Hacks fans have been left in floods of tears after the latest episode of season four, with many branding it one of the best instalments of TV ever.
The hit series has been met with huge acclaim since it premiered in 2021, following Jean Smart as stand-up comedian Deborah Vance, who begrudgingly begins working with young comedy writer Ava Daniels – played expertly by Hannah Einbinder.
Megan Stalter, Paul W Downs, Carl Clemons-Hopkins and Rose Abdoo make up the hilarious cast, with Kaitlin Olson, Helen Hunt and Tony Goldwyn in recurring roles.
The current season, which is airing on HBO and Sky Max, began with the relationship between Deborah and Ava completely fractured after the latter blackmailed the comic into making her the head writer for her late night show.
Following a string of pranks, devastating put downs and intense battles, the latest episode saw them reuniting in magnificent form – with Ava storming off and quitting her job after a meltdown, leading to Deborah tracking her down at the beach for a waterlogged heart-to-heart.
After weeks of the pair being at each other’s throats, viewers were left emotional at their reunion, and flocked to social media to unpack the bittersweet scenes.
Over on Reddit, Its-very-that sobbed: ‘Ava and Deborah’s make up was so needed and brought a few tears to my eye.’
‘Deborah apologizing scene made me tear up real hard,’ Neuxps wrote.
SnooConstellations19 said: ‘I sobbed. Soft, apologetic Deborah.’
Jenniferjolie posted: ‘“You are my voice” … I literally burst into tears, my god.’
Twitter user Iretomide cheered: ‘Just watched the best episode of comedy tv ever (hacks s4e6).’
Jamal MD agreed: ‘The latest of #Hacks truly transcended everything that this show stands for and raised the bar to a very raw place that is exactly what we needed as an audience!
‘Thank you for such over the top episode which was so needed!!’
‘Okay so that was one of the best Hacks episode ever,’ Bluemoon commented.
Morgie added: ‘Tonight’s Hacks episode is maybe the best thus far. Jesus Christ they’re killing me like the writing is actually so crazy good.’
Hannah shed light on filming their emotional reunion in a new chat with Variety, and explained that their bond has really come on since the pilot episode – with many of their scenes treated ‘like a romance’.
‘This relationship between the two of them is tracked like a romance. The story itself is written like a romance,’ she insisted. ‘There are a lot of layers of enmeshment between Ava and Deborah.
‘One is on that level – not necessarily romantic, but just in the space that that takes up for people.
‘Also, Ava doesn’t have a great relationship with her mom, and Deborah doesn’t have a great relationship with her daughter. It’s almost a second chance that they both get at that type of dynamic. So I think it’s just layered.
‘It’s this central relationship in her life. She’s in a place of avoidance, because she’s really scared of being hurt and giving her heart over to another person, or people.’
‘It’s so fun to play the love between the two of them,’ she added of returning to the more loving side of their relationship. ‘That’s always a joy. And we were really, really happy to get back to that.’
Hacks is available to stream on HBO and Sky Max now.
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