Ava and Deborah Take Singapore in the <i>Hacks</i> Season 4 Finale

Spoilers below.

This season of Hacks has revolved around repairing Ava and Deborah’s relationship after Ava blackmailed Deborah to become the head writer on Deborah’s show last season. The season finale opens after the shocking ninth episode saw Deborah quit her job on air, walking away from her decades-long dream of hosting a late night show. When studio head Bob (Tony Goldwyn) tells Deborah that she must fire Ava because she revealed that the studio appeased a violent guest, she’s willing to leave the show. She’s finally showing her appreciation for Ava in a way Ava always wanted, but what she didn’t realize was that her noncompete means that she’ll be unable to perform in any capacity for the next 18 months.

It’s incredibly difficult to believe that a Hollywood veteran wouldn’t realize that studio contracts are typically pretty ironclad, but somehow it seems that Deborah has. She meets with a small-time lawyer (Teddy Margas) who seems shocked that she’d be willing to hire him. He wasn’t her first choice, we learn. She’s fired her lawyers and gone through several more firms hoping someone could find a way for her to legally perform. Alas, the lawyer agrees with everyone else. There’s no way for Deborah to perform without breaching her contract.

Hannah Einbinder as Ava.

Realizing that it was her impulsive mistake that created Deborah’s situation, Ava takes her own approach to getting Deborah’s career back. She suggests to Jimmy (Paul W. Downs) that perhaps offering sexual favors to the head of the network might entice him to give Deborah a break. Jimmy tells her that that’s unlikely and he suggests that a better route would be to help Deborah write new material. Alternately, she could work with Greta Gerwig to pitch ideas for her upcoming adaptation of Catcher in the Rye. (The twist is going to be a gender flip.)

Deborah and Ava have a discouraging meeting at her house where Deborah turns down her suggestion that they spend 18 months writing intensely so that the minute that Deborah’s allowed to perform again, she’ll have amazing material ready to go. Deborah needs an audience, she explains. There’s no way for her to understand what material works without the feedback that a crowd can provide. “If I’m not on that stage, I have nothing,” she says.

Dejected, Deborah returns to Las Vegas where she spends time with her new grandson. She speaks with him as if he were a talk show guest, making it clear how much she misses her job. She later visits Marcus (Carl Clemons-Hopkins) at his new job and tells him that she wants her old company, DV Industries, back. That’s a no go, Marcus tells her. QVC owns it now.

Carl Clemons-Hopkins as Marcus.

Deborah takes to her bed. For days on end, she doesn’t leave. We see her eating cookies, playing cards, and doing the New York Times crossword puzzle. Josefina (Rose Abdoo) checks to see if she’s still breathing. Late one night, Deborah goes to a Las Vegas convenience store where she buys spangly baseball cap and then drinks in the parking lot.

Finally, Marty (Christopher McDonald) calls her with an emergency, which finally makes her emerge from her room. When she finds him, he’s trying on suit jackets and asks for her input. It’s hardly an emergency, but she’s looked brighter than she has in weeks. Marty urges her to go spend some time at his hotel in Hawaii, but Deborah hates vacations. She always just wishes she was working. “Remember in Santorini?” she reminds him. “I turned that taverna into an open mic.”

Somehow, though, Deborah is swayed. Ava, for her part, seems thrilled to be playing the plus one on a three-week tropical getaway. (Though maybe she should be wondering why her boss would be bringing her along if the trip was going to truly be a break from work.) She’s excited about her outfit which could either read as “fun and flirty vacation girl” or Ace Ventura, pet detective. (“Both are sexually viable!” she decides.)

Christopher McDonald as Marty.

But when Ava and Deborah get off their plane and make their way through the airport, Ava becomes confused. Are they actually in Hawaii? Nope! Deborah has taken them to Singapore. She realized that by using a translator on stage, she can get around the rules about performing. In the United States and Europe, venues would be too wary of the legal risk but in Singapore (“the greatest municipal city-state in the world”) things are much more relaxed. Deborah’s been booked for a run of shows at the Sentosa casino.

Yes, that means that Ava is living in a casino once again. But at least she’s finally seeing Deborah writing again. When they’re not working, Ava and Deborah spend days drinking by the pool, nights on rooftop bars, and hours on the casino floor. The residency keeps getting extended and Ava and Deborah seem happy to stay, keeping busy doing karaoke and getting massages. But then we see Deborah repeat a joke from all the way back in the first season. The weeks keep going by and Ava becomes frustrated that they haven’t actually done any writing and that Deborah is relying heavily on old material. She’s also been falling asleep on stage.

Deborah’s found a group of friends and is happy eating caviar and calling bingo at brunch. Out drinking, Ava tells Deborah that she’s worried they haven’t been getting anything done and that she thinks they should return home. But Deborah loves her Singapore lifestyle and certainly doesn’t appreciate Ava saying she think she’s drinking too much.

Hannah Einbinder as Ava

She’s hosted a successful late night show and she performs every night. What is Ava doing and why doesn’t she leave? What has she ever accomplished? We’re at the moment in each season when Deborah turns mean. She took a late night show to No. 1 while all Ava’s done is “follow her around with an “empty little notebook” and her “big shorts.” Why is she still here anyway, Deborah asks. Ava’s 29, Deborah reminds her, and Deborah is her only friend. “Isn’t that weird?” Deborah says. “It’s weird.” Ava decides to head straight home in the morning and leaves Deborah drinking on a rooftop.

But when Ava wakes up the next day, she has dozens of texts. TMZ has reported that Debroah is dead, Jimmy tells her. Unable to reach her on the phone, Ava runs frantically runs across the hotel and through the casino floor to get to Deborah. She pounds on her door, in tears, until Deborah opens the door, very much alive. She’s fine, the TMZ obituary was a mistake.

But then Deborah actually reads the story. It says she’s killed late night. But what really throws her off the edge is seeing that they’ve referred to her as retired. She’s enraged that Deborah is enraged that the obituary refers to her as retired. She starts packing. “That will not be my legacy,” she says. “I’m no quitter!” They’re heading home. It’s time to write.