{"id":789,"date":"2026-05-01T03:11:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-01T03:11:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/2026\/05\/01\/hacks-doubleheader-delivers-a-one-two-emotional-punch-looks-at-past-and-future\/"},"modified":"2026-05-01T03:11:00","modified_gmt":"2026-05-01T03:11:00","slug":"hacks-doubleheader-delivers-a-one-two-emotional-punch-looks-at-past-and-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/2026\/05\/01\/hacks-doubleheader-delivers-a-one-two-emotional-punch-looks-at-past-and-future\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Hacks\u2019 Doubleheader Delivers a One-Two Emotional Punch; Looks at Past and Future"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\t \t \t\t<\/svg>\t\tLogo text<\/span> \t<\/a> <\/p>\n

\tIn a Hacks<\/a><\/em> doubleheader on Thursday,<\/a> the show\u2019s comedienne hero Deborah Vance is forced to look both backward and forward \u2014 to confront pain from her past, ground herself in the present with her daughter D.J. for the first time (perhaps ever), and, in the second episode\u2019s closing moments, look not toward her own future but that of her only child.<\/p>\n

\tThat these two episodes, certainly among the stronger half-hours in the show\u2019s swan song season<\/a>, are paired together is a clever play. And that the second is an Amazing Race<\/a><\/em> crossover makes the feat even more impressive: what could have been a hokey series of gags dunking on reality TV instead becomes a smart device to reunite two characters, advance Deb\u2019s growth as a mother, and give D.J. (the always-welcome Kaitlin Olson) a series-end arc that feels both satisfying and hopeful. \t<\/p>\n

\tThe gang, well, most of them, are together at the top of episode four (titled \u201cEpisode 5.4,\u201d for reasons that will come to light later), as they walk through Deborah\u2019s past, in literal sense, via the outfits, props, and sets from the groundbreaking sitcom Who\u2019s Making Dinner?<\/em>, which she co-created, wrote, and starred in with her ex-husband Frank. In a season about legacy and the mark you leave behind, it\u2019s inevitable we\u2019d revisit this far back in her history, when what might now read as a broad sitcom trope (Deb dressing as a man to open a bank account!) was, decades ago, boundary-pushing comedy.<\/p>\n

\tIt also gives a struggling Ava the inspiration she\u2019s been searching for, as she remains stumped for her next big idea. While her Wizard of Oz<\/em>-in-a-shopping-mall script is a curiosity, a reboot of Who\u2019s Making Dinner?<\/em> feels more viable. It\u2019s known IP, and she has a connection to the rights holder \u2014 not Deb, of course, but her formidable sister, played by the returning, incomparable J. Smith-Cameron. Kudos to the writers for bringing the character back, along with the conniving antiques dealer, Jefferson May\u2019s T.L. Gurley. And, by the end if the night, Ava is now locked into her final-lap trajectory. \t<\/p>\n

\tBroad comedy may be a thing of the past; pain and pathos are requisite now, and as Deb revisits the beginning of her career with Frank, she can\u2019t help but lace it with spite. Why is Frank, the one who took credit for the show, being honored more than she is tonight? Nothing will be named after her in this town, while he gets a namesake building. Just when it seems like another reminder of her life in Frank Vance\u2019s shadow, he offers a twist from beyond the grave in an unearthed interview, crediting her as the true magic behind their success.<\/p>\n

\tAs Deborah, a character that has already won her four Emmys, Jean Smart<\/a> is at her best in these moments, where decades of sidelining flash across her face or bubble to the surface. Or explode into public view, as they do here, leading her to break her non-compete clause and get arrested after the event. After that emotional journey, the laughs she earns from fellow detainees in lockup feel all the more deserved; perhaps Smart\u2019s Emmy speech this year will, too.<\/p>\n

\t\u2014<\/p>\n

\t\u201cI think that, unfortunately, the worst part of Deborah\u2019s relationship with her daughter is that when someone makes you feel \u2014 whether they intend to or not \u2014 that you\u2019ve failed, that you\u2019ve let them down, you don\u2019t want to be around them,\u201d Smart told The Hollywood Reporter<\/em> ahead of the season five premiere. \u201cYou gravitate toward people who make you feel good about yourself. The fact that it\u2019s your child is very hard to take. But there\u2019s a part of Debra that believes she tried her best. She thought, \u2018I wanted you with me\u2014that\u2019s why I took you on the road,\u2019 even though it wasn\u2019t an appropriate place for a child. Often, she thought it was better than leaving her behind.\u201d \t<\/p>\n

\tEpisode five, the much-touted Amazing Race<\/em> hybrid, is far better than it has any right to be. The writers dive into the premise immediately, packing the full arc of Deb and D.J.\u2019s complicated single\u2013mother\u2013daughter relationship into a brisk half-hour, while still moving the season forward at its midpoint. The rich backstory Smart alludes to is distilled efficiently here.<\/p>\n

\tBy the end, after some sharp physical comedy (if there\u2019s a better actress than Olson to be knocked down by a rolling wheel of cheese, I haven\u2019t seen her), it\u2019s clear that Deb wants nothing more than to protect her daughter from the ridicule and simmering resentment that shaped her own life. We\u2019ve watched D.J. edge toward that same fate across the series, and while Hacks<\/em> necessarily compresses some of its resolution, this warmer final season does right by her, leaving D.J. with the confidence she needs to finally stand on her own.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Logo text In a Hacks doubleheader on Thursday, the show\u2019s comedienne hero Deborah Vance is forced to look both backward and forward \u2014 to confront pain from her past, ground herself in the present with her daughter D.J. for the first time (perhaps ever), and, in the second episode\u2019s closing moments, look not toward her own future but that of her only child. That these two episodes, certainly among the stronger half-hours in the show\u2019s swan song season, are paired together is a clever play. And that the second is an Amazing Race crossover makes the feat even more impressive: what could have been a hokey series of gags dunking […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":790,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[456,457,2,458,85,335],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-789","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-amazing-race","category-hacks","category-hollywood","category-jean-smart","category-tv","category-tv-features"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/789","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=789"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/789\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/790"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=789"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=789"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=789"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}