Warning! This article contains spoilers for Hacks season 3.
Hacks is back for season 3 with a two-episode premiere, and from Deborah’s surprising new career move to Ava’s reconciled but troubled relationship, it’s full of huge story reveals. A year has passed since Deborah fired Ava in the shocking season 2 finale and the show catches up with them in very different places. Ava is back in Los Angeles, working on a Peabody Award-winning comedy series, and Deborah is bigger than ever after releasing her bestselling standup special.
The first episode of Hacks’ dual season 3 premiere, “Just For Laughs” – written by series creators Lucia Aniello, Paul W. Downs, and Jen Statsky – builds beautifully to Deborah and Ava’s long-awaited reunion. The second episode, “Better Late,” scripted by Andrew Law, follows the positive and negative repercussions of their rekindled friendship. Hacks’ season 3 premiere was jam-packed with big laughs, like Ava’s misguided proposal, and unexpected twists, like Deborah’s last-minute chance to achieve her lifelong dream.
11
Ava & Ruby Are Back Together
The Green Inferno’s Lorenza Izzo appeared intermittently throughout Hacks’ first two seasons as Ruby Rojas, an actor who Ava used to date. In the year-long time jump between seasons 2 and 3, Ava and Ruby have rekindled their relationship and moved in together. Ruby has been cast in the lead role of Wolf Girl in a new supernatural action series based on a graphic novel.
While they have great chemistry and seem deeply compatible, Ava and Ruby’s relationship is shown to have a few problems. Ava is too preoccupied with VR video games and her tumultuous friendship with Deborah to fully commit to the relationship. Ava and Ruby have even had to go to couples’ therapy, because Ava won’t stop talking about Deborah. There’s also a massive misunderstanding that leads to a great cringe gag in episode 2.
10
Deborah & Ava Go To The Just For Laughs Festival
Deborah hasn’t spoken to Ava since she fired her at the end of Hacks season 2. In the season 3 premiere, they’re forced to finally speak to each other when they both end up at the Just for Laughs Comedy Festival in Montreal. Deborah is there because her recently released special has made her one of the most famous comedians in the world, and Ava is there because she’s been chosen to represent the comedy series she writes for, On the Contrary, at a panel.
They don’t bump into each other for a while. Ava is networking with Jimmy at a party full of industry suits (including her own boss, played by guest star Helen Hunt) and Deborah is hanging out alone in her hotel room. But, before too long, they come face-to-face and finally can’t avoid each other anymore.
9
Deborah Has Hired Two New Writers
While Ava is networking, she spots two writers she’s worked with before: Miria, played by Dream Scenario’s Dylan Gelula, and Logan, played by Orphan Black’s Jordan Gavaris. As it turns out, they’ve replaced her as Deborah’s writers. Jimmy tells Ava that she should take it as a compliment, because it took two people to replace her. But Ava just feels insulted that she was fired by Deborah in a seemingly grand gesture of independence, only to be promptly replaced by another couple of joke-writing grunts.
As the two-episode season 3 premiere unfolds, it becomes apparent that no one (or no two) can replace Ava as Deborah’s writer. Even when Deborah has a whole writers’ room working for her in season 3, episode 2, they’re still no match for Ava’s individual contributions. She remains Deborah’s greatest collaborator.
8
Deborah & Ava Reunite In An Elevator
Since Ava is actively trying to avoid Deborah and Deborah is actively trying to avoid everybody, it doesn’t seem like they’ll cross each other’s paths at Just for Laughs. But then, fatefully, they both get into the same elevator. They share some awkward chit-chat and catch up on the most superficial details of each other’s lives. But just when they’re about to part ways, Ava follows Deborah to her hotel room.
It bugs her that Deborah didn’t relentlessly mock her appearance as usual. This leads them to finally open up about the rift in their relationship and the possibility of repairing it. That is, of course, until Ava gets distracted by the hideous dress that Deborah has to wear on the red carpet, which she deduces is because Deborah misses having challenges in her life.
7
Ava Resents Deborah For Breaking Off Contact With Her
As Ava and Deborah spend more time together, it becomes apparent why Ava was avoiding Deborah. In the year since Deborah fired her, Ava has reached out to Deborah a few times, but Deborah hasn’t called her or responded to any of her texts. Deborah hasn’t even responded to the “objectively funny memes” Ava has sent her – including one of Homer Simpson, who Deborah describes as “the yellow guy in the bush.”
Deborah asks for Ava’s help with a joke – she wants to know if a punchline will be funnier with the word “toilet” or “sh*tter” – but Ava resents her for firing her and breaking off contact, so she initially refuses to help with the joke. However, after thinking about it for a while, Ava sends Deborah a text with a single word: “Toilet.” And their friendship gets a little closer to being reconciled.
