The Shocking Hacks Finale Suggests the Show May Be Heading in a Veep-Like Direction for Season 4 (2024)

Hacks Season 3 on Max explored Deborah Vance's ascent to mainstream fame after her successful DIY comedy special. The season begins unassumingly enough, with Deborah irritated that her fans and inner circle alike are too concerned with her newfound (A list) celebrity to be honest with her. This is what leads her to seek Ava Daniels out again, who has been thriving in her career and personal life without her. In fact, the depiction of Ava's life as healthy and balanced for a change feels deliberate on the writers' part, like she finally actually has room in her mind for something else besides an all-consuming relationship with Deborah. So, when the duo begins working together again, it feels wrong for the viewer compared to the other seasons.

Hacks has never shied away from showing multiple dimensions, from being less of a straight comedy and more of a slice-of-life show with elements of tragedy and despair in addition to humor. This season, however, turned the dial up to 11. Deborah's white whale, being a late-night host, is finally within reach again, so the tone takes on a more frenetic, desperate quality to match. And Ava, who'd been seemingly making so much progress as a person, ends up backsliding majorly by the end, making her most shark-like move yet. So how did we get here? And what does this mean for Hacks Season 4?

Ava and Deborah in the Season 3 Finale of Hacks

Hacks

TV-MA

Comedy

Drama

See Also

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5/5

Release Date

May 13, 2021

Cast

Jean Smart , Hannah Einbinder , Carl Clemons-Hopkins , Mark Indelicato , Paul W. Downs , Christopher McDonald

Seasons

3

Streaming Service(s)

Max

Read Our Season 3 Review

Hacks Season 3 kicks off with Ava now writing on a show called On the Contrary. She and her ex, Ruby, are also seeing each other again and in a good place. That is until Deborah and Ava get sucked back into each other's orbit. This is apparently a massive sore spot in Ava and Ruby's relationship, as Ava has been obsessing about Deborah since they last left each other. It all comes to a head when Ava spends her work hiatus writing for Deborah again instead of going on a vacation with Ruby, and the two break up.

This sacrificing of personal relationships parallels Deborah's storyline in the season. She learns that the host of a late-night talk show is quitting and decides to campaign to be his replacement. Meanwhile, the opportunity to reconnect with her estranged sister Kathy comes up, and she's amenable. However, she continuously prioritizes work, leading to various interruptions and cancelations of plans. While Deborah may have had some justified residual resentment, Kathy is ultimately right in her assessment that she did one terrible thing, but Deborah has done hundreds. "I’m through going to the hardware store for milk," she says, parroting her therapist. And the finale sees her cutting their relationship off for good.

Deborah eventually succeeds in her campaign for late night and invites Ava on as Head Writer. Ava leaves her job at On the Contrary without blinking, entirely wrapped up in Deborah's world at this point. Deborah thanked her by demoting her to a lesser role on the writing staff. When Ava confronts her, enraged, Deborah says it's because she's afraid of messing with the status quo at the network, losing what she's fought so hard for. Ava tells her off in one of the most brutal monologues of the 21st century, echoing Kathy in calling Deborah selfish. To this, Deborah replies, "Yes, I am, and you have to be."

Unlike Kathy, though, Ava takes Deborah's advice. She shows up on Deborah's new talk show set the next day armed with blackmail about her having slept with the CEO of the network. The finale concludes with Deborah giving Ava back the Head Writer position, stunned to see her acting so cutthroat.

Hacks Implies a Darker Tone and Direction for the Future

Another comedy series that started off a lot lighter than where it ended was Veep. Veep is about the fictional Vice President of the United States, Selina Meyer, and her quest to one day be elected as President proper. It features a not-so-lovable (but you still love to watch them) cast of characters who bend over backward in their joint effort to get her elected. The intensity builds as she gets closer and closer to the finish line. She eventually betrays, backstabs, and/or alienates the very people who helped her.

Marie Claire described the Season 3 finale of Hacks as the "culmination of all the complicated feelings — (Ava and Deborah's) loneliness, fear, ambition and rage over how they've been treated by each other and their industry." These feelings describe Selina to a T. There's a heart-wrenching scene in the series finale where she's just been elected, the Oval Office clears of all people except for her, and she breaks down into tears. This feels reminiscent of Ava calling out Deborah for being lonely all the time – not just when she has to open a bottle of champagne.

The parallels don't just stop there. The relationship between Deborah and her family is similar to Selina's relationship with Catherine, her daughter. Both Deborah and Selina neglect their family, instead choosing to prioritize their careers. When they engage with family, they don't take any interest in them and are too engrossed in their own lives. Deborah also stepped on many people on her road to the top, like her friend whose name she erased from a comedy lineup because she thought there could only be one woman. Selina does things like this all the time in Veep, perhaps most devastatingly when she sacrifices her loyal confidant, Gary, to the FBI in the finale. Perhaps in Hacks, Ava is Deborah's Gary. Hacks is streaming on Max.