This article contains spoilers for Hacks Season 5 Episode 6.
Hacks continues its final run on May 7 with two more episodes. Written by Carolyn Lipka and Joe Mande, Episode 6 grounds its AI debate in the creative partnership between Deborah (Jean Smart) and Ava (Hannah Einbinder), tackling the subject head-on without sacrificing the series’ sharp wit. “QuickScribbl” stands among the smartest – and funniest – instalments the series has produced. As Lisa Kudrow increasingly feels like Jean Smart’s most direct competition this awards season, thanks to The Comeback’s own AI-focused final season run, it feels ironic that Hacks arrives at many of the same conclusions in just over 30 minutes.
The episode opens as plans for The Diva collapse under the scale of Deborah’s ambition. The theatre’s electrical systems are not up to code, the HVAC requires a complete overhaul, and custom lighting drives costs skyward. It would save them a fortune if they abandoned plans for the giant Deborah statue outside, though Deborah wonders how guests will enter if not through her legs.
“Quickscribbl” makes excellent use of its ensemble, pushing characters beyond Deborah and Ava into the spotlight as they set out to resolve the financial disaster. Marcus (Carl Clemons-Hopkins) proposes booking a major residency act to bring in advance ticket sales while he searches for outside investors willing to bankroll Deborah’s vision. Deborah immediately calls Jimmy (Paul W. Downs) for suggestions, eventually landing on Bruno Fox (Sean Patton), a successful podcaster and stand-up comic she primarily recognises from Travelosity adverts.
Jimmy and Kayla’s (Meg Stalter) attempts to recruit Bruno produce some of the episode’s most memorable bits. After failing to reach him through his agency, they corner him after a set, only for the conversation to spiral into partying, cocaine, and awkward bonding exercises. Downs remains one of television’s most underrated comic performers, particularly when Jimmy admits he stayed awake all night for a Fiona Apple presale but cannot survive another evening keeping up with Bruno.
Stalter, meanwhile, continues to reach heights few comedians ever do. Watching Kayla enthusiastically embrace Bruno’s lifestyle, then make Jimmy increasingly uncomfortable during a hotel-room intervention, is a delight. The storyline escalates so quickly that the episode somehow turns a supposed vehicular manslaughter confession into one of its biggest laughs. It all feels ridiculous in the best possible way, despite the lingering feeling that these are among the pair’s final outings together.
Still, “QuickScribbl” belongs almost entirely to Deborah and Ava. Their meeting with tech billionaire Graham Sweeney (Alex Moffat) initially appears straightforward enough. Sweeney wants to invest in The Diva, though Ava immediately assumes the request to meet both women could turn into an indecent proposal, in which he offers Deborah millions in exchange for one night with her. Instead, Sweeney reveals his passion project: QuickScribbl, a generative AI programme trained on the voices and styles of authors, comedians, thought leaders, and other artists. He has already trained Deborah’s voice using material scraped from the internet, which Ava rightly points out he stole.
While Deborah initially falls for Sweeney’s pandering – he insists everyone wants to be her because of her longstanding voice and mass appeal – Ava pushes back immediately. Einbinder is extraordinary throughout the episode, particularly once Ava begins dismantling Sweeney’s arguments surrounding AI’s inevitability. Often, Hollywood and public figures reduce these conversations to basic talking points designed to go viral without saying anything meaningful. Hacks avoids that trap entirely by allowing Ava’s frustrations to feature naturally through both the character and Einbinder herself, who has spoken publicly against AI. Ava’s concerns with environmental damage, labour exploitation, and creative replacement all connect directly to wider anxieties surrounding legitimacy and artistic identity.
Humour is still present in those arguments, even as the episode takes the debate seriously. At the same time, the series wisely refuses to portray Deborah as solely foolish for entertaining the deal. Although frustrating, her position makes sense. The Diva threatens to bankrupt everyone involved, and Sweeney offers an absurd sum for something Deborah barely considers real work. Smart plays that temptation well, particularly because Deborah never appears truly wowed by the technology itself.
Deborah and Ava’s debate heightens the frustration. Ava argues that AI has already devastated entire industries and will inevitably destroy writing jobs. Deborah counters with ignorance, insisting that replaceable jobs naturally disappear, and talented people are irreplaceable. Ava cannot participate and will sue Deborah if Quickscribbl uses any of her work, even if she has no legal standing whatsoever. Deborah insists she can continue without Ava’s material, yet the more Sweeney describes QuickScribbl’s capabilities, the more apparent Deborah’s discomfort becomes.
The turning point arrives when Sweeney suggests that Deborah will eventually use QuickScribbl to generate her own material. Deborah immediately recoils. She wants to write the jokes because she enjoys doing the work, and there is no shortcut to comedy. To become a comedian, Deborah argues, you must fail repeatedly until you discover who you are.
Smart delivers the speech beautifully, particularly because it reflects how much Ava has genuinely influenced Deborah throughout the series. Though it feels important to give Deborah credit, too. Deborah even argues that humanity should use technology to cure cancer or repair the ozone layer, rather than optimising creativity for effortless results. Hacks ultimately argues that art derives meaning from failure, repetition, and perspective. Remove those struggles, and whatever remains may resemble art, but it loses the humanity that gives it value.
Their reconciliation works particularly well because the episode trusts Smart and Einbinder’s chemistry. Deborah does not want Ava to take all the credit for her refusal of the deal, joking that Ava would have turned her into a communist years ago if she were truly that easily influenced by her. The scene reflects their relationship: Ava remains idealistic, Deborah remains pragmatic, and Hacks understands that the pairing works precisely because they contribute to one another’s development without fundamentally changing who the other person is.
The episode’s closing scenes tie its larger themes together. After a disastrous turn with bed bugs, Jimmy and Kayla are without clothes – though that is hardly the least of his problems, given he wakes up naked and wonders whether he slept with Kayla or the maid in their room. Kayla gifts him replacement clothes from a teenage girl’s clothing shop, including a tiny pink tracksuit he somehow still manages to pull off. Later, Kayla learns that her father is taking away her Porsche, her trust fund, and her office position for encouraging Bruno to turn himself in, a punishment that places Schaefer & LuSaque in further jeopardy.
Meanwhile, Deborah reaches her own conclusion about The Diva. Rather than pouring millions into a monument to herself, she decides to scale the project back completely. In its place, Deborah plans to build a smaller comedy venue where emerging comics can hone their voices. It is a surprisingly moving ending for an episode packed full of laughs, reinforcing that Hacks more than earns its place as one of the greatest shows of the century.
