Three episodes into its 10-episode final run, Hacks has settled into its endgame — and the third episode, “No New Tricks,” makes clear the show intends to go out swinging, wrapping its signature industry satire inside the rhythms of a classic multi-threaded sitcom while keeping its emotional stakes firmly intact.
The HBO Max comedy, now in its fifth and final season after premiering in 2021, centers on Deborah Vance (Jean Smart) returning to Las Vegas following a false TMZ death report. Determined to reclaim her reputation after a forced exit from late-night television, Deborah pursues a bucket list goal: selling out Madison Square Garden despite an 18-month non-compete clause that bars her from any public performance. At her side, as ever, is her writer Ava (Hannah Einbinder), the pair having fully shed their adversarial dynamic and settled into something resembling a genuine friendship.
Episode three tests that warmth by separating the two women into parallel romantic misadventures at a corporate Las Vegas event. Deborah cynically courts a younger rock star named Nico — played by The Summer I Turned Pretty’s Christopher Briney — hoping to leverage his fame for free publicity. Ava, exercising what she frames as progressive curiosity, briefly pursues a man who turns out to be both a sex worker and an aspiring magician.
The comedy mines both storylines expertly: Nico quickly clocks Deborah’s manipulation, and when she tips off the paparazzi on their first date, he kicks her out of his limo in full view of the press. His fans subsequently turn on her — a neat reversal for a woman who has long weaponized celebrity attention.
That dynamic feeds directly into the season’s running thread about fandom and reputation. Showrunner Paul Downs previously told The Hollywood Reporter that the season’s emotional core is the idea that “to be loved is to be changed” — and the episode earns that thesis by showing a softer Deborah respond with genuine kindness when Marty (Tony Goldwyn) proposes to her after his bride-to-be is arrested by FBI agents on international fraud charges at their own wedding.
The season currently holds a 100% score on Rotten Tomatoes, matching the show’s first two seasons and capping what critics are calling one of the most consistently acclaimed comedy runs in recent television history. The show has won 12 Emmys across four seasons, including four consecutive wins for Smart in lead comedy actress.
The lone significant dissent comes from critics who feel the show has sanded off the edges that made it sharp, trading acidity for sweetness and becoming “nicer than ever before — and all the less interesting for it.”
The series finale airs May 28, with two-episode drops on April 30 and May 7 in the run-up.