6
Deborah & Ava Start Texting Again
Hacks season 3, episode 2 kicks off with a montage of Deborah and Ava texting each other back and forth. While Deborah is out at dinner with her famous friends and Ava is hanging out with Ruby, they’re both just glued to their phones, sending each other messages. They’re getting along better than ever, joking with each other and keeping up to date on each other’s lives. After a year apart, they’re best friends again.
While Ava is thrilled to be on good terms with Deborah again, Ruby is a little worried. Ava is nostalgic about her time working with Deborah, but Ruby has to remind her what a toxic environment it was and how much therapy it took to get over it. It’s looking like, at some point, Ava is going to have to choose between Ruby and Deborah.
5
Ava Mistakenly Thinks Ruby Wants To Propose
Early on in episode 2, Ava is ecstatic when she stumbles upon a fancy ring among Ruby’s things. She immediately assumes that Ruby is planning to propose to her and starts getting into a marriage state of mind. This storyline builds to a hilariously cringe-inducing payoff when Ava is talking to Ruby and accidentally blurts out that they’re “getting married.”
Ruby is confused by this off-the-cuff remark, which Ava mistakes for embarrassment that the big surprise has been ruined. But Ruby genuinely has no idea what she’s talking about. Ava tells Ruby that she found the ring and knows she’s planning to propose, and makes it even worse by getting on one knee and doing an impromptu proposal of her own. Ruby explains that the ring is a prop from her show; it gives Wolf Girl her powers.
4
Deborah’s Late Night Guest Spot Becomes A Guest Hosting Gig
After Deborah was introduced as bitter and jaded, Hacks eventually filled in the origins of how she ended up that way. She always dreamed of being a late-night host and came really close to landing the job before being rejected, which led her to expect disappointment at every turn. Following the success of her special, in season 3, episode 2, she’s invited to appear as a guest on a late-night show hosted by fictional comic Danny Collins.
Although she’s worried she’ll bomb, proving that her rejection from the hosting job was the right call, she agrees to the appearance. When Danny falls ill, the producer informs Deborah’s team that the show is canceled and they’ll air a rerun instead. But Jimmy suggests getting Deborah to host, so her guest spot becomes a guest hosting gig just a couple of hours before filming.
3
Ava’s Reunion With Deborah Negatively Affects Her Relationship With Ruby
Underwhelmed by the ideas pitched by Danny’s staff and even the contributions of her own writers, Deborah reluctantly calls on the only comedy writer she knows she can trust: Ava. Ava is supposed to be getting coffee for her own colleagues, but she ends up spending hours in the writers’ room with Deborah, then even more time putting the show together with the crew. She’s on the soundstage watching the taping before she finally remembers to deliver the coffee.
As Ava is about to take a months-long hiatus from On the Contrary, she plans to stay with Ruby on the set of her Wolf Girl show. However, as she mulls over the possibility of spending her hiatus writing for Deborah in Vegas, she suggests just visiting Ruby for a weekend. Ruby is instantly worried about Ava going back to work for Deborah, further hinting that Ava will eventually have to choose between the two.
2
Deborah Kills On Late Night (& The Current Host Is About To Step Down)
Despite being tapped for the gig on ludicrously short notice, Deborah ends up killing in her late-night hosting debut. She conducts hilarious interviews with unconventional guests, she plays fun guessing games with the live audience, and she subverts the usual phoniness of late-night TV by openly addressing and upending the mechanics of marketing movies. Instead of making her movie star guest tell the same workout story he’s told a million times, she gets him to bench-press her on camera.
After the show airs, an ailing Danny calls Deborah to thank her for taking over the show and doing a great job with it. He hints that he’s become disillusioned with the gig and plans to step down from the show at the end of his contract. Deborah, of course, immediately sets her sights on succeeding him.
1
Ava Goes Back To Vegas To Work With Deborah
In the final moments of Hacks season 3, episode 2, Ava heavily implies which choice she would make if she was forced to choose between Ruby and Deborah (which seems inevitable). Over a cover version of Steely Dan’s “Dirty Work,” Ava is seen packing for a trip, getting in her car, and making a long drive. She doesn’t go to the set of the Wolf Girl show to stay with Ruby; she goes to Deborah’s Vegas compound to write for her.
With these two premiere episodes, Hacks season 3 has set up a clear story arc. Deborah and Ava are back together and they have an ambitious but achievable goal in sight. Deborah is closer than ever to fulfilling her lifelong dream of hosting a late-night show and Ava is committed to helping her see it through.
