This story contains spoilers for the fifth installment of HBO Max’s second season “Hacks”.
One of the best things about hacks is when a scene or story starts out offensive and ridiculous – and until your stomach heals even with laughter, something destructive destroys it.
This is the microcosm of the show itself. Initially, “Hacks” is a dark comedy about the incompatible collaboration between legendary comedian Deborah Vance (Gene Smart) and her writing assistant Ava Daniels (Hannah Einbinder). The show’s humorous brilliance is the reason for clear and exciting revelations about how often women are in the public eye. Unfairly insulted and turned into a blow.
This continuous mix of comedy and tragedy is particularly noticeable in the two episodes of the first season, reflecting Deborah and Ava’s creative partnership and the show as a whole. In “New Eyes,” Deborah, who stood up after eye surgery, revealed that one of her signature jokes was actually based on a lie, because she realized the joke itself would be what the audience wanted. In “1.69 Million,” Deborah offers a sexist and adventurous man $ 1.69 million to a comedy club host who will never step on stage again.
The fifth stage The second season of the show“Retired” is another encapsulation of why “Hacks” is one of the best TV shows today. At first glance, the premise of the episode is ridiculous. Deborah, who spent the touring season in Las Vegas after completing her residency, is no mess. Her latest gig: a performance at the state market in the Midwest, where she stands on stage giving birth to a cow. This extreme frustration, and Deborah meeting an old acquaintance who has retired from gaming and lived a simpler, happier life than hers, yields some deeper moments.
In an interview, “Hacks” creators and showers Lucia Aniello, Paul Downs and Jen Statski explained what inspired the episode, which aired Thursday on HBO Max.
“We talked about the cow that has fallen into the state market,” Downs said, describing the idea generation process earlier in the season with the program’s writers and consultants. “We know this is a big insult. Deborah Vance decided on a date in the first season. For the second season, start at the beginning. If so the thought yun His mouth, really hit him.
Another major topic they wanted to explore was how “it’s fun to do creative work when you meet someone who doesn’t pursue it” – especially for a generation of Deborah’s comedians, “when there’s really only one place for isa. “A woman,” Downs said.
Enter Susan (Harriet Sansom Harris), who starred in a play with Deborah. But she left after a great career where Deborah got into the final round and didn’t. At the beginning of Thursday’s episode, Deborah met Susan at Lord & Taylor, where she now works in the shoe department, and invited her and her grandchildren to the state market.
The usually uncomfortable Deborah seemed shocked at the interaction. He told Ava that he was always guilty, “when I meet one of those people who doesn’t achieve this goal.” He then revealed that he may have been responsible for Susan’s retirement: In this competition, Deborah removed Susan’s name from the shortlist so that Deborah would be the only woman selected to advance.
In the state market, Deborah shared her crime, in the manner of a typical Deborah. When Ava offered Deborah to apologize to Susan, she said: In Lucille Bluetooth style: “no no no. I will take care of him and his family for a day he will never forget. I mean, so much? Forty -seven dollars? ”But instead of having fun with Susan and her grandchildren, Deborah becomes overly competitive in the gun game and rejoices when she wins.
Later, in addition to Dzabri’s cake, Susan told Deborah that her decision to leave the play was inappropriate for this competition. This was because he realized he didn’t want Deborah’s life and he didn’t think he had the stamina to do that.
“We thought it was a really cool thing to look at both from Deborah’s point of view – someone who’s a shark and loyal to her craft – and from the point of view of someone who said,‘ I just don’t want to. to do so. ‘ He. “Maybe I can’t,” Downs said. “Also, what’s behind the choices a person makes in life?” What does it take to “do” and what does it mean to do well – if does this mean you are mentally ill? What sacrifices do we all make in any career? “
According to Aniello, to build the dynamics between Deborah and Susan, the show’s writers thought about people in their lives who gave up on comedy for various reasons, “and wondered who made the right choice. at [who] He made the wrong choice. ”
“This raises the question, ‘Am I happy with what happened to me?’ I think success for everyone, whether professional, commercial or otherwise, necessarily equates to “Oh, I’m happy now,” Aniello said. “This is what everyone in the writer’s room looks like: ‘Oh, yes, that’s what I’ve experienced: people who don’t make jokes anymore.’ Here’s how I feel about it. Everyone had a perspective. “
When Deborah asked Susan if she could miss a play, Susan said she sometimes thinks about it, for example, when one of their colleagues has a guest spot as Patient of the Week on “Gray’s Anatomy.”
“I think,‘ Well, I could have been happier than that, ’” Susan said.
“I think it has to do with the fact that sometimes he would say,‘ What would my life be like in an alternative term? ’” Downs said. I have a career ”- which he thoroughly enjoyed and later said:“ I like the job. “
Loyalty to one’s purpose is the main theme of the episode. Trying to kill time on set Deborah, Ava and Marcus (Carl Clemons-Hopkins), Deborah’s tireless and hard-working CEO, take their own cartoons. Looking for inspiration, the cartoonist asked them what their hobby was. They both find it difficult to give an answer that has nothing to do with their work. For good or bad, Deborah, Ava, Marcus and everyone who works at Deborah can’t get rid of their identity in their work. I’m like that.
Everything was perfect in the last scene of the episode, when Deborah and Ava relax by the hotel pool. Ava tries to reassure Deborah by saying “someone will stand in your position” because of the cow birth. Deborah said that “no one at my level could be in this position” – the legendary comedian had to start at the beginning and go to the state markets. He wonders if he should leave before he has the advantage. Ava tells him it’s nonsense: Deborah won’t stop working.
“I’m like that too. I can’t turn it off,” Ava said. “And nothing is more important, though.”
Example: They can’t stop a clever joke about Deborah’s business manager deception. Deborah offers to relax and clear their minds with Ava’s swimming lessons and of course that’s where they finally met the perfect punchline.
Ava’s statement is “something that, for me, is really personal, and that I connect with a lot of people and I’m sure people will connect, whether in comedy or any other creative industry,” Downs said. “Right now, they have a turning point. For them, this is a very powerful thing. So I hope people respond to it because it really speaks to me. “
In the final moments of the episode, Ava has a victory. When Deborah recorded a punchline so they wouldn’t forget, she let Ava, who she found out she swam successfully. It was funny and very typical for Deborah to leave Ava hanging. (In Season 1 he left Ava when their car broke down in the desert).
“Their relationship was Deborah teaching Ava how to exist independently and Deborah wasn’t there to help her when she sank,” he said. “Then you have to make sure you can swim.”
The second season of “Hacks” is now airing on HBO Max, with two new episodes airing every Thursday.
Source: Huffpost
