The great character actor Edmund
Gwenn, best known for his Oscar winning role as Kris Kringle in Miracle on
34th Street, may be best known for his last words. On his
deathbed he was asked what it was like to die. "It's hard," he said.
"But not as hard as doing comedy."
In typical Hollywood fashion that
line was rewritten into the punchier: "Dying is easy. Comedy is
hard." Deborah Vance no doubt knew the real quote but she also knew that
old John Ford quote: "When the legend becomes fact, print to legend."
I don't know if Ava would know these lines – I suspect she probably would have
said all of this was about the patriarchy and racism – but she definitely knew
the sentiment and by the time we reached Hacks final season she probably
would have watched John Ford marathons with Deborah.
I've spent a while delaying
watching the final episodes of Hacks which came to an end on streaming
two months ago. Not because I was afraid they'd screw up the ending but because
I wasn't ready to say goodbye. Those of you who read my columns know just how
much I love this show – it has been number 3 or number 2 on my top ten list
every year it was eligible and it's going to be one or the other for 2026 – and
we all know just how difficult it is to watch the final season of any show when
its ending. It's something any TV critic or fan gets used to over the years and
it doesn't get any more fun but its inevitable.
I've already had to say goodbye
to quite a few masterpieces during this decade: Atlanta and Barry departed
in 2023, Reservation Dogs and Somebody Somewhere left in 2024 and
even though there are still quite a few great shows that don't yet show signs
of leaving – Abbot Elementary, Shrinking, Only Murders in the Building - it doesn't make the loss any easier even as
you know great ones might come to take their place. The fact that Hacks was
very much leaving on its own terms doesn't make its departure any more
difficult.
And fortunately it didn't make
the fifth season any less hysterical.
Deb spent most of the season trying to rewrite her obituary for reasons
we weren't sure about until the series finale. She wanted to sell out Madison
Square Garden and after she managed to get a show there most of Season 5 was
adjacent to it. To be sure there were many great stories on that involves all
the other characters, which is honestly how a great comedy should end.
Marcus (Carl Clemons-Hopkins)
spent much of the final season decided to buy an old style casino and run it
himself with Deb's blessing. This led to several hysterical scenes, such as
Deb, Marcus and her staff watching 'The Housekeeping Olympics' for servers and
grading it with the solemnity of judges, Deb being told she could not have a
life-sized statue of herself as part of the introduction as well her usual
things. But eventually Deb decided to open a comedy club for young comics to
try and help them forward.
Jimmy and Kayla had to deal with
the fact their agency was going under and halfway through the season Mr.
Schaffer (I've missed you W. Earl Brown) decided to cut off Kayla's trust and
the agency had to fold. Meg Stalter has been hysterical in every scene but in a
way her journey towards becoming independent has been wonderful. By the end of
the season it was very clear she was devoting her high energy, ridiculous
talking powers for good and was becoming vital in helping Deb's career in the
final episodes.
Ava, of course, has shown the
most growth. In the final season Hacks decided that there was no point
to having Ava and Deb always at each other's throat and they spent most of the
season working together to realize Deb's dream. Ava was finding a way to write
an original comedy something she's been working on for most of the series. She
decided to reboot the comedy that had made Deb a household name at first for a
new generation and Deb said she trusted her with it, which is astonishing. It's
been clear during the season more than ever how much being a part of Ava's life
has rubbed off on Deb. During the season she was confronted with the issue of
AI using her imagery to write jokes for her, something Ava was appalled by and
for once her outrage had nothing to do with a generational gap. Deb listened,
and though it cost her funding for her casino it was clear this was something
she wouldn't have done even last season.
Ava managed to get a certain
revenge. In an episode that for any other series would be its highest point
Deb, in an effort to try and get Carol Burnett's Bob Mackie dress, tried to win
over an old rival (Cherry Jones). Ava ended up there and given their relationship
she assumed the two were lesbian life partners. Deb went along with this to get
invited to her house and Ava, momentarily repulsed, took the opportunity to
absolutely rib Deb at every possible moment, telling their career relationship
as if it were a love story, openly kissing her, talking about every single
lesbian sex position and openly trying to hit on the life partner that was
Leslie Bibb. (Bibb and Jones were both deserved nominated for Emmys for their
work.) When this all spectacularly blew up – its worth noting the other couple
were still convinced the two were lovers – the two of them had to leave with
their dresses between their legs and it was wonderful.
In the penultimate episode,
everything fell apart. Bob Lipka (Tony Goldwyn has never been more evil)
actually bought out every ticket in advance because he wanted to make sure Deb
could not talk shit about him in her first gig back in eighteen months. He made
it clear he would do this for the rest of her life if she didn't sign another
NDA. Deb, of course, told him to go fuck himself and instead did a free show in
Central Park.
