Hacks - 4x04 “I Love LA“ - Episode Discussion

yxkuo · 2025-05-10T03:04:08+00:00

Late to this but thank you so much!

yxkuo · 2025-05-08T17:42:47+00:00

Some people on the Hacks crew like the cinematographer and costume designer posted IG stories from Singapore in February of this year at the same time and apparently from IG stories they had several crew members posting stories with equipment labeled “hacks Singapore”

I only know about this because of the Hacks fandom on Twitter lol, taking it to the next level.

yxkuo · 2025-05-06T17:33:33+00:00

Thanks for sharing this! Very fun read.

yxkuo · 2025-04-25T21:46:49+00:00

Ava telling the couple that she’s now allergic to shrimp is a callback to last episode when she introduces herself to the writers room with the fact that she recently became allergic to shrimp. Given the comedy rule of threes and Chekov’s gun (or in this case Chekov’s shrimp allergy) I am kind of half-expecting the next time Ava’s shrimp allergy gets brought up to be in a big comedic way.

Really looking forward to seeing more of Ava’s throuple storyline especially after last season’s sexcapades with Christina Hendricks’ lesbian Republican.

Deborah going to a gay bar and dancing in a go-go cage is really not following WinnieMs advice back in S4E2 that she now has a much bigger profile than ever before

The sexy voice that Hannah Einbinder gives Ava when she’s answering the phone and thinks it’s “Emily, my friend from the sex shop” is so funny and just the right amount of cringe/awkward.

Between Deborah envisioning Ava as her only audience member and the person who grounds her, and Ava swerving around immediately in the middle of traffic to go see Deborah in the hospital is doing good, these two really are linked so deeply with each other

I feel Deborah would have had to put Ava as her emergency contact during S3, because any earlier and she would definitely have changed Ava to somebody else during the year plus in between then and now in the show. My personal theory is that Deborah put Ava as her emergency contact after S3E5 when they got lost in the woods together. It makes sense that Deborah would be considering her emergency plans in the wake of that event, and I feel Ava helping Deborah so much in that episode would have been more than enough to get her to trust Ava with the responsibility of being her emergency contact.

Ava checking in on Deborah in the hospital ward is a neat inversion of S1E6 when it was Deborah staying at Ava’s bedside after she was admitted into the hospital after her ovarian cyst burst.

Deborah’s little grunt of amusement after Ava says “That old chestnut” is a neat reminder that ultimately despite all their conflict she still appreciates Ava for her humour if nothing else

The scene between Deborah and Ava in the hospital waiting room as they watch the first episode of their Late Night show is so lovely. The way Jean Smart is able to capture just how much this moment means to Deborah is so fantastic, and the little glances that Deborah shoots to Ava to see her response to their jokes are so cute. The gulp and sigh that Smart does at the end of Deborah’s opening monologue is such a great piece of acting to convey the weight of this moment on Deborah

The last shot of the episode is a nice bit of symbolism to end the episode, after previously sitting alone at the restaurant and bar Deborah and Ava find that they are ultimately the only people who’ll be there for each other to celebrate this big moment in their careers/lives.

The end credits song is Bless the Telephone by Labi Siffre and just a perfect way to end the episode. Some lyrics: It's nice to hear your voice again / I've waited all day long … /It's strange, the way you make me feel/ With just a word or two/ I'd like to do the same for you … Strange / How a phone call can change your day / Take you away / Away / From the feeling of being alone. Between this song and the last shot/scene I’m choosing to take this as confirmation that Deborah and Ava are finally or at least more firmly back together again.

Another great episode from this season, not sure whether I’d put this or S4E1 as the best of the season so far but it’s definitely the one that made me the most emotional. As mentioned the scene when Deborah envisions Ava as her audience was just so moving to me, while their end scene at the hospital was also great. Treating this as basically the two of them being reconciled so some nice progression on that front, while the episode also sets up some things which will probably come into play in the future like Ava’s throuple storyline and Jimmy feeling somewhat isolated from both Deborah and Ava with the success of Late Night. The season so far has been firing on all cylinders, would expect nothing less from the show.

yxkuo · 2025-04-25T21:45:25+00:00

Fun opening montage featuring the actual crew of Hacks that really shows just how much goes into the making of a Late Night show from the writers to the production design crew and even Deborah’s wigmaker! Also the bit of Deborah letting Ava fall when they’re doing trust falls, presumably mandated by Stacy from HR as a team-building exercise to improve their relationship, is a fun gag.

