The last sequence of the Hacks finale will make you question whether the show is still a comedy.
It’s been a turbulent ride for seasoned comedian Deborah (Jean Smart) and head writer Ava (Hannah Einbinder), as the pair got their dream late-night show and lost it, made up and fell out, and swapped Los Angeles for Singapore when they got contractually barred from performing. But, as the fourth season comes to an end, Hacks still has one surprise up its sleeve.
(Warning: Spoilers ahead.)
Deborah Vance is dead and Ava Daniels’s world is over.
The finale’s final sequence opens with a bleary-eyed Ava waking up in her Singapore hotel room. Her phone alarm cuts through the silence, and sunlight pours into the dark room as she sluggishly rises. Memories of the night before flood back: She and Deborah locked horns again. Deborah bristled at Ava’s concern for her well-being after the comedian kept falling asleep during the set and had one too many late nights partying.
“You’re 29 years old and I’m your only friend… isn’t that weird?” Deborah spat, a tipsy rambling directed at her young counterpart. Ava’s response is to announce that she will be heading home tomorrow morning. “Have a safe flight,” is the last thing Deborah bitterly tells her before Ava walks off in annoyance.
So, when she wakes and checks her phone, her bags packed and her return plane ticket booked, Ava is puzzled to find a screen of endless missed calls from her and Deborah’s manager Jimmy (Paul W. Downs) and Kayla (Megan Stalter).
She answers an incoming call and is met with Jimmy’s frantic voice yelling: “What happened to Deborah? TMZ is reporting she’s dead!” Ava checks, and sure enough, the TMZ headline reads: “Comedian and late-night host Deborah Vance dead at 72.” A conversation earlier in the episode, where Deborah declared: “I don’t believe in heaven, but I do believe in hell,” seems to be a haunting foreshadowing of this tragedy.
The world around Ava crumbles, and Einbinder’s performance shifts from confusion to fear in a millisecond. A slow push close-up frames her sleepy eyes suddenly wide awake as an ominous whistle sounds, like a haunting call of death.
Ava tries to ring Deborah, but her mailbox is full and the call drops out. This is Ava’s make-or-break moment, and without a second thought, she is off in her sweatpants and sleep-ruffled hair, sprinting through the endless halls of the fancy hotel and casino and up to Deborah’s hotel suite.
We needed to see this side of Ava, one that is not worried about Deborah because of work or ratings, but from a place of honest love, where the panic of loss sinks deep into her bones. Perhaps Ava needed to face a nightmare she didn’t even know she had. She has been growing apart from Deborah, but now, she regrets ever leaving her side.
Ava’s legs threaten to give way as she slams on the door and paces back and forth, pleading for the door to open and reveal her beloved mentor. We’ve seen Ava panic before, like running through the studio to deliver new one-liners to Deborah, but she reaches a new level of distress in this sequence.
Einbinder gives it her all, a physical performance that drops Ava’s cool pretence for a genuine, raw despair. They say you don’t know what you have until it’s gone, and for a moment, Ava sees the world without Deborah and the terror she’d feel, only further revealing the love she does have for the other woman.
The pair have become symbiotic, so when Deborah opens the door with smudged eyeliner and spikey hair, Ava collapses into her arms as if a part of herself is revived.
This moment is a blunt but necessary shift for Hacks. The show only works because of Ava and Deborah, together. So the writers needed to pull out all the stops to ensure this season ended with them reconnected in a rebirth of the show’s central pairing. Simultaneously, Ava needed to be reminded of what she’s fighting for, and the same is true for Deborah.
Seeing the reaction to her death is an enlightening moment that sparks a fire in Deborah. Brushing aside Ava’s emotional turmoil, Deborah is furious about her obituary, fuming at the use of the word “retired” and the fact that they blamed her for the downfall of the late-night show. Deborah frantically starts packing as she declares: “That is not how I’m going to be remembered. That will not be my legacy. I’m no quitter. We have some rewriting to do”
The version of Deborah who was willing to run away, take her outlawed punishment, and fall back on old material is the Deborah who needed to die. She’d been in denial in Singapore and pushed away her most loyal friend. So, it would take a wildly dramatic situation to bring the pair back together as a united front. Deborah’s death symbolises a chance for regeneration, and Ava is coming along for the ride.
This reestablishment of Deborah’s determination and Ava’s commitment occurs with the banter that has always lived under even their worst, sharp-tongued fights. As Deborah demands that Ava pack her bags, Ava reminds her she’s ready to go because of their fallout. A flash of regret passes over Deborah’s face before they’re back to business. Here, they’re stronger than ever. If they can survive Deborah’s downfall and death, then they can win back the late-night show that was snatched from them.
This concluding sequence also ruminates on Deborah’s legacy. TMZ reflected on her as a comedian whose light was fading, but she now has a chance to prove them wrong. The comedians needed a hard reset, and Hacks certainly delivers. Onto Season 5… please, HBO!
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