"I don't like comedy." Everyone is trying way too hard; it's so awkward."
Damien (Mark Indelicato), personal assistant to legendary comedian Deborah Vance (Jean Smart), explains why watching Deborah stand-up — or any stand-up — doesn't move him. The second part of his statement also applies to the start of the second season of Hacks, the Emmy Award–winning HBO Max series about the generational divide between Deborah, an old-school comic, and Ava (Hannah Einbinder), the young comedy writer Deborah hires to punch up her jokes.
While season one immediately locked into its observational, wry tone, season two begins like a series that has misplaced its keys and has no idea where it left them. The show and its central creative team, creators Lucia Aniello, Paul W. Downs, and Jen Statsky, gradually regain their rhythm with each episode, and Smart and Einbinder maintain an energetic rapport that's enjoyable to watch. But, especially in the first couple of instalments — HBO provided six of the eight, which will be released two per week beginning today — there's a lot of trying too hard, and it's awkward.
Some scenes drag on a little longer than they should, as if they're hoping for more laughs than they deserve. Others, particularly those involving secondary characters such as Marcus (Carl Clemons-Hopkins), Deborah business CEO, and Jimmy (Downs), Deborah and Ava agent, have no reason to exist at all. Whereas season one narrative focus and sharp dialogue were hallmarks, season two occasionally feels aimless and unsure of the underlying points it's attempting to make. These issues might not be as noticeable if season one hadn't set such a high standard. But it happened, and they are.
The love-hate relationship between Ava and Deborah dominated the first season of Hacks, and the show is determined to maintain that tension. Deborah and Ava are on the road in the new episodes, touring small venues and dealing with the fallout from a defamatory email Ava sent to some TV producers looking for dirt on Deborah. When Deborah discovers the truth, she decides to sue her writing partner for breaching her NDA, providing the season with the plot thread it requires to generate ongoing conflict between the two. However, even Hacks admits that the device is a little thin. Damien, who is travelling with the pair, asks Ava why Deborah doesn't just fire her instead of keeping her and being mean to her (but only sometimes). "I'm not sure," Ava responds, "I guess because I'm her joke writer and I'm funny."
Deborah probably keeps her around because she loves Ava, and Deborah has a habit of punishing those she loves the most. But Deborah constant flip-flopping attitude toward Ava — one minute she wants to have a drink with her, the next she's reminding Ava that she plans to sue her for all of her money — doesn't feel as grounded in reality as the rest of the series.
While Deborah and Ava are on tour, several other characters' storylines are separated from the main one. Marcus, now single and without Deborah constantly requiring his attention, begins to spiral and shirk some of his responsibilities. Jimmy is still struggling with Kayla (Megan Stalter), his completely useless assistant who is determined to remain at his desk. But every time Hacks cuts away from Deborah and Ava to show us what's going on with them, it's as if we're being asked to pause Hacks and watch something else. Deborah and Ava are at the heart of this series, and it works best when it stays focused on them.
The good news is that Smart and Einbinder's performances and chemistry remain strong. Smart maintains complete control as Deborah, who maintains her natural confidence despite the fact that some of her material on the road isn't working. Hacks doesn't spend much time showing us Deborah sets, but Smart and the writers do a good job of crafting old-fashioned but not completely terrible jokes. "I once bombed so bad," she tells a crowd, describing a previous set, "that they put me on a no-fly list." It's not a great one-liner, but Smart delivers it with just the right amount of sarcasm to make it work.
Smart is every inch the professional she portrays, and Einbinder continues to hold her own against her co-star, handling more emotional moments with ease. There's a funny, horrifying scene involving Ava father ashes — the tour manager, Weed, played by a terrific but underutilised Laurie Metcalf, misidentifies them for a bunch of dirt in a tennis ball can — that carries real weight because Einbinder anguish is so genuine.
Hacks is at its best in these moments, when it highlights life at its most hilarious and wrenching. It just takes a little longer this time to get to those scenes. Season one was meticulously and thoughtfully crafted, with callbacks that added layers of foreshadowing and meaning to the comedy, as well as a strong thematic focus on sexism and ageism in the entertainment industry, as well as the career consequences faced by women deemed too outspoken. Season two is looser and jumps from place to place, much like a stand-up tour, without clearly addressing its broader ideas.
In that regard, the series appears to be going through the same process as Deborah: trying out new material, determining what isn't working, and changing course to see if something else will stick. She so desperate for audience feedback that she tracks down a guy who has been stalking her for years after a show in Memphis to ask what he thought of her set. "You're always entertaining to watch," he says to Deborah before adding, "I don't know, it just wasn't the Deborah Vance I'm used to." He could just as easily be referring to the second season of Hacks, a show that is still entertaining but not performing at the level that fans have come to expect.
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