{"id":405005,"date":"2026-04-18T11:12:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T11:12:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/405005\/"},"modified":"2026-04-18T11:12:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T11:12:13","slug":"hacks-confronts-what-happened-in-singapore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/405005\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Hacks’ Confronts What Happened in Singapore"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hello, and welcome to my weekly coverage of the final season of\u00a0Hacks<\/a>! These will not be scene-by-scene recaps; instead, I\u2019ll pick a thematic thread or particular scene\/arc from the episode to focus on. Basically, I\u2019m just going to write about whatever stands out to me!<\/p>\n

Since the beginning of this series but especially since season three,\u00a0Hacks\u00a0has so gorgeously captured the intimacy, complexity, joys, and tensions of what true creative partnership is. While I support the Ava\/Deborah shippers in their dedicated efforts to posit Ava and Deborah\u2019s relationship as sexual or romantic, the main reason I have not also tipped into this delusion (respectfully!) is because I think what\u00a0Hacks\u00a0shows between Ava and Deborah is actually\u00a0more interesting\u00a0than romantic or sexual partnership and just as meaningful.<\/p>\n

Creative partnership is a beautiful thing. It can also be a really messy thing, especially when money is involved, when egos are involved, when two people can\u2019t see eye-to-eye. One of the worst breakups I\u2019ve experienced in life was not after the dissolution of a romantic partnership but rather the dissolution of a creative partnership between me and the couple I co-created a lesbian webseries with (I know, I know). They were a literal couple, and we sometimes joked I was their third, though nothing physical was happening between us. We were making a webseries with very little money and resources, and I\u2019d crash in their Brooklyn apartment for weeks at a time during production, our daily lives syncing up in the ways cohabitation causes. We spent so much time together, much of that time working but a lot of it not, too.<\/p>\n

Then it all fell apart. There had been tensions along the way, some of the couple\u2019s personal conflict leaking into the creative process. We didn\u2019t always agree on certain choices or directions. I sometimes felt ganged up on in our two-on-one configuration. A lot of it we could work through, until we couldn\u2019t. Their romantic partnership ended, and so did our creative partnership, for reasons that both diverged and overlapped. When I walked away, it was not just from the project itself but from those friendships, too. It hurt, and I didn\u2019t feel like I had the right language to talk about it, at least not without other friends inevitably asking if I\u2019d been in love with both or one of my collaborators. I hadn\u2019t been. But why was that where so many minds jumped when I spoke of the closeness we\u2019d had and the pain of leaving them? Was that really the only way it made sense to them?<\/p>\n

In \u201cNumber One Fan,\u201d Ava finally more directly brings up her hurt feelings about what Deborah said to her in Singapore at the end of season four. Among other mean things, Deborah had told her while drunk that it was weird she was Ava\u2019s only friend. Now, Ava brings it up like it\u2019s a joke, in typical Ava fashion. But it\u2019s clear the words have been sitting with her. It doesn\u2019t matter that Deborah was drunk and doesn\u2019t remember; she\u2019d hurt Ava\u2019s feelings. And she\u2019d meant to.<\/p>\n

Because\u00a0Hacks\u00a0has shown over and over again that Deborah and Ava\u2019s relationship is not merely that of mentor\/mentee or even just collaborators. They\u2019re in something so deep and true together. So much of their emotional intimacy is given to each other. Ava isn\u2019t hurt because Deborah called said she\u2019s her only friend; she\u2019s hurt because Deborah said it was weird, and she really doesn\u2019t think it\u2019s all that weird. They spend all their time together, working and not working. They\u00a0live\u00a0together.<\/p>\n

Yes, their relationship is often toxic and cyclical and codependent and fraught, but it\u2019s also fulfilling, meaningful, inspiring, and challenging in the right ways. Ava and Deborah are the closest thing the other has to a best friend. But just like \u201cromantic relationship\u201d doesn\u2019t really fit for them, \u201cbest friendship\u201d doesn\u2019t really cover it either. They\u2019re creative partners, its own special type of relationship that can encompass one\u2019s work life and one\u2019s social life in ways that are so fun but also so messy and drama-prone (and sure, it\u2019s complicated by the times Ava is directly on Deborah\u2019s payroll, but that also feels realistic for how these creative relationships sometimes shift and become unbalanced in real life, too). I\u2019ve often worked with people I consider best friends, people I\u2019ve had complicated relationships with, including right here at Autostraddle. Work friendships can be every bit as impactful on one\u2019s life as any other big relationship.<\/p>\n

