Hacks season 4 has come to a close, and what a ride it has been! I admit, I lost faith early in the process, but the writers were able to pull off a solid season of television. The finale, Heaven, is a bit of a come-down after the highs of episode 9, but it definitely sets up a new season.
Deborah is desperate to find a loophole in the non-compete clause of her contract with the late night show. As someone who doesn’t rest well, she wants to figure out a way to perform. When Ava suggests that they should take time to work on new material, Deborah argues that it is hard to do that when she is unable to gauge an audience’s reaction to it. She asks Ava to give her some space so she can process everything that happened on her own.
When Marty (Christopher McDonald) sees Deborah struggling, he suggests that she should take some time and visit his resort in Hawaii, thinking that it could be an opportunity for her to relax and get some downtime. Deborah invites Ava to join her, and Ava agrees, showing up at Deborah’s home in one of the funniest scenes of the season. The two board Deborah’s private plane, and when Ava wakes up, they are not in Hawaii, but rather in Singapore.
The loophole Deborah discovered is that if she uses a translator for her set, she isn’t technically performing; the translator is. Using this, she can begin to work on new material, so she and Ava set to work immediately to put together a new set.
The plan works well. Deborah’s material is getting laughs, and she is enjoying her time in Singapore. But as the weeks pass, we see Deborah growing complacent. She starts recycling old material, even falling asleep on stage during a performance. She begins drinking heavily, and it is clear that even with the success that she has abroad can’t compete with the depression she is experiencing from giving up her dream job.
Ava pleads with her to return to the States to try to figure out a healthier way to navigate this time, but Deborah insists that everything is fine and plans to send Ava back on her own. The day that Ava intends to return, she awakens to texts and phone calls from Jimmy with the news that Deborah has died. She races to Deborah’s room, only to discover that she is alive and that her obituary must have been leaked or accidentally published.
Deborah is unbothered by the slip until she reads that they have said that she has retired, which sends her into a frenzy. Given that she has no intention of retiring, she demands that the two of them return to America to right this wrong.
Following the shock of Deborah stepping down from her late night show, it was hard to imagine how the final episode of Hacks would be able to compete, and to be honest, it doesn’t. This isn’t to say that it’s a bad episode, but it would be hard to top something as solid as episode 9. That said, Heaven does an excellent job of depicting Deborah’s depression. Watching our girl drink alcohol-spiked Diet Coke right from the bottle on the strip in Vegas was a powerful visual of how far she had fallen.
This episode also gave Ava a chance to flex her comedic chops a bit more than we saw throughout the bulk of season 4. Hannah Einbinder is so talented, and it’s always a joy to watch her get to show off, particularly in a show headlined by Jean Smart.
Season 4 of Hacks has been quite the mixed bag. When it has been good, it has been excellent. Episode 6 and episode 9 are both some of the best we’ve seen in the show, managing to balance the humor and pathos that we have come to expect. Smart and Einbinder continue to have some of the best chemistry on television, proving over and over again that women in comedy are hilarious. Getting to see DJ give birth and how that changed the dynamic between her and her mom was entertaining and instructive.
But this season also had some lows. The repeat of the animosity between Deborah and Ava felt tedious at the top of the season. There seemed to be some difficulty figuring out how to use Jimmy and Kayla best. We got to see Marcus, but his moments felt shoehorned in, not adding much to his character or those he interacted with.
Most of this is owed to the larger problem of sitcoms trying to tell complete stories in a mere 10 episodes. I repeatedly found myself wishing Hacks had a more traditional run of 22 episodes, like Abbott Elementary. Does that mean that there are filler episodes that don’t move the story along? Of course. But the collapsed timeline for streaming sitcoms means that stories are often truncated in ways that keep them from being as effective as one might hope. Characters that could have meaningful development through a fun B-plot are instead resigned to a few short moments that don’t contribute to the primary story.
This by no means indicates that you should skip season 4 of Hacks. There is absolutely enough there to make it worth watching. But it is a victim of too much story and not enough time. Hopefully, the writers will be able to balance that better in the next season!
Hacks Season 4 is now streaming in full on MAX.
Learn more about the show, including how to watch, at the site for the title.
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