Hacks, season 3 (2024) review – The excellent HBO Max comedy is running to triumph at the 2024 Emmys

When we said goodbye to ‘Hacks’ two years ago, I admit that it was difficult for me to see how the trails of Deborah Vance and Ava Daniels would get together again after the cathartic finale of season 2, when their paths seemed to separate definitively. So I was quite excited to see what season 3, which premieres on HBO Max this Thursday, had to offer.

And, truth be told, it’s not like the return of this already excellent comedy has survived expectations. It is that, when it seemed impossible, it is overcome and offers what is probably the best batch of episodes of all they have had.

It wasn’t easy, because the trio of scriptwriters formed by Lucia Aniello, Paul W. Downs and Jen Statsky They faced the never easy challenge of not only getting the protagonists back together (well, what excuses are there for that) but also of not falling into the same dynamics of love/hate and even the same old power relationship. It’s not that these things don’t continue to exist, it’s taking them into account and evolving them.

In some ways, it’s similar to how the career of Jean Smart’s Deborah Vance is treated. If at the end of season 2 viewers could think that the television special was going to be the climax of the race, the beginning of season 3 explores some erosion in the famous…and the desire to change scenery and pursue one of those frustrated dreams of yesteryear.

Pulling on a loose thread

In that sense, in a way that I would say is quite organic, the writers decide to go for a kind of unlikely return. If you remember, in the first season one of the reasons why Ava (Hannah Einbinder) changes her conception of Deborah and her rancid comedy career was when she discovers her failed attempt to debut as a late-night presenter years ago… and from here will come the next ambition of our comedian.

One of the themes that ‘Hacks’ has navigated throughout its seasons is women in the entertainment industry, one’s relationship with fame (there is a devastating dialogue with Kaitlin Olson’s DJ) and what happens when one tries to make room in a world like late-night, a television subgenre in which the male presence is practically hegemonic. And to these factors is added that of age.

So, season 3 pulls on those threads for Vance’s new reinvention and it feels, as I’ve said before, like the natural evolution of history. That and Deborah and Ava’s need to become a creative couple again (or whatever we can define that relationship). It is not something forced since they simply realize that it is the missing piece in the puzzle of their careers and lives.

Despite getting into quite serious topics, in ‘Hacks’ They do not forget for a moment that we are with a comedy committed to making us laugh, with a rhythm of jokes and jokes that are as enviable as they are exquisitely executed not only by our protagonists, but also by the universe of secondary characters (some of them scene-stealers) and even cameos (secret, apparently) that populate these episodes.

In short, it is a pleasure to see when a series that, honestly, you would stay to watch in the same situation day after day, does not stay in its sweet moment and decides to go for more, wants to evolve and succeeds. Few do it with such good skill.

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