When I walked away from my creative partnership with that couple, I didn\u2019t write anything for over two years that wasn\u2019t for my job. I was in a deep creative rut that I was also in denial about. I think a large part of it was that I never really processed or reflected on that breakup as much as I would have had it been a romantic one. Maybe if I\u2019d had\u00a0Hacks\u00a0then, I could have better understood it all.<\/p>\n

Okay, last week I used this addendum section to shoutout favorite lines from various characters, but this week I just want to shoutout the GUEST STARS! ANN DOWD!!!! Renee O\u2019Connor!!!!! (Jimmy being a Xena\u00a0fanboy makes so much sense; there\u2019s something so culturally lesbian about him.)<\/p>\n

Favorite Guest Actor Lines:<\/p>\n

Literally just everything Jane Adams says always in every episode she appears in. Hannah\u2019s mom is one of my favorite characters. Imagine that being your mom. Yeah, now you understand everything that\u2019s wrong with Ava. If I had to pick one of her line readings from this episode, it\u2019s \u201cI know! I read your journals!\u201d<\/p>\n

Alanna Ubach (love her, where my Girlfriends Guide To Divorce heads at!): \u201cMurder My Stupid Ass Please\u00a0has over 90 million monthly listeners. It is hosted by two of the most popular people in America. They swaaaayed the presidential election.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vinny Thomas: \u201cYou haven\u2019t sent out Deborah\u2019s Dos and Dont\u2019s in almost two years I don\u2019t know what to do and what not to do. Sometimes I just sit in the dark.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hannah Pilkes: \u201cI just wanted to replace you and write for her, you stupid bitch!\u201d and \u201cThey\u2019re not jokes, they\u2019re THOUGHT POEMS!!!!!\u201d<\/p>\n

Side Notes:<\/p>\n

I also like what the episode has to say about fan culture. It is easy for stars to dismiss their fans, as Deborah initially does in the episode. But she eventually does come to realize she needs her fans, that her fans often filled the void of her deeply ingrained intimacy\/trust issues that keep her from ever being really close with anyone. I think it\u2019s really important that real-life discourse about fan culture has rightfully critiqued the notion that celebrities are not allowed to have privacy or boundaries, but I also think it\u2019s just as important to acknowledge that the artist\/fan relationship is\u00a0a symbiotic one. This episode threads that needle well.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve written about the show\u2019s portrayal of this complicated relationship configuration so many times, and I\u2019m sorry if I\u2019ve been repetitive in these missives, but clearly it\u2019s my main point of obsession with the show! Some quotes from my past recaps\/reviews:<\/p>\n

\u201cHacks is about complicated partnership. It\u2019s about doing great work with someone you sometimes want to push off a cliff.\u201d \/\/ This Is the Best Season of \u2018Hacks\u2019<\/a>
\n\u201cWhen I call Ava and Deborah toxic work wives, it\u2019s only kind of a joke. They are the embodiment of a working relationship with bad boundaries, blurring lines between the professional and personal. But Hacks simultaneously zeroes in on these power imbalances and problems while complicating matters even further by showing there\u2019s truth, depth, and good to be found in this kind of artistic marriage. Ava and Deborah push each other creatively. They\u2019re unlikely collaborators, but when they hit their stride, their comedic chemistry is undeniable.\u201d \/\/ \u2018Hacks\u2019 Is Sooooo Back and Better Than Ever<\/a>
\n\u201cDeborah and Ava\u2019s relationship might not be explicitly romantic, but it contains all the intimacy, intensity, and layers of a romantic relationship, just expressed through a different mode.\u201d \/\/ How Dare \u2018Hacks\u2019 Be This Good?!<\/a>
\n\u201cAva might not literally be topping Deborah, but metaphorically? Oh yes. And their dynamic has always been almost more erotic than sex itself.\u201d \/\/ In a Delicious \u2018Hacks\u2019 Season Three Finale Twist, Ava Tops Deborah<\/a> (ok, I was kinda wild for this one, but I stand behind it)<\/p>\n

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