This basically brought out the
best in everybody. We had another encounter with Weed (Laurie Metcalf) the
roadie who Deb famously fired in Season 2. Weed had gone on a horrible journey
and bender which somehow landed her in a motel in Juarez with an Apple TV
remote – but the TV was a Roku! (Need I mention she was nominated for
another Emmy?) She moved on and agreed to help Deb. Jimmy, Kayla and Randi (the
always divine Robbi Hoffman) cajoled a city clerk for a permit and thankfully
it was the fact that Jimmy had created a Xena podcast earlier this season that
worked. Deb appeared on every TV show in New York – and ended her decades long
view with Joy Behar – and as a result she managed to have the biggest crowd for
any appearance in Central Park in history.
By that point Ava had decided to
relaunch Deb's sitcom as essentially the story of what she and Deb had done the
last several years and it had been picked up to pilot. Everything seemed happy.
So naturally that's when the show threw a curve.
In the series finale Deb told Ava
that she wanted to go on a European vacation and at the end of it she planned
to commit assisted suicide. She'd found a mass on her kidney earlier that
season and it had spread. Rather than go through treatment she wanted to end
her life on her own terms.
Ava was shocked beyond words and
almost hurt that Jimmy had learned first. Naturally Jimmy had been asked to put
her affairs in order. Ava then decided to go to Paris.
If you think their trip to Paris
wasn't going to be funny, you don't know this show very well. It turned out
Deb's bucket list was trying to make sure Ava experienced everything. Cue
scenes of her driving a stick horribly, finally eating bread that's real for
the first time, learning how to negotiate at an antique store. It was clear by
this point Ava was leaning into it, when they wanted to go a ride she said:
"It's my dying wish." Deb looks at her. "You're dying, it's my
wish."
Deb bought out the Louvre and Ava
spent much of the tour acting like an American, saying she didn't get the Mona
Lisa. Deb just shook her head. Eventually they found a painting attributed to
Frans Haals but was actually painted by Judith Leceister who only did because
that was how it worked. Ava asked what it would have been like if Deb had been
a man. Deb said she'd done it her way. Then they went out to a disco and Ava
dressed her.
Ava then made a last-ditch effort
to convince Deb to take treatment but it failed. Ava stormed out and lit a
candle, then came back and said she'd support her. As a reward Deb showed her a
secret – Deb's hands were bigger than Ava's. This was one of the oldest jokes
between them and it was hysterically.
While this was going on Jimmy,
who'd been sent back to Schaffer & Sons in the mailroom to help Kayla and
Randi, found out something. Mr. Schaffer had been selling the likenesses of
dead celebrities to AI companies not only with their consent but not sharing
the money. He and Kayla made a power play and forced him out. Jimmy's call to
arms in Hollywood was corny but that's been the point of Hacks all
along. It's an argument for creativity and original and respecting artists in
an industry that is struggling and constricting. No one knows what Hollywood
will be like in the years to come but having watched the show I know we need
Kayla's and Jimmy's fighting for it. (Yes I would like a spinoff.)
And the thing is comedy saved
Deb's life. Just before they were heading to Zurich, Deb and Ava started
riffing on what the best and worst parts about dying were and playing off each
other. And after Ava left, Deb started writing in her notebook. By that point
Deb changed her mind. "I may not have thirty more years. But I think I
have one more hour." She decided to start doing treatment because she
wanted to keep doing what she loved right until the end.
One of the last lines of the
series was Jimmy telling Ava: "I think you saved her life once. So its
fitting you did it again." And that's been one of the secret mission
statements of Hacks. Yes the generational gap may seem insurmountable,
yes the world of entertainment is changing in ways no one can foresee, yes,
there are horrible people in every aspect of it whether its network TV or
Silicon Valley or even the people who represent the clients. But to give in be
overwhelmed by these factors is another kind of death – the death of artistry,
the death of creativity and originality, even the idea of being silenced by
those forces. It’s a difficult task and one could easily become cynical and
callous like far too many of the people we've met over these five seasons. But
as long as the Deb's and Ava's are out there, as long Kayla's and Jimmy's and
Randi's are fighting for them, there is reason for hope. And you know, great
jokes.
The last stop for Hacks is
of course the Emmys. It's a given that Jean Smart will win her fifth Emmy in
five tries and that the show will win its second Emmy for Best Comedy. Hannah
Einbinder's seems certain to win her second Emmy for Best Supporting Actress –
but the fact she only won last year shows how difficult that is to prevail. The
show was nominated for 25 Emmys, breaking the record The Bear set just
two years for a Comedy (Hacks beat it that year, remember) so how many
Emmys it will win is an open question, particularly considering it has quite a
few overlaps in multiple categories. (There are a total of five Guest Actress
nominees from the show alone.) And of course it will be rivaled in a couple of
them by the more than formidable Widow's
Bay though there is overlap between them in this sense.
Hacks has already put together an
impressive track record at the Emmys, to date it has managed to win eleven,
including multiple writing awards for Lucia Aniello, Paul W. Downs and Jenn
Statsky, the holy trinity that gives
this show life. They are brilliant in all things and while Hacks is
over, I can't wait to see what they come up with next.
My final score: 5 stars.
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