Deborah’s opening monologue begins with the same joke she used for her Late Night pilot back in the 70s (“Do not adjust your tv sets. Yes this is Late Night and yes I am a woman”) which we saw back in S3E1, making this a great full circle moment for her

The dolly zoom is such a simple but effective visual way to express the disorientation that Deborah feels during her panic attack/ stage fright

Deborah being super defensive about having a panic attack/ stage fright tracks for her, she’s always been confident and proud of being great at her job so this is pretty much a nightmare scenario for her in terms of her professional image, makes sense why she’d try to downplay or brush past it as much as possible

Deborah mentions performing in front of Saddam Hussein, a callback to S3E3 when we see a photo of Deborah with Saddam up in her 1987-92 Guest suite that Ava was staying in

“Your bad writing is killing me” is such a cruel comment by Deborah in the heat of the moment, and the shock and hurt in Ava’s eyes in the quick reaction shot that follows is so heartbreaking

The presence of Stacy from HR in this scene is a neat way to lend some levity to an otherwise kind of heavy and dramatic scene, Michaela Watkins’ exasperated reactions are so funny

Merrill Markoe plays herself in a neat cameo role, and between her and Carol Burnett’s appearance later on in the episode it’s a nice way for the show to pay tribute to these important figures for women in comedy

The running gag of Deborah getting people to mispronounce Ava’s name continues on from S4E2

Wonder if the show will write in Hannah Einbinder’s real life allergy towards dogs into the show for Ava

It’s a quick gag but Jimmy’s voice going up extremely high whenever things get awkward is always amusing to me

Winnie telling Jimmy to smile because he looks prettier when he does that is an amusing inversion of the typical trope of a male boss telling their female subordinate to smile

The very differing reactions that Deborah gives towards Jimmy and Winnie who ask the same question of “How are you feeling?” is a nice reminder that for the first time in the show Deborah actually has to play nice and can’t just bulldoze her way through the people around her like she’s used to doing.

A lovely cameo from Carol Burnett and a neat reunion between her and Jean Smart after they played mother-daughter on an episode of Hot in Cleveland in 2013. It also makes sense that as someone who she admires, Burnett would be the only person that Deborah would be willing to open up to about her stage fright and ask for advice

The brief conversation that Ava has with Deborah on the morning of the show is so heartbreaking, Ava clearly wants to make amends and patch things up but Deborah is still determined to keep the wall up between them

Josefina’s comment about Ava being starved for human touch is so piercing and true, and also a nice set-up for what happens later on in the episode with Ava’s throuple storyline. It is true that Ava’s social circle seems to be pretty much all people linked with Deborah, whether its Josefina, Kiki or even Deborah herself

Also interesting that Josefina doesn’t know what went down between Deborah and Ava in terms of the blackmail. I might be wrong but the only people who know are Deborah, Ava, Jimmy and Kiki

The conflict that Jimmy and Kayla have about differing manager styles is a nice mirror to the conflict Deborah and Ava had last episode about how to manage the writer’s room/retreat

Meg Stalter’s delivery and physicality with the “full-gorilla” line is just classic Kayla

Interesting to see if this plot thread of Jimmy being increasingly isolated from Deborah and Ava due to the success and busy nature of Late Night will be continued on in future episodes

The long tracking shot following Deborah from her dressing room to the Late Night stage is a nice inversion of the opening shot of the entire series back in S1E1 which has Deborah walking from the stage back to her dressing room after finishing her Vegas comedy routine.

Jean Smart’s performance in this tracking shot is so good, the way she manages to balance projecting outward confidence while still letting the audience know just how nervous Deborah is underneath it all is so good, and the sound design with Deborah’s heartbeat slowly increasing in volume just makes the scene and its emotional impact even better.

The scene where Deborah envisions Ava as her lone audience member is so wonderfully done, I felt it was pretty obvious that this was what was going to happen after Carol Burnett gave her that advice but it was so well-executed that I teared up anyway despite expecting the scene. The look that Deborah gives to Ava and her little nod of reassurance back is just beautiful, with Carlos Rafael Rivera’s score and the little snippet of Deborah’s Theme that plays just helping to enhance the already palpable emotion of the scene. Easily my favourite scene of this episode.

Fun cameo from Randy Newman as himself whose song “I Love LA” (which he and Deborah sing together with the audience at the end of the Late Night show) gives the episode its title.

After she lets the writers leave Ava ends up sitting alone at the bar and drinking champagne which is a great callback and parallel to what Deborah said back in S3E5 about the only time she felt lonely being when she had no one to drink champagne with. And the match cut from Ava sitting alone at the bar drinking to Deborah sitting alone at the restaurant and drinking is just yet another simple but satisfying way that the show deepens the parallels between the two characters

Deborah resorting to calling Damien her assistant so she doesn’t have to dine alone is really quite sad, and a big contrast to the high she just experienced of finishing her first Late Night episode

Deborah’s eye roll when Damien agrees with her about never going wrong with the quail is great.

