Move over, Black Mirror’s “San Junipero,” the lesbian canon just got a new classic with Hacks’ latest episode, “Montecito.”
The Ava-Deborah sapphic ship has come a long way since Season 1 Episode 7, when Ava first kissed Deborah — in a dream. “Montecito” goes full-on gay as Deborah pretends to be a couple with Ava for a weekend in the affluent Californian coastal neighborhood.
Deborah takes a nightmare, where she performs naked before hundreds of her sister Kathy for an audience as an omen about her outfit for her Madison Square Garden show. She consults her psychic, who says she has a vision of Deborah in white slacks and “sparkles up the wazoo,” which turns out to be Carol Burnett’s look for her final show designed by Bob Mackie, who says a fellow comedian, who shall not be named (one of Deborah’s comic enemies, out and proud Kelly Kirkpatrick played by a steely cool Cherry Jones), got it from an auction. To get in Kelly’s good graces, Deborah spends a weekend at her Montecito home with Ava in tow as her — get this — girlfriend.
The episode, which may soon find its way to Hacks’hall of fame, not only solidifies the Ava-Deborah sapphic theory (even if it’s all pretend), it also has some of the best guest appearances of the season from Mackie’s cut-throat delivery of the line “Deb, if I do something for you, I gotta do something for Cher. Then the next thing you know, Sabrina Carpenter is outside my door with a sewing machine and a gun,” to Leslie Bibb’s genius portrayal of Jones’ Kelly’s trophy wife and a potent distraction to Ava, who’s in a make-believe monogamous relationship with Deborah (“We know Sia”).
Their gayest time aside, Ava and Deborah work out their trust issues with the lesbian wisdom of Kelly and Monica, who, themselves, appear to be a fully realized gay version of our funny girls (I mean, hello, closet and bob?!).
This is, of course, not the first time Hacks featured a humorous yet nuanced portrayal of the LGBTQIA+ community. Here, we list down other Hacks moments that could rival the insane, laugh-out-loud episode that is “Montecito”.
Lesbian Cruise
As if a Margaret Cho cameo wasn’t enough, Episode 4 of Season 2 gives us Deborah singing “I Am Woman” and Ava giving her a lesson on queer theory. Their humiliating ejection from the cruise aside, Ava arrives at the ultimate realization that Deborah’s orientation isn’t gay or straight: “It’s egomaniac.” Ah! And Ava dancing to K.D. Lang while on molly! On a dinghy!
The Roast of Deborah Vance
Roasts originated from “reading,” a staple of the ballroom culture, and DJ Vance is its newest scholar in Episode 3 of Season 3. Deborah’s daughter is on a mission to humiliate her mom in her own roast, and to everyone’s surprise, she nails it, even outdoing Mario Cantone. In DJ’s own — and totally not copied from a joke book — words, “What a cunt!”
Republican Mommy
“Montecito” is not the first time Ava did RPG for Deborah. Episode 6 of Season 3 got her playing a caddy at a golf retreat that Deborah infiltrated to grease up the men deciding who gets to host Late Night. But along the way, Ava attracts a kinky dom Republican redhead played by Christina Hendricks. If “Montecito” had A-S-S, this episode had “P-I-S-S” and the now-iconic line, “I would happily let a socialist pee on me!”
Drunk Damien
Adjusting to being an L.A. gay is hard, drunken Damien opens up to Deborah at a post-celebratory dinner after the airing of her first Late Night episode in Episode 4 of Season 4. In his longest dialogue to date, we finally get a glimpse of the inner life of Deborah’s tragically hairless assistant, who famously said, “I need an ass the size of a house!” Damien Asada Agosto, you will always be famous.
Deborah on Poppers
The same episode that brought us Damien’s highlight reel gave us caged Deborah. After agreeing to go to a go-go bar, where she proves her theory from the lesbian cruise that gays love her, Deborah steps into a cage as requested by her fans. And what does our diva get in return? A sniff of potent poppers that sent her to the ER. Gays, do better.
Cher, or the refusal thereof
Season 4 saw plenty of star guests: Katie Couric, Seth Rogen, Rosie O’Donnell, Carol Burnett, and Jimmy Kimmel, to name a few. But one dream guest proved elusive for Hacks co-creator Paul W. Downs: Cher. At least twice in Season 4, we hear of Cher refusing to appear on Late Night, and it seems negotiations were also rolling IRL, as early as Season 1. Downs tells Kimmel in his show, “Now, people usually say, ‘I love the show, but respectfully, I don’t have time.’ And so we said, ‘Is there any feedback? Can we change the script?’ And her manager said, ‘Well, this is the quote from Cher: I don’t want to do it.’” If there’s anything gayer than Cher, it’s Cher’s absence and the press that still generates.
Frequently Asked Questions
The Montecito episode features Deborah Vance and Ava pretending to be a couple during a weekend getaway to acquire a Bob Mackie dress from comedian Kelly Kirkpatrick.
Deborah Vance’s sexual orientation is presented ambiguously throughout the series, with co-protagonist Ava famously concluding that Deborah’s primary orientation is simply that of an egomaniac.
In Season 2, Episode 4, Deborah sings “I Am Woman” on a lesbian cruise before being ejected, while Ava receives a crash course in queer theory.
In Season 4, Episode 4, Deborah visits a gay go-go bar, dances in a cage, and accidentally inhales strong poppers offered by fans, resulting in emergency hospitalization.
Cher did not appear on Hacks, as her management declined the cameo; the creators subsequently turned her absence into a recurring off-screen running joke.
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