17-05-2025
Deborah plays angel and devil in Hacks' latest twofer
As The Bear fans scratch their heads over FX's decision to stick with the binge release for season four, Hacks plays with its own schedule, releasing the second (and last) two-in-one of the season. Previous installments of the show also focused on episodic pairings, with only the season-three finale standing alone (and for good reason), while most of season four's episodes, following the premiere, have been solo outings. It makes particular sense for Hacks to return to the twofer this week—the first half hour, 'D'Christening,' offers a nice respite but would feel too slight on its own after last week's pivotal reunion. But together with 'Witch Of The Week,' it gives Deborah a chance to use her powers for good and ill, and makes Ava wonder if she's right to believe in her.
'D'Christening' opens some time after Ava and Deborah's reconciliation, after they've injected some of their own personalities into Late Night With Deborah Vance. Thanks to Dance Mom and bits like Celebrity Strip Poker, they've managed to inch their way up to the number-three spot in the ratings. The network is delighted by the headway they've made, but the show within the show is still looking rough. Dance Mom's quickly becoming a liability, both on and off the set (and in Adam Levine's marriage). The strip poker segment is probably edgier than what the Jimmys are doing, but aside from Seth Rogen cracking wise about Louis C.K.—'I'm about to be the first white male comedian to expose himself to a bunch of women, but someone had to break that barrier'—it hardly points to the type of show Ava professes to want to make.
It does highlight just how much Ava and Deborah remain in creative limbo, unable to fully break free of the confines of late night but also unwilling to just go along with the way things have always been. The modest gains they've made with viewers are the result of trying new things, but the network thinks the way to capitalize on that is to invite high-profile stars as guests. Ava pushes back, saying they should use their platform to bolster up-and-coming comedians rather than give airtime to an alleged sex pest like Ethan Sommers, but Deborah just suggests they focus on musical guests for now. The sidestep works, but, as we can see from their physical positioning at the table during this discussion, Deborah hasn't fully come around to Ava's side of things just yet.
Ava's already taken her leap of faith, but Deborah is still hovering at the precipice. What 'D'Christening' suggests, in ways both trenchant and blunt, is that she's looking for something to believe in. Not that she'd put it that way—for much of the episode, she rails against organized religion in general and Catholicism in particular. D.J.'s decision to raise her son A.J. (Aidan Jr., naturally) Catholic turns out to be the latest round in a previously untold feud between Deborah and the Catholic Church that began with a joke on Comic Relief VI about the latter providing cover to its own sexual predators within. She agrees to attend the christening, despite her fear of clergymen and Mark Wahlberg, but from the get-go, she's pushing her own agenda. Deborah's disgust grows with every murmured prayer, but seeing D.J. take her post as a Eucharistic minister is too much. Their dustup leaves the priest covered in wine, which is worth it for Deborah's fantastic retort: 'You know, if you believe that magic, you can get your guy to turn that back into water.'
But D.J. isn't the Catholic Church or Mark Wahlberg: She's not interested in escalating her feud with her mom; she's ready to end it. She won't subject Aidan to an upbringing like her own, with Dennis Miller as a pen pal and virtually no other friends; she wants to make sure he has community. Showing better instincts in her first two months as a parent than her own mom did across multiple decades, D.J. threatens to cut off all contact with Deborah unless she falls in line. What's even more amazing is that it works. So, D.J.'s right. Women can have it all: a great job, hot husband, beautiful baby, and boundaries. Someone tell Ava about that last part.
The church setting leads all of the major players to ponder their own beliefs, with Ava first balking at then embracing being a godmother, but only after proclaiming that she doesn't 'fuck with' church dogma or misogyny; Marcus realizing he's his own higher power, at least, when it comes to how he spends his time; and D.J. admitting that the natural beauty of the world has opened up her mind to the divine. It's enough to make Deborah, who might previously have been confident in her lack of belief, suddenly feel its absence. She confesses to Ava that she's worried about being disconnected from her grandson—even if D.J. allows 'regular contact' with him, they live in separate states, and the late-night job is all-consuming. Ava tries to reassure Deborah about the legacy she's leaving behind, sneaking in her own gentle reminder about the importance of making the best show they can.