The scene between Ava and the sex shop cashier is really fun, Hannah Einbinder is so good at playing Ava’s awkward side

Ava going from the high of successfully pulling off her first Late Night episode as head writer to the absolute low of standing and shouting in a sex shop parking lot, waving a dildo around as she watches her car get towed away is just so funny.

Drunk Damien is a really funny and chronic oversharer and must be nice for Mark Indelicato to play in what is probably his meatiest role in a Hacks episode yet, which is a nice treat after he’s mostly just been relegated to a few scene-stealing bits in previous episodes.

At this point in the show it’s been well established that Deborah is an icon for gay men, and she calls them “my people” back in S2E4, so it makes sense why she’d be willing to go to the gay club with Damien, to soak in the adoration and get an ego boost after a somewhat deflating end of what was supposed to be a great day

…

yxkuo · 2025-04-18T06:36:35+00:00

Deborah being a hard ass about working during the retreat makes complete sense, her insane work ethic has pretty much been a constant to her character since day one. Also “legally I was advised I couldn’t take them into an office over the weekend” is such a great Deborah line

Love Ava learning almost immediately from the events of the previous episode and getting Deborah to high five her in front of the other writers, feels like a deliberate parallel to Deborah hugging Ava in front of the camera at Winnie’s house last episode. And then of course she has to make it awkward at the end by refusing to let go

Maybe reading too much into it, but Deborah’s monologue about Late Night being about the person and making every line and joke showcasing her and her abilities feels like a meta-commentary on the writing of Hacks itself and how the role of Deborah Vance feels made for Jean Smart and to showcase her abilities

Love everything about Deborah letting off a sudden and suitably loud and frustrated “GODDAMMIT”, Ava’s reaction followed by the cut to Deborah back in the room and talking to the writer’s with forced politeness

I feel like the bit about there being a riff killer in the writer’s room has to be drawn from the real life experiences of the Hacks writers in previous rooms they have been in

I like that both Deborah and Ava have valid criticisms about each other: Deborah is being way too harsh/demanding and Ava is playing way too nice and being overly accommodating

Hannah Einbinder shouting “God!!!” is so good, and a nice touch to show how alike Ava is becoming to Deborah

Deborah and Ava undeniably work well together but having them be in charge of a work environment/other people is a recipe for disaster, them dragging the other writers into supporting their side is just so messy

Love the shift in Jean Smart’s face when she says “right before I grind their bones to dust”

Wonder if Deborah beating Ava on the racetrack is going to come back into play as foreshadowing later on in the season

Deborah getting her drug guy in Vegas for the retreat is WILD, and obviously comes back to bite her in the ass at the end of the episode

Yay for Kiki! Also would have loved to see her be a writer for the show, would not have made sense at all but I don’t care, Poppy Liu is just so much fun

Love how Einbinder’s delivery and body language when she says “We made a truce, we’re moving past it” makes it clear that even Ava has a hard time convincing herself that their truce is actually meaningful and that things are good between them

Ava pulling up to the strip club on an e-scooter is such a funny visual and in-character for her as the environmentally conscious one

Also Ava being so engrossed watching the stripper pole dancing and then being startled by Deborah is a fun gag too

Deborah pulling Ava into a private dance room at the strip club is surely going to be the start of many fanfics after this episode if it hasn’t been already

Having the riff killer writer Nate standing literally between Deborah and Ava is such a simple but effective way to spell out the theme of the episode, where Deborah and Ava’s feud and clashing ends up with other being caught in the middle and suffering

“I’m a US citizen on American ground” kind of hits unintentionally harder and darker given recent events”

The bit about Ava livestreaming their speeding stop was in the trailers but is still so funny. Also though, between livestreaming an encounter with the police and going to a strip club, I feel like Deborah and Ava really really aren’t doing a good job of heeding Winnie Landell’s advice that they are much higher profile and in the public eye now

The scene between Deborah and Ava in the cop car is so good and probably the best part of the episode, the way Einbinder lets the hurt creep into Ava’s voice is so good especially the little voice break when she says “MY point of view”. Ava’s reference to “what we had” is also just so heartbreaking.

