HACKS - All In, All Done

I was a latecomer to the HBO MAX show HACKS, staring Jean Smart as aging comedian Deborah Vance and Hannah Einbinder as young writer Ava Daniels. I believe we binged the first two seasons and then watched the remaining three seasons as they came out.

The first three seasons were great, although I don't remember the details of every episode. What I do remember is that I loved the relationship development between Vance and Daniels.

Season 4 did little for me; I disliked the antagonism between the lead characters and by this time I was thoroughly done with some of the others who rounded out the cast, especially the characters of Vance's agent Jimmy (Paul W. Downs) and his . . . whatever she was . . . Kayla (Megan Stalter). Many times, I wasn't even sure why they were in the show. They took away from the time I wanted to spend with Vance and Daniels. They were the people I cared about. It made no difference to me if Jimmy and Kayla managed to keep their careers going. I did not find them especially likeable people.

Season 5 sort of makes up for season 4, but I didn't appreciate the emotional manipulation of the final episode. I won't mention what that was because I don't want to spoil the show for anyone, but it really took a dark turn for most of the episode.

Part of the problem is that I, as a particularly particular viewer, appreciate relationships between strong female characters. Watching Deborah and Ava fight was about as much fun as watching Xena, the Warrior Princess, drag her best friend Gabrielle over the meadow and through the woods until they both fell off a cliff.  (And never mind that Renee O'Conner guest starred in HACKS season 5 and there were several mentions of Xena, which I confess thrilled the heart of this old Xenite to no end.)

This show is billed as a comedy. But I never found it to be a comedy. I found it to be a drama about being a comedian, and those are entirely different things. The Big Bang Theory is a comedy. Cheers is a comedy. M*A*S*H is a drama with comedy in it. It's not a comedy.

HACKS isn't a comedy, either. It is well-written, though. Some episodes are great. Smart and Einbinder are both terrific actresses and each had their role snap in place from the first time the cameras started rolling.

It was a good show and I'm glad I watched it. I might have ended it with episode 9 in season 5 and left the emotional yank of the finale out of it. But overall, it's worth the time I spent on it. Give it a go if you haven't seen it yet.