Hacks began its fifth and final season on April 9 on Max, with Jean Smart playing Deborah Vance for what the network has confirmed will be the last time. [1] The season premiere attracted immediate critical attention, and the conversation since has been less about what this season is than about what it means that it will end.

The decision to close the show after five seasons appears to have been mutual — the showrunners' preference and the network's agreement — rather than a cancellation. [1] Hannah Einbinder, who plays Ava, has described the final season as her favorite, citing the latitude the writers' room took with the Deborah-Ava dynamic now that the series knows where it is going. Jean Smart ended production on April 4 on a Los Angeles soundstage, with the cast and crew marking the occasion as a conclusion rather than a pause. [2]

Hacks earns its place in the short list of prestige comedies that improved as they ran. The first season established the premise — a legendary comedian mentors a younger writer — with enough ambiguity to keep both characters sympathetic when they were also monstrous. Seasons two through four complicated that relationship without resolving it. Season five, by its first episode's end, suggests it will try to resolve it for real. That is a risk worth watching.

The awards math is obvious. Smart has won three consecutive Emmys for the role. A fourth, in the final season, would not surprise anyone who has seen the first episode. The question is whether the show sticks the landing or lets the sentiment do the work that the writing should do. First indications suggest it earns what it has.

-- CAMILLE BEAUMONT, Los Angeles