Standing ovation for the “Hacks” series finale.
HBO’s Emmy Award-winning comedy series ended after five seasons Thursday night and pulled a major switcheroo with Deborah Vance’s (Jean Smart) fate.
Warning: Spoilers ahead! Do not proceed unless you’ve watched the series finale of “Hacks.”
Early in the episode, fans’ fears for Deborah became a reality, or so it seemed, when she told Ava (Hannah Einbinder) she had a cancerous mass that was spreading.
To make matters worse, Deborah refused to seek treatment.
Ava, as expected, didn’t take the news well, but Deborah wouldn’t budge on her decision, asking Ava to accompany her to an assisted suicide place in Switzerland where she wanted to die.
It took Ava some time before she begrudgingly agreed to join her friend and mentor on her “suicide mission.”
They stopped in Paris first, where they went shopping, toured the Louvre (whilst mocking the Mona Lisa) and went dancing at a club.
But when the fun wore off, Ava again confronted Deborah over her decision to die.
After being a bit sidelined for the final season, Einbinder gave an outstanding, Emmy-worth performance, as Ava tearfully begged Deborah, “Please don’t leave me.”
“I’m sorry,” Deborah brutally responded.
True to her nature, Ava gave into Deborah’s wishes and backed off.
By the time they were at the train station ready to head to Switzerland, Ava was at peace with Deborah’s decision— but it’s Deborah who changed her mind, inspired by the pair bouncing around ideas for jokes about Deborah’s death.
“I don’t have 30 years. But I think I have another hour,” Deborah told Ava, who agreed to help Deborah write the death joke.
In the show’s final moments, Ava and Deborah, who agreed to seek treatment, strolled around Las Vegas — the place where their special bond began.
Jimmy (Paul W. Downs) and Kayla (Meg Stalter) also got a celebratory ending to their story when they exposed Kayla’s dad Michael Schaeffer’s illegal activity at his talent agency Latitude.
Michael stepped down and handed over the company’s reigns to the dynamic duo, who united and inspired their employees during Jimmy’s remarkable keynote speech.
In a typical Kayla move, she refused to take the biggest office at the company, which she handed over to assistant Randi (Robby Hoffman) so she could sit closer to Jimmy.
The “Hacks” finale wasn’t perfect. There were few to almost no big, splashy moments, Deborah’s zingers were limited, and some of the supporting characters, like Damien (Mark Indelicato) and Josefina (Rose Abdoo), were underutilized.
But the ending still stuck the landing because Deborah and Ava’s relationship was the show’s magic all along.
When the show premiered in 2021, they were introduced as polar-opposite women from different generations with one thing in common: their love of comedy.
Five seasons later, Deborah and Ava — and we the viewers — realized the comedy never really mattered. Their love for each other did. And it was a love story for the ages.
All five seasons of “Hacks” are streaming on HBO Max.
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