Hacks is a comedy series on Amazon Prime and hells bells it’s bloody good!
I was looking for something that my girlfriend and I could watch. Sadly, she doesn’t like horror series, which removes quite a lot off the list. So when I saw Hacks on Amazon’s 90s scroller, I was keen to give it a go. It stars Jean Smart, who is a superb actress, alongside Hannah Einbinder and Carl Clemons-Hopkins. So, what’s it about? Let’s allow Wiki to explain:
Deborah Vance, a legendary Las Vegas stand-up comedy diva, needs to maintain relevance: the head of the casino where she performs wants to pare down her performance dates. Ava is a young comedy writer who is unable to find work due to being fired from her job over an insensitive tweet. The two reluctantly team up to freshen up Deborah’s material and learn to respect each other’s differences.
Wiki
Yeah, it doesn’t sell itself very well, but trust me, this is some Grade-A material. It’s viciously funny and also very emotional and it has a story that makes you want to binge the entire season. Luckily for us we will be getting a season 2 after the show picked up a slew of awards. Including Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Writing, Outstanding Directing, and for Smart, Outstanding Lead Actress, as well as the Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy.
Jean Smart manages to portray a woman who is both powerful but also flawed. Her mothering skills are bloody terrible which is why her daughter is a complete mess. Playing her daughter is Always Sunny in Philadelphia legend Kaitlin Olson. She plays Deborah Jr, or DJ, brilliantly. And that is why this show works so well. All the character are flawed but all have very good reason to be, and you feel for every one of them.
Ava, for example, has a mother that is nightmare material and had me almost suffering panic attacks when she was on screen! And Ava is a bit of a wreck too. At first I thought she was going to be our ‘everyman’ for the show. A vehicle for us, but she is as flawed as all the others. Indeed, at times she’s the worst of the bunch!
The only things I had issues with in the show was some of the story continuity and an annoying character. We see Ava have a fling with someone who commits suicide, but the aftermath is negligible. Also, towards the end of the season something happens that left me rather confused. (Slightly spoilery warning). A character dies, and suddenly there is a funeral. The timeline doesn’t seem to add up. Ava tells Deborah that she is returning home as her dad has had a stroke, the next scene Ava is talking to her mother and we find out he’s actually died. I was like, um, did we miss an episode?
The annoying character is an assistant to Ava and Deborah’s manager. She’s able to get away with some really stupid shit because her dad owns half the ad firm. It just felt a little shoehorned.
I thoroughly loved this show. It has heart, drama and some seriously brilliant acting. Watch it!
I give Hacks a solid
9/10
All the series and all the movies couldn't put society back together again.