‘Hacks’ Series Finale: The Worst Part About Dying

Hacks is over, and I’m inconsolable. The final episode of the series comes after five seasons of award-winning, cunning comedy that will leave a big gap to fill for television. Leading up to Episode 10, I’ve resorted to watching interviews with the series’ cast and creators, which didn’t help at all — not when we see Hannah Einbinder (who plays Ava) sobbing on the floor after a screening. “Bawling, sobbing, heaving, weeping” is right, Hannah. And no, Hacks co-creator Lucia Aniello, it is not just a comedy! These were the best five years of my life!

The hours leading up to me watching the finale were dreadful. Thanks to the algorithm, the first things I woke up to were long-ass Instagram posts (forgivable) by cast and crew, who recall their time working on the show. Of course, I read most of it, from a writer who got her start in the show by DM-ing Aniello to the co-executive producer who reminisced about how, while he was working on the final shooting of The Good Place in Paris, Paul W. Downs, Aniello, and Jen Statsky let him crash in their Airbnb, where they, it turned out, were writing the Hacks pilot seven years ago. 

We’ve come a long way since Einbinder decided to try acting, beating nepo allegations in the process (forgiveable if you’re her, Dakota Johnson, or Allison Williams, even). Hacks, in all its short but well-lived five seasons, has also made Jean Smart — deservingly — a four-time (maybe five, we’ll see) Emmy winner for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series. All this to say that these two, and the brilliant minds behind Hacks, will be sorely missed.

What Happens in ‘Hacks’ Series Finale?

It brings me no joy to tell you, reader, about what transpires in Hacks Season 5 Episode 10, but apparently, we must (that’s the late great Catherine O’Hara introducing the Best Comedy Series, Hacks, duh, at the 2025 Emmy Awards).

The final episode opens with our big, brave girl, Ava, shooting the pilot for her remake of Who’s Making Dinner. Everything goes smoothly, the crew loves her, and when they sent the material to the network, there was all but one note: to make the women smile more. 

Meanwhile, over in Las Vegas, Deborah and Marcus’ hotel casino, The Diva, has its grand opening. And, what is a Vegas scene without its beloved, cancelled-then-uncancelled mayor Jo Pezzimenti? We also see final appearances from Marty, Marcus with her mom and Miss Loretta, Josefina, Damien, and Deborah Vance Jr. herself, whom I wish had more airtime considering what happens next (but alas she already had a full episode to herself this season in the Celebrity Amazing Race).

Over a martini lunch, Deborah tells Ava they have to take their Europe trip soon. That and her doctors missed a piece of the mass, and that it has spread. Damn, those Deborah Vance progesterone drink packets! But the part that was more upsetting for Ava was Deborah’s refusal to get treatment. This is where I start sobbing. It makes sense for Deborah to want to skip chemo as it notoriously drains the soul out of one’s body — except if you’re Samantha from Sex and the City. Fabulous big C survivor. 

“You know I like to do things on my own terms,” she tells Ava. Her plan? To go on a grand trip before she goes to an assisted suicide facility in Zurich. “I wanna go out on top.” Ava now realizes why Deborah pushed for her record-setting Central Park gig the same weekend her Madison Square Garden hour fell through. 

Ava is inconsolable. She even considers not joining Deborah in Paris. “Your whole thing is beating the odds. This is so not you!” She tries enlisting Jimmy to help her convince Deborah to do chemo, only to be told he’s tried, and she won’t budge.

Jimmy, our glorified mail boy, himself, is on a mission. After getting tipped off about Kayla’s dad profiting off Latitude’s dead talents’ voice and likeness, he snoops around just as the whole office goes into a retreat. He then leverages this to convince Mr. Schaefer to step down and hand him and Kayla the reins in the agency, which proved too easy. Soon, they found themselves back where they started: Jimmy in his glass office and (president) Kayla on her old desk (by choice).

Deborah is set to go to Europe without Ava, except she appears in the lounge right before boarding. For a second, we forget that we are losing our diva. Instead, they’re in Paris munching real bread, haggling at the vintage flea market, enjoying the Louvre all to themselves, taking disco naps, and staying up til sunrise after going to an underground club, both dressed as Ava.

Now, hear me out when I say the last few scenes are a remake of their initial meeting in the pilot episode. The next morning, Deborah wakes up to Ava’s treatment proposal plans, which are printed out in a sleepless attempt to get her to change her mind. In Season 1 Episode 1, they sit right across from each other in matching Louis the whatever style sofas. This time, they are in Paris in a luxurious hotel that caters to generational wealth, sitting right across from each other; Ava is convincing Deborah to do something for her. This time to reconsider treatment.

But her mind is made up: “I don’t wanna waste away. I don’t wanna be remembered like that.” But what is Ava if not stubborn. She replies, “But you’re a fighter!” Deborah, undone from a night of partying, looking as bare as she did when she got eyelid surgery, says, “I’m tired of fighting.” We get all the bickering that we thought were unusually missing from early in this season in Ava’s Hail Mary. When even that didn’t work, she pleads, “Please don’t leave me.” 

Just like in the pilot, when Ava doesn’t get it her way, she runs off, except Deborah doesn’t chase after her. In Paris, she finds herself inside a Roman Catholic church in the 4th arrondissement called the Church of Saint-Gervais-Saint-Protais, twin martyrs, who were known to have large hands, like Ava! She meets Deborah at a cafe, and after some contemplation, tells her she supports her decision. In return, our dying diva reveals a shocker: all this time, her hands were bigger than Ava’s. “I can’t believe you never noticed!”

Even in the gravest of moments, these two know how to laugh. Laugh they did on the train station on the way to Zurich. Deborah, who notoriously has problematic eating habits, reaches out for Ava’s croissant. “I guess the best part of dying for a person with disordered eating is having a second croissant.” Naturally, they go back and forth, riffing off each other, as they did after Deborah chased Ava off the first time they met. Ava sets off for one last trip to the bathroom before they board, leaving Deborah time by herself. She reaches for a notebook to write something.

They make their way to the train with Ava in front and Deborah trailing behind. We are all Ava, we are all ready for the train ride to the assisted suicide facility. We have accepted our final fate. But then Deborah calls out for Ava to stop and wait for her. 

“The worst part about dying is I can’t even enjoy being bone-thin. That’s the better joke.” Ava agrees, confused. They have to go now if they want to catch the train, and Deborah is just standing there. “I may not have 30 years, but I think I have another hour. Will you help me write it?” “Always.” 

A 1963 recording of “Get Happy/Happy Days Are Here Again” by Barbara Streisand and Judy Garland plays, and we see Ava and Deborah back in Las Vegas.

How am I gonna live now without Hacks? I need Jean Smart in a fur coat to hold my hand and tell me, in a supportive tone (unlike when she first told Ava this in the Season 4 pilot), “You’ll be okay. You’re a big, brave girl.”

Hacks is currently streaming its final season on HBO Max.

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