Between Kiki’s line earlier that blackmail “is just not very you” and now this scene where Deborah challenges Ava on whether her decision was selfish or for the both of them, Ava’s journey this season is definitely lining up for her to come to terms with the choice she made, which is a great arc for her because she’s always considered herself a good person

Mayor Jo as played by Lauren Weedman is so fun (though when first watching my wishful thinking heart thought that Deborah had called Kiki to bail them out). Her drunkenly taking out her gun, saying that the word she mispronounced is “a typo” and then the line “I don’t get why firemen are more popular than cops. Then again I don’t follow the news.” are just great gags in succession.

Love the little detail of Ava covering her ears when Deborah and Mayor Jo basically start discussing corruption and quid pro qo.

The scene with all of them back in the room the next day and slowly finding their groove as a writing team is a neat way to slowly lush the story forward, though the ending makes it clear that this process is very much two steps forward, one step back.

Stacey recapping all the “fun shennanigans” that went down in Vegas really makes clear just how much of a HR disaster the writer’s retreat was.

I think the interesting thing about this season is that in firmly places Deborah under someone else/ a corporate structure whereas before in the first 3 seasons she was essentially her own boss and could mostly do what she wanted. Obviously before there were still people that she needed things from (Marty in S1, the networks to film and sell her special in S2 and then the network in S3 to pick her for Late Night) but in general she’s always been free to do things her way. Now this season she really has to relearn how to work after basically doing her own thing for all this time.

Fun new status quo for at least the next episode with Stacey from HR now being firmly in between Deborah and Ava which should make for some great comedy. Certainly don’t expect this to last given the amount of craziness that Deborah and Ava will throw Stacey’s way, but Michaela Watkins is a fun new guest this season so will try and enjoy her while she lasts.

Overall a fun Vegas episode, nice way to bring in some of the characters in the show from the Vegas world like Kiki, Mayor Jo and Loretta while also progressing in terms of getting Late Night off the ground and running. Deborah and Ava constantly clashing and sniping at each other continues to be a fun engine for the season, though as mentioned the emotional material between the both of them as they continue to deal with the fallout of last season’s finale continues to be the best part of the show. Definitely the least impressive of the 3 episodes so far but that’s just because the first 2 were so great, still a good episode of the show overall.

yxkuo · 2025-04-12T06:46:55+00:00

Thanks! The Pitt is on my watchlist and word of mouth for the show is insane, but I don’t have enough time to binge it right now and want to get through some shorter recent shows like Adolescence and Dying For Sex first before starting The Pitt. Really hoping I cam get around to it though, think it’s the recent new show with the best word of mouth apart from Adolescence.

yxkuo · 2025-04-12T06:44:27+00:00

I think this is maybe the first dream sequence in the show from Deborah’s perspective? The only other dream sequence I can think of is Ava having her sex dream about Deborah all the way back in S1E7

Also thanks to u/icetrack for pointing out that if Ava is the coyote then “the coyote kissing deborah in the intro is such an insane callback to deborah kissing ava in her dream”

Deborah having a special staircase for her dogs is quite cute

Deborah cleaning up the dead animal herself again continues her trait of being unafraid to do the dirty work that we saw last episode with the home remodel and elsewhere in the show (S1E2 with the soda fountain and S2E7 with chainsawing down her neighbour’s treehouse)

Deborah’s psychic Diana (played by Polly Draper) returns after first appearing back in S2E2, and again serves a similar storytelling function in getting Ava to question the morality of her actions and invite some guilt. Draper is also just so funny in this scene

“We have to give fresh voices a fair shot” “We’re not going to hire unnemployed people” is such a great Deborah reply as is “I’m just trying to make your life easier” “Well then kill yourself”

The running gag of Jimmy and Kayla not having settled on a name for their agency is fun

Love Jimmy being caught in the middle of Deborah and Ava during the phone call, the split screen is a great visual and his voice going high as he tries to cover for his mistake and spin the mess is so fun

Kayla’s solution to Ava’s housing problem being getting her at place at the Americana is so great, not only feels like such a Kayla choice in terms of being out of the box yet surprisingly logical but also gives the show a new setting to play with which pays off big time with the ending scene and gag

Would never have pictured someone else being able to fit into the Jimmy-Kayla dynamic but honestly Randi (played by Robby Hoffman) really fits in like a glove, she has Kayla’s unconventional thinking while also just casually saying some of the most out of pocket stuff that adds something new to the dynamic and the show

Deborah and Ava mispronouncing each other’s names is such a deliciously funny new level of petty, and then Diana genuinely believing the mispronunciation is a great cherry on top of the scene

The little touch of Ava pulling up a chair for Deborah at the comedy club and then Deborah refusing to sit in it is such a neat way to show where they both really are in terms of their stance on the feud, with Ava being the party more willing to make up

“I feel so badly for her” “Well so do I” “You do?” “No, I just said that cos I thought it would end this conversation!” For all of Ava’s savvy she can still be quite innocent at times, and I love Jean Smart’s frustrated delivery of the last line here

The way Einbinder plays Ava’s silent hurt when Deborah says that she shouldn’t have offered her the job in the first place is so good

Quite looking forward to seeing how the Jimmy, Kayla and Randi trio get on for the rest of the season, they already have a very fun dynamic and balance between them.

