One thing about Hacks is that it knows hot men. Remember tragic swindler George, whom Ava fell for in Season 1? This season, we have sex worker slash magician Eli. But our big-handed girl is not the only one getting action as The Summer I Turned Pretty’s brooding Christopher Briney plays rockstar Nico Hayes, who sweeps Deborah off her feet.
What she initially thought was a PR stunt (to be fair, she pulled the first stunt, arriving at Nico’s event in a dress made of cards and easily acing two of the best line reads of the season so far: “God, I think I have an ace in the hole” and “timeless, humble sex icon”) turned out to be a real infatuation.
Deborah gets on board the #NicoRah ship after Nico asks her out on a date through Jimmy (“Stars, they’re just like each other” is also up there), hoping she could use it to plug her September 11 Madison Square Garden show. This is not her first rodeo, so she calls a paparazzo to document the night. But as the situationship deepens, this favor soon backfires on Deborah.
Meanwhile, our resident house flipper, who is also so back in Deb’s life — thank god, more hot men — Marcus takes on a big renovation project to turn Las Vegas landmark casino, Paradiso, which is in danger of being taken over by VC bros, into a cool boutique hotel casino. During an ocular, we even see one of the show’s creators Lucia Aniello play a messy realtor with a bad gaydar (“My ex? 5’5”. It’s like walking around with a minion.” Top contender for being a gaggy thing to say but also being partially a diss at her real-life husband and collaborator, Paul W. Downs, who’s famously 5’8”).
Anyway, so Deb is head over heels in love with Nico, which further mellows her down from previous seasons. She’s literally vibing to her new lover’s song as Marcus consults about his new project. Deb, perhaps a little too realistically, dissuades him, citing tedious paperwork and dwindling tourism. “That’s an awful big risk,” she tells Marcus. This is not the same risk-taking Deb we know, who toured across the country to road test her material in Season 2, or who risked everything to make her dream of hosting Late Night a reality, even if it meant betraying Ava.
Her relationship with Nico, which ultimately ends after he finds out about the paparazzo, has briefly clouded her judgment. Our diva was hurt, OK?! Diva down. Who wouldn’t be? Especially when you’ve been blocked on iMessage by a Harry Styles-type, who would later write a song about her. Played out to her favor, really.
So, once again single, on she goes to Marty’s nth wedding at Caesar’s Palace. I would have made a comparison between Deb and the fallen dictator, except she emerges triumphant in the fallout of the wedding cum FBI arrest. Ava not so much. She lost her “gigolo” over her small itch about him being a (very bad) magician. Hot men can’t be everything, I guess.
But hey! Our girlinas our once again on their own, which is, in sum, good. Even after we lose both hot men as soon as we met them, this episode.
The latest episode also shuts down the possibility of Deborah ending up with Marty, who clearly is a sub to her dom. Taking a call in the middle of the night? Falling for “peer-to-peer fraud” (in the Top 5 line readings this week)? Proposing to wed Deb to save face? Sir. “Are you sure you don’t want to be Mrs. Marty Vance?” he asks her. To which she replies, “I’ll tell you what. If we’re both single when we’re a hundred, I’ll marry you.”
That seemed to be a much-needed moment of clarity for Deb, who finds Marcus to apologize and propose to take on Paradiso together. “If you don’t take risks, you’re as good as dead,” she tells him.
“What a gift to still be taking risks,” indeed, Deborah Marie Vance.
Hacks is currently streaming its final season on HBO Max.
