Hacks S04E01 & E02

 A couple of days removed from the fourth season premiere of Hacks and recently revisiting the third season I'm happy to say the show has surprisingly lost none of it's brilliance with two brilliant episodes to start the season.

Picking up immediately after the events of the third season Hacks returns with the tension between Deborah and Ava palpable. I loved this choice of the immediate start as the moment of blackmail was such a major twist that you almost couldn't not return immediately. The artistic couple of Deborah and Ava is so central to the shows success so making the two had odds so intensely so far has given some incredible moments of drama and comedy especially. The intense prank pulling by Deborah led to some of the funniest moments of these first two episodes, I'm thinking especially of a scene where Ava is questioned by her show producer Rob (Dan Bucatinsk) having received a pair of 'panties' from her mysteriously. It was nice to see the play between these two especially in a queer lens as they speak about both characters being queer and I laughing so hard at the absurdity of the situation.

The first episodes end after all the personal comments, selfish work tricks and just the two women working apart from another we get an utterly heartbreaking moment where the two women forced to work together reveal how both have been hurt by the difficult choices that had to be made. This photo shot moment hurts me so much with both actresses performing dramatically in a satisfying way looking almost directly at the camera yet admitting such heartbreaking words like

"you know, you broke my heart"

"you broke mine first"

Having so closely followed these two women's relationship for years past witnessing them truly against one another of course makes sense yet still hurts as played so well by Jean Smart and Hannah Einbinder.

The second episode just as impressive as the premiere didn't feel as intense but had plenty of satisfying comedic beats both in and out of the workplace. I am liking this season that Deborah even though in her dream job isn't necessarily making the most perfect decisions in her dream. It's clear both women need each other to succeed based on past seasons so them being fractured is really affecting both.

While I'm happy we got two strong episodes to begin the season I'm happy for the next couple of weeks it's gonna be one new episode a week as I do not think my heart could take the heartbreak of the broken Ava/Deborah relationship so often. Clearly Hacks has not none of it's appeal now in it's fourth season and I look forward to what is next having such confidence in the cast, crew and co-creators Lucia Aniello, Paul W. Downs & Jen Statsky.