Hacks’ Deborah (Jean Smart) and Ava (Hannah Einbinder) are more alike than they’d ever admit. The latest episode makes it impossible to ignore, with fans buzzing over the striking (and sometimes hilarious) parallels between the two emotionally stunted women.
Titled “I Love LA,” the episode opens with one of the most intense work montages ever put to television. With filming night for Deborah’s late-night show fast approaching, the pressure builds as the staff scrambles to get everything ready for the taping. Writers finalize their jokes. The crew assembles the set. Costume designers prep outfits. And Deborah diets for the big night.
As the episode unfolds, the symmetry between Deborah and Ava’s stories becomes striking, making it clear to viewers that these two aren’t just mentor and mentee, but reflections of one another.
Meeting their Heroes
People say never meet your heroes. Why? Because you will probably say something embarrassing. Just ask the show’s two leading ladies, who both manage to point out how old their heroes are during their conversations with them.
After experiencing a panic attack during the rehearsal for her show, Debroah goes to the doctor, where she runs into Carol Burnett (an icon) in the waiting room. Deborah gushes about how much Carol’s show inspired her growing up, only for Carol to gently roast her for pointing out their age gap.
realizing deborah’s just a kid to the legends she looks up to, too 🥲 pic.twitter.com/4lnX095cq9
— jean’s glucose monitor • hacks spoilers (@mirrenelle) April 25, 2025
Meanwhile, back at the studio, Ava crosses paths with legendary comedy writer Merrill Markoe (the original head writer for Late Night with David Letterman) and immediately puts her foot in her mouth, asking if it’s weird that someone as young as her is in charge.
Deborah and Ava are fully synced on the same socially awkward frequency.
After meeting their heroes, both the leading ladies feel much better about their insecurities, with Carol even helping Deborah overcome her stage fright.
that’s really her girl I’M EMOTIONAL pic.twitter.com/1yzXp8NxUU
— jean’s glucose monitor • hacks spoilers (@mirrenelle) April 25, 2025
Celebrating the Big Day
parallel enjoyers come get y’alls juice! pic.twitter.com/xOxtP4zxo7
— jean’s glucose monitor • hacks spoilers (@mirrenelle) April 25, 2025
Now, that the show’s taping is over, it’s time to celebrate… theoretically. Ava heads out with the other writers, but after noticing their collective exhaustion, she sends them home and ends up drinking alone in the bar.
Cut to Deborah, who is sitting at a swanky restaurant doing the exact same thing, nursing her drink solo like a glamorous loner.
Different locations, same exact vibe: exhausted, successful, and completely alone.
The Visit to the ER
Feeling lonely, Deborah calls Damien (Mark Indelicato) and tells him to join her. The pair go to a gay club, where Deborah sniffs poppers and promptly passes out.
Ava gets a call from the hospital that Deborah is there (aw, she is her emergency contact). At the hospital, the two sit side by side in the waiting room, quietly watching the premiere of Deborah’s late-night show.
“Congratulations,” Ava says to a teary-eyed Deborah.
“You too,” she replies.
“So you’ll consider it? What I pitched?”“No. Maybe I’ll sprinkle in a few stories.”“Congratulations.”“You too.” pic.twitter.com/NlA4wKN5xU
— jean’s glucose monitor • hacks spoilers (@mirrenelle) April 25, 2025
accidentally catching ava laughing watching her original pilot vs checking to see if ava’s laughing watching her new pilot pic.twitter.com/gRjRIXOspG
— mike HACKS SPOILERS (@avadanielsbf) April 25, 2025
Fans immediately clocked the emotional symmetry, noting how this scene mirrors one from Season 1, when Deborah visited Ava in the hospital and promised to help her find her comedic voice. And just like before, there’s a soft, vulnerable moment as Deborah watches Ava laugh at the show, echoing a previous moment in the series.
In the end, Hacks shows viewers that even when Deborah and Ava aren’t getting along, they’re still always moving in sync.
The post The New ‘Hacks’ Moments Fans Are Obsessing Over appeared first on The Daily Beast.