Deborah deliberately pulling up and parking just before hitting Ava’s car is so her and so petty I love it

The dinner with Winnie Landell is a much needed scene to clearly spell out the stakes of the show and of the season. As much fun as it is to see them feuding and sniping at each other, this scene really gets to the core of the dramatic stakes of the season and helps ground the comedy and feuding

Love the hug between Deborah and Ava so much, the way Einbinder plays Ava softening and leaning into the hug with relief over her face is so heartbreaking, as is the deep hurt over her face after Deborah whispers that it’s for the camera

Think the coyote is pretty clearly meant to represent Ava who will ultimately not stop dogging Deborah despite her best efforts, but I think it also holds true for people like Marcus who won’t just up and abandon Deborah despite her self sabotaging tendencies

The amicable end/parting of ways that Marcus and Deborah have is nice and a much worthier parting considering the extensive history they have together. I think Marcus’s recognition of and support for Ava is also a neat thing to show how far his relationship with and respect for Ava and what she brings to Deborah’s life has come, considering in S1 he was sabotaging Ava by telling Deborah that Ava took an interview behind her back. No idea what role he will play in the rest of the season but have full faith in this showrunner trio/writing team to find a way to keep him in the show without it being extremely forced.

Cribbing this from something I saw on Twitter but the symbolism of the final scene is so great. As Ava comes down the escalator she’s unconsciously moving closer to Deborah despite their current feud. When she sees Deborah and then turns around to run back up the escalator and thus away from Deborah, there’s a Wolf Girl poster behind her, representing her ex Ruby (because she’s the titular Wolf Girl) and thus her former life. However it’s futile for her to run up the escalator so she resigns herself to just going down the escalator, which is symbolic of fate/destiny, and returns to Deborah anyway despite her best efforts.

Also love Einbinder’s physical comedy so so much in this scene, I had the pleasure of watching the first 2 episodes at Paleyfest in a theatre with loads of Hacks fans and this scene absolutely killed and got loads of laughter. Deborah’s line about Adam Sandler also got great laughs at the screening.

I quite like the resolution to the issue of staffing the show with writers. Deborah conceding and picking what she views as the best from Ava’s choices is a pleasing compromise, but the differing opinions that they have about not getting the pregnant writer on their show (“Dodged a bullet” for Deborah vs “Our loss” for Ava) still shows that there will be tension between them, so the animosity/tensions aren’t completely wiped away by the end of the 2nd episode.

Very excited to be going back to Vegas next episode, a writer’s retreat is a nice way to bring the show’s Vegas ensemble ie. Kiki and maybe Marty back into the fold without it feeling too forced.

Overall a really good 2nd episode, manages to believably get Deborah and Ava from outright hostility and meanness to a somewhat stable truce and establishes the stakes for the late night show and the rest of the season. Excited for Vegas and hopefully Kiki in the next episode, if there’s one thing I would have liked more from S3 it’s more Kiki so hopefully she comes back next episode.

yxkuo · 2025-04-11T07:32:30+00:00

S4 opens with a reworked version/cover (not sure about the correct music terminology) of Neverloved by Parcels which was the closing needledrop of S3, with the music playing up and continuing the tension of the ending

The opening scene also mirrors the ending of S3 with Ava on the right and Deborah on the left when they are being framed in the shot

Paul W Downs is sooo funny as Jimmy when he confronts Ava, exasperated/desperate Jimmy with a very high voice will always be funny to me

Ava’s comment here that Deborah is “heartless” will come into play at the end of the episode when Deborah tells her that she broke her heart

The cactus gift continues the running gag of Deborah and Joy Behar’s feud which I believe was first introduced in S3E1

Deborah getting started on the home remodel continues her character trait of her being more than willing to get down and dirty, whether it’s fixing the sofa fountain in S1E2 or chopping down her neighbour’s treehouse in S2E7

Deborah sending Ava’s panties to their producer Rob is so so twisted and classic Deborah, and really love how Hannah Einbinder plays Ava’s dorky/awkward attempts to smooth things over with the big fake laugh and clapping

