There’s an episode late in “Hacks” Season 4 where Kaitlin Olson swoops in and steals the show. Now, to anyone familiar with her game — that is, anyone familiar with “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” and/or “High Potential” and/or the previous three seasons of “Hacks” — this should come as no surprise. Olson is an expert comic performer, able to snag an audible laugh simply by adjusting the pitch of her reverberant voice, but she’s also impressively present. She gives her fellow actors the space to cook, before reacting in kind with a special sauce of her own.
Like the best character actors out there, she knows how to make sure her flavor goes well with everything. As DJ, Olson has to be the oblivious buffoon, an incisive straight-shooter, and a guarded, slightly dented daughter. She’s always wary of her mother, Deborah (Jean Smart), whose good intentions haven’t always been matched by appropriate follow-through. But she’s growing up from her days as the wild child, and DJ’s Season 4 showcase sees her in church — not just attending mass, but doling out communion, sharing the blood of Christ, and keeping the peace. (Deborah, of course, shows up with a set list on Catholicism that no one asked for.) There’s even a kicker where we see DJ playing the organ — and what she’s playing may evoke the biggest laugh of the episode, if not the season.
Therein lies the blessing and the curse. “Hacks” has long made room for all the voices in its ace ensemble, but no one has been able to overshadow its leads, Smart (who has three Emmys for the role) and Hannah Einbinder as Ava (who should have at least two). In part, that’s because both actors are delivering impeccable work, balancing their caustic comic chemistry with course, unbridled vulnerability.
In Season 4, they still do, but the story under them falters. Their at-odds couple’s us-against-the-world attitude is upended by, of all things, reaching the top. Deborah has her dream gig. Ava is right where she wants to be. Sure, there are growing pains, but as they look out from the throne, they’re not sure what to do, and showrunners Lucia Aniello, Paul W. Downs, and Jen Statsky struggle, for the first time, finding their stars a fitting new challenge.
That leaves room for everyone else to step up — and, boy, do guest stars and celebrity cameos come rushing in to do so (none as well as Olson, though that’s hardly a fair fight) — but it also leaves “Hacks” feeling oddly adrift.
Oh, well. There’s a first time for everything, and it’s hardly a fatal flaw. Season 4 starts in the immediate aftermath of Ava’s blackmail and Deborah’s concession. After securing the “Late Night” desk — a job she’s coveted even before she was unjustly ousted from it decades prior — Deborah decides she’ll do anything to keep it, which means keeping Ava from her rightful (or at least expected) placement as head writer, in favor of an experienced hand from the old boys’ club who. Hiring a first-timer like Ava is just too risky, but it’s a risk she has to take when Ava threatens to go public with a little risque information of her own: that Deborah’s slept with her new boss, Bob Lipka (Tony Goldwyn), before landing the job.
Ava knows how it will look, and Deborah knows what it will do to her long-awaited return to late-night TV. So the unyielding comic yields. Ava gets the job, and the show goes on… but Deborah doesn’t move past it. Setting aside her narcissistic need to win every argument, Ava’s “betrayal” sparks memories of similar duplicity under similar circumstances — i.e. when her ex-husband cheated on her with her sister during her first late-night gig. Her triggered memories and bruised ego make Deborah particularly vengeful, which gives the first few episodes of Season 4 a vicious edge.
From there, without getting into spoilers, an established pattern falls back into place. Some of the expected beats are elevated by well-chosen guest stars (who I’m barred from disclosing, not that I’d want to). Others entertain because the core entertainers are too good to fail. Still more scoots by because of the hard-earned attachments we have to Deborah and Ava, Jimmy (Downs) and Kayla (Megan Stalter), Josefina (Rose Abdoo) and Marcus (Carl Clemons-Hopkins, whose role is scaled back, now that Deborah isn’t allowed to partake in her QVC side-hustle). It’s nice to spend time with them, even if the stakes are lower and the struggle is less.
Some people, after all, need the fight. They need to feel like the deck is stacked against them, and they’re going to find a way to win anyway. “Hacks” — which, in a welcome case of life imitating art, reached its own dreamy high-point last year by winning its first Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series — has done this time and time again, whether it’s when Ava initially fights her way into Deborah’s good graces, or when they hit the road to reinvent Deborah’s stand-up, or when they go above and beyond to land an aging comedian her second shot at a once-in-a-lifetime late-night gig.
In Season 4, the challenges don’t quite stack up, and there’s a reluctance on the creators’ part to really sink their teeth into the whirlwind of producing late-night TV. The ratings are a challenge: how can they win over viewers who picked their favorite end-of-evening Jimmy a long time ago? The style is a challenge: should their comedy be smart and savvy or broad and easy-going? Their relationship is a challenge, what with Deborah being pissed and Ava navigating her anger as well as the demands of an unrelenting, unfamiliar job. Some hurdles are too low (come on, everyone knows Deborah won’t be mad at Ava forever), and others are too high. (I’m sorry, but no one is solving late-night’s ratings dilemma with one good idea.)
Where things end up is equally implausible, and the Season 4 finale marked the first “Hacks” ending not to leave me eagerly awaiting what’s next. It’s not like in Season 2, when some critics thought the season finale could be a series finale, but it does invoke doubts over where the show has left to go. There are plenty of plausible ways to extend Deborah and Ava’s story, not the least of which is to continue fleshing out the very funny folks who surround them. (Give Poppy Liu’s Kiki the DJ treatment in Season 5!) The floor will also always be incredibly high, given the talent involved. I just hope there are more rewarding fights ahead, for Deborah, for Ava, and for “Hacks.”
Grade: B
“Hacks” Season 4 premieres Thursday, April 10 with two episodes. New episodes will be released weekly, for the most part, through the finale on Thursday, May 29.
