The first song that plays in the second season of Hacks is “That’s How You Start Over” by Diana Ross. As an isolated moment it can feel cheesy, a winking welcome back to the audience. However as the eight episode arc unravels, it becomes clear that “starting over” is the backbone of the HBO comedy’s sophomore season. “You can run for cover / Oh, but darling, don’t you see? / For every smile there’s a teardrop / And that’s just how it’s gonna be” Ross sings, as the legendary comic Deborah Vance (Jean Smart) and her co-writer Ava (Hannah Einbinder) return to Las Vegas after bombing her final show in her residency. Despite being knocked off her pedestal, Deborah is feeling more energized than ever with a fresh start, and almost nothing to lose. Ava on the other hand, is weighed down by the guilt of sending an email full of private details about Deborah’s life to a group of writers who plan to use the information in their new TV show — something Deborah has yet to find out about. The second season of Hacks can feel jumbled and low stakes at times, but when the show is at its best when it embraces reflection.
Similarly to the first season, season two of Hacks takes a little bit to get going. This is, in part, due to the looming danger of Deborah discovering the Ava email debacle. Everything leading up to that moment, which comes about halfway through the second episode, feels unimportant compared to whatever disaster may lay ahead. Smaller moments, like Deborah encouraging her daughter DJ’s (Kaitlin Olsen) MMA fighter husband, or Jimmy (Paul W. Downs) and Kayla’s (Megan Stalter) sexual harassment meeting with HR representative Barbara (Martha Kelly), are moments with real heart and humor, but are passed off as background noise compared to the mainstage of Deborah and Ava’s eventual showdown. Part of what makes Hacks shine this season is the weight given to the supporting cast. As the season progresses, the show becomes less the Deborah and Ava show, and more of an ensemble piece. And once they find the rhythm and balance necessary to accomplish this, the season thrives. But the lack of interest given to these supporting characters earlier on can leave the viewer wondering why we’re supposed to care at all.
Where Hacks thrives once again, is in its performances. Marcus (Carl Clemons-Hopkins), Deborah’s CEO, embarks on what fleshes out to be a rather bleak arc of expanding his world beyond his boss that mostly works due to Clemons-Hopkins’ gift of making every move they make on screen look effortless and natural. Megan Stalter delivers some lines in such a bizarre and quick way that I found myself rewinding multiple times just to hear her say them again. It was also a treat to get more of Deborah’s personal assistant Damien (Mark Indelicato), who spends nights on the tour bus reciting various tasks in his sleep and informing Ava that he doesn’t like comedy because “everyone is trying too hard.” There is also a slew of exciting guest stars, most of whom feel underutilized, including Margaret Cho, Ming-Na Wen, and Laurie Metcalf. At one point, Metcalf’s character tells the tour group her name is “Weed,” a nickname that was given to her by Fall Out Boy’s Pete Wentz. And while Metcalf does feel particularly underutilized, hearing her say “Pete Wentz” gave me such a euphoric feeling that I almost didn’t care.
Of course, the ever evolving relationship between Deborah and Ava remains the show’s thunderdome. When Deborah discovers what Ava did at the end of the show’s first season, her immediate reaction is what anyone could have predicted it would be: chucking antiques at Ava’s head at a shop in the middle of the desert. What follows, however, is one of the most difficult and riveting scenes to date. In a diner, Deborah makes Ava sit across from her and read out every word of the email she sent to the British producers. It’s excruciating; for Ava, for Deborah, for the audience. When she’s finished, Deborah remarks that Ava is just like her — selfish and cruel. Smart delivers the scene with the perfect mix of betrayal, guilt, and understanding, and only two episodes into the season (with plenty of standout moments to come) seems to seal the race for the Emmy.
Despite everything, Deborah and Ava grow closer than ever. It’s clear how much Deborah cares for Ava and vice versa, both of them seeking out the thing they’re both missing from their respective lives — a real meaningful connection. Deborah spoils Ava like she’s her own daughter, buying her clothes and shoes, and taking an interest in her life. Most of the season sees Ava attempting to repent to Deborah the way you do when you know you said something hurtful to your mom (even if it may be true) and are trying to make her feel better afterwards. Deborah has a strained relationship with her own daughter DJ, and Ava with her mother (Jane Adams). This season hammers home that fact, while allowing both women to try and make things better with their loved ones. It makes it all the more bittersweet when Deborah teaches Ava how to float in the pool, a scene so tender that more than any other moment in the show, you can see how much these two people need one another. And if not for the season finale, I would dare to say it was the best scene in the season.
I like Hacks. It’s pleasant to watch, and while not necessarily reinventing the wheel when it comes to portraying the entertainment or comedy business, it’s refreshing to get to see a show depicting how women of all ages fit into that realm. The season felt all over the place, the tone not always consistent, but all was forgiven when I watched the final few scenes of the season. After successfully selling the special her and Ava have worked so hard on, Deborah fires Ava. It’s a moment of shock, but it shouldn’t be. Ava’s attachment to Deborah now teeters on being codependent, and she practically refuses to take any credit for her work on the special or seek out her own ventures, despite being urged to by Deborah. Ava cries while Deborah explains that she’s doing this so that Ava can go find her own voice, make her own stories. Ava gave Deborah the chance to start over — and now Deborah is doing the same for Ava. There’s a melancholia in the scene that I wasn’t expecting, while still remaining humorous. I’ve never felt more connected to Ava than when she tearfully begged, “Please don’t make me do math right now.”
Even my biggest gripe of the season, the lawsuit between Deborah and Ava, was resolved in a satisfactory way. As the season progressed, I was often left wondering what purpose it served. It didn’t appear to be going anywhere, and along the way made the stakes of the season feel inconsequential. However, when Ava asks if the two women will see one another again, Deborah responds cheekily that they’ll see each other in court. In the time jump that follows, Ava is in Los Angeles working on her own projects when she learns that Deborah has dropped the lawsuit. The one thing Ava had used to cling to the idea that she would see Deborah again, and Deborah twists the knife one last time by eliminating that possibility. It’s bittersweet, gives me a reason to believe that the lawsuit did actually matter in the end, and is so Deborah.
The second season of Hacks is a good indicator of how I feel about the show as a whole. It’s good, all over the place, and always feels like it’s on the precipice of something bigger. Smart remains one of (if not the) best leading ladies in television today, and the entire cast seems to have stepped up their games. While the show has yet to be picked up for a third season, the finale opens up so many doors for the future of these characters that it’s thrilling. At its core, Hacks is about reinvention — and it’s time to start over again.