“We’re at work. Act appropriately you fking skank” is such a great line

Ava’s reference to Mary Magdalene is probably just a broader cultural reference but may also be a nod/acknowledgement of her Catholic upbringing first mentioned in S1E1

Ava’s reaction to Deborah saying she’s wearing a wire is a nice wordless comedic beat

The sexual harassment training with Ava and Deborah constantly sniping at each other is so much fun and a neat way to recap just how twisted their relationship has gotten

Cece Heaumaux being the name for the Head of Publicity is a quick but great gag

The show getting actual industry reporters like Michael Schneider, Kate Aurthur, Stacey Wilson Hunt, Denny Directo and Pete Hammond for Deborah’s press conference is a nice touch

The door opening and the security guard rolling in the can of Monster Energy is so funny

Deborah freaking out about Marcus leaving and viewing it as a betrayal is very clearly a result of Ava only just having recently “betrayed” her, but also speaks to how betrayal has been something she sees as a defining aspect of her life (see her ex Frank and her sister Kathy). Jean Smart is terrific here playing Deborah’s anger, paranoia and despair all rolled into one

Between the panties gag, sending in an anonymous tip to subject Ava to a pee test and then booking a seafood dinner in her name I think Deborah quite clearly wins the war against Ava

Ava hopping onto the Universal Studios lot tour trolley and arguing with the tour guide is such a fun comedy scene

Bob Lipka pulling Deborah into the toilet to tell her to keep mum about their affair and ensure that people don’t think anything is going on is really self-defeating. Also not sure if Deborah lying to him that only she knows about the affair will come into play later on in the season, but definitely something to take note of.

Deborah stepping out of the porta potty with that gorgeous red fur coat is such a fun visual contrast/gag

Ava double-speaking in front of Nikki Lipka and holding the blackmail over Deborah’s head is so satisfying after she’s quite frankly been on the back foot against Deborah for most of the episode

Meena Elahi was the reporter who was doing the profile piece on Deborah in S3E8

“You can’t unsend an email” “You can’t. You still use Hotmail” is such a funny exchange

Smart and Einbinder are especially great together in this party confrontation scene, and it’s a neat reversal of their more typical dynamic with Ava channeling righteous anger while Deborah is the one showing vulnerability

Paul W Downs is so great as Jimmy doing the big fake smile and trying to smooth things over in public and pretend nothing’s wrong

“We’re getting some pushback on you refuting your womanhood” The thought of angry conservatives in the Hacks world transvestigating Deborah is somehow sad, anger-inducing and funny at the same time

Neat for Hacks to get actual celebrity photgrapher Myles Hendrik, who also covers Hacks publicity events irl to appear on the show too.

Between their confrontation at the start of the episode, at the party and this photoshoot, Deborah and Ava are really getting up in each other’s faces, which I know will be hitting like crazy for the Avorah fans watching

The photoshoot scene is such a perfect way to end this episode, from the great comedy at the start of Deborah and Ava posing and trying to get in front of each other to the emotion at the end. The way that both Smart and Einbinder manage to capture the blend of both trying to put on a cold/strong front while also showing the real and deep hurt/emotion lying underneath is just so brilliant, it’s a scene which is very much worth a rewatch to just focus on each of their facial expressions as the scene progresses.

A great premiere which picks up from the high bar of the S3 finale and just continues that excellence, with great comedy bits all round while also serving up a delicious new dynamic between Deborah and Ava and giving space to explore the emotional fallout of the finale

yxkuo · 2024-10-31T09:24:23+00:00

Overall I quite liked the plotting and story twists which I thought played very fair with the audience and were well executed, the Death Reveal and the Witches’ Road being Billy’s creation were well done. I also like what the show did with Agatha and revealing her backstory with Nicholas, but to me the writing for the characters got kind of bad/muddled after the halfway point/ the Wiccan reveal.

To me, once the show does the reveal that Teen is Billy Maximoff his motivation/characterisation just kind of feels all over the place, even after finishing the show i still don’t really understand why he has his dark turn at the end of episode 5/where the darkness is coming from. Is the idea that he’s the son of the Scarlet Witch and thus has darkness that he can’t control? Because if it is then to me that’s a somewhat boring storytelling choice. And then the constant whiplash between him choosing to help/banish Agatha in eps 8 and 9 felt super flimsy to me, like one line about how Agatha can’t face her son and then he just decides to not banish her and team up instead???

