1 of 5 | Carl Clemons Hopkins and Jean Smart return in “Hacks” Season 3. Photo courtesy of Max
LOS ANGELES, April 26 (UPI) — Hacks has been a clever and poignant look at trying to make it in Hollywood both at the novice and veteran levels. After an overlong hiatus due to strikes and health issues, Season 3, premiering Thursday on Max, is better than ever.
One year after Deborah Vance (Jean Smart) recorded her standup comedy special in Las Vegas, she is enjoying the fruits of her success. She’s a little restless, though.
Deborah’s former writer, Ava (Hannah Einbinder), is happy in a relationship with Ruby (Lorenza Izzo) and busy, if not fulfilled, with work writing for a TV show. When they meet again, Ava still is nervous despite having spent two years with Deborah.
Behind closed doors, it doesn’t take long for Deborah and Ava to pick up their rhythm. Their dialogue is as witty as Deborah’s act, but actually with more zingers per minute.
Both characters are trying to avoid sharing their feelings, but they ultimately do in their own ways.
Now that Ava has had time to work independently, their relationship is more of a friendship. But, because they are in the same industry, it inevitably keeps coming back to writing jokes.
That is an accurate depiction of the nature of a friendship between colleagues. Luckily for viewers, their business is entertaining.
There’s a codependence between them, too. Hacks is honest about it, and fortunately still funny about its characters’ most unhealthy habits.
Hacks still finds new industry insecurities of Deborah’s to explore and forces her to confront them. Considering she’s an industry veteran, there are presumably decades of them for future seasons.
And, Deborah has new career goals now that her special was a hit. She shows some vulnerability, which is all the more powerful since she’s shown how charismatic she can be with brash one-liners.
Even Kayla (Megan Stalter), the wacky assistant to Deborah’s manager, Jimmy (Paul W. Downs), gets to show a little vulnerability. Wait for Kayla’s. She’s her zany self most of the season until the opportunity presents itself to reveal her softer side.
Ava no longer is the new girl. She’s still in over her head, but has some experience now to back it up, which makes her conflicts with Deborah more intense.
The show’s writers also make observations about industry trends in the background of the plots. Hacks‘ take on how social media trends dictate the intellectual property studios green-light is clever and poignant.
Hacks is compelling television with characters who succeed despite their self-destructive tendencies, and sometimes because of them. Funny throughout, Hacks offers many moments of poignancy, as well.
Fred Topel, who attended film school at Ithaca College, is a UPI entertainment writer based in Los Angeles. He has been a professional film critic since 1999, a Rotten Tomatoes critic since 2001, and a member of the Television Critics Association since 2012 and the Critics Choice Association since 2023. Read more of his work in Entertainment.
