11/12 ForReel Score | 5/5 Stars

The three-time Emmy winning comedy, Hacks, has returned for its second season and is funnier as ever. Showrunners Lucia Aniello, Paul W. Downs, and Jen Statsky use the experiences of their former creation, beloved Jewish comedy Broad City, to expand and analyze the inner workings of female partnership. In the show, aging comedian Deborah Vance (Jean Smart, Designing Women) and her zillennial joke writer Ava (Hannah Einbinder, North Hollywood) have a deep disdain for one another. Yet, being forced to work together helps them both learn and progress though a culture that continually debases independent strong women. The show is deep and emotional, then will sucker punch you with hysterical joke after joke. Every minute is mere perfection and a pleasure to watch.

Season 2 picks up right as Deborah and Ava return to Vegas. Deb is still invigorated after her new show bombed; she’s been on autopilot for years and it makes her feel young again. Ready to get back to basics, Deborah plans to go on tour to workshop her new material, but this impulsive decision seems to have more roadblocks than expected. It’s death by a thousand cuts as she looks around and realizes there is no life for her in Vegas anymore. Deborah is being replaced at the Palmetto, losing name recognition, and her ex-fling Marty (Christopher McDonald, Thelma & Louise) is surprisingly with an age-appropriate girlfriend. The place she called home for the past 30 years, her oasis, is no longer. Even the heat she loves so much starts to get to her.

At the same time, Ava is anxiously preparing for the fallout of a drunken email that bashed Deborah to a set of TV Producers. Her manager Jimmy (Paul W. Downs) is doing the best he can, but he has a lot to handle with his assistant, nepotism baby Kayla (Meg Stalter, Star-Crossed). Ava is left all alone with Deborah, fearing every call and notification. This tension is the reason the show works, the slight hatred between our leads is what lays the foundation of the story.

Having recently been awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Smart is at the top of her game. She encapsulates this Joan Rivers type character like it’s second nature. Being angry and bitter is almost as easy as breathing for her. Every form of doubt she feels just fuels her flame to be better and prove every last person who doubted her wrong. Smart does so much saying so little, her reactions are powerful. Deb is not an easy person to deal with, she’s a bully, constantly butting heads with Ava to get a rise out of her.

Ava is entitled, annoying, and brutally honest. She feels she’s nothing like Deborah when in reality, they’re both selfish and cruel - but that’s okay because they’re funny. Einbinder’s portrayal is what gives her character likeability. There are not too many layers there, yet she is able to use that to her advantage to honestly show how many young people feel in today’s competitive world. There is a drive to call out the misgivings the generations of the past have created and shake things up, no matter how uncomfortable it makes others feel.

It is a joy to see the return of many supporting characters. The dynamic between Jimmy and Kayla grows ever more complicated now that HR manager Barbra, (Martha Kelly, Euphoria) is in the mix. Kayla is genius with lines like, “What do you want me to say? That during a company softball game I saw the full outline of your weiner through your mesh shorts, and it was surprisingly big for someone with such a high voice.” When Statler is on the screen, belly aching laughter is always expected. Other comedians set to make guest appearances like Ming-Na Wen (Mulan), Polly Draper (Stella’s Last Weekend), Margaret Cho (All-American Girl) are the perfect choices to get a similar rise out of the audience.

The cast is only a fraction of what makes Hacks so alluring; costume designer, Kathleen Felix-Hager and music supervisor, Matt Biffa, have a major hand in supporting the story’s progression. The costumes are impeccable. In watching Felix-Hager speak as part of the Variety Artisans series presented by HBO, it’s clear that she completely understands who these women are and uses their costumes to aid in advertising their personalities, taking inspiration from Joan Rivers and Phyllis Diller for Deborah. Felix-Hager explains how Smart was apprehensive of the styling at first, but after experiening the crew’s reactions, she learned to embrace Felix-Hager’s vision for Deborah Vance’s style. Things were a little puzzling with Ava, so in turn, much of her looks were based around Einbinder’s customary style, with her Doc Marten boots being a staple to the character. Biffa’s musical stylings are quite classic, featuring songs Chicago’s 25 Or 6 To 4, Linda Ronstadt’s ‘You’re No Good’ and ‘The Bitch Is Back’ by Elton John. These choices always remind the audience that this is Deborah’s world and we’re all just living in it.

All of this culminates to make a compelling and entertaining story. Hacks parallels its bombastic comedic side and this heart-breaking emotional character story to create something that feels entirely new and necessary at this point in time. Exploring the many highs and lows of Deborah and Ava’s relationship helps to reveal the landscape of a multitude of women’s continued struggles. Thriving in the tension of uncomfortability, Hacks makes itself impossible to be ignored.

EPISODIC REVIEW: "Hacks" Season, Episodes 1 & 2; All Aboard The Funny Train