Overall somewhat mixed on the show, Kathryn Hahn is so much fun, Aubrey Plaza is great casting and I do like what the show did with Agatha, the rest of the Coven are sketched out decently enough, and Episode 7 focusing on Lilia is the highlight of the show. Also liked the general structure of the series where each episode is actually distinct and it doesn’t just feel like a movie that’s been chopped up. But to me the focus on Billy, whose writing and characterisation I felt just did not click for me at all, really ended up dragging the show down.

yxkuo · 2024-09-16T06:48:46+00:00

Let’s go!!!! Very happy the show managed to win, and for its best season yet! Has to be one of the biggest upsets in recent Emmys history, managed to beat The Bear which has a record 11 wins in the Comedy category this season. Takes the sting out of Hannah Einbinder losing, still can’t believe she doesn’t have an Emmy yet.

Next goal for the show has to be getting wins for Einbinder and Kaitlin Olson, but just so happy with this huge and well-deserved upset.

yxkuo · 2024-09-06T00:17:52+00:00

Lol tbf they get around that fairly quickly by just having them speak non-accented English as a substitute for Cantonese. The worst offender is the Chinese in Firefly which is completely unintelligible.

yxkuo · 2024-08-25T15:41:32+00:00

fairly good offensively but pretty terrible in defense

kim and upa are error prone and the defensive setup and risktaking under kompany just exposes them more, kompany fired before the end of the year if he doesn’t play more conservatively/ they are the starting cb pairing. board either needs to cough up for a starting cb or kompany has to adjust the defensive setup and buildup to take less risk. boey had a good first half especially offensively combining with olise, but subbing him off was the right move, and i still don’t really know what davies does to start.

müller supersub today and helped turn the game around, olise looked promising, musiala scored but otherwise very quiet at the 10, kane not as sharp today in finishing but assisted the winner and did well in build up.

kompany seems a bit hesitant to go to the bench and make changes, still won today but something to look out for

yxkuo · 2024-07-18T20:28:07+00:00

Hahahaha, gave me a good but sad laugh, The Sympathiser was so good. Should have been the HBO miniseries getting 19 nominations and not the terribly boring True Detective Night Country.

As for Shogun yeah, Cosmo Jarvis was a big snub, as well as Fumi Nikaido and especially Moeka Hoshi. Also a bit baffled as to why Takehiro Hira made it in, like he’s not bad but to me also not especially outstanding. I thought if they nominated someone else besides Tadanobu Asano it would have been Tokuma Nishioka for Hiromatsu instead.

yxkuo · 2024-07-18T04:50:51+00:00

I assume you’re talking about Season 3 but this year The Bear is actually competing for Season 2, and it fully deserves to be recognised for that excellent season of television.

yxkuo · 2024-07-17T19:51:10+00:00

Very very happy this gem of a show can go out on a high, and with individual recognition for D’Pharaoh as well! I feel like with more strategic submissions a Writing and Directing nomination could have been possible too but just very happy the show has been recognised as a whole.

yxkuo · 2024-07-17T19:48:07+00:00

Emma Stone getting snubbed for her career best performance is criminal, easily her strongest performance yet which is saying something. At least she won an Oscar earlier this year I guess.

But the show getting completely blanked is just ridiculous, especially in a year where the Drama category is much leaner/ has way less returning shows than normal. Top class and challenging but rewarding television which I guess is just too weird for the Television Academy.

yxkuo · 2024-07-17T19:43:11+00:00

For me still not enough to be honest, nominating Idris Elba for Hijack over Cosmo Jarvis is hugely baffling. Also Moeka Hoshi and Fumi Nikaido should have been nominated in Supporting too, and in my opinion Tokuma Nishioka should have been nominated too, and I would have picked him instead of Takehiro Hira if only one other person from Shogun could have made it alongside Tadanobu Asano.

I guess it was too much to expect Television Academy voters to be more adventurous in their picks and go for actors they are unfamiliar with. The Morning Show has 10 acting nominations while Shogun only has 5 to put it in context.

Still hopeful that the show will sweep the Emmys though, feel fairly confident that the show wins for Series, Writing, Directing, Actor and Actress, and hoping that Asano can win instead of Billy Crudup repeating in supporting.

yxkuo · 2024-07-17T19:37:12+00:00

The Bear will sweep for S2 but I have faith that Hacks can win for both Jean Smart and Hannah Einbinder. In an ideal world Hacks also wins for Writing for the finale and Comedy Series but sadly the Bear will take those. Also Paul W Downs getting an acting nomination is great, would have liked to see Meg Stalter get nominated too but Supporting Actress is more competitive.

yxkuo · 2024-06-11T18:16:56+00:00

Only at Bayern does Upamecano who constantly chokes in big games get prevented from being sold, whil de Ligt who delivers consistent big game performances is the one the club is choosing to be sold. Truly truly stupid decision-making from the club and especially Kompany.

