Hacks Final Scene This Week

It's been a sh*tty season. One thing about the Brits and the Europeans, they know when to end a show. It's not only that they leave you wanting more, they stop before the series become clichéd, using the tropes of television that have now been established over seventy five years.

Now if you're new to the show, you must know that Jean Smart is phenomenal in the role of Deborah Vance. I mean PHE-NOMENAL! Totally believable. A narcissist who has sacrificed everything in life for her career. She lives for the adulation of her fans, but she keeps them at arm's length. Like almost all professional entertainers. They live for the applause, but they don't want to hang out with those who clap.

As for Hannah Einbinder... She's gotten much better over the seasons, but she slips in and out of believability. But tonight!

If you watch "Hacks" and haven't watched this week's episode, this is when you can tune out. Then again, what I'm going to say doesn't affect one's enjoyment of the episode. But I'm going to go straight for the jugular. Hannah Einbinder's Ava Daniels quits this week.

Now there is a theme. Of her bonding with her writers as opposed to being the boss. And when she realizes they've been taking advantage of her all along, and have always kept her separate from them...she quits.

And Deborah Vance has to go to this fake awards show to promote her show... Never forget, it's show BUSINESS! Sure, there are some outliers, like Larry David and Don Henley and Dave Chappelle, who refuse to play the game, but most people don't have the balls. They're afraid of not working again. It's hard to stay in show business.

So, in the backstage area Deborrah Vance runs into Rosie O'Donnell, who is playing herself. And Rosie congratulates Deborah for improving as a comedian, when no one gets better, she says it's like a sports star, and that's when the light bulb goes off, far too deep into this season, as the war between Deborah and Ava has continued, that she NEEDS Ava. So she goes in search of Ava and finds her at the beach and the final scene is set at an outside restaurant on the sand, a veritable shack, just before it closes. And sitting there, Deborah tells Ava she needs to come back.

And this is where Ava shines, this is where we get the nougat. Deborah promises Ava it will be different, but it doesn't work, because Ava doesn't TRUST Deborah anymore.

All relationships come down to trust. And commitment.

But in this case they're talking about trust. Once trust is broken, the relationship is doomed. We've all been there, unless you married your grade school sweetheart. You've been through so much together, but when your significant other tells you this time it's going to be different...

You don't believe it. Ava can't be convinced, she's done.

Not fake done. But absolutely done. She's spent all day in her mental morass adding up the numbers and seeing that the equation doesn't fit, this is not the job for her, head writer on Deborah's late night show, she's gonna go.

And she stays with this. She actually doubles down.

Even if she did trust Deborah, which she doesn't, she's not cut out for the gig, she can't make TV for millions.

And there you have it folks, the difference between show business and art, between the middle of the road and edge.

Real artists live on the edge, they won't do what's expendable. In Ava's case she tried to play the game, but it's not her. She'd rather be comfortable in her own skin than play a role that doesn't fit.

What is so great is Ava is unswayable. We've all been there, at the point where nothing will change our mind. We're not angry, if anything we're depressed. But we're one step beyond that, we've looked in the mirror and convinced ourselves it's better to go it alone, to give up the person or the dream.

Now in relationships... Most people get back together one or more times before they truly call it quits. But there comes a point, no matter how painful, where you just can't do it anymore.

Ava is at that point. And her performance is completely true to life.

Now ultimately Deborah does convince Ava to give it one more shot. She admits that Ava has become her voice, and without her she's screwed. But Deborah ultimately seals the deal with an inside conversation. You've shared a life, and oftentimes the way you get over the hump is by referencing a common experience, a moment of connection. Deborah starts dumping on the HR person who is playing referee and Ava can't hold back from joining in and they're laughing, but...

You know Deborah will screw Ava once again, it's in her blood, she can't help herself, she doesn't want to help herself. You think people will change, but they don't, no matter how much you want them to.

Ava's still not gonna trust Deborah, no one should, not even her daughter. But this is a job. This is a show business job. And the stars...are not average people, they're incomplete, they need the aforementioned applause, it's what you sign up for.

So you go back to the Big Top for another go-round.

But we've all been there, licking our wounds after loss, picking ourselves up and refusing to compromise one more time.

And Hanna Einbinder nailed the belief, the feeling to a "t" tonight. She resonated in not only the role, but in the heart of the viewers. It wasn't phony. The system had beaten her. She'd given it her all. She admitted defeat. She'd live another day to do another thing, but not this one with Deborah Vance.

But now...

Comedy is hard. And sometimes to make it work you've got to inject a bit of pathos. As Joni Mitchell sang...laughing and crying, you know it's the same release.


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