How much betrayal can one relationship survive? That’s the big question HBO Max’sHacksSeason 2 sets out to explore. The series’ second season, showrun by Emmy-winning creatorsLucia Aniello,Jen Statsky, andPaul W. Downs, continues following the relationship between legendary Las Vegas comedian Deborah Vance (Jean Smart) and her young, entitled, self-righteous writer Ava (Hannah Einbinder) as they navigate the ups and downs of collaboration across a dramatic generational divide. While Season 1 saw this modern-day odd couple struggling to find common ground, so much so that Hannah was seemingly always either on the verge of quitting or being fired, Season 2 finds an even more compelling way to heighten this will-they-won’t-they-make-it-work dramatic tension.
When we leave Deborah and Ava at the end of Season 1, Deborah has, after waffling back and forth, followed through on their shared intention. She uses her final performance at the Palmetto to perform more honest material. Ava has sadly lost her father and Deborah flies to Boston to support Ava at his funeral, despite their rift. In the episode’s final moments, Deborah and Ava reconcile and Deborah invites Ava on tour with her to build a new show, more aligned with the material Deborah’s now game to try. Just as all seems good and well, Ava receives word from the British TV producers (Chris GeereandKirby Howell-Baptiste) she’d previously met with, noting that they’ve received her damning email about Deborah and will be using it as source material for their new show.
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This cloud of stress haunts Deborah and Ava’s Season 2 dynamic. Though Deborah does eventually learn of Ava’s betrayal, it’s how they then continue on in the face of this reveal that is so profoundly fascinating. In the aftermath, Deborah’s narcissistic egomania is seemingly unleashed without bounds, leaving her scrambling for comfort in her comedy and in bullying Ava, all within a familiar yet clearly different-than-she-remembered landscape of on-tour life. Deborah’s desperation to nail her new material is so honest. It’s a beautiful look at a successful woman reconciling how fame has shielded her all these years from the pain of failure and the torture of self-reflection. Being out on the road, there’s new bravery in Deborah, of a woman slowly inching her way toward a life of authenticity. And of course, her defensive resistance breeds all the hilariously cutting jabs we’ve loved her for all along.
Seeing Deborah and Ava’s dynamic on the road offers a deliciously more volatile environment for their various neuroses and vices to erupt. Whereas in Season 1, Deborah was more or less always in safe, comfortable territory, reigning queen of the Strip that she was, out on the road she is vulnerable. Ava has her own vulnerabilities to contend with, grieving the loss of her father, not to mention she’s still one misstep away from being completely broke. Both women are rawer than we’ve ever seen them before. That emotionally dangerous state makes the comedy all the more deserved, dangerous, and satisfying.
While Season 2 absolutely launches Deborah into unfamiliar, uncomfortable terrain, Ava’s situation doesn’t necessarily feel all that different. Yes, the specifics have changed as she’s now living on a tour bus with her boss 24/7 and even more on a brink of financial ruin than ever before. However, the writers are really pushing the bounds of how long we as the audience can stand seeing Ava dangling by these threads. The stress is real and palpable, but it also challenges our ability to buy that Ava would still want to be here, doing this job. Einbinder does a beautiful job navigating this sustained storyline, giving us the deliciously self-righteous moments we love her for, and leaning into the hurt, grief, and overwhelm Ava is feeling out every situation with nuance and specificity. But what’s missing in those moments is any inkling of the pure joyful catharsis we get with Ava’s occasional wins in Season 1. It’s as if the pressures of her stakes are too heavy in Season 2, that the joy more often than not gets lost.
Meanwhile,HacksSeason 2 gives us significantly more time with Jimmy LuSaque (Downs) and his assistant Kayla (Megan Stalter) as they navigate the aftermath of their heated trip to Las Vegas from Season 1. Juxtaposing a more nuanced Jimmy and Kayla workplace dynamic with that of Deborah and Ava gives the season more varied opportunities to explore themes of ambition. Kayla, especially, who really spent the majority of Season 1 peppering silly moments in here and there, steps into her own as a more substantial story driver. Making better use of Stalter’s talents is an absolutely brilliant step forward for the series.
Marcus’s (Carl Clemons-Hopkins) character arc adds even more stress and tension to this new season. Feeling abandoned by Deborah who is out on tour and licking wounds from his failed relationship with Wilson (Johnny Sibilly), Marcus is determined to be happy. He’ll try whatever, adopt whatever, stay out ‘til whatever hour, and do whatever drug with whoever. His spiral is wild and a complete 180 from the composed, cutting CEO we’ve known. Seeing his chaos is a window into how fragile this life of professional success really is. It’s an Adderall-fueled satirization of what having it all can drive one to, and it keeps the spirit of that Vegas vibe alive and well in this show, even now that the majority of the drama primarily takes place elsewhere.
This new season ofHacksalso introduces a few fantastic new characters, most notablyLaurie Metcalfas Deborah’s tour manager Alice, a.k.a. “Weed,” who steals scenes left and right. We also get more Nina (Jane Adams) and her frazzled anxiety which is always a hotbed for chaotic neuroses. Even these smaller characters are given such specific, layered attention that the comedy they inject feels true and needed.
Overall,HacksSeason 2 is a higher-stakes, higher-reward season, emotionally. The journey of pairing such generationally divided comedians together, first launched in Season 1, is now given even more interesting obstacles to navigate. In stripping away so much of the familiar and keeping both Deborah and Ava in relentlessly vulnerable positions, we get to see them scramble to survive each other, the professional world, and their own opinions of themselves. By dangling the carrot of forgiveness in front of Ava’s face, Deborah still holds the reins, and the comedy that ensues is chef’s kiss.
HBO Max’s award-winning comedyHacksreturns for its second season on Thursday, May 12 with two new episodes.
