Hacks recap: A juicy, propulsive second episode

The Hacks season-three premiere gave us everything we wanted when it reunited star-crossed collaborators Deborah and Ava in a hotel elevator. And now that we’ve had our appetizer, we’re eager for the main course. Thankfully, the writers don’t keep us waiting. The aptly titled “Better Late” is a propulsive half hour of television that introduces the season’s big plot arc—and boy, is it a juicy one.

After their tentative reconciliation, Deborah is making good on her promise to be a better friend to Ava. It begins, like all modern rekindled relationships, with text messaging. The two are glued to their phones like a couple of teens with a crush, chatting about everything from the stock market to podcasting to Ava’s adventures in cooking. (“Did you know you can make dressing?”)

While Deborah is shooting an ad for the Vegas Chamber of Commerce, Jimmy informs her that he’s gotten a fourth request for her to guest on Danny Collins’ late-night show. At first, Deborah is cagey about why she always turns them down, but she ultimately reveals the truth: Decades earlier, she almost landed that hosting gig herself. So the pressure is on for her to kill if she ever goes on the show. But after years of handling Deborah’s insecurities, Jimmy knows just how to change her mind. Rather than being sympathetic, he pushes back—“that’s just kinda lame of you”—then juices her up: There’s no way she won’t kill, especially since she’s got loads of stories to tell. “Rolodexes,” Deborah corrects, before begrudgingly agreeing to make the Late Night appearance.

Meanwhile, in L.A., Ava and Ruby are enjoying a round of steamy shower sex. Ava nearly kills the mood when she brings up travel logistics before her girlfriend has even come down from her orgasm. They’re planning to spend a few months together in Iceland while Ruby’s on location to film Wolf Girl and Ava is on hiatus between seasons of On The Contrary. The writers make it clear that Ruby is a great partner to Ava. Not only is she supportive, but she genuinely seems to get her, warts and all—and it brings out the best in our little walking disaster. All of which is gonna make it even more of a bummer when Ava inevitably tanks the relationship. Later, Ava is hunting for her passport in the bedroom closet when she stumbles upon an expensive-looking ring hidden in a shoebox. She’s delighted, grinning from ear to ear as she tries it on for size.

Back in Vegas, Deborah has found something new to get mad about: Turns out there’s a thriving gray market for unauthorized Vance merch on Etsy, including a saint candle with an image of her from “two chins ago.” When she brings the issue to Marcus’ attention, he sets up a meeting with Ezekiel (Guy Branum), one of the biggest offenders. (You may remember the character from his season-one appearance as a Little Debbie superfan.) Over grocery store coffees, Marcus threatens to sue the guy for trademark infringement if he doesn’t take down his Etsy page within 48 hours.

But Ezekiel volleys Marcus with a surprisingly thoughtful counterargument: He’s always wanted a Deborah Vance tour jacket, but they never had it in a size large enough to fit him. When he decided to make a DIY plus-size version and post it on the web, his entire stock sold out within a day. This gives Marcus a brainwave, which he immediately brings to Deborah: What if, instead of taking the Etsy sellers to court, they brought them into the fold? “They understand the Deborah Vance marketplace because they are the marketplace,” he tells her. And when he mentions Oprah’s “Favorite Things” segment, Deb is all in.

On the Late Night front, though, Deborah is batting zero as she and Damien (Mark Indelicato) leaf through her Rolodex of dated anecdotes. So she decides to make a new story by—what else?—playing a prank on Carrot Top. She sends a pair of fake demolition guys to his doorstep to inform him that the land his house is on has been classified as a “historic environmental preservation zone,” so they need to knock it down pronto. Just as Carrot Top is about to blow his top (sorry/not sorry), Deborah rolls up on a bulldozer, holding a video camera and laughing her ass off. She knows she’s hit pay-dirt when she mows down his favorite dead shrub and he screams, “Stop! Stop! Stop! I fuckin’ love that bush!”

Killer story in hand, Deborah and her entourage roll up to Television City to prepare for her Late Night appearance. But the producer has bad news: Danny is laid up with salmonella he contracted while going head-to-head with Christiane Amanpour in an egg toss. (Listen, we’ve all been there.) Jimmy proves his mettle as a manager with a moonshot proposition: What if, instead of canceling the show, Deborah guest hosts? The producer is intrigued, and Deb is, of course, more than game—just as soon as she tracks down her writers, whom she sent to wait outside because they have “hazelnut coffee breath.”

Between Logan, Mirya, and Danny’s writing staff, they only have one hour to throw together a full episode of Late Night. Unfortunately, none of them are remotely funny. Ideas include segments featuring Deborah guessing celebrities’ favorite sex positions (“Like, Daniel Radcliffe’s could be ‘Dobby-style’”), wearing an Abraham Lincoln hat and punching a sack of corn(?), and “something with wigs.”

And though you can see it coming from a hundred miles away, it’s no less satisfying when Deborah makes a call and Ava picks up on the first ring. When Deb actually asked if it would be okay for her to get Ava’s opinion on a joke, I felt as proud as a parent on graduation day. Then, it’s off to the races. Deborah has the eyes of a woman in love as she cracks up at Ava’s suggestions. (Jean Smart’s in-character laugh is one of my favorite parts of Hacks.) Would Ava be willing to come by the studio? Within moments, she bursts into the room with a huge smile and four coffees. Meanwhile, Logan and Mirya trade hateful frowns; they know their days are numbered.

