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Alison Herman
TV Critic
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Courtesy of HBO Max SPOILER ALERT: This story contains spoilers from the series finale of “Hacks,” now streaming on HBO Max.
In the closing minutes of “Hacks,” Deborah Vance (Jean Smart) and Ava Daniels (Hannah Einbinder) do what they conspicuously have not for most of the streaming comedy’s fifth and final season: workshop some jokes.
The push and pull between the two women’s comedic sensibilities was once the backbone of the professional romance, which concluded its half-decade run on HBO Max this week. Ava, a television writer ostracized from her industry after a backlash-provoking tweet, pushed Deborah, a legendary stand-up who had cocooned herself in the stale comfort of a Las Vegas residency, to incorporate edge and honesty into her act. Deborah, for her part, showed Ava what it took to achieve and maintain her level of success despite cultural sexism and personal betrayals. This dynamic was drawn most sharply into focus when it was trained on specific projects: developing Deborah’s new hour of material, or launching a late-night show on a major broadcast network.
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