How Hacks Has Been Building Toward Its Incredible Fourth Season All Along

After three seasons, Jean Smart and Hannah Einbinder are delivering the best season of the series yet!

The post How Hacks Has Been Building Toward Its Incredible Fourth Season All Along appeared first on TV Fanatic.

How are we not talking about Hacks on a daily basis?

It is by far one of the most brilliantly written comedies on streaming right now.

It has consistently gotten better with no chance of slowing down.  

Jean Smart is a monolith of talent and charisma as the “Take No Prisoners” Deborah Vance. The woman infuses every single scene with her unfettered talent and raw authenticity.  

That’s a fancy way of saying that Hacks is funny as hell, but it’s also a quality production with incredible writing and acting. I’m starting to think there was something to those writers’ and actors’ strikes.  

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And don’t worry if you’re late to the Hacks’ party. In reality, you’re right on time. After three hilarious seasons, Hacks is revving up for its most explosive season yet.  

Hacks Is a Gut-Busting Good Time That Will Have You Rolling on the Floor with Laughter  

For a crash course in the series, Hacks revolves around the sarcastic and shameless antics of Deborah Vance, an aging comedian whose career is on the decline.  

When her Las Vegas residency comes under threat by the casino owner, Deborah’s agent, Jimmy, decides to kill two birds with one stone.  

Enter Ava Daniels, a Gen-Z comedy writer represented by Jimmy, whose career is almost as dead as Deborah’s. Jimmy pairs Ava with Jean Smart’s (Samantha Who?) Deborah to whip up new material to give Ava experience and Deborah a fighting chance.  

From there, it is one hilarious event after another as these two women hustle like crazy to make Miss Vance relevant again.  

The series is fraught with sharp, biting dialogue amidst situations that get right up to the border of unrealistic.  

Though Hannah Einbinder is a baby in the entertainment industry compared to Smart, she brings a level of talent normally seen in actors with decades of experience under their belt. 

More to the point, Hacks has consistently received an increase in viewership every single year, with the Hacks Season 3 Episode 1 Premiere reaching chart-topping numbers.  

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And if you’ve been following the show, that news is not even slightly surprising, given how things went down at the end of Season 2.  

Come For the Comedy, But Stay for the Relevant Commentary on Society’s View of Women of a Certain Age  

Part of me thinks Hacks isn’t a bigger show because of the names, which is perfect, but from a comedian’s point of view. It’s ironic satire, but it’s a little too cerebral for some viewers.  

In truth, the show is about Ava helping Deborah become the comedian she was always capable of before a male-dominated industry shut the door on women in comedy.  

It’s about Deborah, who has known endless pain, yet she’s experiencing new success in the latter half of her life.  

It’s about Ava making her mark on the world by creating comedy that can uplift people without always resorting to insult humor.  

Sure, the end of the day’s goal is saving Deborah’s career, but despite her best efforts, she can’t do it alone. No matter how much she tells herself she isn’t lonely.  

In truth, a better name for MAX‘s Hacks would have been “Imposter Syndrome” because that is how the world likes to paint successful women of a certain age.  

Oh, and in case you aren’t up to speed, Deborah’s career was, in fact, saved, but now that we’ve come full circle, it might be more vulnerable than ever.  

Hacks Season 4 Is Coming Full Circle with Everything from the Previous Three Seasons Building to This Moment  

As you can imagine, the first two seasons of Hacks revolve around a lot of road trips and gigging. It was lots of Vegas locales and cross-country touring to build Deborah’s name back up.  

At the start, Deborah just wanted her normal residency back. However, something unexpected and amazing developed with the story. Deborah started to dream again.  

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During Hacks Season 2, Deborah put together a comedy special that had an atomic bomb effect on her career, but in a good way.  

She’s more famous than ever, and people love her. Cut to the start of Hacks Season 3, Deborah discovers that the host of a late-night show is retiring.  

Now, this particular late-night show has been the thorn in Deborah’s side her entire life. It was something she desperately wanted early in her career, and she wanted it again. It’s dissimilar from Late Night with Emma Thompson and Mindy Kaling.

It’s a full-circle moment for Deborah. The one thing that has eluded her all her life is finally within her grasp, and she wasn’t going to let anything stop her from getting it.  

Sadly, she also wasn’t going to let ANYONE take it away from her, either. Despite building an incredible friendship and offering Ava the Head Writer position for the show, Deborah eventually took the offer back.  

Fearing that a younger writer would hurt her chances at creating a successful late-night talk show, Deborah betrayed Ava and ruined the bond they had built.  

Here’s the thing, though: Deborah rubbed off on Ava more than she realized. Using personal information Ava had on Deborah, she blackmailed the comedian to give her the head writer position anyway.  

So, here we are at Hacks Season 4 with Ava as the Head Writer on Deborah Vance’s Late Night Talk Show, and the two are ready to bury each other alive.  

As all over the place as the story is, it’s also one of the realest shows I have ever seen. The writers allow the characters to be themselves without forcing them into unrealistic situations.  

And, if you’re not sold yet, let me offer this last nugget of information about the HBO MAX series Hacks: Kaitlin Olson plays Deborah Vance’s daughter.  

Every TV Fanatic from the 2024-25 broadcast television season knows that name. She portrayed the main character on the hottest show of the year, High Potential.  

So, not only is Hacks brimming with endless talent, but the story has maintained a perfect pace and progression. Nothing feels gimmicky or out of place. Just good, filthy comedy.  

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Are you watching Hacks Season 4?  

What did you think of the end of Hacks Season 3? 

Love this show? We do too — and we want to keep writing about it. 

Your comment or share can help make sure we get to. That’s the magic of supporting indie media.

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The post How Hacks Has Been Building Toward Its Incredible Fourth Season All Along appeared first on TV Fanatic.