I spent so long waiting for the first season of Hacks (Amazon Prime Video) to come to British screens that it is a pleasant surprise to see the second arrive so soon. I assumed we would be in the middle of a monkeypox lockdown and on Boris Johnson’s seventh no-confidence vote by the time it showed up, but here we are. Hacks managed to take the fairly unappealing prospect – on paper, at least – of a comedy about comedy writing and turn it into one of the best debuts of recent times. Any concerns that it may be insular and self-referential were quickly dispelled. It was a complete delight, and balanced its sweet and sour notes with absolute precision.
Hacks took the famous Deborah Vance (Jean Smart), a veteran standup and master of selling leggings on shopping channels, holed up in her gold-plated mansion in Las Vegas but worried she is becoming irrelevant, and paired her with Ava Daniels (Hannah Einbinder), a young comedy writer from Los Angeles, recently cancelled, who brings up composting and colonial legacies at every opportunity. It was a culture-clash comedy that mocked the generation gap, but it was much more than that, too. It was about women, work, money, sacrifice and friendship – all of it doused in vinegar. The first season ended with operatic flair, with Ava betraying Deborah by airing her well-guarded secrets to the producers of a TV show about a British politician that we soon find out is called Bitch PM. The star they say is attached to it makes me wish it was a real series.
Series two deals with the aftermath. The women’s shared manager Jimmy tells Ava to stay away from Deborah, who is still her boss. But Deborah bundles Ava into her car and takes her out on the road, on a back-to-basics comedy tour. At first, it is just the two of them. Having tanked her attempt to reinvent herself as a more confessional comic, Deborah claims to be “invigorated” by the chance to start again, almost from scratch. But the reality of starting over does not match up to the comfort and glamour Deborah has been used to, and she stumbles in her struggle to become more relevant, because she still doesn’t know who she is.
Hacks is clever in that respect. Deborah attempts to delve deep into her soul and perform material about her husband running off with her sister, portrayed as the worst moment of her life, but it’s only when she admits that her career mattered far more that she starts to gain ground. Similarly, Ava tries to reinvent herself as a sober, dumbphone-using, responsible adult, but it only takes a hint of a frosé for her to crumble back into her natural impulsive state. “You’re as selfish and cruel as I am,” may not sound like the most heartwarming dialogue, but it sums up the series pretty well. These are bad people who do awful things, and only occasionally feel terrible about it. It is such a relief that the “likability” debate – should a character, particularly a female character, have to be likable? – does not exist in this world. It simply doesn’t matter.
If this second season (I have seen six of the eight episodes) ever wobbles, it is when it is in danger of making Deborah too human. She is vile to Ava, but she’s nice to her too, and watching her be vile is far more pleasurable. That said, it’s hard to mind too much, because when she’s vile, she really is vile, and also because Hacks is skilled at making you care about everyone involved, whether that’s Deborah’s longsuffering business manager Marcus, or her daughter DJ and DJ’s cage fighting husband. If good comedy needs emotional heft, this has it to spare, and still manages to be vicious at the same time.
It certainly has range. A guest spot from Laurie Metcalf as a tour manager named Weed is wonderful, and Megan Stalter’s return as Kayla, the boss’s daughter who makes the world’s worst assistant, is phenomenal. With all the tension of wondering when Ava is going to be found out – and it is stressful – Kayla proves the perfect counterbalance. Never has the fallout from an HR complaint about sexual harassment been so hilarious.
This season feels looser than the first, which had a neat structure, a big show to work towards, and kept its action largely contained in Las Vegas or occasionally Los Angeles. This time, there is a state fair where pregnant cows are the real stars, and a lesbian cruise, which provides a definitive answer to whether or not lesbians have a sense of humour. Taking Deborah and Ava on a road trip is a good way to keep things moving and mix it up. Hacks remains magnificent, confident comedy, and I can’t wait for season three.
