I take it all back! Hacks season 4 is perfect and I love it and everyone needs to watch it!
Okay, not quite that, but episode 6, Mrs. Table, is an impressive payoff for what has been a lackluster season thus far. This is the kind of writing and performing that I expect from this show. I wish it hadn’t taken this many episodes to get here, but despite a wavering trust in the vision for this show, things feel back on track for real now. No more of the tentative truce that seemed present in episode 4, this time it looks like we’re going to see an actual change in the show. Episodes 7 and 8 are releasing together, so it will be interesting to see how the events of this episode impact the remainder of the series.
Ava is on the struggle bus. She brings balloons to the office for a group birthday party, only to have Deborah pop all of them. When Deborah’s guest cancels, she brings in the star of Wolf Girl, Ava’s ex, Ruby (Lorenza Izzo) as a fill-in. Ava’s desk bit gets cut when Deborah doesn’t like any of the jokes. Because of this, Ruby tells the story of Ava proposing with the ring from the show. Ava visits Emily and Dev, the couple she’s dating, only for them to break up with her because they feel like she is too closed off.
Ava’s bad day continues into the next day when she goes to the writer’s room to tell them that they will need to work through lunch, only to discover that the writers have been ordering extravagant lunches that Ava subsidizes. This time, they ordered a whole branzino fish for “Mrs. Table,” their name for a shared dish. Ava loses it, throwing the fish at the window, quitting, and then driving right through the gate on the lot.
Meanwhile, Deborah is dealing with her own issues. The show isn’t garnering the numbers that she needs, so the studio gives her a fake award to boost her visibility. Her daughter, DJ (Kaitlin Olson), is days away from giving birth, but rather than asking Deborah to come out, DJ asks her to send Josefina (Rose Abdoo). Damien is also gone, picking up a deterrent for the coyotes plaguing Deborah’s property. When she accidentally leaves open the doggie door and one of her Corgies is attacked by a coyote, Deborah realizes that not only did she not take care of her dogs, she wasn’t taking care of Ava.
Discovering that no one had seen Ava since she stormed out of the office, Deborah goes out looking for her. She eventually finds her at the beach, but only after going into the ocean, chasing a woman who was training for the Polar Bear Plunge. Ava and Deborah go to a nearby diner to warm up, and Deborah begs Ava to come back to work for her. Ava is hesitant, knowing that she’s had the rug pulled out from under her before and questioning if she even knows what Deborah’s voice sounds like at this point, only for Deborah to tell her that her voice comes from Ava. The two agree that playing to the focus groups isn’t working and decide to try to have fun together for as long as the gig lasts.
This is what I’ve been waiting for. Conflict is necessary for a show to have some kind of forward momentum, but it can also be exhausting to watch two characters you like do nothing but yell at each other. So far, it has seemed like a lot of what plagued season 3 of The Bear has been showing up in season 4 of Hacks. Instead of providing a drive toward something, this season’s conflict has simply been weighing the show down.
One of the other things that made this episode so good was the inclusion of Rosie O’Donnell as a friend of Deborah’s. She presents the made-up award, but the conversation that the two of them have before the ceremony works incredibly well. Not just because it’s two great comedians, but because of everything that O’Donnell has been through as a performer. Her career has been fascinating and difficult, and seeing her be able to confront some of that in the context of this show was truly remarkable.
Hannah Einbinder brilliantly performs Ava’s breakdown in this episode. We have seen her give some emotional performances, but this was unhinged in the best way. And her energy is matched perfectly by Jean Smart in a separate, but equally impactful scene. These are two exceptionally talented actresses, and it is thrilling to see them finally have a moment to shine this season.
I don’t know if I’m fully in the “we’re so back” camp for season 4 of Hacks. Like Ava, I feel like I’ve been burned this season, so I am cautious about getting too hyped, but Mrs. Table does feel like the turning point that I have been desperate for. Let’s hope that they don’t squander this good will!
Hacks Season 4 is now streaming weekly on MAX.
Learn more about the show, including how to watch, at the site for the title.
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