Wednesday, May 29, 2024

Forever a Hack

Since we’re pre-gaming Pride early this week (start early, trick the homophobes!), how about we talk a little about my favorite show right now. “Hacks” has always been good, right from the start. Funny, smart and a perfect showcase for the comedy chemistry and overall greatness of Jean Smart and Hannah Einbinder. But this season, after what I thought was a near perfect season last year, they’ve somehow gotten even better.

They’re taken a show already brimming with great performances and somehow upped everyone’s game by raising the stakes (and I’m not even trying to make a Vegas pun here, I swear!). No, the stakes this season has raised are about the finite nature of time itself. Deborah is getting older. We’re all getting older. The somedays of our dreams grow fewer each year, and this season “Hacks” has leaned way the fuck into this reality with Deborah’s pursuit of her late-night dreams. Sure, on her surface, Deborah Vance is a capitalist nightmare. But peel back and there’s a beauty in her realization that time is coming for us all.

Few shows have taken the time to delve into the emotions of aging. What does it mean to no longer have a bright future ahead of you? But Hacks, this unlikely cross-generational look at female and creative friendship, has done just that in its third season. As we delve deeper into what these two women mean to each other creatively and emotionally, I have greatly enjoyed finding out who these women truly are underneath it all. Only one more episode to go this season. Here’s hoping the Deborah and Ava show goes on forever.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I am so glad that you brought the show to my attention a couple of weeks ago! Thank you! I have just finished the last season, it is such a unique and great show!
Besides the emotions and dynamic between Ava and Deborah, I really loved the scenes between Ava and her mom. They reminded me a lot of the "conversations" I have with my mom.