it took to achieve and maintain her level of success despite cultural sexism and personal betrayals. This dynamic was drawn most sharply into focus when it was trained on specific projects: developing Deborah’s new hour of material, or launching a late-night show on a major broadcast network.

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But the home stretch of “Hacks” largely set the work, once so central, to the side. This was partly a consequence of the plot, of course: In walking away from her late-night show rather than fire Ava and cave to corporate interference, Deborah triggered a non-compete that barred her from the stage or any other kind of public performance for 18 months. After generating story from amusing workarounds like recording guest vocals on a Tejano song or competing on “The Amazing Race,” however, “Hacks” did set a goal for Deborah and Ava to work toward: selling out Madison Square Garden, a brass ring for comedians that Deborah feels will secure her legacy.

Yet “Hacks” chose not to focus on preparing for the actual performance, or even other potential ventures — like Ava ghostwriting Deborah’s memoir — that were briefly touched on but never fully teased out. The run-up to the Garden gig mostly touched on practical matters like selling tickets or securing the ideal outfit; the grand reentry itself, moved from the storied venue to Central Park at the last minute, isn’t even shown. Perhaps creators Lucia Aniello, Paul Downs and Jen Statsky didn’t want to repeat themselves, having already depicted Deborah and Ava in intensive tour prep. (They also got some solid jokes out of Deborah commissioning a choreographer and pyrotechnics for her big return, only to pull a bait-and-switch.) But in shifting their focus in the home stretch from productive friction to a feel-good farewell tour, the “Hacks” team also marginalized the beating heart of the show right as it could’ve been paying tribute to what made the series special in the first place.

Ever since Deborah and Ava forgave one another (for Deborah’s refusal to hire Ava as her show’s head writer, and Ava using blackmail to secure the job anyway) in the middle of Season 4 and mended their most serious rift, the mood on screen has been notably light, both between the pair and on “Hacks” writ large. In all honesty, I never fully believed that someone as career-driven and consistently self-centered as Deborah would sacrifice a lifelong dream for Ava’s sake, and for the remainder of its run, “Hacks” leaned into such wish fulfillment across its ensemble. By the finale, Deborah’s business manager Marcus (Carl Clemons-Hopkins) has been brought back into the fold as her partner in The Diva, an independent casino managed by Deborah’s ex Marty (Christopher McDonald). Managers Jimmy (Downs) and Kayla (Meg Stalter) have gone from striking out on their own to taking over their old agency, courtesy of some light extortion. Even Ava’s chaotic mom Nina (Jane Adams) found love. Everyone is in a better place than they started, often alongside their platonic soulmates.

These happy endings have been undeniably enjoyable to watch come together, with minor characters like Deborah’s psychic Diana (Polly Draper) and former tour manager Weed (Laurie Metcalf) getting send-offs of their own. “Hacks” built a world fans — and Emmy voters — have fallen in love with, and the show has the right to draw on that love for an upbeat victory lap that sends the characters out in style. Nor has “Hacks” ever stopped being funny, even as it’s never been less about the actual craft of comedy. Deborah and Ava’s trip to Montecito, where they pretended to be a couple to ingratiate themselves with their Ellen-and-Portia-esque hosts (played by Cherry Jones and Leslie Bibb, respectively), was a tour de force that will hopefully be remembered as one of the year’s great comic setpieces, if not the decade’s.

At the same time, Deborah and Ava started to go down separate paths, setting up futures we won’t get to witness. Rather than partnering with her boss-mentor-roommate-friend on another joint venture, Ava branched out on her own to develop a reboot of “Who’s Making Dinner?”, the multi-camera sitcom Deborah made with her ex-husband before their marriage collapsed. As a result, most of the debates around ideas, execution and appealing to an audience were not between the two protagonists, but between Ava and a gaggle of studio executives, the most prominent played by a perfectly simpering Caitlin Reilly. Without the work to tussle over, Ava and Deborah spent the season in a kind of domestic bliss — until the finale.

After the triumph of the Central Park show, Deborah abruptly announces to Ava that their planned European vacation has an ulterior motive: a previously benign mass has turned cancerous, and rather than endure invasive treatment Deborah has opted to “go out on top” and pursue assisted suicide in Switzerland. Ava vacillates between refusing to accept Deborah’s surrender and trying to enjoy the time they have left together as the two women take Paris by storm. The scenes where the two argue over Deborah’s decision crackle with palpable anger, frustration and grief — emotions that are just a much a testament to mutual love as the comity and joy that previously defined the season. “For someone who’s always saying ‘listen to women,’” Deborah fumed, “You’re having a hard time hearing me.” 

In the end, what brings Deborah back from the brink is the same force that’s always tied her and Ava together: a devotion to their art. While waiting to board the train to Switzerland, Ava offhandedly cracks that “the best part of dying for a person with disordered eating is getting a second croissant.” This immediately prompts Deborah to fine-tune the punchline, and the pair start volleying back and forth, trying to land on the perfect button for a promising set-up. Deborah realizes there’s another hour in a candid meditation on mortality — her version of Tig Notaro’s legendary set that begins “Hi, I have cancer.” Deborah can’t die yet; she has more to say, and Ava to help her say it.

I’m glad “Hacks” ends in this place, even if the conclusion calls into relief how much the show has been missing this vital interplay in its final episodes. As painful as it could be to watch Deborah and Ava at each other’s throats, there’s a happy medium between outright animosity and a conflict-free hangout. It may have taken nearly all of Season 5 to relocate that balance, but “Hacks” deserves to be defined by Deborah and Ava as their truest selves. Walking arm in arm down the Strip, they’ve revived a conversation that had previously petered out. We may not get to hear the rest, but it’s reassuring to know they’re still bantering out of earshot.