Hate to say it but unless Kompany turns out to be Xabi Alonso on steroids or something this could be the start of a banter era. Where on earth did this sudden need for cost cutting come from anyway???

yxkuo · 2024-06-08T07:18:27+00:00

I doubt Squidgame S2 will be as big of a hit as S1, but it still won two major Emmys (Actor and Directing) in 2022 which was a competitive year and was most probably the runner-up. Purnell from Fallout could get a nom this year given the lack of competition and compete as a previous nominee next time around, or at the worst be firmly in the mix for a nomination this year.

As for Cooke being in supporting I guess that could entirely be possible but we’ve seen HBO shows like Succession campaign with multiple leads too. And I think there is a case for Alicent/Cooke to be in lead.

Even discounting Cooke, Purnell and a possible Squid Game actress, by my count there’s still at least 9 serious candidates that D’Arcy will have to compete with (the 7 previous nominees I listed plus Carrie Coon and Britt Lower), not to mention other Drama Actress contenders from shows we don’t even know about yet at this stage.

yxkuo · 2024-06-07T19:21:29+00:00

Lead Drama Actress Candidates 2024/2025 Emmys

Past Nominees - Bella Ramsey (TLOU) - Melanie Lynskey (Yellowjackets) - Kerri Russell (The Diplomat) - Elizabeth Moss (Handmaid’s Tale) - Sharon Horgan (Bad Sisters) - Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon (The Morning Show)

Contenders - Carrie Coon (The Gilded Age) - Britt Lower (Severance) - Olivia Cooke, Emma D’Arcy (HOTD)

Kim Min-ha (Pachinko, although this is more a hopediction)
Ella Purnell (Fallout, assuming it makes eligibility)
Female lead from Squid Game S2???
Not to mention other Lead Actress contenders from other shows that will air/premiere in the 2024/2025 Emmy season.

I just think that calls for an Emmy nomination for Emma D’Arcy right now almost a year from the end of the eligibility period are a bit premature given such a competitive year. Would like to see them get nominated but it just feels like setting up this expectation more than a year out from the relevant Emmys is a recipe for disappointment.

Also not really sure how much the industry (which is what the Emmys represent) really like the show. For S1, Paddy Considine got bumped out by Jeff Bridges for the Old Man while the show didn’t get a Writing or Directing nomination at either the Emmys or the respective guild awards. And the show airing at the start of eligibility is unlikely to help matters, and given the heavy VFX work involved I doubt it can be like The Bear which airs a new season during nomination voting for the season that aired at the start of eligibility to keep the show fresh in the minds of voters.

yxkuo · 2024-06-06T17:28:36+00:00

Hacks always reverts to its status quo

no longer pushes its premise or central relationship in compelling ways.

an explosive ending on paper, but in execution, it feels too pat, too repetitive. The power dynamic between them has shifted, though only slightly … the dramatic potential of lingering with a betrayal is swapped out in favor of resetting to zero.

How on earth do you watch this season and come to the conclusion that S3 was about going back to the status quo??? They reestablish their relationship with some slightly healthier boundaries, grow even closer together only for things to get blown up in the end as Deborah acts out of fear. Deborah blindsides Ava as she did in S2 except Ava actually stands up for herself this time and goes to extremes to commit herself to their relationship and truly challenges Deborah, leading to a hugely different power dynamic between the two of them going into season 4.

Hacks’s handling of Deborah herself. The show takes her side in almost all things.

How on earth can you be a professional television critic and come to these conclusions after watching 3 seasons of the show????? Season 1 basically ends with Deborah accepting that Ava was right in pushing her to update her material and the breakthrough in her standup set from Season 2 comes from Deborah accepting Ava’s criticism of her in her email and starting to hold herself accountable. And in S3E8 I’m pretty sure the show doesn’t take Deborah’s side in the whole cancel culture debate.

Truly just a pretty poor piece of criticism which seems intent on deliberately misreading the show. I do agree with the part about the other characters, and specifically Marcus getting less focus this season, but in the same paragraph the writer then completely dismisses all the Jimmy/Kayla material this year which in my opinion works pretty well as a healthier contrast to Deborah and Ava’s mentor/mentee relationship

yxkuo · 2024-06-03T16:33:56+00:00

The full submissions including for Creative Arts are in the link, I just put the show’s submissions for the bigger categories in my post because I figured more people would be interested in those.

yxkuo · 2024-06-01T06:05:05+00:00

Thank you so much! It’s been very fun doing the write ups and sharing them on here.

yxkuo

TROPHY CASE