Primm

What a startling twosome. Deborah Vance has everything she could want. She lives in a mansion, has servants, including makeup people and hairstylists. But more than anything she wants to keep working. It is the adulation she desires, but she is getting a bit stale. Enter Ava Daniels who is lonely and afraid and needs the job. So the two of them face off. Deborah can't admit that someone else can have a role in her professional life. Ava tries but she is verbally abused time after time. She is constantly reminded that she is the employee and so has little say. Yet, for some reason, Deborah is keeping her around.

Jean Smart plays aging comedian Deborah Vance: uncompromisingly tough and unapologetic but 100 percennt hilarious. Like blonde Roseanne Barr.

Hanna Einbinder plays Ava Daniels, an uptight, priveleged, whiny-sssed 20-something who spends most of her life feeling sorry for herself. A bitter tweet got her budding career as a comedy writer cancelled and herself bl3cklisted. Now she's so desperate for work she's basically Vance's doormat/slave with no viable escape pod.

Together, they get along about as well as Cybill Shepherd and Bruce Willis on the set of Moonlighting. But my gawd does it make for outstanding comedy.

Today's life lesson was basically: honey, you gotta grind to get places.

I've laughed more in these first two episodes than I have at entire seasons of over-rated mainstream cr3pola like Friends or The Big B3ng Theory.

I say a silent prayer at the end of each episode that they keep their relationship antagonistic, and they don't soften Vance or make Daniels perky.

"Primm," the second episode of Hacks, slows the pace a bit but keeps the comedic spark alive as Deborah and Ava navigate their rocky partnership.

Jean Smart's Deborah is magnetic, delivering biting one-liners while wrestling with a lackluster gig at a low-rent Primm casino. Hannah Einbinder's Ava feels like a fish out of water, her awkward attempts to pitch modern comedy clashing with Deborah's old-school style.

The episode leans into their generational divide, with moments of humor-like Ava's snooping through Deborah's mansion-balanced by quieter, reflective beats that hint at deeper emotional stakes.

The writing is sharp but less punchy than the pilot, with some gags feeling forced and the Primm setting a tad underwhelming. Still, the chemistry between Smart and Einbinder carries the episode, especially in a late-night scene where Deborah nudges Ava to let loose. Supporting players like Carl Clemons-Hopkins add grounding, though the pacing drags at times.

At 6.5/10, it's a decent follow-up that doesn't quite match the premiere's energy but still keeps you curious about where this duo's headed. I'm sticking with it for the potential.