While waiting backstage to make her entrance, Deborah stares herself down in a full-length mirror, complex emotions playing across Smart’s face like light on water. In a moment so stunning it brought tears to my eyes, Deborah sees a younger version of herself looking back at her—the girl who, all those years ago, missed the chance to sit in the chair she’s finally, finally about to take. It feels like Hacks has been leading up to this since the moment Deb and Ava met. The scene is all the more affecting because we know exactly how hard they fought to get here.

Just as Jimmy predicted, Deborah absolutely slays. The audience is putty in her hands from opening monologue to sign-off. She and Ava combined their powers to craft a perfect episode of late night. Instead of featuring a celebrity guest during the back half of the episode, Deb brings up audience members whom she easily charms into spilling their funniest, most embarrassing stories. (See: a TSA agent reminiscing about a passenger trying to get through security while wearing a “cuck cage.”)

After everyone leaves, Deborah sits behind the desk in the dusky, echoing silence of an empty soundstage, savoring the afterglow of having experienced her lifelong dream. Later that night, she gets a call from Danny Collins himself. After congratulating her on an episode well-hosted, he shares a secret: He’s leaving Late Night in a few months when his contract is up; after that, it’ll become “some other guy’s show.”

The moment Deborah hears the word “guy,” she sees her next mountain to climb. But she doesn’t want to do it without Ava, who, conveniently, is about to go on a three-month hiatus. “You have any plans?” Deb asks innocently. And we don’t even need to hear Ava’s answer.

Ava takes the coward’s path when she breaks the news to Ruby that she won’t be coming to Iceland after all, and it’s because she’s going to work with Deborah again. And Ruby sees red. From her perspective, Deborah is the monster who ruined her girlfriend’s life—the toxic boss who slapped her, emotionally abused her, and, finally, fired her ass just when Ava had finally decided to trust her.

The thing is, Ruby’s not wrong. Deborah has fucked Ava up in a thousand ways; she’s an inveterate narcissist and a master manipulator who knows just the right moment to twist the knife. It’s chilling when Ava swears that it’ll be “different this time”—the all-too-familiar words of an abuse survivor justifying getting back together with her abuser.

But Ruby never saw the flip-side of their relationship: Deborah showing up for Ava when she was grieving her dad, Deborah awkwardly cradling her as they bared their souls in a hotel pool. She hasn’t witnessed that Deborah and Ava see each other in a way that no one else can.

Like a true sitcom protagonist, Ava goes for broke and fails epically. She tells Ruby she found the ring, and her answer is yes, of course. I grimaced in sympathy when Ruby explained that it’s not an engagement ring, but a prop: The ring is the source of Wolf Girl’s wolf powers, and she’s been using it to practice getting into character. Ouch. Ruby asks for space. She’ll go to Iceland, Ava will go to Vegas, and they’ll see where they’re at in three months.

As a downbeat version of Steely Dan’s “Dirty Work” plays, Ava packs up her meager belongings and drives to Sin City. Deborah answers her door with a warm smile and a warmer, “Welcome back.” And Ava does feel welcome, until Deborah briskly adds: “Shoes off.” Has she come back home, or back to prison?

Stray observations

• Since the creators based the character of Deborah on a proud lineage of female comedians (Joan Rivers, Lucille Ball, and Phyllis Diller), it seems like a good time for a quick history lesson on women in late-night network shows. Sadly, it’s a brief one. Rivers, Whoopi Goldberg, Cynthia Garrett, and Wanda Sykes have all taken turns behind the hosting desk, but each got the boot after only a year. Lilly Singh holds the record with her two-season tenure on NBC’s A Little Late. But there’s hope: This year, CBS debuted After Midnight, hosted by Taylor Tomlinson. Fingers crossed that this one sticks.
• Our crack management duo is desperate to find a last-minute guest for Deb to interview. Kayla proposes bringing in Jimmy’s mom, who we find out is real-life Days of Our Lives star Deidre Hall. He’s deeply relieved when they don’t have to after all. But lest you’re feeling the FOMO, take heart: Per Soap Hub, Hall is making a guest appearance later this season.
• Like a true bisexual girlie, Ava wants to do Deborah’s birth chart. Unfortunately for the amateur astrologers among us, we never find out her big three signs. My guess? Leo sun/Gemini moon/Libra rising.
• While she and Ruby are in Iceland, Ava is booking them a romantic getaway in a “gligloo”—which is, of course, a portmanteau of glam igloo.
• Deborah’s boomer side is on full display this episode. She’s never heard of Etsy (“Who the fuck is Betsy?”) and when she turns to Marcus to crack down on the counterfeit merch, she hands him a giant stack of “websites I printed out.”
• Ezekiel challenges Marcus to a trivia match to determine which one of them is the biggest Vance stan: “What’s her favorite snack?” “That’s a trick question; Deborah Vance doesn’t snack. But she’s contractually obligated to say Wheat Thins.”
• As eager as I was for Ava to move back in with Deborah, I wish we’d gotten to see more of her day-to-day life with Ruby. I was digging Lorenza Izzo’s performance (not to mention her easy chemistry with Einbinder), and I feel like she never got the chance to flesh out her character.
• Guest star of the week: Luke Macfarlane (of Bros fame) makes an appearance as a shredded hunk in the Late Night audience who agrees to bench-press Deborah for the cameras.
• Banter of the week: “I knew you didn’t read the graphic novel!” “I didn’t know how to follow the fuckin’ boxes!”