At the end of 'D'Christening,' it looks like Deborah sees the light as she invites Ahamed Weinberg to do a set on her show. And for much of 'Witch Of The Week,' she seems committed to being on the same page as Ava. She's charming at lunch and conciliatory in one-on-ones. Instead of taking advantage of her friendship with Jo Pezzimenti to take shots at her with precision in the opening monologue, she takes advantage of their friendship to, as Ava suggests, nab an exclusive interview with the mayor, post-orgy scandal. Jo is more wry than rueful on the couch, crushing jokes about not looking for wedding rings when so many hands are involved and reminding the audience that she's the mayor of Sin City, after all.
Their bold move pays off, with the interview racking up 1.5 million views across platforms. More importantly, it births a whole new strategy for the show: Ditch the topical angle and focus on original ideas that show off Deborah's strengths as an interviewer and performer. The air fairly crackles as they brainstorm. (It's not for nothing that they sit side by side in this scene.) Instead of bringing on twentysomethings with injectable fillers who Deborah has to pretend to be charmed by, they'll invite her plastic surgeon to give them the dirt on who's been, let's say, freshened up. 'We need our show to be more of an event,' Ava tells Rob. So, they'll tape a day early, which will cost them the news cycle but will give them time to cut promos that properly tease what Late Night With Deborah Vance has to offer. Deborah declares, 'It's time to show people that what's different about this show is not just the fact that the host wears a skirt,' at long last answering my prayers for the show-within-the-show to fully come into view.
The timing is right for an extended look at Late Night With Deborah Vance—there's no more hesitation on either lead's part, and they're finally presenting a united front. Hacks' flurry of clips do tease a show that's more interesting than the usual 'tell us about your latest project and weave in a charming anecdote if you can' format, even if it's skewing toward daytime, what with the plastic surgeon and psychic guests. The problem is that the show they've been dreaming of making still seems so…ordinary. Deborah and Ava's changes might propel them to the number-one spot in late night, with all the bragging rights and billboards that come with that distinction, but it still feels like something's missing. Once again, it's hard to tell if that's a narrative choice—a way to extend the suspense or point to some unresolved issue—or something lacking in the writing. Despite being Deborah's white whale, the late-night show seems like just a pit stop on her journey with Ava rather than the endpoint. 'Well, duh,' you say, and I don't disagree; the relationship between Deborah and Ava is the main attraction, not whatever job they're doing at the moment. But for me, their relationship is rooted in a creative partnership, a belief bolstered by the week's motifs of birth and motherhood. What is their show if not their baby? So, when that partnership lacks inspiration, it's harder to invest in it.
But maybe I'm speaking too soon, because 'Witch Of The Week' boasts a devious cliffhanger. 'D'Christening' ends on a sweet note, with D.J. telling Ava that the reason she picked her to be Aidan Jr.'s godmother is because she's found the good in Deborah, and she believes in her. D.J. will always be skeptical of that side of her mother, but she wants her son to be a believer too. 'Witch Of The Week' is more tart in comparison. Deborah, just hours after tipping her hat to Winnie for backing her bid to host Late Night, asks Bob Lipka to get the studio executive off her back. 'I would just like a little goodwill. I got to number one; haven't I earned that?' she says, with just the right mix of frustration and flirtiness. The next day on set, the news breaks that Winnie's been fired. Bob really seems to have 'heard' Deborah.
While the new queen of late night cackles and basks in the admiration of the studio audience, Ava tries to force a smile but ends up looking concerned. Just last night, Deborah said she wished Winnie would get out of her way. Deborah plays innocent, of course, and it's not as if Ava has a reason to suspect her of any wrongdoing—aside from their entire history, that is. That delightful frisson of shared doubt, of Ava wondering if Deborah would go to such lengths and the audience questioning if Deborah knew exactly what she was doing when she called Bob, comes late in the hour. But it's worth it.
• Although the late-night elements didn't come together for me, this was the week for throwaway lines. See: 'I had to park illegally at the Museum Of Tolerance. But if they have me towed, that is the height of hypocrisy' and just about everything Kayla and Dance Mom said.
• 'I'm newly allergic to shrimp,' 'I think I got sick from the thermometer'—Ava's medical mysteries deepen.
• Deborah's ever-growing enemies list also includes Nora Ephron, who once called her a 'bitch.' But in the late rom-com legend's defense, Deborah 'was being a bitch.'
• 'Honey, are you still waiting to meet Leonardo DiCaprio to have a child? Because I've been reading some of your old diaries and I think there's something to that.' I love how supportive, if delusional, Nina (a wonderfully kooky Jane Adams) is as Ava's mom.
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