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[This story contains spoilers from the series finale of Hacks.]
You have to hand it to the writers and showrunners of Hacks — Lucia Aniello, Paul W. Downs, Jen Statsky — for the unpredictable rug pull they delivered in the show’s final hour. Patience, comfort in white spaces, an affinity for foreign cinema — these may all determine whether you find the finale of the Emmy-winning series brilliant or a betrayal of its tone, as it coolly navigates the emotions of key players after comic legend Deborah Vance asserts her right to die. The cancer we learned of earlier in the season is back and now eating away at her body, leading her to make a final decision that impacts everyone around her. Ava, her writer, and Jimmy, her agent, are the only ones who know her prognosis and plan.
It’s not an easy hour for Hacks fans to get through. It wouldn’t be easy to watch an hour of muted anticipatory grief as any two television characters gallivant around Paris, both understanding what awaits at the end of their journey. Hacks is a half-hour comedy with detours into drama and some sentimental flourishes, but stakes this high for its two main players — centering on the main character’s death — have largely been absent from the series, aside from the fifth and final season’s opening moments, when Deborah’s fans, the Little Debbies, mourn outside the gates of her home due to mistaken news reports.
