For a while there, Hacks represented the height of comedy. Actual funny comedy, as opposed to trauma-ridden half-hour dramas like The Bear. When it won an Emmy for best comedy in 2024, it felt like Hacks and Hacks alone was at the vanguard of proper comedy.

That seems like a while ago now. Since then, The Studio came along: another entertainment business satire, only one with bigger stars, better production values and sharper barbs. At last year’s Emmys, The Studio won everything in sight, while all Hacks could muster were a pair of trophies for Jean Smart and Hannah Einbinder, playing a rich but disconnected comedian and her put-upon writer respectively. So the question is this: can Hacks rally in its final season?

In short, sort of. The good news is that this final run is a clear step up from the woolly third and fourth seasons that saw Jean Smart’s Deborah Vance land a coveted spot hosting a late-night talkshow. What could have been a beautiful opportunity to take down a dying format ended up exposing most of the show’s flaws. During the late-night scenes, Hacks was forced to prove that Vance was as good a comedian as everyone said she was.

Of course, it couldn’t. Despite being hailed as a genius, Vance’s material as written was always a bit subpar. And so we were left with a show about a woman who everyone said was amazing despite being demonstrably mediocre. If you ever want to erode an audience’s trust, there aren’t many faster ways to go about it than that.

Instead, this final run deals with the fallout of her sacking from late night. Vance has been handed a Conan O’Brien-style gag order that prohibits her from telling jokes in public. Not only does this give her something to rail against, playing every angle to try to get back in front of a crowd, but it means she doesn’t have to tell any jokes.

Renewed momentum … Jean Smart in Hacks. Photograph: Sky

With this freedom, Hacks absolutely tears out of the blocks. The first couple of episodes are a blast, as Vance comes up with scheme after scheme to claw her way back to success. Should she go for an EGOT, even if that means recording an album in a weak category? Should she write a memoir? Try to sell out Madison Square Garden? There’s a momentum here that hasn’t always been evident.

But little venom, though. For all its reputation as a funny-funny comedy, the thing that has always set Hacks apart was its monstrousness. Vance – an embittered, gone-to-seed Las Vegas comedian who vacillated between luxurious isolation and seething jealousy – was an antihero for the ages, and the open hostility she demonstrated for Einbinder’s character Ava was what gave the show its spark, to the extent that you often found yourself watching it through the cracks in your fingers.

That dynamic has evaporated. The codependent venom of old has long since been replaced by an easy-going chumminess, which has defanged the show considerably. There’s still lots of fun to be had, but rarely does it feel like you’re watching the Hacks of old.

Still, this is the final season, so ultimately Hacks will come to be defined by its ending. I have to be careful about spoilers here, but it’s a weird one. The denouement of the show is dropped (some would say unearned) like an anvil with very little prior warning, and plays out like a weird little stand-alone one-act play that feels like the result of a ChatGPT prompt asking for the fastest way to get Jean Smart another Emmy no matter how manipulative it feels. Come and find me when it airs, because I am dying to deconstruct it.

Hacks has always felt slightly less polished than its peers, unsure if it wants to be a biting industry satire or the second coming of Entourage. When it was the former, it could be glorious. When it was the latter, it became so uncomfortably crammed with cameos that you could never fully be certain if any actor was supposed to be playing themselves or a character.

What it did have, though, were a pair of powerhouse central performances by Smart and Einbinder. This continues all the way to the end, and will hopefully become what the show is remembered for. Even through its lulls, their work has remained completely compelling. And this is why, despite a couple of wildly uneven years, I’m going to miss them. Never easy being a Hacks fan, is it?